The Latest News
Delivery Aggregator, MealMe, Aims to Deliver Home-Cooked Meals
The delivery industry isn’t lacking for youthful energy and big ideas. MealMe, a new and still-evolving service from a pair of recent college grads, combines an aggregator function to help consumers price compare delivery options from local restaurants with the...
Delivery Study: Consumers Willing to Pay More to Order Direct
A new study of U.S. consumers shows an increased willingness to pay more to order delivered meals directly from restaurants versus third-party apps, possibly signaling heightened awareness of delivery economics in the eyes of the average consumer.
DoorDash Announces “Main Street Strong” Campaign
In an effort to help restaurants navigate the recovery phase of the pandemic, DoorDash announced a new “Main Street Strong” initiative that includes new products, programs and policies to help restaurants survive and grow their businesses. That assistance includes...
BurgerFi Joins Reef Kitchens in Delivery-Only Expansion
Preferring the term “neighborhood kitchen” to ghost or virtual kitchen, Miami-based Reef Kitchens is a mixture of both, serving as a delivery-only hub for established restaurants and those that exist purely in online form within third-party delivery apps.
Figure 8, Zuul Kitchens Team up on Restaurant Recovery Consulting
Embracing non-traditional operations as the new normal, the consultants at Figure 8 Logistics have teamed up with Zuul Kitchens, a New York City-based ghost kitchen operator, to advise restaurants on the full buffet of non-traditional restaurant models that are...
Food On Demand Topics
Finance
Reservation Platform Tock Nabs $10 Million after COVID Pivot
Reservation and booking platform Tock secured a $10-million investment round as it pivoted from in-person operations to off-premises enabler to help restaurants provide takeout and curbside meals. When COVID-19 hit, the restaurant industry came to a screeching halt,...
Research
McKinsey Restaurant Report Offers Grim Reality, Some Ideas
McKinsey put out a report advising the restaurant industry how it might survive or thrive in the “next normal.” Noting that the pandemic has most severely impacted restaurants in urban areas, the authors outlined nine possible scenarios for the restaurant sector’s...
The Deliverers
Antitrust Expert Weighs Uber-Grubhub Merger Hurdles
In Uber’s attempt to acquire Grubhub, the second-largest U.S. restaurant delivery service, there are stumbling blocks beyond agreeing to a selling price, which is speculated as being responsible for holding up the deal at present. If financial terms are settled, the...
Best Practices
What are your peers doing in delivery? Get some of the best practices out there.
McKinsey Restaurant Report Offers Grim Reality, Some Ideas
McKinsey put out a report advising the restaurant industry how it might survive or thrive in the “next normal.” Noting that the pandemic has most severely impacted restaurants in urban areas, the authors outlined nine possible scenarios for the restaurant sector’s...
FOD Briefs
Low ABV Drink Maker and Membership Club Snags $4.5 Million
If you love cocktails, but don’t like to get drunk or go outside, there’s a new multi-million-dollar startup looking to plug you into a low-alcohol cocktail membership. With the promise of reviving “aperitif culture,” Haus secured $4.5 million in seed funding from a...
Chicago Restaurants Getting Grocery Delivery
MyValue365.com, a Chicago-based ethnic grocery ordering and delivery company that’s previously focused on at-home consumers, announced its entry into B2B grocery-delivery business, which includes deliveries to restaurants. This offering is a part of the company’s new...
DoorDash Unveils 2019’s Trending Delivery Foods
DoorDash has released its annual delivery trend report dubbed “The DoorDash Dish: 2019-2020 Trend Report,” showing what U.S. delivery consumers are hungry for. The report is built on the data from orders through the network and a survey of more than 1,200 DoorDash...
Uber Paints Picture of Future Drone-Driver Hybrid Model
Aerial drones may represent an incredible leap in foodservice technology, but there is still plenty of work to be done before we collectively get there. Uber’s Elevate division recently painted a picture of what that future model might look like as it announced its...
Amid Turmoil, Waitr Lays off Minneapolis Bite Squad Employees
Minneapolis’ StarTribune newspaper reports that Louisiana-based Waitr Holdings laid off the majority of employees at Bite Squad’s downtown Minneapolis headquarters. Waitr acquired Bite Squad in late 2018 for $321 million. The move is the latest shakeup for Waitr,...
Lyft, &pizza Pair Up on Late-Night Employee Rides
Lyft and &pizza, the tech-savvy fast-casual East Coat pizza brand, announced a new partnership to bring &pizza employees in Washington, D.C. a reliable late-night transit option. This isn’t exactly news in the off-premises world, but is another step forward in...