DinnerCall connects shoppers and retailers to get dinner on the table

March 17, 2016 

The new app DinnerCall unlocks big growth opportunities for grocery retailers in two ways. First, it positions them capture “What’s for dinner tonight?” business (before families head for fast food) – and second, it puts grocers on the same competitive footing with quick-serve restaurants that use technology to make ordering and pickup easy and fast. This is one to watch.

A lot of families want to “do a better job of having dinner,” and DinnerCall is aimed directly at satisfying this need. Organized as a B-corp, it promotes the benefits of families sharing a meal together, and helps them achieve this goal by making it easier to tap into the quality and variety of prepared foods available from their local supermarket. Consumers preorder their meals via the app, and it alerts the retailer that the purchase has been made so they can put together the meal for either pickup or delivery.

One of the first retailers to use DinnerCall is Baesler's Market, an independent in Terre Haute, Indiana, that has a strong reputation for prepared foods. The app’s developer will be measuring the impact of DinnerCall, and expects that it should increase sales by $300 to $400 per day. Baeslers is well-positioned to promote DinnerCall; they post a menu every day describing prepared food offerings that include a choice of main entrée, sides, and soup.

Shoppers are incented to use DinnerCall by earning the app's DinnerBucks in several ways: by downloading the app, preloading money, purchasing through the app, and of course, by referring friends and family. The more they use DinnerCall, the more DinnerBucks they earn.

Bottom Line

Eating patterns are shifting in the direction of "ready-to-cook or ready-to-eat," and the challenge for supermarkets is how to compete with quick-serve restaurants for the business. DinnerCall is a solution worth watching.

To learn more about DinnerCall,  see their press release, Steve Johnson's blog and see the video below.