McKinsey put out a report advising the restaurant industry how it might survive or thrive in the “next normal.” Noting that the pandemic has most severely impacted restaurants in urban areas, the authors outlined nine possible scenarios for the restaurant sector’s recovery, which included anonymous input from 2,000 global executives on which scenarios they feel are most likely to unfold. First, the bad news. Stacey Haas, John Moran, Eric Kuehl and Kuma Venkataraman, authors of “How restaurants can thrive in the next normal,” outlined that sales in the fine-dining and […]
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In a recent survey, consumers shared their attitudes and perceptions of delivery. In some ways, it has shifted as more people utilize third-party delivery and off-premises in general, but a lot of pre-pandemic attitudes remain the same. In a survey of more than 1,000 consumers by the Australian restaurant software developer Dragontail Systems (ASX: DTS), the company asked various questions about the overall delivery and off-premises experience. The biggest takeaway: Consumers still fault the originating restaurant for a poor experience that began on a delivery app. Nearly 40 percent of […]
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In Uber’s attempt to acquire Grubhub, the second-largest U.S. restaurant delivery service, there are stumbling blocks beyond agreeing to a selling price, which is speculated as being responsible for holding up the deal at present. If financial terms are settled, the government gets a chance to weigh in and decide whether this potential combined entity would have a negative impact on both customers and restaurants. During a conference call with Peter Saleh, managing director and restaurants analyst at research firm BTIG, antitrust expert Seth Bloom, president of Bloom Strategic Counsel, […]
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The delivery industry isn’t lacking for youthful energy and big ideas. MealMe, a new and still-evolving service from a pair of recent college grads, combines an aggregator function to help consumers price compare delivery options from local restaurants with the ability to make a reservation and share food pics—but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The company’s co-founders hope to expand the offering to give at-home chefs the ability to sell their prepared meals through the app. Described as a “moonshot idea” that could revolutionize the food-delivery landscape, MealMe […]
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A new study of U.S. consumers shows an increased willingness to pay more to order delivered meals directly from restaurants versus third-party apps, possibly signaling heightened awareness of delivery economics in the eyes of the average consumer.
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In an effort to help restaurants navigate the recovery phase of the pandemic, DoorDash announced a new “Main Street Strong” initiative that includes new products, programs and policies to help restaurants survive and grow their businesses. That assistance includes helping restaurants set up online stores and $0 delivery fees on all orders from local restaurants every Saturday June, among others. Pulled from a press release on the announcement, the “Main Street Strong” campaign includes the following new efforts: DoorDash Storefront This new service enables restaurants to create their own online […]
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Preferring the term “neighborhood kitchen” to ghost or virtual kitchen, Miami-based Reef Kitchens is a mixture of both, serving as a delivery-only hub for established restaurants and those that exist purely in online form within third-party delivery apps.
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States are reopening, but major challenges still persist for restaurants, maintaining the need for strong delivery and off-premises operations. Sharing best practices, technology opportunities and key insights from the delivery marketplaces was the core focus of the Food On Demand webinar titled “Off-Premises and Third-Party Delivery Strategy,” the first session in the second weeklong Restaurant Recovery Week focused on how operators can manage through the new norms of the strange times brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. In the webinar, moderated by Food On Demand Editor Tom Kaiser, three industry […]
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Embracing non-traditional operations as the new normal, the consultants at Figure 8 Logistics have teamed up with Zuul Kitchens, a New York City-based ghost kitchen operator, to advise restaurants on the full buffet of non-traditional restaurant models that are suddenly more viable as a quick return of dine-in customers still remains out of arm’s reach as infection rates keep rising outside of the cities hardest hit by the pandemic’s first wave. Focusing on delivery, carryout, ghost kitchens, virtual restaurants and repurposing existing restaurant square footage, the two consultants are diving […]
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As more restaurants continue to do takeout, DoorDash is expanding its two-year-old customer pickup feature that shares customer location data so merchants can be alerted to them approaching the store to ease back-of-the-house operations. The company, which is the largest U.S. third-party delivery brand, says tens of thousands of merchants are now using the pickup platform to “help generate even more sales for merchants at zero cost to them.” The no-fee pickup option gives customers the ability to avoid delivery fees, if they’re feeling industrious enough to leave the house […]
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