latest posts

Grubhub Opens Office in Downtown Philadelphia

By fodnews | March 6, 2019

Grubhub solidified its presence in Philadelphia on Monday morning. Standing next to Mayor Jim Kenney, Grubhub’s CTO Maria Belousova and Chief Product Officer Sam hall ceremoniously cut the ribbon to a 15,000 square-foot office in Philadelphia’s city center. Once scattered at five different offices around the city, the Grubhub team will all be working under one roof.

Read More

Reclusive Lovers Fuel V-Day Delivery Growth

By fodnews | March 6, 2019

Waitr and its newly acquired Bite Squad subsidiary both saw impressive gains in delivery orders on Valentine’s Day, with a particularly notable increase in seafood-based items and kids meals like mozzarella sticks and chicken tenders. For Waitr, the Louisiana-based delivery service that purchased Bite Squad in January, create-your-own-pizza was the biggest gainer on Valentine’s Day, up 85 percent compared to the previous year. Mozzarella sticks, chicken tenders, mac and cheese and cheese pizza rounded out the top six. From there, the adults got in on the antisocial fun with spicy […]

Read More

Is DoorDash Really Worth $7 Billion?

By Tom Kaiser | February 26, 2019

DoorDash raised an additional $400 million, the industry crosses another mega-checkpoint with investors valuing the San Francisco-based delivery service at $7.1 billion.

Read More

Fleat Debuting Mobile Storefronts at FODC

By fodnews | February 26, 2019

Fleat Network, a Florida-based delivery logistics startup, announced it will debut its “intelligent mobile retail platform” at the upcoming Food On Demand Conference in Chicago April 1st and 2nd. The company’s StreetLogic software combines automated delivery management with so-called “database intelligence” that allows restaurants and retail operators to reach customers wherever they are, including their homes. “Third-party delivery services are stealing the soul from brick-and-mortar retailers,” said Patrick Fore, Fleat’s CEO and co-founder at a recent industry conference. “When retailers join their competitors on third-party delivery marketplaces like UberEats, Instacart […]

Read More

Expert Argues Amazon Isn’t Killing Traditional Retail

By Tom Kaiser | February 26, 2019

For all the articles, news segments and business conference quips that Amazon is responsible for the difficulties seen in the U.S. retail market as once-iconic brands continue to fall, one retail real estate expert argues that the Seattle-based mega-giant’s impact is vastly overstated and almost universally misunderstood.

Read More

Yelp’s Grubhub Partnership Yields Record Numbers

By fodnews | February 26, 2019

Fresh off the Valentine’s Day sugar high for the restaurant industry at large, Yelp announced strong growth in its restaurant services offering, including a record-setting V-day week where its reservation and waitlist software assisted 5.6 million diners.

Read More

Operator Profile: Chicago’s urbanbelly

By Tom Kaiser | February 19, 2019

Elizabeth Tomlinson worked her way up at Potbelly as an assistant manager, GM, part of the corporate operations team and then district manager. Now she’s director of ops for urbanbelly, Chicago’s hip Asian fusion concept owned by the Cornerstone Restaurant Group.

Read More

Amazon Takes to the Sidewalks with Robotic Test

By Nicholas Upton | February 19, 2019

Amazon is taking an earthbound detour with its new drones. The ecommerce giant that has a handful of wild patents for our aerial drone future has taken to the streets around Seattle with a new roving delivery bot. Dubbed Scout, a six-wheeled robot that looks like a cooler on wheels, began deliveries on January 23 in Washington’s Snohomish County. For the initial test, Amazon fielded six of the robots that will deliver packages during daytime hours. During the test, the robots will have a human Amazon counterpart to make sure […]

Read More

Omnivore’s Well-Funded Delivery Insight

By Tom Kaiser | February 19, 2019

Last year when Coca-Cola led a $10 million investment into delivery software brand Omnivore it marked the biggest, flashiest big-food brand jumping into the delivery landscape to date. Months after the big news, California-based Omnivore is positioning itself as an agnostic asset to restaurant operators trying to decide whether to deliver and cater, how many brands to work with if they do, and how to connect it all in a way that doesn’t cause headaches in the back of the house.

Read More

Burger & Lobster Launches First-Ever Full-Size Lobster Delivery

By fodnews | February 19, 2019

New York’s Burger & Lobster restaurant is launching what it calls the “first-ever hot, full-size” lobster delivery in the big city. Announcing the news on Valentine’s Day, the British-born restaurant brand is hoping fresh Atlantic lobsters become a tempting fixture at its two NYC locations. In its own words, promoting the new service, Burger & Lobster says the promotion is bringing New Yorkers “something they’ve not yet had the luxury of experiencing” from the comfort of their own homes. “The decadent dining hotspot has taken the best of its offering—fresh […]

Read More