A monthly subscription offer should enable the chain of Italian restaurants to win over new customers.
Would you be willing to pay 35 euros a month to eat by the eye whenever you want? This is the bet made by the chain of Italian restaurants Del Arte, owned by the Le Duff group, with its new offer. Against a monthly subscription of 35 euros – lowered to 30 euros the first month – and a six-month commitment, you can order a pizza or a pasta dish per day from a selection of seven recipes. Any additional order, bottle of water, dessert or coffee, will be duly invoiced to you.
“We are betting that customers who subscribe to the offer will not be content to eat only one dish and that they will come accompanied”, explains Philippe Jean, CEO of Del Arte. For this reason, the subscription does not apply to the take-out sale. The objective is clear for the 210 restaurants of the brand: to win back customers.
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The sector is unable, in fact, to regain its levels of attendance before the health crisis, which were 15% higher. Aware that it will be difficult to bring back in the same proportions customers converted to telework, this attractively priced subscription targets two clienteles in particular: students and “southern blue-collar workers”. “In a context of declining purchasing power, this offer should appeal to them”hopes Philippe Jean, who is indignant to see students “queuing up for charity offers”.
A bet on the future
The entrepreneur says it bluntly: his commercial offer is a bet. “I don’t know if it’s going to work, but I think it’s important to shake up our struggling sector with disruptive proposals”, defends Philippe Jean. He anticipates that after a peak in consumption, subscribers will end up frequenting the chain’s restaurants more reasonably. “If we reach an average of two meals a week, I will consider it a success”, he confides. For now, only 13 restaurants are participating in this new offer. But about fifteen franchisees are already getting impatient and want to set up this subscription system in their restaurants, without waiting for the first feedback.
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Still, these tempting offers should be consumed in moderation. “Everyone knows that eating pizza is good for your health, provided you don’t eat it every day, our customers are not devoid of common sense”, says Philippe Jean. The offer, which only concerns pasta and pizza for the moment, is destined to expand to protein dishes and salads, promises the general manager of Del Arte, who praises the nutritional merits of the kitchen italiana.
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