The Latest News
Kea Introduces An AI Phone System That Can Be Set Up in One Hour
Such tech solutions used to be the province of large brands with large budgets. This one is targeted at independents.
Outstanding Operator: 7 Brew Coffee
A drive-thru experience with a big focus on human connection, from personalized service to building relationships with regulars, is fueling rapid growth for the coffee chain.
Brizo FoodMetrics Is Helping Operators Not Freak Out Over Tariffs
It has a price-shock simulator in place and a tariff-vulnerability index on the way.
Outstanding Operator: Dave’s Hot Chicken
The brand’s growth trajectory has been as hot as its chicken. A number of key decisions about its delivery strategy and tech stack help explain its success. Is it any wonder Roark Capital is interested in buying it?
Uber Eats Launches New Offers, Personalized Marketing Tools
Uber Eats is launching three new offer types and new personalized marketing tools to help merchants reach more customers.
ConverseNow and ItsaCheckmate Collab to Make AI-Voice Ordering More Accessible
The move enables ConverseNow to integrate its technology with dozens of point-of-sale systems, significantly reducing onboarding time for new customers.
Sauce Integrates Dynamic Pricing with Olo
Sauce has brought its dynamic pricing to the Olo restaurant tech ecosystem.
Growing Chains Tap Loop’s AI to Optimize Third-Party Delivery
Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers and Dave’s Hot Chicken integrate Loop to address pain points in juggling multiple delivery channels.
Robotic Reindeer Delivering Meals for Uber Eats
Uber Eats is using robotic reindeer to deliver meals in a handful of markets across the country.
Danny Meyer, Amir Hudda on Qu’s EHI Investment
For Qu CEO Amir Hudda, the recent funding from Danny Meyer’s EHI fund is transformative.
Sandland: Are Ghost Kitchens Dead?
Ghost kitchens are still restaurants, and still dependent on unit-level economics to survive and scale.
Panelists Discuss Negotiating Delivery Contracts and Why Reconciliation is Top of Mind
Industry experts dive into challenges and strategies in negotiating third party delivery contracts, and how automating reconciliation can aid restaurants.
Outstanding Operators
Food On Demand Outstanding Operators features restaurant brands with innovative operations that are taking creative paths to success with delivery and all things off-premises.
Food On Demand Topics
Finance
Toast POS Set to Go Public
Toast, the unicorn point of sale provider, has filed to go public. According to SEC documents, the company has grown to just short 48,000 restaurant partners and saw $23.4 billion flow through its system in the six months ending with June, 30 2021. That puts the...
Research
Chipotle Update Brings Walk-Up, Drive-Thru Windows
As it works through a new restaurant design, Chipotle is testing new walk-up and drive-thru windows for digital orders and pickups. According to a CNBC article, the burrito giant will open around 80 restaurants with “Chipotlanes,” which is what they’re calling their...
The Deliverers
Wonder Closes Blue Apron Buyout for $103M
Wonder Group officially closed its deal to buy Blue Apron for $103 million.
Best Practices
What are your peers doing in delivery? Get some of the best practices out there.
RFDC Recap: Restaurant Automation, Who’s Time Has Come?
At the Restaurant Finance & Development Conference, Sharon Zackfia dove into why restaurants are increasingly looking into automation and what types of restaurants are more likely to benefit from this trend.