The Mound - #22 - Whine and Dine

Welcome to The Mound, a weekly newsletter in which we at Good One Creative pitch— for free — our solutions to the world’s problems

Providoor - the failed, online marketplace for high-end restaurants - is relaunching today after it being bought and revived by entrepreneur Sam Benjamin of Seventh Street Ventures. 

Whereas during lockdown Providoor provided a way for customers to buy from and support their favourite restaurants, this is now a franchise restaurant - one that relies upon dark kitchens for speedy delivery, that serves dishes created by celebrity chefs, and that provides “as close to a fine-dining experience as you can at home,” according Benjamin.

And there’s the rub. 

To most customers, the “experience” aspect of a fine dining experience (which is the restaurant, I guess?) is not a hassle. Sure, they had to leave work a few minutes early, they had to shower, and they ordered an Uber. But, waiting for the car outside their apartment, they smiled at their partner and they asked them about their day. At the restaurant, they marvelled at the decor and they laughed at their server’s jokes. They agonised over what to choose from the menu and they damn-near squealed when the porcelain dish finally thudded upon the table. 

In search of Providoor’s target customer we are thus forced to blindfold ourselves and then jump a motorcycle over the chasmic fact that people who are willing to pay for this premium takeaway are the same people who might compare it to the time they actually went to Cumulus and had the greatest night of their lives. You see? The qualification disqualifies. 

So, fine dining at home is not quite an oxymoron but it’s certainly a pulled punch. Like a stay-cation or a mid-strength beer, I won't say No to one - but come on! What are we doing here?

A slightly better, more professionally-minded version of this question: what is the job to be done? Why - in the above, imagined scenario - did our young couple actually go to the restaurant? 

The primary purpose of fine dining is to of course impress. The idea behind Providoor currently is that you should pay a premium to impress or be impressed at home. But if you’re trying to impress just one person… in the living room… they’re probably going to be less impressed than if you just took them to the restaurant - which we now know that people actually like doing. The restaurant is better suited for this job.

So empowering date nights is a bit of a dead end for Providoor. But how else could they help? Lower their prices so they can operate like any other delivery restaurant? That’s an even tougher position to hold. 

Here’s how we fix it: 

With their dark kitchens all around the place Providoor could, instead of trying to augment the restaurant experience or just becoming yet another takeaway franchise, give people the ability to do something they couldn’t do before: both host and enjoy a dinner party. 

Dinner parties have a really high barrier to entry - in that throwing one pretty much necessitates a self-sacrifice of sorts. You, as host, must organise the invitations, sort the dates, assign duties, get the ingredients, prepare the ingredients, prepare the table and the house, and then cook the largest, most impressive meal of your career, just so that you can sit down in time for the very first of your guests to leave for a concert. To make matters worse, you’ve eaten nothing and now you’re too wine drunk to even conceal your blooming resentment for your guests. And now it’s time to clean up! 

By focusing on this customer instead, Providoor could lower this barrier to one of several heights - depending on the level of help that each customer requires. 

Whilst less experienced cooks, faced with their very first audience, might opt for a set-up of the heat-&-serve variety, a more experienced one might need only dessert so they can focus their efforts on the main course instead.

Rather than a celebrity chef providing a solitary dish for Providoor to sell as a singular item, they could curate entire experiences. We’re talking preformatted invitations, suggestions as to what each guest could bring, a runsheet for the day (so you know when everything needs to enter the oven), and of course a link to the celebrity chef’s personally curated Spotify playlist.

And you know my favourite part of this idea? That you can share it with your loved ones…

… which should save Providoor a fortune in ad spend. 

You’re welcome, Australia.