Partnership aims to heat things up
Upscale restaurant group, grocery retailer team up for online meal delivery service
Take one high-end restaurant group. Add a delivery service from a grocery retailer. Shake it up with a global pandemic.
If you’re Sobeys and Oliver & Bonacini, you’re hoping that’s a recipe for business success.
The two companies are unveiling a new online-only offering Thursday that will allow consumers to order top dishes from Oliver & Bonacini restaurants such as Bannock and Maison Selby, through the Voilà by Sobeys delivery service.
Initially, there will be four frozen products available, all of them prepared in a Sobeys commissary kitchen staffed by Oliver & Bonacini, though O& B Hospitality Group CEO Andrew Oliver said the offerings could expand.
The first four products, the tourtière from Bannock Restaurant, piri piri chicken from Lena, French onion soup from Maison Selby, and O & B’s best-
selling chicken pot pie, are all dishes that easily withstand the freezing and reheating process, Oliver said.
“We wanted to be very surgical in our approach. We’re not going to do this to the point where we couldn’t maintain the quality. The focus is on getting this done right,” said Oliver in an exclusive interview with the Star.
In other words, don’t expect a delicately plated, hundred dollar rack of venison from O & B restaurants like Canoe or Auberge du Pommier. Still, it’s a long way from the frozen TV dinners of yore, said Sobeys special adviser and partner Jeff York.
“His chefs have recreated some of their most popular items. The quality is incredible. It really is restaurant quality food,” said York, founder of the Farm Boy grocery chain purchased by Sobeys’ parent Empire
Co. in 2018.
The soup ($24) and the piri piri chicken ($26) are each designed to serve two people, while the tourtière ($30) and chicken pot pie ($24) are each meant for four to six people.
York says the offering will appeal both to customers who use meal kit subscription services such as Hello Fresh or Goodfood, and to people who use restaurant delivery apps such as UberEats or Skip the Dishes.
“Have you ever had a hot meal via delivery that you’ve been really satisfied with? I haven’t, other than pizza. The quality just doesn’t hold up,” said York.
The new offering, which is currently only available in the Greater Toronto Area, has been in the works for 18 months, but Oliver admits the plans were pushed forward by the global COVID-19 pandemic.
“I don’t think this would have happened this quickly without COVID,” said Oliver.
Most of O & B’s restaurants in the downtown core have been closed for the duration of the pandemic. Being able to put some of his kitchen staff back to work was a crucial part of the deal for Oliver.
“This isn’t a licensing deal. It’s our people doing this. This isn’t made by machines. This has
been putting a lot of our people back to work,” said Oliver, who estimated that the company is at roughly 20 per cent of preCOVID restaurant revenues.
If picking up some extra money when many restaurants are closed is the biggest attraction for O & B, luring customers to Voilà — launched last year — is the biggest draw for Sobeys and Farm Boy.
Retail analyst Lisa Hutcheson said the partnership makes eminent sense for both sides.
“I like this deal. O & B gets some revenue. And for Sobeys, this is a way to lure people to Voilà. They also get more use out of the commissary,” said Hutcheson, managing partner at retail consultancy J.C. Williams Group. Hutcheson pointed out that grocery commissary kitchens are being used less frequently right now because of COVID restrictions.
Voilà, Sobeys’ entry into the heavily competitive grocery delivery market, was also moved up because of the pandemic.
While it may at first lure customers who are frustrated they can’t dine at their favourite restaurant because of lockdowns and are looking for the next best thing, Hutcheson predicts the offering will be successful even once the pandemic is over.