IKEA RESTAURANT – Basic Concept Behind This Furniture Maker Selling Food
Not long after IKEA launched its first store in India, the Hyderabad superstore faced what I term a customer and restaurant’s nightmare’. A customer who ordered vegetarian biryani at the restaurant noticed a caterpillar in his food. This created many issues for the company as the customer tweeted a picture of his food with the caterpillar. This was followed by a fine by civic authorities against the restaurant.
But, come to think of it, what business does a notable furniture maker have with running one of the biggest restaurants in a country?
What is The Concept Behind IKEA Running a Restaurant?
Well, the answer to this question is ‘a lot’. IKEA’s restaurants globally contribute a huge sum to IKEA’s total revenue. It’s a perfect strategy to lure customers to the store, especially in a food-loving country like India. However, IKEA retains its focus and much energy on furniture as that’s its primary goal and niche.
The idea behind opening the IKEA restaurant was based on the fact that once you satisfy the belly of a customer, there’s a 90% probability that the mind gets to act in your favor. ‘Once you feed your customers, they tend to stay for long.’ While in the store, they tend to make purchases other than food.
According to reports, IKEA didn’t even realize how good their eateries were performing because the revenue generated from their furniture sales was also higher. ‘This might sound odd,’ but it’s something we didn’t actually notice,’ said the managing director of IKEA foods Michael La Cour, to Fast Food Company.
In 2016, IKEA generated $36.5billion in revenue, making the sale of food not quite noticeable in such a big sale. A year after, the company generated $422 billion in revenue. It was later discovered that 30% of IKEA customers visited the shops to eat.
Michael further stated that it was only when the company started comparing its food sales to other food companies that they realized their food business wasn’t a small venture after all. Due to this, the company started applying the same strategy they used in the furniture business. They used the same principles of ‘democratic design in their menu, focusing more on sustainability, elegant form, and low prices but high quality.
Not only did the IKEA restaurant experience a major business boom, they gradually became the largest importers of lingonberries in Sweden.
What Meal Does IKEA Restaurant Offer?
IKEA’s popular offering is its meatballs. They provide different variations of their meatballs across their global restaurant.
The usual menu at IKEA restaurants consists of meat, seafood, fish dishes, vegetable and side dishes, dairy productions, beverages, pastries and cookies, sauces, snacks, candies, and chocolates.
However, IKEA’s restaurants in India had a slightly adjusted menu to suit Indian taste buds and choices. For example, beef and pork were replaced with chicken and salmon. Also, their menu consists of dal makhani, green salad, veggie balls’ salmon fillet, fruit salad, hot beverages, and others.
Currently, IKEA restaurants serve over 650million in over 50 countries. In the US, IKEA restaurants are very popular and are the top choice to many customers. IKEA’s strategy is, however, an amazing one; selling its furniture with a whole lot of food attached.