Meals in Metaverse: Arby’s, Buffalo Wild Wings Joining VR World

The word 'metaverse' has entered common usage, but there remain different ways of conceptualizing and defining it.

Some restaurants are looking for new ways to re-engage with a market heavily affected by a two-year-old COVID-19 pandemic. The term "metaverse" has come to mean a lot of different things to different people. For some, it's a joke and a silly marketing gimmick. But for others, it's the next huge breakthrough in technology. You can get in and out while the world carries on. You can create, buy and sell goods. And you can order and virtually eat food in a digital economy. You obviously can't physically eat food in the metaverse, but there are numerous other things you can do that you can't do in the real world.

Domino's Pizza

Metaverse development company Metazone launched a Domino's ordering kiosk in their 3D platform Decentraland (US customers only). Users were able to order their favorite pizza virtually and have it delivered to their homes.

Burger King

As part of a campaign to ban 120 artificial ingredients from their menus, the fast-food chain launched a range of "Keep It Real" meals in their restaurants. Each meal box displayed a QR code customers could scan to receive one of three NFT tokens. Upon collection of all three, customers entered a draw to win digital 3D collectibles, signed merchandise, or free Whoppers for a year.

Chipotle

To celebrate Halloween, the Mexican fast-casual chain opened a virtual restaurant within the gaming platform Roblox, giving away US$1 million worth of free burritos to the first 30k users visiting the restaurant. Customers who successfully completed a Halloween-themed virtual maze were given a free burrito coupon to redeem at Chipotle physical outlets.

Arby's

Arby's is a fast-food sandwich restaurant chain that is stepping into the Metaverse. It has filed trademarks with the U.S Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in order to become part of Metaverse.