Food on Demand's January story collection, plus an invitation to break bread
The vehicle for food on demand is flying at the speed of light. Every day there's a
spotlight on new players, consolidations, downsizing, rightsizing, exits, innovations --- the
list goes on. On the same day I read a story in The Wall Street Journal about meal-kit startups losing their sizzle, I received an offer in the mail
to sign up for Sun Basket, a new healthy meal-kit option that would help me lose weight and skip the grocery store. An online article from the U.K.
touts veganism as the top consumer trend for 2018 (as the mother of a vegan, let me just warn you, the restaurant world will be a whole lot less fun
in 2018); another news source advocates tactile foods will trend in 2018 as consumers want more "experiences" with their food. What are we babies?
Vegan food can obviously be delivered, tactile food may be an attempt to get consumers off their couch. In this issue, we're hitting on all cylinders
with driverless cars, what's trending and cute produce bins that show up at your door. And after you finish reading our collection of
stories, be sure to make plans to meet us in Dallas for our March 19 conference. If you think we're fun in print, you should meet us in person!
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-Nancy Monroe Editor of Food On
Demand Nancyw@foodondemandnews.com
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Restaurant Operators Should Cater to Couch Potatoes in 2018
By Laura Michaels
With the changing workforce, the ease of online shopping and the surge in streaming entertainment, there are fewer
and fewer reasons to leave the house, and as market research company NPD notes, "the most popular place to eat out [in 2018] will be in the
home." Read More |
| Robomart Putting
C-stores on Wheels
Convenience stores might be about to get a whole lot more convenient with the announcement of Robomart, a c-store on
wheels that brings groceries, baked goods and prepared foods right to your front door. Read More
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Adding Technology to Grocery Stores Eases Hunting and Gathering By Nancy Monroe Smart tablets
are hitting their stride: replacing laptops for the younger generations, being reconfigured into kitchen appliances (part exhaust hood, part family
communication vehicle), advertising the freshness of fast food at fast-casual counters and supplying recipes and shopping lists.
Read More
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| Pizza Hut
Developing Fully Autonomous Delivery Vehicles with Toyota By Tom Kaiser Pizza Hut
delivered a surprise at this year's International Consumer Electronics Show with the announcement that they have partnered with Toyota on the
development of delivery vehicles. Read More |
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| | Tales Spun Round the Web
Uber and Nvidia Team Up on Self-Driving
Cars Uber announced that the ridesharing company has partnered with Nvidia for further development of the AI computing system in
its fleet of self-driving vehicles. Speaking at the opening press conference of CES 2018, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang said the collaboration
utilizes Nvidia technology for Uber Advanced Technologies Group's fleets of self-driving cars and freight trucks, running AI algorithms that enable
vehicles to perceive the world, predict what will happen next and quickly choose the best course of action, even in complex environments.
Target Ditching Instacart for Shipt
After Target acquired same-day delivery brand Shipt for $550 million in December, the Minneapolis-based retail giant is reportedly dropping its
previous delivery partnership with Instacart, according to a story published the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Grubhub Now Delivers White Castle (Just Not On A White Horse) In hopes that
maybe, just maybe, there are people jonesing for Crave Cases who are unwilling to leave their house to get them, White Castle and Grubhub have
announced a partnership to deliver the famous mini-sliders from more than 120 U.S. White Castle restaurants.
Restaurant Revolution Technologies a Third Front in Delivery Wars Washington-based Restaurant Revolution Technologies
is joining the fray to provide restaurants with yet another option to reach hungry consumers with as little friction (and human effort) as
possible. Previously branded as RRT, the newly appended Revolution is an omni-channel software-as-a-service ordering software suite for
restaurants that allows restaurants to expand their off-premise ordering while maintaining customer data that's proving to be increasingly valuable to
restaurants.
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Get on
board for the most important conference of the year Brought to you by the same team that produces the popular restaurant
dealmakers' event, the Restaurant Finance & Development Conference, the Food On Demand Conference registration is now open. On March 19-20 in Dallas,
we're bringing together foodservice's key players and experts in mobile ordering, internal and third-party meal delivery, prepared meals,
packaging, and robotics and drone technology to share strategies for increasing efficiency and adding incremental sales. |
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