Loyalty is top of mind for the restaurant industry as operators look to build a better mousetrap and bring customers back again and again. For companies leading in loyalty, that’s a great way to keep customers close, but with every new loyalty program, the loyalty mousetrap becomes more of a commodity. “Those programs become less effective if they all look the same,” said Thanx founder and CEO Zach Goldstein. “Effectively, when it becomes table stakes and everyone has a buy X get Y program, they are no longer to be […]
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Chipotle marked another exceptional year of business by nearly every metric. Off-premises operations and digital ordering were especially bright spots in its latest earnings report. In the fourth quarter, Chipotle’s revenue increased 22 percent, reaching $2 billion for the first time in company history. Same-store sales (SSS) grew by 15.2 percent—not as high as the 31.2 percent in the second quarter but far higher than Q4 of 2020, when the company SSS were 5.7 percent. Overall margins were 8.1 percent. For the full year, revenue increased 26.1 percent to $7.5 […]
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Unfurl Cuisine is a growing, 3-unit operation in the murky area between ghost kitchens and food halls.
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Lunchbox closed a $50 million Series B that will allow the company to accelerate its research and development efforts.
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Sharebite announced a partnership with Vornado Realty Trust, New York City’s leading office landlord.
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Florida-based virtual restaurant provider, The Local Culinary, is planning to expand outside of the United States.
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Instacart is displaying prepared food from its grocery partners front and center on the marketplace, calling it a “break up with take out.”
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Apex and Tacit Corporation announced a new integration to combine Apex’s smart food locker technology with Tacit’s digital ordering and processing.
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The pace of innovation around automated foodservice is nothing short of explosive. Hyper Robotics is pushing the limits with a near fully-automated Pizza Hut restaurant, but wants to translate that pace into scale for new brands. “The biggest story of all is not building the store, the biggest story is that we sell scale,” said co-founder and CEO Udi Shamai. Shamai is no stranger to scaling technology or restaurants. He also co-founded restaurant AI company Dragontail and serves as the president of Pizza Hut Israel, his second pizza leadership role […]
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The grocery segment is grappling with the same profitability concerns as the restaurant space as delivery continues grabbing a larger share of the pie. Consulting firm McKinsey explored the challenges and opportunities in a new report on the grocery industry, making a strong case for new models and deeper technology penetration. Authors John Barbee, Raoul Dubeauclard, Kyle Jensen and Julia Spielvogel, all partners and consultants at the firm, laid out the problem succinctly. “While omnichannel continues to offer added convenience for consumers, profitability remains a challenge for grocery retailers,” read […]
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