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We’ve written before about how virtual reality is the future of hospitality . This week, we saw a glimpse of how that future may look.
Carluccio’s extensive menu overhaul has been revealed, including over 50 new or updated dishes. Guests can now find guanciale in the carbonara, Bottarga in the seafood linguine… and themselves in Taormina, Sicily, via virtual reality glasses.
We’ve been working with Carluccio’s since 2007, so we’ve long known them to be at the forefront of guest experience management. However, from November, Carluccio’s will be going further than ever before in creating a new experience for their guests, handing out 50,000 pairs of virtual reality glasses. Guests will be able to enjoy the dishes as though in their original home; along the Sicilian coastline.
It’s a wonderful twist for a new menu launch, and works well with the increasing digitisation of the guest experience. However, Carluccio’s virtual reality glasses also speak to the growing desire from guests for authenticity in their food and dining. As the backlash against processed, pre-packaged, mass produced food continues, “authenticity” continues to be a buzzword in the food and beverage industry.
But it can be a challenge for restaurant chains to show guests that despite their size, they can have origins just as authentic and rooted in history and culture as any independent hospitality operator. Even Carluccio’s, who have built their brand around founder Antonio Carluccio and being ‘honestly Italian’, have occasionally reported suffering perception problems.
That’s why these virtual reality glasses are a wonderful addition to Carluccio’s overall guest experience. As well as showing themselves to be at the forefront of new hospitality technology, Carluccio’s are also quite literally showing guests where their food, and their brand, comes from. Guests will be able to see the areas of Italy that inspired the new menu, as they eat - and without hopping on a flight to Sicily, it’s difficult to get more authentic than that.
