With this interview, we are coming to the heart of the BTO 2022 theme, the Metaverse, and its future implications on the HoReCa channel. We are dealing with this by talking to Febo Leondini who, among other activities, is also a professor in the master’s course in Trade management at the Luiss Business School.
The interview concerns the topic “Food & Wine Tourism” and was edited by the scientific coordinator, Roberta Milano.
From your point of view, what are the main changes in post-covid consumption and habits? What do you mean by “transformation of the business model from Horeca place to Horeca process“?
The pandemic has brought out the two-way link between consumption models and social ties: if consumption models change, it means that the way of being together has changed, and vice versa. In the specific case, the passage of physical proximity from a perlocutive act of belonging to an activity ritualized by the health protocol has provoked a rethinking of social interactions. This is a phenomenon that if, on the one hand, it began about 15 years ago with the criminalization of the so-called Movida, it has also undergone a significant acceleration due to Covid-19. Moreover, in the pandemic, this process has found an extraordinary accelerator both from a social point of view and from an economic one because, it should not be forgotten, that at the end of the health emergency, Italy found itself with about 2 million more poor people than before. On the other hand, the human being becomes complete through social interactions and, therefore, an “end of HoReCa” is unthinkable. In this context, HoReCa had to change its meaning and find a new defining paradigm. The idea underlying the transition from the HoReCa-Place to the HoReCa-Process is precisely that of adapting a way of understanding the act of consumption to social change. Post-pandemic HoReCa is no longer defined as belonging to a specific “place” (indeed an “out-of-place, the out-of-home, in fact), but by being together, and this happens everywhere, without any physical constraints. This methodological approach has two advantages: that of giving meaning to all the new forms of administration that are emerging (locker, dark kitchen, take-away, sustainable delivery, personalized nutritional programs), giving citizenship to Homing, and that of expanding the boundaries of the market, underlining how the actorial constraint is mainly of an organizational type and not of a product-service which is, instead, a consequence.
In your opinion, what is the link to be pursued among the territory, new technologies, products and tourism?
Here too I think it is necessary to clarify. If, in fact, the “territory-product-tourism” triad is known, this knowledge has also crystallized in its supply-side dimensions, forgetting the customer. We have the most beautiful territory, the best products and our hotels and restaurants are well-kept but all of this, in itself, does not guarantee the customer a memorable experience. These are necessary elements, perhaps, but not enough, and this is another interesting difference between a local HoReCa and a procedural one. The rethinking of organizational processes is a fundamental element for adapting an offer of goods and services which, otherwise, has its critical success factor in “shooting at random” which, honestly, given the size of Italian companies and the underlying cultural dullness, is neither winning nor honorable. In this context, technology is an enabling factor and as such, it is a means, not an end. Behind, and before technology, there must be a process of cultural adaptation, otherwise in the best case it all boils down to having operational simplification add-ons, at worst to the competition of reviews on TripAdvisor, to the struggle with Booking and to an annoying mail bombing. In all this, the one who loses is the customer who, of course, either adapts or accentuates Homing.
Metaverse is a theme that is at the center of attention, also at our event. But we want to face it without trivializing it, bringing together different positions. What, in your opinion, is the situation today and what developments do you foresee?
Here the answers are striking: the situation is at the pre-natal level, development is all yet to be done; and not only here, but all over the world. The Metaverse is, if you want to deal with the subject seriously, a concept not a technology and, as such, it first requires the development of an awareness of what a “HoReCa Onlife” could be, a HoReCa, that is, devoted to a customer-mangrove, a citizen of two worlds: the physical and the digital. The Public Business, of whatever nature it is, is one of the meeting points between these two worlds; if you wish, it is the place that brings back the union of presence and localization that digital has taken apart.
HoReCa and Metaverse: De te fabula narratur is the title of your speech on the “Ring” of BTO 2022. Can you anticipate anything of what you’ll be talking about?
Of course. At the moment I am thinking of a speech divided into 4 distinct parts. The first has the job of making everyone aware that, from a conceptual point of view, the Metaverse is not so new and, therefore, we’re moving on familiar ground. The second, on the other hand, aims at trying to provide the tools to deepen the knowledge of the Metaverse but not, as often happens, from the aspect of technology (which is a clever way of staying anchored to the Supply side), but from that of experience. In the third part, I would like to propose a very simple model to describe the developmental phases of the HoReCa business model which serves as an introduction to the last point. The fourth and the last part concerns the social responsibilities that focus on the HoReCa actors, because you cannot desire an economic and social legitimacy and then leave it when there is a need to contribute to the definition of the components of the ecosystem.
Febo Leondini (LinkedIn), President of AFDB and professor of the master’s course in Trade management at the Luiss Business School
Come to BTO – Be Travel Onlife to listen to Febo Leondini’s speech live.
The date is November 29th and 30th, 2022 in Florence.
