In a brief report looking at the top 50 metro areas in the U.S., Square, a payment processing tool for online ordering, highlights which cities have seen the biggest percent increase in new sellers moving online in response to the pandemic. The list is headlined by Albuquerque, New Mexico; Durham, North Carolina; Portland, Oregon; Minneapolis and Richmond, Virginia—all cool kid cities by any measure. The study defined adoption by the percent increase in sellers who took their first payment using Square’s online store during the period, which included January and […]
Amazon’s major investment in the U.K. delivery firm Deliveroo has been approved by regulators. As CNBC reported, it was an unusually contentious look at the deal by country regulators that underscored the caution they were taking around this massive shift in the restaurant industry by similarly massive players. “Today’s final decision is the result of a thorough examination of this deal and the markets in which Amazon and Deliveroo operate,” said Stuart McIntosh, who led the inquiry for the Competition and Markets Authority. The approval came a year and change […]
Grubhub (NYSE: GRUB) reported strong second-quarter results and gave a few updates on the Just Eat Takeaway.com (JET) transaction. The company released the results without an earnings call as the company has chosen not to hold calls until the close of the JET acquisition. Revenue and user growth continued on the solid trajectory seen in the first quarter, but there were some weak spots. Revenues hit $459.3 million, a 41 percent increase from 2019. Net income, however, sank to negative $45.4 million, a sharp decrease from $1.3 million in income […]
Now that meal delivery has expanded far beyond the urban markets that fueled the industry’s growth the last decade, some delivery providers are differentiating themselves with a more selective roster of restaurants. First came Slice, which focuses exclusively on pizza restaurants, and now Chowbus, which just received a $33 million investment to bring its curated roster of Asian-only restaurants to new cities in the U.S. With a pleasing interface similar to other national delivery apps, Chowbus presents users with a list of trending restaurants and individual menu items, restaurants only […]
New York-based ghost kitchen operator, Zuul Kitchens, has secured $9 million in fresh funding to expand its ghost-kitchen operation throughout New York City. Zuul opened its first multi-tenant kitchen facility in 2019 and temporarily closed it at the start of the pandemic, as many restaurants struggled in the midtown and downtown business districts of Manhattan. The company currently operates its flagship location at 30 Vandam Street, and services brands that deliver to both residential and commercial customers throughout downtown Manhattan. Zuul will deploy its new capital to expand its footprint […]
As two off-premises giants have already demonstrated, whether it’s internal or third-party, delivery is the place to be during the volatile COVID-19 pandemic. The two companies showed some exceptional results in their respective second-quarter earnings. Domino’s reported 16.1 percent same-store sales growth, while Wingstop reported a 31.9 percent jump in same-store sales. Compared to the backdrop of -18.7 percent same-store sales (as measured by Black Box Intelligence in June), that would be shocking if it weren’t just another quarter of wild diversion from the mean for these companies. “The second […]
FreshDirect, an online grocery delivery provider based in New York City, is expanding southward along the Acela corridor into the Washington, D.C. metro area through a partnership with micro-fulfillment brand Fabric. Launching in late 2020, this will enable two-hour, on-demand grocery delivery “of a wide selection of FreshDirect’s assortment” to customers in the nation’s capital. With a hub-and-spoke operational structure, with its primary facility remaining at its Bronx, NY-headquarters, FreshDirect has positioned the geographic expansion as a blueprint for future service upgrades and expansion into other parts of the country. […]
Kiwibot, one of the handful of companies expanding autonomous delivery options via adorable coolers on wheels, is moving into San Jose, California. Unlike prior expansions that pushed bots onto college and corporate campuses, this new operational arm extends further out into public neighborhoods and brings new partners along for the ride. This looks to be the first integration of its kind for the company and what Co-founder and CEO Felipe Chavez says is part of his laser focus on autonomous solutions. “We started thinking instead of building the robot infrastructure […]
Ghost kitchens don’t exactly conjure up the sexy, flashy image of the best restaurants in the world. These multi-tenant, delivery-focused spaces are often built in non-desirable real estate, with the priority on access for delivery drivers and affordable rent to make the numbers work for tenants looking to profit with high-volume delivery. That model is being flipped on its head by SBE Entertainment Group, the Los Angeles-based global operator of hotels, restaurants and nightclubs. SBE’s new C3 subsidiary is branded as a cutting-edge food and beverage platform that’s bringing new […]
A new survey of restaurant operators on the Uber Eats platform shows many feel that, were it not for third-party delivery volume, the vast majority would have had to lay off staff members or cut staff hours to get through the pandemic. Putting a finer point on it, three out of four operators on the Uber Eats network surveyed said they would have had to close their doors if not for the ‘Eats volume. While any survey put out by a company surveying its own customers should be viewed with […]
