Restaurant industry veterans shared what works and what doesn’t at the Enterprise VR/Ghost Kitchens Strategies Panel at FODC.
As third-party delivery continues to grow and evolve, many big questions remain and many more have emerged as business-critical topics the industry struggles to understand. Seeking to answer some of those questions, a Food On Demand conference panel tapped into the massive amount of data for answers. Moderated by Carl Orsbourn, the author on the recent book exploring the industry, Delivering the Digital Restaurant (and a recent FOD podcast guest). “This past year has taken us to a whole new level,” said Orsbourn. Digging into the graphs and spreadsheets, he […]
“If I may say, we’re here to disrupt the food delivery industry,” said Ben Thein, left, of Flytrex, which makes food delivery drones. Andy Rebhun, El Pollo Loco, is one of Flytrex’s first customers in the United States. “Food delivery has reached new heights” intoned the video played with dramatic music at the Food On Demand Conference today. People look skyward, gasping, from atop a horse or in their car, then customers make a mad dash to their backyard as an El Pollo Loco-branded drone lowers their food via a […]
Michael Beacham of REEF Technology, Corey Manicone of Kitchen United and Alex Canter of Nextbite discussed the future of virtual and ghost kitchens with moderator Tom Kaiser at the Food On Demand Conference. The young virtual restaurant and ghost kitchen business is in a “huge experimental phase,” said Alex Canter, CEO of Nextbite, on opening day of the Food On Demand Conference. He considers that a good thing. “We’re seeing lots of restaurants try to do their own brands, lots of restaurants partnering with other people’s brands. It’s not a […]
Speaking on opening day of the Food On Demand Conference, Sam Nazarian, CEO of global food tech platform C3, says one of his goals is to have a complete ecosystem that helps facilitate direct communication with customers. C3 counts hundreds of “digital brand kitchens,” 40-plus virtual brands, a digital ordering app and, as of this morning, a joint venture with actress Sofia Vergara’s Latin World Entertainment to develop digital culinary brands as components of its global food tech platform. But, as CEO Sam Nazarian noted in today’s opening session at […]
Robert Earl, co-founder and president of Virtual Dining Concepts, talked about being ill-prepared for MrBeast Burger’s overnight success on the first day of the Food On Demand Conference at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. From leading the famed Hard Rock Cafe as CEO to founding Planet Hollywood International, Robert Earl knows a thing or two about the hospitality, food and beverage industries. Earl, who hails from North-West London, ventured into the off-premises space with his son Robbie in 2018 when they launched Virtual Dining Concepts, which features mainly celebrity-backed concepts […]
Senior VP Kevin Kearns, right, today introduced Grubhub’s new service, Supplemental Delivery, on opening day of the Food On Demand Conference in Las Vegas. He also reflected on the past 18 months. “It’s an honor to serve the industry,” he said, in discussion with Food On Demand Editor and conference master of ceremonies Tom Kaiser. “This industry is not done changing the world,” declared Editor Tom Kaiser as he kicked off the Food On Demand Conference at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas today. Grubhub exec Kevin Kearns recalled a […]
*This is content sponsored by Grubhub. Grubhub and Just Eat Takeaway stole headlines earlier this year when they completed one of the largest mergers ever in the meal delivery sector. We sat down with Grubhub’s Liz Bosone, Senior Director, Restaurant Success, to find out what Grubhub is up to post-acquisition and what readers can expect to hear from the company at the Food on Demand Conference (FODC). Grubhub has a new look. What is the significance of the brand change? We joined with Just Eat Takeaway (JET) in June 2021 […]
A new partnership between ItsaCheckmate, a delivery aggregator and menu management company, and cloud point-of-sale provider Square aims to create a streamlined experience for customers of both companies. ItsaCheckmate founder and CEO Vishal Agarwal said the partnership aligns the two fast-growth companies under a single tablet. Under the new deal, Square users can choose ItsaCheckmate from the Square app library. When installed, users can manage their third-party delivery aggregation—ItsaCheckmate’s core capability—but also manage digital menus, menu modifiers, pricing, and images from inside the Square ecosystem. That saves multiple steps for […]
Automated vehicle company Nuro landed a fresh $600 million Series D fundraising round and brought in some notable investors as it reached a valuation of $8.6 billion. Nuro, the company behind a growing fleet of Smart-car-sized automated delivery vehicles, attracted a few notable investors in both its latest and previous round. In the prior round, Chipotle joined the investor table and, this time, grocery giant Kroger jumped in. Kroger has been pushing all sorts of interesting off-premises tests lately, including a major investment in ghost-kitchen operator ClusterTruck and a partnership […]
