latest posts

BurgerFi Partners with Gopuff on Late-Night Delivery in Tallahassee

By Tom Kaiser | March 24, 2022

Gopuff partnered with BurgerFi to deliver burgers and sides during late-night hours in Tallahassee, Florida.

Greg Creed, Former Yum Brands & Taco Bell CEO, Joins Thanx Board

By Tom Kaiser | March 24, 2022

Thanx received some star power with news that Greg Creed, former CEO of Yum Brands, joined the company as an advisor.

Nextbite, WWE Launch Virtual Restaurant in Dallas

By Tom Kaiser | March 24, 2022

Nextbite teamed up with the WWE to launch a virtual restaurant in the Dallas area ahead of WrestleMania 38.

Loyalty Revs Direct-Ordering Flywheel

By Nicholas Upton | March 23, 2022

Direct digital orders are a common goal across the restaurant space, and loyalty has emerged as a way not to push users to order direct but instead entice them with perks, ease and lower fees. Back in 2019, Olo founder and CEO Noah Glass wrote, “The measure of success in the years to come will be a restaurant’s percentage of direct digital sales.” The industry was moving in that direction for restaurants to reduce the burden of delivery provider commissions, but like so many things, the COVID-19 pandemic spurred that […]

Miso Bot ‘Chippy’ Slinging Chips in Chipotle Test

By Nicholas Upton | March 18, 2022

Miso Robotics and Chipotle are testing an automated chip-making robot to see if it can keep up with human counterparts and meet the burrito giant’s exacting standards. Dubbed “Chippy,” the chip-making robot will look familiar to Flippy fans. It’s based on the same platform that powers Flippy, the burger-flipping and fry-frying robotic arm. Chippy, however, is slimed down from the typical multiple-fryer outlay and was designed to work with a single fryer as Chipotle restaurants typically only have the one chip-making station. There were some significant tweaks to the platform […]

Restaurant Group Sues Google Over ‘Unauthorized Buying Service’

By Arthur Robert | March 17, 2022

A Lime Fresh Mexican Grill franchisee accused Google of using “bait-and-switch” tactics to encourage customers to place orders on third-party delivery marketplaces, depriving restaurants of profitable first-party sales they would have otherwise made.

DoorDash Launches DashMart Accelerator for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

By Tom Kaiser | March 17, 2022

DoorDash announced a new small business educational program called the Accelerator for Local Goods.

Nextbite Hires General Manager of Operations

By Tom Kaiser | March 17, 2022

Nextbite has hired Michelle Wickham, a 37-year enterprise restaurant executive, as its general manager of operations.

Two Ghost Growth Mindsets from Qdoba, WOWorks

By Nicholas Upton | March 17, 2022

Two restaurant companies are scaling up their ghost kitchens, and they’re taking some slightly different approaches to make ghost operations fit with their brands. Health-focused WOWorks, the parent company of Saladworks, Frutta Bowls, Garbanzo Mediterranean and The Simple Greek, is rolling out 20 Saladworks locations with Combo Kitchen. Combo Kitchen, itself a franchise, has grown to 170 locations in its first year of business, partnering with franchisees to bring more cuisine types into their restaurants. These 20 ghost kitchens will be inside WingHouse restaurants in central Florida. Under the three-way […]

Inside Miso Robotics’ ‘Passive’ Crowdfunding Program

By Arthur Robert | March 17, 2022

Kitchen robotics are having a moment, both in terms of popular interest and investor support. Miso Robotics, the maker of “Flippy 2,” a robotic arm designed to operate a fry station and a handful of other automation products, is monetizing the interest through equity crowdfunding. Over the past two years, the company raised an impressive $50 million from more than 18,000 investors and recently announced another round of crowdfunding, hoping to raise an additional $40 million. The crowdfunding has been done under the Regulation A+ exemption. Sometimes known as a […]