The Fort Worth Press - Taco-a-day or meal-a-month, US restaurants join subscription craze

USD -
AED 3.673042
AFN 68.112673
ALL 94.198378
AMD 389.366092
ANG 1.801814
AOA 913.000367
ARS 1003.850089
AUD 1.538462
AWG 1.8025
AZN 1.70397
BAM 1.877057
BBD 2.018523
BDT 119.468305
BGN 1.877115
BHD 0.376794
BIF 2953.116752
BMD 1
BND 1.347473
BOB 6.908201
BRL 5.801041
BSD 0.99976
BTN 84.384759
BWP 13.658045
BYN 3.27175
BYR 19600
BZD 2.015164
CAD 1.39805
CDF 2871.000362
CHF 0.89358
CLF 0.035441
CLP 977.925332
CNY 7.243041
CNH 7.25914
COP 4389.749988
CRC 509.237487
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 105.825615
CZK 24.326204
DJF 178.031575
DKK 7.158304
DOP 60.252411
DZD 134.27504
EGP 49.650175
ERN 15
ETB 122.388982
EUR 0.95985
FJD 2.27595
FKP 0.789317
GBP 0.798053
GEL 2.740391
GGP 0.789317
GHS 15.795384
GIP 0.789317
GMD 71.000355
GNF 8617.496041
GTQ 7.717261
GYD 209.15591
HKD 7.78445
HNL 25.264168
HRK 7.133259
HTG 131.234704
HUF 395.000354
IDR 15943.55
ILS 3.70204
IMP 0.789317
INR 84.43625
IQD 1309.659773
IRR 42075.000352
ISK 139.680386
JEP 0.789317
JMD 159.268679
JOD 0.709104
JPY 154.770385
KES 129.468784
KGS 86.503799
KHR 4025.145161
KMF 472.503794
KPW 899.999621
KRW 1404.510383
KWD 0.30785
KYD 0.833149
KZT 499.179423
LAK 21959.786938
LBP 89526.368828
LKR 290.973655
LRD 180.450118
LSL 18.040693
LTL 2.95274
LVL 0.60489
LYD 4.882192
MAD 10.057392
MDL 18.23504
MGA 4666.25078
MKD 59.052738
MMK 3247.960992
MNT 3397.999946
MOP 8.015644
MRU 39.77926
MUR 46.850378
MVR 15.460378
MWK 1733.576467
MXN 20.428504
MYR 4.468039
MZN 63.910377
NAD 18.040693
NGN 1696.703725
NIO 36.786794
NOK 11.072604
NPR 135.016076
NZD 1.714237
OMR 0.385039
PAB 0.99976
PEN 3.790969
PGK 4.025145
PHP 58.939038
PKR 277.626662
PLN 4.16352
PYG 7804.59715
QAR 3.646048
RON 4.778204
RSD 112.339038
RUB 104.308748
RWF 1364.748788
SAR 3.754429
SBD 8.383555
SCR 13.693555
SDG 601.503676
SEK 11.036204
SGD 1.346604
SHP 0.789317
SLE 22.730371
SLL 20969.504736
SOS 571.332598
SRD 35.494038
STD 20697.981008
SVC 8.748021
SYP 2512.529858
SZL 18.034455
THB 34.480369
TJS 10.647152
TMT 3.5
TND 3.17616
TOP 2.342104
TRY 34.552504
TTD 6.790153
TWD 32.583504
TZS 2659.340659
UAH 41.35995
UGX 3694.035222
UYU 42.516436
UZS 12825.951341
VES 46.55914
VND 25419
VUV 118.722009
WST 2.791591
XAF 629.547483
XAG 0.031938
XAU 0.000369
XCD 2.70255
XDR 0.760497
XOF 629.547483
XPF 114.458467
YER 249.925037
ZAR 18.15566
ZMK 9001.203587
ZMW 27.617448
ZWL 321.999592
  • SCS

