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FOD Undercover: MrBeast Burger and Reef Kitchens

By Nicholas Upton | April 28, 2021

MrBeast Burger has proven to be one of the most interesting virtual restaurant operations out there, but Food On Demand wanted to finally experience the hype first hand.

Nearing 100 Units, Halal Guys CEO Talks Ghost Kitchens, Real Estate

By Tom Kaiser | April 22, 2021

The Halal Guys is closing on 100 locations as opens 30-40 units over the next five years. The New York-based brand is continuing testing inside three ghost kitchens and is exploring new drive-thru locations.

Uber Eats Adds Instagram, Merchant Stories Features

By Tom Kaiser | April 22, 2021

Uber Eats is giving restaurants new, more visual ways to connect with hunger-strolling customers with a direct Instagram integration and a new Merchant Stories feature.

Kiwibot Sets Stage for Massive (and Adorable) Growth

By Nicholas Upton | April 22, 2021

Kiwibot unveiled new partners and an updated robot that the company says will help propel them to massive scale. The land-based delivery robot announced a handful of new delivery partners, new city testbeds and new manufacturing partners that will push the company further out of a working concept to what could be major and speedy rollouts of the adorable robot. “Our delivery infrastructure and integration methodology will allow us to deploy service in just weeks,” said Deigo Prada, chief operating officer at Kiwibot. “By the end of 2021, we want […]

ChowNow Sees No Delivery Slowdown, Few Closures

By Nicholas Upton | April 22, 2021

Even as the vaccine rolls out, warmer weather returns and pandemic-fatigued consumers seek to dine out however they can, the volume of delivery orders remains high. That’s according to ChowNow CEO and co-founder, Chris Webb. The leader of the online food-delivery platform for small chains and independent restaurants said the company now generates about $2.5 billion in gross order value across its 20,000 restaurant partners. Webb shared some insights David Palmer. Palmer, a financial analyst and industry watcher at the investment bank Evercore wrote in a report that the company […]

Consumer Engagement Becomes Tech Topic du Jour

By Nicholas Upton | April 15, 2021

In the past 16 months, much of the restaurant industry has turned its attention to customer engagement at all costs. When COVID hit, there was a widespread realization among operators that when customers aren’t coming in or have to stay home, smiling, happy regulars quickly become online strangers. Those that were ahead of the consumer engagement game bounced back earlier and sustained better through the worst of the pandemic and are getting back to normal faster or doing better than they were in 2019. Michael Schatzberg, a New York restauranteur […]

Kitch is a Matchmaker for Underutilized Kitchen Spaces

By Tom Kaiser | April 15, 2021

Kitch is a matchmaker connecting growth-minded restaurant brands or aspiring chefs who aren’t looking to sign multi-year leases with underutilized kitchen spaces.

Slice Closes $40M Investment to Keep Growing

By Tom Kaiser | April 15, 2021

Slice is on the receiving end of a big block of mozzarella as two former Twitter execs joined the Cross Creek investment firm on a $40 million Series D funding round to help the New York-based pizza-focused delivery service kick off its latest round of growth.

Domino’s Officially Begins Automated-Delivery Test

By Nicholas Upton | April 15, 2021

Some lucky customers in Texas can now get a fully automated robot delivery from Domino’s. In the real-world launch of a partnership we covered last year, the pizza giant and automation partner Nuro are finally doing real-world testing of automated deliveries. The test will be limited to a single location in in the Woodland Heights neighborhood of Houston. Customers ordering and pre-paying for their meals will be asked if they would like their order delivered by Nuro’s R2 Robot. Domino’s wouldn’t divulge specifics, but a representative said there would be […]

Tech Stack Recap: Low-Friction Order Handoffs

By Callie Evergreen | April 15, 2021

During the FOD Tech Stack panel focused on low-friction order handoffs, Del Taco, Apex Supply Chain and CardFree shared creative high-tech and non-tech solutions to increase volume and ease the ordering process for consumers.