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This is the second part of a series of articles about Dark Kitchens.
If you started here, I recommend that you go back and read the article Dark is the new Black.
What we are going to explain in this article is like those who They don't own apps and They don't even want to create one they can explore this lucrative niche.
Once again, delivery apps build secret stores to compete with restaurants, and they have the advantage of knowing well what people from a region are asking for the most.
This allows them to create hot dogs, yakissobas, hamburgers, and sushi operations that often work together in the same Dark kitchen.
The apps know what people order the most, how much they are willing to pay, up to the ideal delivery time.
With this they have a clear vision of what to offer, for what to offer, and the location that allows for the optimal delivery time.
Then they create generic brands and start offering their products exclusively in their own apps.
This is the apps' formula to explore this format that doesn't rely on expensive rentals to meet high-demand markets.
Now let's go to the practical guide for opening a Dark kitchen:
To collect the information described below you will need a Account on the Mapfry Geomarketing platform.
Step 1: Demand
That's what you should be looking for, places with a relevant amount of people.
But not all people will order.
Young children are unable to place orders, older people may prefer to cook at home.
You are looking for a region that has a number of people in a certain age group.
Another factor that influences demand is family composition.
People who live alone, or in small families, with two or three people, may end up ordering more times than in large families, with four or more, where it may not be feasible to order food for so many people.
Now you are looking for a region that has a number of people in a certain age group and in a certain family composition.
To complete the Demand, you must still know the income of these families.
After all, a smaller family with a good income will be able to place even more orders than a large family with the same income.
Step 2: The region
You must find a region that meets the ideal demand requirements.
Ideal because you want to be successful with this business, so pass the places with minimum requirements and let's go to the ideal or super good ones. Soon you will understand why.
Consider places that are not too far away from your residence and prefer those where you already have some prior knowledge.
If you are in the business it will be easier, use one of your stores or stores where you know how much you sell as a reference to understand the ideal number of people/demand to reach the volume sold.
For example: The Top Burger store sells 50 snacks a day, and 500 families or 1500 people reside in an area of 10 minutes from the store.
A ratio of 1 snack sold for every 10 families or 1 snack sold for every 30 people. Use this ratio as a reference to analyze markets with a similar profile.
Step 3: Competition
Now that you know a lot about people, how many they are, their ages, how they live and with how much, it's time to evaluate the competition.
One thing to note here is that Dark Kitchens are not easy to find and count.
Look for concentrations of delivery people in front of an unopened property, or consider companies with CNAE 56.20-1-04, but none of that is guaranteed.
Still, we can evaluate the classic competition.
How many restaurants and snack bars are already operating in the target region.
What products are offered and how much does a meal cost on average.
The competition profile will give you two important information:
- The preferences of the people in that region;
- Price charged in relation to household income.
With this you can decide if you want to act along the same lines as what is already practiced or to offer something new, whether in terms of product and/or price.
Step 4: Location
So far you already know the ideal amount of target audience, which are people, with age, family composition and income compatible with what you are going to offer.
You also know the competitors' profile and have decided how to position yourself in relation to them, whether with a lower price, a better product or something completely new for the region.
Having solved all these super strategic aspects, now let's get to the point where you are going to install your Dark kitchen.
Start by discarding the cool areas where Starbucks are located, fashion stores, restaurants, pastry shops, decent bars, household goods, beauty salons.
These are operations that value good points and expect their customers to visit them frequently, so they can pay a higher rent.
For a Dark Kitchen none of this is important, your customers won't visit you, they may not even know where you are staying.
They want the product they want, for a good price and very fast.
Evaluate the areas where auto repair shops, auto parts, laundries, pet stores, disposable items, clothing rentals, tattoo studios, curtain and blind stores, clothing sewing, glazing, bicycle maintenance, motels and cheap hotels are located, and so on.
Operations like these do not depend on the frequent visit of your customers, and it is more important that they have a good price when demand arises.
That's why the low rent helps and no one bothers to walk a little longer when it's time to renovate, repair, tattoo, or do something very specific.
Areas with a concentration of these operations indicate reasonable rents, and it is likely that there are unused properties, or poorly maintained homes that could be converted into a Dark Kitchen.
It remains to verify that the property in question is within the axis that allows quick delivery, so you can generate a time travel area to validate whether it will be possible to deliver at speed in the region of demand.
Each extra minute for delivery to take place must be added up.
So imagine that you have two equally interesting properties, but at different points.
The time travel area of point A is smaller, in the sense that it covers the demand area with less time, indicating faster deliveries.
Let's say it's a 3-minute difference between point A and B. That extra three minutes may indicate fewer orders, with customers preferring to order elsewhere, and will also be less delivery over a period.
The longer delivery time, the fewer deliveries can be made. That's why every minute of travel area matters.
The balance for a good point for a Dark Kitchen is to be contained in the region of high demand, so that the delivery time is minimal and to occupy a property with very low rent, generally in the most degraded areas of the region, exactly the Blind Spot that gives this article its name.
This article presented a data set that rivals the big data of apps for selecting points and setting prices and products for Dark Kitchens.
The next article, Midnight Marketing will explore the forms of promotion and brand building for Dark Kitchens, the dimension that is overlooked by apps.
See you there!
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