Poke-bowls, sushi burritos and ‘dark kitchens’: Foodora reveals what’s coming in 2018

FOOD delivery took off in 2017, with burgers, spring rolls and dumplings hitting Aussie homes in huge numbers — but 2018 will be different.

SUSHI burritos, fusion cuisine and raw fish salad will be among next year’s hottest foodie trends, according to Foodora.

Charlotte Rijkenberg, chief marketing officer at the restaurant delivery platform, said poke-bowls — a Hawaiian “deconstructed sushi” dish consisting of raw tuna, soy sauce, rice, avocado and pickled ginger — were taking off in Australia.

“You can’t avoid the rise of the poke-bowls,” she said.

“That’s one of the biggest trends of 2017 we see. It originated in Hawaii, just last year it came to Australia. It’s very big in Germany and other European countries. I live in Manly and two poke-bowl stores have recently popped up.”

Ms Rijkenberg said “sushi burritos”, while “not really big yet”, were already popular in Canada and slowly coming to Australia. “That’s a definite trend for 2018, to see a mix of different cuisines,” she said.

According to market research firm IBISWorld, platforms like Foodora, Deliveroo, UberEats and Menulog have contributed to a revenue increase of 2 per cent to help Australia’s restaurants industry reach $21 billion in 2017-18.

Ms Rijkenberg said many were beginning to experiment with “delivery-only” kitchens — earlier this month, rival app Deliveroo created its own “delivery-only” kitchen dubbed Deliveroo Editions. “Dark kitchen is the buzzword at the moment,” she said.

“Restaurants have an opportunity to open just a kitchen without a restaurant front where they can try new things, new products for delivery only. It’s a huge potential in terms of how they market themselves.”

While delivery services had cemented their reputation over the last few years, Ms Rijkenberg said there was “still a lot of opportunity”. “There was kind of an adjustment for restaurants,” she said.

“When I started two-and-a-half years ago we were the only app in the market, a lot of restaurants were hesitant, like, ‘What’s this about? Can I make it work?’ Now they’re like, ‘I want this, I can make it work.’ They will hire an extra chef for a separate section that only caters for delivery.”

Sushi burrito? Yes please. Pic Mark Cranitch.

Earlier this month, a report by Deloitte Access Economics commissioned by Aldi revealed Australians were increasingly choosing to cut back on core essentials like groceries rather than give up their “little luxuries” such as streaming services and restaurant delivery apps.

While millennials may whinge about the cost of housing and smashed avocado, online spending on takeaway food grew by around 30 per cent in the 12 months to February.

“Whether it’s a Netflix subscription or a takeaway meal, I think what’s happening is that as discretionary spending becomes more and more pressed, people are looking for sensible ways to save,” Aldi Australia chief executive Tom Daunt said at the time.

“They may be not upgrading their car or going on holidays, but are very reluctant to give away little luxuries.”

Ms Rijkenberg said she wasn’t sure if the rise in food delivery apps could be blamed on laziness. “It’s interesting, when we started we were talking about the delivery fee, whether it was a barrier for people,” she said.

“You see [now] it isn’t, it’s really the convenience for people to get food delivered, they know it’s quality. I’m not sure if it’s laziness, it’s also just the fact that we’re so busy with kids, work, commuting, just having that option to delivery healthy food options to your house or office I think is the main driver.”

According to Foodora, its top five ordering postcodes are 2010 (Surry Hills, Darlinghurts, Sydney CBD), 3000 (Melbourne CBD), 2000 (Sydney CBD, Haymarket, The Rocks, Barangaroo), 3141 (South Yarra) and 4000 (Brisbane CBD).

Orders between $20-$30 account for the largest chunk (30 per cent), followed by $30-$40 (27 per cent) and more than $50 (25 per cent), orders between $40-$50 (15 per cent) and less than $20 (3 per cent).

Half of the app users are aged between 26 and 35, 26 per cent are 18-25, 18 per cent are 36-45, while just 6 per cent are over the age of 46.

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