    0.2300

    13.27

    +1.73%

  • RIO

    -0.2200

    62.35

    -0.35%

  • CMSC

    0.0320

    24.672

    +0.13%

  • RELX

    0.9900

    46.75

    +2.12%

  • GSK

    0.2600

    33.96

    +0.77%

  • CMSD

    0.0150

    24.46

    +0.06%

  • AZN

    1.3700

    65.63

    +2.09%

  • NGG

    1.0296

    63.11

    +1.63%

  • RYCEF

    -0.0100

    6.79

    -0.15%

  • BCE

    0.0900

    26.77

    +0.34%

  • BTI

    0.4000

    37.38

    +1.07%

  • VOD

    0.1323

    8.73

    +1.52%

  • BCC

    3.4200

    143.78

    +2.38%

  • BP

    0.2000

    29.72

    +0.67%

  • RBGPF

    59.2400

    59.24

    +100%

  • JRI

    -0.0200

    13.21

    -0.15%

Taco-a-day or meal-a-month, US restaurants join subscription craze
Taco-a-day or meal-a-month, US restaurants join subscription craze

Taco-a-day or meal-a-month, US restaurants join subscription craze

For Jebin Tuladhar, the past two years have been like walking a tightrope as he tried to steer Shanti, the Indian restaurant chain he manages in Boston, through the pandemic.

Text size:

To cope, Shanti in June started offering customers at the restaurant's three locations in and outside the city a subscription deal where a gourmet meal for two costs $80 each month.

The plan now has about 80 subscribers, and Tuladhar estimates that if he adds about 10 additional accounts each month, Shanti can soon reach the breakeven point of 160 subscription.

From those offering fast food to others where white tablecloths are the norm, restaurants across the United States are rolling out subscriptions to bolster their damaged businesses and lure back customers who were scared off by the pandemic.

In Washington, Italian restaurant La Collina launched a "Pasta Club" where, for $85 a month, customers receive two deliveries of pasta with sauce homemade by chef Katarina Petonito. About 60 households have been won over so far.

"There is no denying that the pandemic has caused restaurants to pivot and learn new ways to connect with guests," said Danya Degen, director of operations for Eastern Point Collective, the company of which La Collina is a part.

- Building loyalty -

Cafe chain Pret a Manger is offering US customers as many as five coffee drinks a day for $19.99 a month, a program that started last September after a successful trial run in Britain.

In January, Taco Bell rolled out the "Taco Lover's Pass," which allows you to order one taco a day over a 30-day period for $10.

The fast-food giant is presenting the program as time limited but has set no deadline for it to end and is more or less treating it as an experiment.

"Our goal for the Taco Lover's Pass test is to examine how our consumers engage with this unique offering that ultimately pays for itself in just a few visits," Taco Bell's Chief Digital Officer Zipporah Allen said.

David Henkes, senior principal at restaurant consultancy Technomic, said these subscriptions can be both profitable and helpful to companies looking to expand their customer base.

"You want to remain top of mind with your loyal customers," he said. "What you're really hoping to do is drive that engagement with the consumer."

Besides fast food, most outlets that have launched subscriptions rely primarily on home deliveries because of the pandemic, but they don't plan to stop there.

The Wells, a bar owned by Eastern Point Collective, has created "Gin Society," whose members get the ingredients for a cocktail sent to their homes each month, and also priority reservations and exclusive access to new drinks and food when visiting the bar.

In Boston, Shanti's owners plan to introduce a new subscription next month, which would cover a certain number of dine-in meals at the restaurant.

"Right now, I don't know what's going to work out," Tuladhar said.

Several companies have been set up to support these subscriptions, including Table22, which is collaborating with Shanti and La Collina, and the Summerlong Supper Club in New York, which launched a four-month subscription-based program early last year with 16 partner restaurants.

The latter, which has had more than a thousand people sign up, focused on higher-end restaurants, but the trend seems to have a future at all price points.

A pioneer in the sector is Goldbelly, which has several hundred partner restaurants offering barbecue, pizza or cake submissions, and raised $100 million from investors last May.

If the trend endures, it will join gyms and streaming services among the ranks of things American consumers are willing to pay monthly for.

When it comes to restaurants, "all of these people are realizing that making food and selling it at the very basic level is a very risky proposition," said Vinay Gupta, owner of Summerlong Wine, one of the driving forces behind the Supper Club project.

Subscriptions "essentially take the risk off of yourself, and put it on to the consumer," he said.

N.Patterson--TFWP