Food pornography, we'll know it when we taste it 
 
You may want to light up a cigarette after reading Tom Kaiser's story on food porn, but as responsible people, we're going to suggest a cold shower instead. His story is based on solid research from a reputable source in the industry on technology increasing our desire to consume calories, but this is what you get when the son of a romance writer gets his hands on a salacious body of work.
This might be our most diverse issue yet. Nick Upton tried to keep up with a bike courier delivering food and ended up with a severe case of quad envy. Laura Michaels checked in with Red Robin on their delivery program with Olo and I added to my repertoire of anything-can-be-subscribed-to stories, this time about a bone broth company. There's also a story on the very first meal delivery service (think WWII) and a round-up of news from around the worldwide web.  Please send your comments, questions to editors to me or Tom Kaiser at tkaiser@foodonedemandnews.com.  We love to hear your feedback.



-Nancy Weingartner Monroe
Editor of Food On Demand
Nancyw@foodondemandnews.com

Harnessing Foodie Networks of Desire
By Tom Kaiser
Unlike the tobacco companies in previous decades, the food industry isn't using chemical addiction to lure its customers, however, a new study published in the Journal of Consumer Research suggests modern technology increases our collective desire to consume and we're all losing control. Whether that's food bloggers, friend networks or companies playing off basic human drives and weaknesses, "Networks of Desire: How Technology Increases Our Passion to Consume" likens so-called food porn with other hypnotic, addictive desires-you know, like real pornography.   
Catching up with Zen Delivery
By Nick Upton
I tried to keep up with Folstad on a recent delivery, but as you can see in the video on the website, it was futile. He did, however, slow down enough to discuss the hyper-local, sustainable and increasingly tech-savvy world of bike delivery.If you want to keep up with Sean Folstad, the founder of bicycle-delivery company Zen Delivery, don't bother.   Read More 
Red Robin's New Delivery Platform Could Make it Faster than a McDonald's Burger
By Laura Michaels
Could there come a day when consumers confine themselves to their homes, binge-watching "Orange Is the New Black" and only opening the door to quickly snatch an Amazon order from the front stoop?

Denny Marie Post hopes not-but if that day should come she still wants those reclusive couch potatoes to be just a few clicks away from their Royal Red Robin burger and Voodoo Fries.  Read More
Boning Up on a New Way to Deliver Daily Health
By Nancy Weingartner Monroe 
Molly Clark started with the bare bones when she launched her new company. It originally was a soup company with the clever name, The Twin Cities Stock Exchange, but as she and her business partner, Maddy Kaudy, read more about the benefits of bone broth, they shifted gears. They moved to the equally clever name, Taking Stock Foods, and began focusing on drinkable bone broth.  
The Original Third-party Delivery System Called Bicycles and Baby Carriages into Service
Sure you know about BiteSquad and Blue Apron and their ilk, but what do you know about the original meal delivery service, Meals on Wheels, that provides food minus the app and vast selection.  Meals on Wheels started back during World War II in England, when the stout-hearted female volunteers delivered hot meals - sometimes on the wheels of bicycles or even baby carriages - to servicemen.  Read More
Video: How to Ink Your Third-Party Delivery Contract
Sponsored By


The right third-party delivery service can increase revenue and demand; the wrong choice can damage your restaurant's reputation and turn-off customers. Our 45-minute webinar - sponsored by online ordering platform, Olo, will give you critical industry insight into how to seamlessly ink your first (or next) delivery service contract. 

Speakers are: 
-  Allan Hickok, Boston Consulting Group's restaurant expert
- Peter Quinn, director of national partnerships at DoorDash 
- Sabato Sagaria, Union Square Hospitality Group's chief restaurant officer 
- Matt Tucker, chief operating officer at Olo
- Food On Demand Editors Tom Kaiser moderated. 

Tales Spun 'Round the Web

Wyndham Resorts delivers supermarkets directly to guests
Hunting down the closest grocery store in an unfamiliar city can be a struggle for travelers, but Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham is working to alleviate this pain with a new pilot service. The extended-stay brand has launched a grocery delivery offering, bringing groceries straight to guests' doors through new partnerships with Instacart, a retail delivery service, and Peapod, an online grocer. The service is piloting at eight Hawthorn Suites hotels around the United States, including major cities like Chicago and Philadelphia.
 
TripAdvisor announces GrubHub partnership
TripAdvisor signed an agreement integrating GrubHub's restaurant network into the TripAdvisor website and mobile app. Users will be able to access the GrubHub feature through a restaurant's landing page on TripAdvisor.
 
DoorDash begins using robots, electric bikes to deliver food
DoorDash is diversifying its delivery options with the introduction of non-traditional forms of transport to ease its deliveries. In January, the brand announced a partnership with Starship Technologies, to start integrating its delivery robots into DoorDash's operations. Consumers in Redwood City, California, started testing the pilot starting last March. The robots have a small carrying capacity, and are used for short-distance orders.DoorDash also introduced a new partnership with GenZe, a company behind zero-emission electric bikes, as an alternative mode of transportation for delivery drivers. The bikes, which can move at up to 20 miles an hour without pedal power, are offered for "dashers" in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Vancouver and Washington, D.C.
 
Blue Apron acquires BN Ranch
Bill Niman, who has supplied Blue Apron with grass-fed beef and free-range turkey for more than two years, officially sold his ranch to the company in March. The meal-kit pioneer now owns the BN Ranch brand, and added Niman to its team.
 
Sun Basket shines brightly after infusion of cash
Sun Basket, a start-up meal-kit company focusing on healthy recipes using organic ingredients, has raised $9 million in a series C-2 round of venture funding led by Unilever Ventures, with Baseline Ventures and Founders Circle Capital. The investment brings the startup's total capital raised to-date to $52 million, according to techcrunch.com. Executive Chef Justine Kelly of Slanted Door and Iron Chef fame is the culinary force behind the company's recipes. The company recently opened a facility in the Midwest that allows it to deliver meal kits to 98% of the U.S. The new funding will be used to ramp up marketing, scale operations as well as new packaging materials.
 
Grocery store jumps on meal-kit bandwagon
Publix Super Markets Inc. is making its own meal kits in an attempt to woo consumers over to on-demand home cooking rather than restaurant takeout and delivery. The pre-bagged meal kits come in three levels of preparation: simplest, which requires heating the food; simpler, which could mean up to four steps; and simple, a meal that takes up to six steps. The kits currently available at the store in Tampa, Florida, range from $9.99 to $37.99, according to Tampa edition of the Business Journal.
 
Naspers international buying spree continues
Berlin-based Naspers has invested $421.3 million in the online food ordering and delivery business Delivery Hero. The investment comes amid increasing speculation of an initial public offering for the Berlin-based food delivery business, according to techcrunch.com.
 
New Figures on meal delivery kits
Analyst Morningstar's Consumer Observer report estimates that almost 19 million U.S. consumers will have tried an online meal-kit service by 2021, with more than 11 million actively ordering meal-kit services, whereas in 2016, 8 million people tried an online meal-kit service. Morningstar expects U.S. online grocery sales to grow 18 percent to $14.2 billion in 2017. However, 2018 and 2019 will represent a key inflection point for online grocery sales in the U.S., with industry growth accelerating to 23 percent and 26 percent, respectively, driven by the halo effect of meal-kit services on online grocery sales.

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