A herd of robots have been delivering food around Virginia’s George Mason University since January and robot manufacturer Starship is ready to release some insights from the test. According to a release from the company, the 25,000-person test showed that convenient delivery significantly boosted breakfast volume among students at the university. Starship and operating partner Sodexo said that they completed 1,500 additional breakfast orders on campus since implementing the automated deliveries. A 2016 study from Australia’s Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition showed college students skip breakfast 88 percent of […]
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Boston-based ezCater has acquired Monkey Group, an enterprise software and training company that’s the developer of Monkey, a cloud-based platform for takeout, delivery and catering.
Read MoreFood On Demand’s Nick Upton led a sophisticated dive into the future of franchised third-party delivery with three industry experts, including a national attorney in the restaurant space, an exec from Red Robin and a Chicago-area franchisee for Jersey Mike’s. The group covered everything from involuntary delivery participation, cannibalization of dine-in, POS integration, data ownership and what to do when delivery and franchise territories don’t overlap. Click here to watch the session With a generously packed agenda, the session began with how the franchised third-party delivery scene has changed in […]
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Checkers and Rally’s is taking on delivery in a big way, going all in with every provider it can get and maybe changing the delivery game along the way. Checkers has around 900 locations, with about 300 of those corporate locations. So it’s not as large as the big QSR players, and it’s not small enough that it could just turn on delivery and hope it works. That in-between size may have helped the company avoid hazards at the bleeding edge of the third-party delivery industry. “We’re just trying to […]
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Editor’s note: Grocery Pup is now known as A Pup Above. A new startup called Grocery Pup is bringing freshly cooked meals—for your dog—right to your doorstep. Billed as the “tastiest and most nutrient-rich cooked dog food,” Grocery Pup uses sous-vide cooking to achieve what it claims is the highest quality, human-grade, and most convenient dog food around. Shoppers can buy products on a one-time basis or opt for a subscription method like human-focused meal kits. The subscriptions are based on the dog’s weight for proper portion control. Using the […]
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How many times have you found yourself sitting at a bar with friends, or at a theater or lonely hotel room wishing you could order a bite to eat that doesn’t require Googling nearby restaurants or hopping in a car? According to the unconventional meal delivery service 2ndKitchen, that struggle to feed the foodless masses is real—and the foundation for a delivery platform connecting bars, restaurants, hotels and luxury condos with nearby restaurants that can use a courier or send a server walking down the block to deliver meals to […]
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As New York City’s $25 billion Hudson Yards opens to the public, many in the retail and restaurant worlds will be watching to see if this largest private development in U.S. history can succeed with a mega-scale formula representing the biggest bet ever placed on in-person shopping, people watching and dining.
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On-demand restaurant delivery would be just a figment of a futuristic imagination without considering the perspective of the thousands of drivers who make this industry’s wheels go round. For a taste of the day-to-day experience, I went through driver training at Bite Squad and spent a day motoring about the city with Brent, a Canadian expat who may be the friendliest delivery driver in the city. My big day as a driver had somewhat hilarious timing as my hometown of Minneapolis had been buried under a succession of late-winter blizzards […]
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Move over, e-scooters! Takeout and delivery packaging bans are the hot new topic in cities as a growing number of municipalities address the increase in packaging that our hyper-convenient, food-on-demand lifestyles now require. The packaging industry has some thoughts on the subject, as you’d imagine, but we also spoke with a waste prevention specialist to outline out how restaurants and customers can minimize their impact on the planet without compromising on food quality. The backdrop is dark and stormy for foodservice packaging manufacturers and restaurant operators trying to keep up […]
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Eatsa, a technology provider in the restaurant space known for its novel “automat-like” digital cubbies for food pickup, has moved into the virtual restaurant space. In a partnership with Deliveroo, a UK-based food delivery company, the firm will now power a virtual kitchen. Something eatsa CEO Tim Young says will alter the entire industry. “Virtual restaurants, which are designed specifically for delivery, are going to be a game changer for the industry. The huge consumer shift we are seeing toward delivery has created an undeniable opportunity for restaurant brands, as […]
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