Ghost kitchens don’t exactly conjure up the sexy, flashy image of the best restaurants in the world. These multi-tenant, delivery-focused spaces are often built in non-desirable real estate, with the priority on access for delivery drivers and affordable rent to make the numbers work for tenants looking to profit with high-volume delivery. That model is being flipped on its head by SBE Entertainment Group, the Los Angeles-based global operator of hotels, restaurants and nightclubs. SBE’s new C3 subsidiary is branded as a cutting-edge food and beverage platform that’s bringing new […]
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A new survey of restaurant operators on the Uber Eats platform shows many feel that, were it not for third-party delivery volume, the vast majority would have had to lay off staff members or cut staff hours to get through the pandemic. Putting a finer point on it, three out of four operators on the Uber Eats network surveyed said they would have had to close their doors if not for the ‘Eats volume. While any survey put out by a company surveying its own customers should be viewed with […]
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When Waitr (NASDAQ: WTRH) pre-announced its second quarter results, it looked like a starkly different company than it did at the beginning of 2020. But it wasn’t the new popularity of delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic that got the company back on track, it was tough decisions, thoughtful exploration and seeing what the core constituents really wanted out of the company, according to the company’s new leader. Back in January, it seemed that incoming CEO Carl Grimstad was set to be another rotation in a revolving door of CEOs—he was […]
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There’s a rush of delivery providers and marketplaces diversifying beyond restaurant delivery and moving into new corners of retail. The latest example is DoorDash, which just announced a new partnership to deliver thousands of items from Walgreens on demand. This comes just four months after Postmates expanded its own partnership with the second-largest pharmacy brand in the U.S. While both partnerships do not include delivering prescription medicines, they do cover all the drinks, candy, groceries, personal-care items and over-the-counter medicines that round out the shelves in a typical Walgreens. Through […]
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Portillo’s, the Chicago-dog institution, will be coming to diners via native delivery soon. The company first implemented delivery via DoorDash in 2017 and has expanded with Uber Eats as well, but a new hiring spree of “several hundred” workers will help the company pivot into in-house delivery program. According to a press release outlining the move, “The chain will soon begin using its own drivers to deliver select orders that come through portillos.com or its app, bringing the true Portillo’s experience to customer’s doorsteps.” A company representative said there will […]
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While we’re hopefully past the worst of the pandemic shortages and hoarding, FreshRealm is betting restaurants still have a lot to gain by packaging cook-at-home meals that can either be sold individually or as an up-sell for customers already dropping by to pick up traditional, fully cooked takeout orders. Offering a full spectrum of options, from traditional meal kits that need full assembly down to less intensive options where you just cook the protein or heat the meal back up in an oven—all the way down to TV-dinner-style meals that […]
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Bite Squad—a third-party delivery platform that’s a subsidiary of Waitr—is back in growth mode, according to various news reports, as it looks to add hundreds of new drivers in key markets, along with new executive team members and expanding its delivery service in Oahu, a critical market for the brand. The Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal first reported that Bite Squad is adding 500 new drivers, which would be a more than 70 percent increase of its Twin Cities fleet. Following a brutal 2019 for parent company Waitr, the Louisiana-based delivery […]
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A new model for ghost kitchens has quietly rolled out in Los Angeles. CloudKitchens opened up what amounts to an alley adjacent to several shared-kitchen storefronts. According to the foodservice newsletter HNGRY, it’s an expensive new idea that combines both drive-thru and shared-kitchen operations. According to the publication, CloudKitchens bought the land for $420,000 and spent a further $1.5 million for three custom shipping-container kitchen facilities. It’s the first modular site for the secretive company and is located nearby the University of Southern California. Currently, a golf cart ferries orders […]
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From the unintended-consequences-of-food-delivery desk comes the story of NBA great Richaun Holmes stuck in his hotel room after getting a food delivery order. Holmes, the center for the Sacramento Kings, “broke the bubble” the NBA has created around the Disney World Campus in Orlando, where the league has teams under very strict rules to guard against quarantine. Anyone entering the bubble is quarantined for two days upon arrival during which they are tested for COVID-19. If they leave after that initial period, they face a 10-day quarantine. Just days after […]
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After purchasing a majority stake in Latin America’s Cornershop grocery delivery service, Uber has announced a dramatic expansion of its grocery delivery offering into select cities in Latin America, Canada and, later this month, the United States. With the promise of more markets coming online soon, Uber has positioned this rollout as a significant part of its plans to find new opportunities for growth after the pandemic significantly curtailed ride-hailing volumes in cities across the globe. This product launch comes after grocery delivery experiments with more than 9,500 merchants in […]
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