The group Mediapro, Damm, Familia Torres, and this year also Pepsico, reaffirm their commitment to accompanying bars and restaurants in the resumption of their businesses with a second edition of Horeca Challenge, an initiative that seeks entrepreneurial ideas that develop new innovative digital solutions to respond to the present and future challenges of the Horeca channel.
Given the context left by the impact of the pandemic on the restaurant sector, this year's call will focus on projects that enrich the delivery and take away channels, the physical space, and both environmental and economic efficiency. Regarding home delivery or orders at the establishment, the reason for promoting them is that there has been an increase in these types of consumption during COVID, but basically because it has become a new value proposition for bars and restaurants.
The business initiative will also focus on proposals for the use of bar and restaurant spaces for new purposes because "despite the progressive exit from the health crisis, the number of midday meals in restaurants has been considerably reduced, either due to the consolidation of teleworking or the reluctance that still exists regarding socialization," explained Carlos Solana, Head of Digital Business and Innovation at Mediapro. So, should premises become environments that facilitate work and incorporate initiatives and experiences aimed at attracting customers?, Solana asked during the presentation of the objectives of the new call.
Regarding the improvement in the efficiency of the value chain and in digitalization, the promoters of Horeca Challenge argue that recycling and reuse of waste must be deepened and that the use of Big Data is a key piece to adapt to customer demands.
Their objective remains to help the Horeca channel, which in the case of Damm, Torres, and Pepsico, is their main client, "discovering those solutions that can help it transform and continue growing and, with them, also the companies," insisted the Director of Open Innovation at Damm, Jordi Torrent.
For her part, PepsiCo's Director of Strategy and Transformation, Marta Esqué, values that the Horeca Challenge initiative is innovative because it is "a proposal based on collaboration between companies, on the one hand, and companies and clients, on the other" and at the same time "between companies and startups with joint objectives and for the benefit of all actors." For these reasons, "Pepsico has chosen this innovative challenge," she states. Horeca Challenge has the support of Acció and the collaboration of F6S, Aecoc, and Tech Barcelona.
The promoters have explained that, for this second edition, they have made a new reading of the current context of the restaurant sector: the future lies in digitalization. They have argued their decision with the analysis of the latest data on consumer preferences, presented by Patricia Fernández, head of Aecoc's Horeca Channel. Fernández explained that only one in three people has recovered their consumption habits in restaurants and that the delivery channel has doubled with more than two million people who have joined the demand for home delivery orders. In fact, she said, only 25% of the population still has never ordered food to eat at home.
Only one in three people has recovered their consumption habits in restaurantsThe Aecoc study also shows that 35% of workers still telework ---21% all week and 14% some days a week--- and that when they have to eat at home, 80% consume ready meals. For the days they have to eat at work, an increase in the use ofdelivery, to the detriment of the homemade lunchbox.
The second call for Horeca Challenge is aimed at emerging projects, which must be in an advanced state of development, and not in an initial phase, because rapid implementation is sought. The program consists of the delivery of 6,000 euros to the selected company in each category and accompaniment in business advice and the dissemination of the solution among the clients of the brands, who also help them find possible investors but who, in no case, enter into the capital of the startups.
From January to July 2022
The startups that want to participate in Horeca Challenge can submit their application until February 6, 2022. The winners will be announced on March 10 and, from that moment, each of the companies will be able to test the technological solution with the launch of a three-month pilot co-financed by the promoters of the initiative. Horeca Challenge will conclude in July 2022 with a Demo Day where the winning companies will showcase the results of their pilots to prominent investors and other companies. It is possible that Damm, Mediapro, Pepsico or Torres may cooperate with some of the winning or finalist companies, as explained by the Director of Business Innovation at Familia Torres, Josep Batet.
In the first edition of 2021, the winning companies of Horeca Challenge were Click And Plan, PurificAir and Miss Tipsi, out of a total of 200 applications submitted. The pilot plan developed by Click And Plan, from Zaragoza, with a proposed solution that allows the generation of consumer plans linked to Horeca establishments, has served to test the application of its solution to reactivate traffic in bars and restaurants.
The company PurificAir, from Valencia, has developed a device whose purpose is to eliminate environmental microorganisms in enclosed spaces, allowing a safe influx of customers to the premises.
While Miss Tipsi, from Madrid, with a platform for comprehensive management and digitalization of internal processes in bar and restaurant businesses, has facilitated the verification of improved business efficiency in different facets of their activity.