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Moody’s Downgrades Grubhub

By Tom Kaiser | December 29, 2021

Moody’s downgraded its outlook for Grubhub while maintaining a stable outlook for the third-largest U.S. restaurant delivery provider.

DoorDash Partners with Winn-Dixie Parent on Grocery Delivery

By Tom Kaiser | December 29, 2021

Residents in the southeast have new grocery delivery options, as DoorDash has partnered with Southeastern Grocers Inc., parent of Fresco y Más, Harveys Supermarket and Winn-Dixie.

Dispatch Goods Raises $3.7M to Expand Reusable Food Packaging

By Nicholas Upton | December 29, 2021

Food delivery has a packaging problem, and it’s not just sad fries. For nearly every single order, there is at least one single-use container heading to the landfill or out into the environment. To address that issue, Dispatch Goods has been working on returnable containers designed for restaurants and mail-order food deliveries. After growing a successful program in the Bay Area, the company jumped to the East Coast after closing a $3.7 million fundraising round that will help the company continue expanding. For cofounders Maia Tekle and Lindsey Hoell, it’s […]

7 Snarky, Smart and Funny Responses to DoorDash’s WeDash Program

By Nicholas Upton | December 28, 2021

A DoorDash employee went viral for blasting the company’s WeDash program, and the internet snark exploded. WeDash is a program that requires all DoorDash employees to make a delivery once a month. The program was initially launched in 2013 with all proceeds going to charity, but was paused for the pandemic. “As the company grew, the founders wanted everyone to experience different parts of the product so we could get closer to all our audiences and understand how the product works,” a DoorDash spokesperson told CNN. Now, it’s back for […]

Lyft Rolls into Delivery with Olo Partnership

By Tom Kaiser | December 22, 2021

Lyft is getting into the restaurant delivery business through a new partnership with Olo, following in the tire tracks of its rival Uber.

Jet Founder, Marc Lore, Moves into Food Delivery

By Tom Kaiser | December 22, 2021

Marc Lore, the founder of Jet.com, is moving further into the U.S. food delivery scene with a new company called Wonder, an on-demand meal courier platform he calls a “one-stop shop” for prepared meals. 

Waitr Rebranding as ASAP, Acquires Another Cannabis Company

By Nicholas Upton | December 22, 2021

Waitr is set to acquire a cannabis dispensary compliance and point of sale company, adding to a growing pot-payments empire for the company. The Louisiana-based food and grocery delivery company is also changing its name as part of a $4.7 million legal settlement with California-based Waiter.com. Waitr signed a letter of intent to acquire Retail Innovation Labs Inc., which does business as Cova. Waitr will acquire the company for $90 million in cash and shares in the company. It’s one of several acquisitions the company has tackled recently, all of […]

Kitchen United Opens Location No. 9 with New National Partner Fuku

By Nicholas Upton | December 22, 2021

This year may go down as the year of the ghost kitchen, but 2022 is looking pretty ghostly, too. As evidence, ghost-kitchen operator Kitchen United opened its ninth location in Santa Monica, Calif., and inked a new national deal with Fuku. Kitchen United CEO Michael Montagano said its latest shared-kitchen facility embodies the company’s ghost kitchen thesis of operating not in some light industrial wasteland, but alongside other restaurants, retail and residential spaces. There are few places as dense with all three than the new location at Third Street Promenade, […]

Ottonomy Brings ‘Context’ to Robotic Delivery

By Nicholas Upton | December 21, 2021

Ottonomy is approaching robotic delivery with a mind toward scaling where it can operate now as the broader robotic delivery industry matures. CEO Ritukar Vijay has a deep background in robotics, working for nearly 14 years on unmanned aerial drones, warehouse logistics robots and robotic vehicles as well. He said he and his fellow cofounders were working on autonomous cars when he realized the promise of driverless cars was still far off. “We came to the realization that autonomous cars will take some time to hit Main Street,” said Vijay. […]

ChowNow Prepares Revamped Marketplace

By Arthur Robert | December 16, 2021

As an opening salvo, the company is telling users their ‘diner impact score’, or how much they’ve saved themselves and restaurants by ordering through ChowNow. It’s all part of a plan to build a digital marketplace to rival those operated by companies such as DoorDash or Uber Eats.