Chipotle “just blew by a billion in digital sales,” noted Food On Demand News Editor Nick Upton. And so began his conversation with Nicole West, Chipotle’s VP of digital strategy and product management, who’s been with the brand for 14 years and helped form its ecommerce business unit in 2015. West was among the speakers August 11 during the third-annual Food On Demand Conference, presented for the first time this year in an all-virtual format. Upton was referring to the 90 percent increase in digital sales from fiscal 2018 to […]
In a conversation on day two of the Food On Demand Conference, executives from Panera Bread, Aramark, Foodservice Results and IFBTA discussed properly utilizing customer data, marketing and how to prepare for the future of the foodservice industry. For Chris Incorvati, director of operations and support at Panera, making the experience for customers accessible and not confusing was the No. 1 priority during the pandemic. When first introducing its curbside pickup option, Panera heard some constructive criticism from consumers. “We did do some things that were pretty confusing within the […]
Swipeby, a platform turning restaurants into virtual drive-thrus with curbside pickup, has launched a crowd investing campaign with Republic that has raised more than $150,000 from hundreds of investors in less than six days. The open-source round will be open through October. “We’re thrilled that so many people—many of whom are our users and partners—support our mission of helping local restaurants offer a great curbside experience without onerous fees,” said Carl Turner, founder of Swipeby. “Our mission has always been to make off-premise accessible and fun for everyone, regardless of […]
Shortly after announcing its move into the convenience-store space, DoorDash, the largest third-party delivery service in the U.S., announced its first move into grocery through partnerships with grocers across the country. Customers in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, Orange County, Sacramento, San Diego and the Central Coast can order from Smart & Final. Customers in Chicago, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Detroit and Indianapolis can order through Meijer and Fresh Thyme. In the coming weeks, DoorDash will be adding selection across the country with additional grocery brands including Hy-Vee, Gristedes/D’agostino—giving more than 75 […]
Researchers from the University College London found the average time it takes for a new habit to stick is 66 days, though individual times varied. If you extrapolate this statistic to the behavior consumers were forced to develop as a result of the pandemic, experts predict delivery and off-premises habits are here to stay. And as this becomes the over-stated “new normal,” restaurants are scrambling to see how they can meet the new shift in consumer expectations. In a conversation on day one of the Food On Demand Conference August […]
Independent restaurant operators are navigating some of the most brutal effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even multi-unit operators in great markets have seen radical changes in the last several months, as they described in a Food On Demand Conference panel discussion titled “Delivering a Consumer Experience.” Kim Bartmann, of Minneapolis’ Bartmann Group, Nate Pollak, of The American Grilled Cheese Kitchen in San Francisco and Enrique Mendez, of Stone Bridge Pizza & Salad in New York, said their work today is all about the experience, but even more about just getting […]
Ridesharing and food-delivery giant Uber had a rough quarter as ridesharing was essentially hollowed out, but food delivery served as a bright spot in the company’s second-quarter results. Uber depends on travel and commuting, and looking around the COVID-era world, that’s not happening. Travel was down 75 percent in July according to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), and that’s an improvement from being down 86 percent in June. At the peak of the pandemic, scores of people were working from home. With two key travel months wiped out by the […]
What is it like to run a restaurant reservations platform during a pandemic, Food on Demand Editor Tom Kaiser asked the founder of Tock to kick off today’s virtual FOD conference. “It took work that was interesting, and made it important,” replied Nick Kokonas in a pragmatic and hopeful discussion about third-party delivery and the survival of restaurants. Kokonas launched Tock in 2015 as an “elevated” reservation service, added Tock To Go in March amid COVID-19 and in May raised $10 million from a Starbucks-backed venture fund to bolster the […]
Bastian Lehmann, CEO and co-founder of Postmates, was man of the hour as his keynote address kicked off the third annual Food on Demand Conference today, for the first time in all-virtual format. That’s because Uber is set to buy Postmates, which is a distant fourth in market share at 8 percent but nonetheless mighty, Lehmann maintains, especially as a third-party delivery pioneer.
Philadelphia is the latest major U.S. city capping fees and placing new restrictions on third-party delivery services. Signed by Mayor Jim Kenney and effective immediately, the new bill limits delivery fees, mandates that fees must be transparent to customers and that third-party providers can no longer list restaurants on their platform without explicit, written consent. Philadelphia’s Bill No. 200344 contains five explicit restrictions on delivery providers operating within the sixth largest U.S. city, with a population of more than 1.5 million people inside its municipal boundaries. It was signed into […]
