Crave Hospitality Group to Debut Kitchen Suites, Mobile Servers

Crave Hospitality Group (CHG) will open its first Crave Collective in Boise, Idaho, on November 17. It will feature purpose-built kitchen suites for its 16 restaurant partners, each of whom has created a custom, designed-to-travel menu to ensure every order placed meets Crave’s standards for quality.

CHG move comes as restaurants of all sizes are going all in on to-go, optimizing off-prem as groundbreaking technology leads the way.

Delivering on Experience

Tech entrepreneur Devin Wade, industry veteran Chef Scott Howard, and Boise restaurateur Barry Werner co-founded Crave in 2019 and plan to expand to 10 additional locations over the next two years. They realized that the emerging delivery services model was not a viable option for award-winning chefs and restaurateurs preparing food from their kitchens or remote kitchens and having it delivered by a third-party because of the subpar customer experience.

“The model needed to be reimagined,” says Wade. “Ours was designed from the chef and restaurateur’s perspective with a shared responsibility for customer satisfaction. From our fleet of dedicated ‘mobile servers’ to our on-site Crave Concierge available to answer any questions throughout the ordering process, we have created a system that brings service and high standards back to the delivery experience.”

The key factor that separates Crave from other delivery companies, ghost kitchens, and virtual restaurant brands is its unifying standard of hospitality, exemplified through the following differentiators:

• Each of Crave’s “mobile servers” are employees of the company, paid approximately three times the minimum wage, and fully participate in its hospitality-focused culture. The drivers make one delivery at a time, ensuring that the food is en route for the least amount of time possible.
• Crave invites customers to easily mix and match dishes from any and all of Crave’s restaurants, since they are all housed under one roof.
• Crave’s restaurant partners specifically crafted their designed-to-travel menus based on seasonal produce, customer feedback, and their own signature dishes.
• Most kitchen suites in the Crave Collective are operated by the restaurant’s own trained local culinary team. Designed for collaboration, the restaurants are supported by a full technology suite and proprietary in-house delivery system that uses machine learning to shorten the time from when an order is placed to when it reaches the customer.

Chefs debuting concepts at this location are: Lincoln Carson, a James Beard nominee for Outstanding Pastry Chef, will open Merite Bake Shop; and Tony Gemignani, 13-time World Pizza Champion, will open Tony G’s Pizzeria. Three brands are from award-winning chef and restaurateur Michael Mina, including the fourth outpost of International Smoke, his collaboration with television host and author Ayesha Curry, and more. Howard, a renowned chef and six-time Michelin Bib Gourmand winner, led the selection process. 

Doubling Down on Drive-Thrus

The Crave Collective is a 15,000-square-foot custom-built facility in the town of Meridian, located just outside of Boise. Each of its 16 kitchen suites features a 10-foot hood, three-compartment sink, hand sink, and stainless steel work stations. Crave worked with each restaurant to determine and install the appropriate cooking equipment for each concept; for instance, wok stations for Betelnut or a pizza oven for Tony G’s Pizzeria. A conveyor belt runs down the center of the building allowing for maximum efficiency; a finished dish can go straight from the kitchen to the Crave expediters who will collect, double check, complete, and deploy orders for delivery or pick-up.

Fast casual and QSR brands too are looking at optimizing their drive-thrus. 

The Crave Collective will include two covered drive-thrus for Crave’s “mobile servers” to receive orders. Diners who wish to pick up their orders from the Crave Collective can utilize its dedicated drive-through mobile order pick-up lanes or visit the Percolate Tea Bar for pick-up along with grab-and-go items.

Crave’s proprietary technology suite includes:

• Consumer-facing iOS/Android app supported in real-time via order management system
• Powered by AI, the delivery logistics platform facilitates route optimization and mobile server matching to household
• Driver iOS/Android app with employee check in, turn by turn directions, troubleshoot automation and driver dashboard metrics
• Location-based technology to indicate when delivery drivers arrive for pick-up

Crave empowers its restaurant partners through technology, too. They have direct access and control to view and manage their entire kitchen operation including restaurant profiles, menus, inventory, availability settings, order management workflows, reporting, and analytics.