Blockchain of Things

The rise of cloud kitchen and app-based food delivery has created a new dimension to the Food and Beverages industry. There has never been a time in history where technology has been more critical than it is today and tomorrow it will be more critical in the restaurant and eateries industries.

Recently the safety and hygiene level of the listed restaurants across food delivery chains was in dilemma after consumer issued warnings and concerns over non-license restaurants and eateries holders. This soon got the eye of FSSAI and soon it issued notice to 3rd party audit firms on conducting Food Audits across restaurants channels over food delivery platform. This along with the misplacement and tampering of food safety is a matter of grave concern, after instances of delivery personnel’s eating and tampering the food parcels came to media platform causing concerns and losing trust among the consumers.

To address this grey cloud, let us focus on some of the main constituents of the entire F&B industries.

Mobility as a whole has already been transforming restaurant operations. From mobile and online ordering to digital signage and cloud-based scheduling platforms, many restaurants have already moved away from analog operations. The fifth generation of cellular technology will allow for faster speeds and ultra-low latency. That means faster downloads and data processing and more computing power. Instead of a technology that just does one thing, multiple applications will be able to run on one device.

Adding to the above infrastructure Blockchain could thus help in creating record of every steps of the supply chain (field-factory-supermarket-fridge-restaurants-kitchen-partners-customer plate). This creation of data trails would thus help in creating the track and trace capabilities throughout the supply chain. This sort of visibility and clarity means food companies would be able to identify contamination/hindrances/adulteration/delivery or certification issue with more speed and accuracy than ever before. Blockchain could thus help the food industry in giving consumers what they want. It would therefore place the food supply chain in closer alignments with the evolving consumer habits in terms of increased awareness across the food and eatery platform.

A mix of Cloud Kitchen (or Restaurants) + Mobility Infrastructure (~5G or 4G) + Blockchain has surely the capability to turn this entire value of supply chain into a safe and secure network. The projected market size of Cloud Kitchens is expected to reach $1.05 Bn 2023. 5G connections in India according to GSMA is expected to reach 88 million by 2025(with around 920 unique mobile subscribers. Over the forecast period (2019-2025), spend on blockchain in India is expected to record a CAGR of 47.3%, increasing from US$ 289 million in 2019 to reach US$ 4,348.3 million by 2025. Therefore, it is still early days yet for this combination of infrastructure(Cloud+Mobility+Blockchain), it holds great potential for revolutionizing the supply chain of F&B industry in the country.