Are You Serving In Bowls?

So a cafe in a business district I’ve been around always serves up its (often excellent) fayre in bowls. Even a sarnie.

The other day I ordered the burger.

Which arrived in a large enamel baking tray tin.

I would have much preferred a flat dish.

No-one could explain the plate paucity.

Then I discovered that they were in fact, very on-trend.

Out go slates, panes of glass, blocks of wood. In come bowls. Anything, it seems, without a rim.

A bowl is the latest way eateries have learned to lull the brain into thinking the food presented is special.

Alongside heavy cutlery, rock solid drinkware and warmed crockery.

There’s naturally many a web trope that rails against this.

And so it is when we show our – usually way less touchable – wares.

What surrounds our provision?

I remember similar such internal fights around this.

At one software house many moons ago, about how to deliver the disks. A jewel case alone simply didn’t cut it for their ‘premium’ positioning.

The whole genre of trying to produce packaging that can be re-purposed – I particularly like the cut-out-and-play board games ideas.

Even a supposed ‘luxury’ car retailer trying to provide a suitable aligned welcome personalisation accompanying delivery (they choose bespoke branded leather goods).

Yet there is a line between genuine class and a throwaway gimmick.

How are you making your delivered-end product seem ‘special’ upon first ‘unboxing’?

And come to that, your Prop on first reading…?