Features
How Broadsheet’s Nick Shelton helped build Providoor on the down low
The lesser known co-founder of Providoor tells Mumbrella how the premium food delivery service launched directly into the screens of its food-loving target market through a close affiliation with Broadsheet.
When the enforced shutdown of venues and cultural life as we then knew it first hit in 2020, the hospitality industry faced an immense blow, and with it, the media that relied on its existence.
However, for Broadsheet, the opportunity of the great ‘pivot’ became clear. The publication not only managed to survive the impacts of last few years, but by expanding its cultural touchpoints within the home, came through the pandemic in a better position than it had been before, according to founder Nick Shelton.
Embracing the same shifting cultural epicenter – from the city to the loungeroom – Shelton co-launched a new delivery concept that allowed food lovers to enjoy a fine dining experience from home.
Shelton’s behind-the-scenes involvement in the platform is a little known fact, with his name seldom mentioned alongside the business. More public is the close partnership that has since been forged between Broadsheet and Providoor.
It was Shelton’s good friend, restaurateur and chef Shane Delia, that approached him with the idea of the premium food delivery service in 2020. Straight away, the concept was an obvious fit.
“Broadsheet exists to help our readers live their cultural life to its fullest,” Shelton tells Mumbrella, “and Providoor is a wonderful example of how people can enrich just their day-to-day life, through good food at home.”
While Shelton co-founded the business, he insists that it is primarily Delia’s project, as he remains largely focused on running Broadsheet. Shelton describes his role in Providoor as that of a “silent partner and investor”.
“During lockdown, Broadsheet took the view that culture never stops,” he explains. “So no matter what the restrictions we felt you can live a rich cultural life, even if it’s at home.
“So there’s a natural marriage between Providoor and Broadsheet, which made this partnership really, really strong.”
The story goes that during the first lockdown in 2020, Delia was forced to think on his feet when it became clear that business could not move forward as usual for his restaurant, Maha.
Noticing the way communities flocked to online food delivery platforms like Ubereats in the absence of dining out, Delia saw a gap in the market for a more premium food offering – one that could be a critical lifeline for suffering hospitality businesses.
“He [Shane] took a bit of a beat over a week,” said Shelton, “Then he decided to put his food in a box, refrigerate it, and deliver it overnight.”
The partially prepared meals are delivered to customers homes with the idea being that the meal is completed in the home kitchen – maintaining the integrity of high quality ingredients.
“What he saw was this huge explosion in revenue. And the food is so much higher quality when it comes via the Providoor process than it does off the back of a bicycle, an hour after it’s been cooked.”
When the lockdown restrictions later lifted around May 2020, Delia approached Shelton with a business idea for a marketplace platform that would provide a scalable system and delivery mechanism for other restaurants.
With Shelton’s knowledge and experience of brand and digital marketing, the pair set up the business, and developed a partnership between Providoor and Broadsheet that would help the concept to get off the ground in foodie circles.
Shelton notes that the independence of Broadsheet allowed him to undertake the opportunity offered by Providoor and launch the product through the Broadsheet platform, giving Providoor a direct line to one of its most important audiences.
“If Shane had launch without the partnership with Broadsheet, it would have been very expensive for him to acquire customers. So the partnership helped drive the rapid growth.”
Of course, the reprieve from lockdown would not last for long in Melbourne, with the state again thrown under strict lockdown conditions for several months from July.
During this time the business saw immense popularity amongst its Melbourne customer base, later launching in the Sydney market in July 2021 – again, just in time for the state’s biggest lockdown period.
“Through the lockdown period everyone wanted to be a part of it” explains Shelton, adding that the challenge and opportunity now is to turn that into an “ongoing, enduring, business”.
In the post-lockdown context, the business model relies on consumer’s love for being in their own space, giving food-lovers the option to enjoy the best of Victoria, NSW and the ACT’s dining experiences in the comfort of their home.
Partnering with indie creative agency Emotive, Providoor launched its first brand campaign in October last year, leaning into cultish references in an imagined secret society of foodies, underpinned by the platform, “We Worship Food”.
Providoor CMO Michael McCash at the time described the brand’s mission as making exceptional food more accessible, saying the campaign “captures perfectly the reverence in which we, our chefs, restaurants and diners hold food and our shared pursuit of divine culinary experiences.”
Now competing against out-of-home dining and entertainment experiences, Shelton knows Providoor will need to become synonymous in the ways people choose to dine at home – whether its throwing a dinner party, celebrating a special occasion, or treating themselves on a weeknight.
Have your say