We dive into how technology is shaping the future of fast food by helping the likes of Wendy’s and Chipotle leverage virtual worlds to deliver real meals.
This is part of our Future of Fast Food report. Download the full report.
In 2030, the metaverse will be a new digital channel for restaurants to offer engaging, interactive experiences that boost brand awareness and customer experience. In the metaverse, customers can step into a virtual restaurant to browse menus, meet friends, and even order real food that will then be delivered to their door.
This is one of the key technologies that will shape the future of the fast food experience. Below, we dive into this technology: how it works, who has an edge, and how it’s changing the future of fast food.
WHAT IS THE METAVERSE?
The metaverse is the concept of shared worlds driven by virtual products and digital experiences that are highly immersive and interactive.
Clients can learn more about the companies building the metaverse in our metaverse Market Map.
In the context of the future of fast food, restaurants will be able to build virtual experiences, offer exclusive menu items or digital merchandise, and host virtual events for customers.
FIRST MOVERS
Chipotle was one of the first quick-service restaurant brands to create a virtual experience in the metaverse. In 2021, the fast-casual Mexican chain partnered with Roblox to digitize the brand’s famous Halloween promotion. Players could dress their avatars in Chipotle Halloween costumes, play mini-games, and receive codes for free burritos to redeem in person.
During the campaign, the virtual restaurant was visited over 8M times and set a company record for digital sales in a single day. In 2022, the fast-casual giant even launched a new menu item on Roblox through an interactive game.
McDonald’s also made an entrance into the metaverse with a Chinese Lunar New Year event. Partnering with AltspaceVR and Spatial, the brand designed a hall of Chinese zodiacs that players could explore through VR. The food giant has also filed trademark applications that suggest a virtual restaurant may be opening soon that sells both virtual and actual goods with home delivery.
Source: Wendy’s
Wendy’s is another fast food chain experimenting with the metaverse. Wendyverse opened in Horizon Worlds (Meta’s virtual reality world using the Oculus VR platform) in April 2022. Through this partnership with Meta, players were given a set of tasks to complete that would give them a promo code to redeem at a real Wendy’s restaurant.
IMPLICATIONS
- The metaverse gives restaurant chains space to experiment with marketing and menus. Fast food chains investing in the metaverse can use the virtual space to try out new strategies that build brand awareness among new and existing audiences. This can include collaborations, virtual events, or even just experimenting with tweaks to existing considerations, like restaurant layout and menu items.
- The metaverse is still in its early stages. Restaurant brands and operators should pay attention to the successes and failures of other consumer industries — like fashion and grocery — that are further ahead in their metaverse efforts, to better understand what strategies work best with consumers.
- The metaverse will be an additional channel for facilitating delivery orders and can help drive consumers to stores, growing both revenue and customer loyalty for restaurant brands.
Read more in this report about how tech will shape the future of fast food, including:
- AI tongues and social listening to help brands quickly develop and test new menu items to meet changing consumer demands
- Conversational AI and AI recommendation engines will power online and in-store orders, allowing restaurants to upsell orders through personalized suggestions and prioritize labor for other customer service operations
- Robotic food preparation will automate cooking to increase profitability and reduce food waste
- Autonomous delivery will help reduce reliance on gig workers
- NFT loyalty programs will create unique experiences and boost customer loyalty