Before the end of the century, we knew where we ate and where we bought since the concepts of leisure and provisioning were clearly differentiated.
The irruption of technology, globalization and especially the new ways of captivating customers in the shopping centers brought us the tastings at the foot of the store. I can ride it now!
Perhaps that was the beginning, but for centuries many grocery stores have offered their customers the possibility of having a drink in a small space in the store. Although its existence was generally due to the fact that there was no homonym in the area and therefore everything was dispatched there.
This figure has gradually taken shape and the concept of bar that we traditionally associated with consuming, has come to be called Gastrobar, Templo de experiencias, food, drinks & take away, etc…
This way of building multidisciplinary spaces where the customer can eat while buying or buying while eating, has a clear Anglo-Saxon influence and I would dare to mark it especially American, where the #CustomerExperience (Customer Experience) is what prevails.
The large cities on the other side of the pond have been during the last half of the century a constant source of inspiration for new culinary concepts, more than in the preparation, especially in the way of dispensing and serving.
Let’s look at how the concept of Street Food in our cities and above all the fury of the Food Truck, They seem new and since the 30s in the US they were already traveling the interstate highways in search of new customers at each county fair or in any bustling corner of the nearest town.
The lack of time or the need to captivate the customer so that they do not discover new products or services in the competition, made the retailers specialize in more facets than simply advertised on their poster or slogan.
Thus we can already see spaces in our streets where eating is a true sensory experience, at the same time that it allows us to acquire that base of products and / or accessories that have previously served us.
From the Store to the Restaurant
In this line are the gourmet spaces of the department stores, which the Corte Ingles has brought to its corridors by the hand of the Partners who sell their products on their shelves, and have made the leap to make the customer feel that your product is not only bought but also taken, to try it or to take it with you …
These Gourmet spaces, which are called that way, already existed in the well-known Harrods in London, where the visitor went to the ground floor of the establishment as if it were a section of opportunities, to enjoy a different lunch or meal, around columns and showcases full of products like those that were going to serve us,
As if it were an attraction marketing action, I ended up filling a new bag of these delicacies, so that you could enjoy them again at home when you returned to the mother country.
Today the evolution is greater and the store spaces look for corners where to offer the product to the client to show it, feed him with his raw materials or recommend through the consumption the ways of elaboration, a perfect 360º line of commercial action that dupes the customer into a Brand and above all grants a differentiation over the competition.
From Restaurant to Store
What we could not imagine at the dawn of the XNUMXst century was that bars would initiate disruptive elements to achieve the much sought after segmentation, and not only manage to feed and drink, but also to sell the dishes, the glasses and spend the portions …
The chicken and fas food stores have been true artists in offering the food product without looking at the comfort in the room and basing their offer on the Take Away, You shop here but you eat it more comfortably at home.
Now everything is changing and the tasting spaces are flanked by excellent samples of kitchenware that after testing in the room, unleash a voracious consumerist fury and we end up completing a set of dishes so that our dinners and social meals become special, through the items that were offered to us in the restaurant. A new way to satisfy the consumer by giving them the exclusivity to buy at the place of consumption.
Another facet is to buy raw materials or manufactures made from the restaurant’s product, whether they are conserves, trays, etc, In short, take the delicacies of the restaurant itself home or to the office to enjoy them in another place or at another time.
All this new staging brings with it the creation of spaces where design plays a fundamental game, turning the premises into Concept Stores that stand out from the generality in an unusual but not inconsiderable way.
In short, it is about selling and making the visitor feel at home or at the bar …