What is the metaverse? It depends who you ask.
Some say it’s the future of the internet.
Or a bubble waiting to burst.
Or it doesn’t even exist, and never will.
In short, the metaverse is an immersive virtual world. In the metaverse, people can do most of the things they do in the real world: Interact, play games, shop, own property, work, and, yes, order food.
The concept of the metaverse has been around for a while. But it started to get a lot of attention when Facebook changed its name to Meta in the fall. The company is building its own software that will allow people to exist as cartoonish avatars in a virtual world.
CEO Mark Zuckberberg said he expected the platform to have a billion users within the next decade. Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported that global metaverse revenue could reach $800 billion by 2025.
If true, that’s a lot of potential customers and dollars for restaurants to reach.
Restaurants struggling to wrap their heads around the metaverse and what it could mean for their business are not alone.
Only half of C-suite leaders attending the recent ICR Conference said they could define “metaverse.” About a quarter weren’t sure, and another quarter said they didn’t know what it was.
Just 6% said they had significant plans for the metaverse, according to the poll conducted by financial services company Canaccord Genuity. The conference included restaurant companies.
The full picture of this new technology is still emerging. Nonetheless, some restaurants are wading in.
“No one’s figured out the best model for this yet, if there is any at all.” —Steven Simoni, Bbot
Today, they’re mainly using it as a marketing channel, another place to engage with guests online. But long-term, there are a lot of possibilities. People will likely be able to order food in the metaverse. They might be able to explore a virtual replica of a real restaurant. Employees could be recruited and trained there.
“The metaverse brings up a whole new reality and world in which to advertise products and exchange goods and services,” said Thomas Flaherty, chief development officer of Wings & Rings.
But the chicken wing chain isn’t jumping in just yet. “It’s the dawn of the Wild West in the metaverse right now,” he said.
Indeed, most observers admit they don’t know exactly how restaurants should use the metaverse.
“No one’s figured out the best model for this yet, if there is any at all,” said Steven Simoni, CEO of restaurant tech provider Bbot, which is working on developing online ordering for the metaverse. “This will be the year of experimentation.”
Experiments abound
Next week, restaurant tech company Lunchbox will sell what it says is the first restaurant in the metaverse.
Images show a pixelated restaurant interior that looks like something out of a video game. It’s complete with booths, menu boards, a counter and even “Caution: Wet Floor” signs.
But it’s not a game. A company can actually buy this restaurant, put their brand on it and start taking orders from virtual kiosks within the store, said Lunchbox CEO Nabeel Alamgir. The food would then be made by the real-life operation and delivered to the customer’s real-life home, assuming they’re nearby.
Lunchbox is talking to some of its clients, which include chains like Bareburger and Fuku, about buying the virtual real estate, Alamgir said.
Inside Lunchbox's virtual restaurant. / Photograph courtesy of Lunchbox
It could very well be the first restaurant sold in the metaverse. But it won’t be the first to set up shop there. Chipotle and Baskin-Robbins, for example, have opened virtual locations where metaverse denizens could get virtual items as well as win free food.
3-D virtual stores like these are one way restaurants can stake a claim in the metaverse.
Maybe.
“I don’t know what the primary use case is,” Alamgir said. “But what I know is it’s not selling custom graphics and putting it as an NFT and selling collectibles.”
Hold up. What’s an NFT?
NFTs (short for nonfungible tokens) are one-of-a-kind digital assets that can be bought and sold online as collectibles. They can also have uses in the metaverse or the real world.
Some restaurants are selling them as the first phase of a bigger metaverse strategy.
Applebee’s, for example, launched a promotion called Metaverse Mondays, releasing a new NFT on each Monday in December. The person who bought the NFT also got a year’s worth of free food.
White Castle also started selling NFTs recently—5,001 of them, to be exact—to celebrate its 100th birthday. It has sold about 1,300 so far, said CMO Lynn Blashford. The digital images of sliders and onion rings were priced anywhere from $100 to more than $26,000.
Applebee's first NFT. / Image courtesy of Applebee's
But for these brands, the NFTs are intended to engage customers, not generate revenue. White Castle, for instance, is giving all proceeds to its charity, the Ingram-White Castle Foundation.
And it’s working on adding more uses to the NFTs so it can continue to build a relationship with the owners.
“We knew from the beginning that utility and ongoing utility was important,” Blashford said, though she would not reveal what White Castle’s NFTs might eventually be used for.
She also didn’t rule out a move further into the metaverse.
“I doubt it’s the last foray, but maybe that’s for year 102,” she said.
Should your restaurant enter the metaverse?
Some observers are more bullish on the metaverse than others.
“I think all brands should pay attention to NFTs and the Metaverse,” said Applebee’s CMO Joel Yashinsky in an email. “From what I’m seeing, this space is only going to continue to build. I believe if done with the right brand approach, there is low risk and potentially high reward.”
Noah Glass, CEO of restaurant tech provider Olo, offered a counterpoint: “I would be lying if I said that was something we were devoting a lot of cycles to,” he said.
Nearly six in 10 execs polled at ICR said the metaverse was not part of their plans.
Source: Canaccord GenuityUltimately, restaurants should let their audience guide their approach to this still-developing space.
Chipotle’s restaurant in the metaverse platform Roblox may have been an experiment, but it was customer-driven.
“As a digital innovator, we are always experimenting on new platforms to meet our guests where they are,” said CMO Chris Brandt in a statement at the time.
“They know their customer,” said Scott Absher, CEO of restaurant tech company ShiftPixy. “They have the data, they know who their customer is, and they’re paying attention.”
ShiftPixy analyzed third-party delivery data to help develop its own metaverse strategy, which includes ghost kitchens and a gamified, augmented-reality loyalty program.
“I don’t think of it as a fad,” Absher said. “I think they’re seeing something in the data that shows them where things are going.”
“You can’t ignore it,” Blashford agreed. “But you have to do what’s right for you and your brand and your size of business.
“It becomes a new what-if. … It’s always great to explore those what-ifs.”