Food on Demand: We've packaged the news for delivery
Food on Demand's recent webinar (you can still download the two sessions from our website to listen to at your leisure) tackled the
complex and multi-faceted nature of third-party delivery. I always learn something tweetable when I listen to people in the trenches talking about how
they solved a problem, or warn about pitfalls to avoid. I also attended the Restaurant Takeout/Delivery/Catering symposium in Denver last month that
discussed all aspects of off-premise dining, but focused on catering. Jim Rand of EzCater was on a panel the day his company announced it had raised
$100 million. His answer to what they're going to do with all that money: "We drive the van," the importance of the raise is to get better at it."
Deputy Editor Tom Kaiser followed up with Rand for an indepth story, and no surprise: They do a lot more than drive a van. Other key insights from
this issue include a report from UBS, a wealth management and equity research firm, on the future of food on demand; an update on the meal kit
segment; and a profile on a company that matches its values with bike delivery. In the cartoon below, Dave Allred, immortalized one of the
funnier delivery stories in the news: a woman who ordered KFC just so the delivery driver would get rid of the spider and its web covering her front
door. We imagined how that demand could help the industry. If you have any comments, story ideas or would like more information on our
upcoming 2019 conference in Chicago, email me at the address below or Deputy Editor Tom Kaiser at tkaiser@foodondemandnews.com.
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-Nancy Monroe Editor of Food On Demand Nancyw@foodondemandnews.com
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| | Incremental Volume Made EZ/ezCater Attracts $100M Investment By Tom Kaiser
Third-party restaurant delivery has opened up the eyes and wallets of restaurateurs, tech investors and hungry consumers. Several
years into this dinner-on-demand revolution, catering has emerged as an adjacent option to give restaurants another avenue for adding incremental
sales and revenue. ezCater is one of several brands looking to cash in on the catering craze, and with a recent $100 million investment into the
company... Read More
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| UBS Lays Out Potential Food On Demand
Futures By Nick
Upton Wealth management and equity research firm UBS put out a thorough look at the
food delivery world and its possible futures. The report, dubbed "Is The Kitchen Dead?" digs into the answers from more than 13,000 consumer surveys
and detailed data analysis from apps and industry experts.
Researchers estimate that global
online food ordering will grow to $365 billion by 2030, growing 20 percent each year from the $35 billion market seen today.
"Powering this are lower meal production costs, increased logistics scale and strong demographic trends," wrote the researchers in the
report.
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Peace Coffee Couriers Tow Coffee
Carts 4,000 Miles a Year By Nancy Monroe
Sam Timmreck used to pedal around 75 miles per week, delivering up to 2,500 pounds of coffee to Peace
Coffee's commercial customers who reside in a 10-mile radius of the roastery in south Minneapolis. Still looking like the lean-muscled
cyclist you'd expect to do it for a living, Timmreck says he's now down to bike deliveries one day a week. The other four days he drives a van,
delivering to the suburbs. And while he's "generally more happy on a bike," five days a week in the saddle got to be a lot of work, he
says. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that Minnesota winters are especially cruel with their minus-zero temperatures and propensity for
lingering snow. Read More
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Delivery brings advantages, headaches to restaurant operations
By Laura Michaels Seth Cohen feels as
though his poké restaurant, Sweetfin, is "kinda like the guinea pig" in the world of fast-casual restaurants working with third-party delivery
services. It's a role that's brought some headaches-Sweetfin's small footprint means waiting delivery drivers create "a bit of a cluster"- but also
insight into how operators can make delivery work to their advantage. It's an insight Cohen shared during a
Food On Demand webinar last month, when the discussion ranged from how third-party delivery services are impacting consumers' dining behavior to
making predictions on what's coming in the next five years. (Hint: delivery is here to stay.) Read More
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| Off-premise dining conference touts catering, technology and getting off the dime By Nancy Monroe How to build a catering business was a big takeaway. Darren Tristano, CEO of CHD Expert, a foodservice data company,
urged restaurateurs to not be so enamored with third-party delivery that they overlook the bigger potential in catering sales. So what's
the difference between a large order and catering? "The majority of operators consider a group of 10 or more as a catering order." Tristano said,
reporting the findings for the survey his company conducted for the conference. "The sweet spot was $100." Read
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| | New
Survey Shows Meal Kit Growth and Churn A new study from Market
Force Information about the U.S. grocery industry shows significant churn for meal-kit delivery services where all the needed ingredients and recipes
are shipped directly to homes. In general, the survey shows continued growth in popularity for meal-kit brands, with 15 percent of the
study participants saying they've tried a meal-kit service at least once, which is up from 11 percent in 2017. However, nearly half (49 percent) were
less than satisfied with the experience. Read More
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LevelUp, a restaurant analytics, loyalty and rewards company, announced a new partnership with Restaurant Revolution
Technologies to help restaurants gain enhanced exposure and ordering distribution across several newfangled ordering channels. As part of the new partnership, Revolution's Order One platform, which submits customer web, mobile, voice, social and chat
orders directly to a restaurant's POS system, will integrate directly into existing LevelUp technology. Read More
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Food On Demand News Briefs
McDonald's Now Catering Breakfast Following in the footsteps of Dunkin' Donuts, which began a catering test in four
states in March, McDonald's is in the midst of its own breakfast catering trial program in Central Florida. Several breakfast bundles, such as a
six-pack of steak Egg McMuffins or the Breakfast Boss (six bacon, egg and cheese McGriddles, six sausage burritos, three hotcakes platters, six hash
browns, three fruit and maple oatmeals, six Apple Slices packets) that serves 12, are available for pick-up or delivery from UberEats at 195
McDonald's restaurants in the Orlando area. Amazon Restaurants Joins Denny's On
Demand Denny's On Demand, the takeout and delivery program the diner brand launched last year, brought another delivery company
into the mix in the form of Amazon Restaurants. Denny's is connected to Amazon Restaurants via Olo Rails, enabling Prime members to find their nearest
Denny's location and have the order sent directly to the restaurant, where it is prepared, picked up by Amazon Flex delivery partners and delivered to
the customer. Uber Eats Goes After the Gamer Crowd in Ninja
Partnership Gamers gotta eat, and Uber Eats is trying to remind them the food pyramid that isn't another name for a Dorito.
In a new advertising partnership with the famous esports player known as Ninja, Uber Eats is looking for inroads to some of the indoor kids.
Ninja, known as Tyler Blevins in the real world (IRL), said it was an easy partnership.
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