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Franchised Delivery Becoming Ubiquitous

By Tom Kaiser | December 12, 2018

Integrating third-party delivery into restaurant operations is an ongoing challenge, but some of the largest franchised restaurants are seeing significant gains in overall delivery volume and average check sizes. According to the latest Restaurant Delivery Update from research firm Stephens, chains McDonald’s, Wendy’s and Wingstop are among several brands seeing consistently positive results as delivery becomes increasingly ubiquitous. Starting with the biggest players, McDonald’s now offers delivery in more than 40% of all locations in the system, with average check sizes for delivery coming in at 1.5x to 2x larger […]

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TripAdvisor, DoorDash Partner to Feed Travelers

By fodnews | December 12, 2018

Heading anywhere during the holidays or beyond? Be forewarned: you may get hungry. In an interesting partnership—one of countless announced with delivery providers in recent weeks—TripAdvisor has partnered with DoorDash in more than 1,800 cities throughout North America. By clicking the new “Order Online” button found on the TripAdvisor app or website, customers will be brought directly to DoorDash’s platform to place an order for delivery or pickup. By integrating with DoorDash’s platform that connects customers with hundreds of thousands of restaurants, TripAdvisor will add online ordering capabilities to more […]

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Postmates Doubles Membership Service, Drops Minimum Order Size

By fodnews | December 12, 2018

Postmates has doubled membership of its Unlimited subscription service, and lowered the minimum order size for its members to $15, down from $20.

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Checkmate Completes $3 Million Series A

By Nicholas Upton | December 12, 2018

Checkmate has a fresh $3 million in the bank that will go toward a deeper technology bench but also help expand the company’s big differentiator in its competitive set: taking on the third-party headache. “We want to create a platform that integrates all the online order platforms in a very easy way to all the different point of sale (POS) providers, but we don’t just want to create the tech platform,” said founder and CEO Vishal Agarwal. “We want a tech platform that’s backed by customer service.” Agarwal said as […]

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Panera Adding Breakfast to In-House Delivery Program

By fodnews | December 12, 2018

Panera Bread has reportedly passed $2 billion in digital sales this year, double the previous year, as the brand launches a new breakfast delivery program starting with 231 cities and towns across the country. In a press release, Panera said breakfast can now be ordered through the Panera app or its website, with service expanding to an additional 30 locations by the end of 2018. “Since we launched Panera delivery, guests have been asking ‘what about breakfast?’” said Panera CEO Blaine Hurst in a statement. “Panera is uniquely suited to […]

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Amazon Shuts down U.K. Restaurant Delivery

By fodnews | December 12, 2018

Amazon has quietly shut down U.K. restaurant delivery, emailing customers that the service would end after just two years. Why would Amazon do this? While some look at this development as the beginning of the end of a big shakeout or portends some third-party slowdown. It’s probably not. First, as other third-party delivery providers have shown, this industry is a lot of work for penny profits and requires massive scale and major marketing to be profitable at all. Amazon seems to show no fear when it comes to growing into […]

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Alphabet’s Wing Drone to Fly Over Finland

By Nicholas Upton | December 10, 2018

Wing, the drone arm of Alphabet, is heading to Helsinki next year. Wing has become a proper company or “graduated” within the company, meaning it’s no longer just a moonshot. And this test implies the technology is ready for prime time. The Helsinki test will be a major proving ground for Wing and aerial drones in general. A major part of the test will be Helsinki’s 560,000 people wandering beneath as Wing delivers packages up to 3.3-pound just over six miles. Google/Alphabet has done other tests before in the U.S., […]

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Meal Kits Still Growing Despite Headwinds

By Tom Kaiser | December 6, 2018

If you’re like me, those Blue Apron and HelloFresh commercials with fancy produce flying around, symmetrical smiles and bustling dining rooms full of friends confuse me on several levels. I can never wrap my head around non-cooks who like to cook, but it’s a thing—and a growing one according to recent industry research from Packaged Facts, which is a research firm focused on consumer goods and service industries.

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Wingstop (Finally) Dives in with DoorDash

By Tom Kaiser | November 30, 2018

Many restaurant and delivery analysts have suggested Wingstop is among the brands with the most to gain through third-party delivery. After this week’s announcement that the fast-casual wings brand is partnering with DoorDash for delivery, it’s time to see if there’s as much demand for at-home chicken wings as the experts have predicted.

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Pizza Chains Should Trim In-Store Dining

By Tom Kaiser | November 30, 2018

If you’re anything like me, you would much rather chow down on a gooey pizza from the comfort of your home. It’s time for the largest franchised pizza chains to try something new and capitalize on recent shifts in the so-called convenience economy.

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