Negotiating with a unicorn company out of Silicon Valley, even for an established restaurant brand, can be nerve-wracking. Portillo’s, the Chicago hot-dog institution rapidly expanding into new markets, had one key tactic for getting everything they wanted from its third-party delivery contracts. Nick Scarpino, the senior vice president who oversees marketing and off-premises operations at Portillo’s, said when he joined the company five years ago it had some experience sending food out with third-party couriers, but not many guardrails around the program. “If we go back in history,” said Scarpino, […]
Read More
Louisiana-based Waitr Holdings, which also owns Bite Squad, is the latest publicly traded national delivery provider to post a significant loss in recent weeks, bleeding a total of $220.1 million during Q3 2019. Diving into the numbers, Waitr’s quarterly revenue increased 153 percent to $49.2 million, compared to $19.4 million during the third quarter of 2018. Revenue related to the Bite Squad merger totaled $24 million during the period. Those numbers equate to a significant, $220.1 million net loss, which compares with a loss of $6.5 million during the third […]
Read More
Aerial drones may represent an incredible leap in foodservice technology, but there is still plenty of work to be done before we collectively get there. Uber’s Elevate division recently painted a picture of what that future model might look like as it announced its new drone prototype. It’s a cool drone, with six rotors that turn for more efficient distances, essentially turning a typical drone rotor 90 degrees and creating lift with a wing to save precious battery power. By doing so, the drone can fly for up to 18 […]
Read More
Andrew Martino bootstrapped his way to opening a ghost truck-themed, multi-concept, delivery-only kitchen in New Jersey that offers a more refined delivery and takeout experience with nine in-house concepts operating out of a tiny space. Six months in, Ghost Truck Kitchen is turning a modest profit, even while giving a sizable portion of each order to third-party delivery providers. The key to much higher profits for the self-funded facility, however, lies in guiding its customers to order through its own channels, so the business doesn’t have to divert nearly as […]
Read More
A new week has brought yet another major financial blow to the third-party delivery landscape with Uber posting a $1.2 billion loss during the third quarter on the heels of the mobility giant’s epic $5.2 billion loss during the second quarter. Its stock price fell from the low $30s toward the high $20s, suggesting that Wall Street is generally unmoved by the red ink that some analysts said was smaller than expected as reports suggest SoftBank has lost a combined $6.5 billion on its WeWork and Uber investments. With revenues […]
Read More
The first day of November marked the completion of DoorDash’s acquisition of Caviar, the largest in the spate of DoorDash acquisitions the company took on last year. DoorDash and Square, which previously owned Caviar, first announced the $410 million deal in August of 2019. In all, it looks like a good acquisition for the company valued at $12 billion by way of equity fundraising. Along with the completion, DoorDash released a summary document known as an 8-K that provides a closer look at what exactly DoorDash received with the purchase. […]
Read More
Minneapolis’ StarTribune newspaper reports that Louisiana-based Waitr Holdings laid off the majority of employees at Bite Squad’s downtown Minneapolis headquarters. Waitr acquired Bite Squad in late 2018 for $321 million. The move is the latest shakeup for Waitr, which has exited some underperforming markets, weathered waves of high-profile executive departures, seen its share price plummet toward zero and installed Adam Price as the new CEO, replacing Founder Chris Meaux. Waitr declined to release details about market closures ahead of its quarterly results, and said that it was not closing its […]
Read More
Grubhub CEO Matt Maloney and President Adam DeWitt were clear the company’s third-quarter financial results were a disappointment—putting it lightly—but the execs of the one-time top U.S. delivery brand kept returning to the mantra that nobody should focus too much on the latest results, because “we’re going to make a lot of money next year.” Industry watchers, investors and analysts didn’t take the bait, as Grub’s stock cratered more than 40 percent, and The Wall Street Journal called the results a “gut check” for the food-delivery industry. At press time, […]
Read More
To shine more light on its recently introduced pickup feature where customers pre-order meals that they collect at the restaurant or then eat inside the dining room, Uber Eats has launched Pickup Guides Powered by Jump, a discount to allow its Jump-branded e-bike customers to hop between various restaurants. Those embarking on their own “food discovery” can use promo codes for discounts on the bike or scooter, as well as their Uber Eats orders. While this sounds rather confusing on the surface, it’s part of the company’s effort to broaden […]
Read More
Previously a $15/month fee, Amazon Fresh has now been recast as a free benefit for the e-commerce giant’s Prime subscription members, meaning even more U.S. consumers now have access to one- and two-hour grocery delivery in more than 2,000 cities and towns. “Grocery delivery is one of the fastest growing businesses at Amazon, and we think this will be one of the most-loved Prime benefits,” said Stephenie Landry, VP of Grocery Delivery at Amazon. “Given the rapid growth of grocery delivery we expect this will be a popular benefit.” To […]
Read More