There’s no shortage of innovative autonomous-vehicle companies out there, from Starship rolling around the sidewalks of college campuses and Washington, D.C., to Nuro delivering groceries in on-the-road vehicles. But REV, developed by Refraction AI, fits right between those models, figuratively and literally. The five-foot tall, four-foot long vehicles are designed to drive at top speeds of 15 miles per hour and operate for 12 hours on a single charge. It’s a lot like other autonomous operations, as the vehicle arrives and alerts a restaurant, the staff punches in a code […]
MyValue365.com, a Chicago-based ethnic grocery ordering and delivery company that’s previously focused on at-home consumers, announced its entry into B2B grocery-delivery business, which includes deliveries to restaurants. This offering is a part of the company’s new wholesale business arm catering to increased requests from restaurants to get higher quality groceries delivered directly to their place of business. “All the restaurants that have reached out to us typically order groceries from four to five different suppliers on a weekly, and sometimes even daily, basis, said the company founders in a press […]
In an exclusive interview with Food On Demand, Waitr CEO Adam Price dished it out on competing with billion-dollar players, whether the “big four” delivery brands will survive, and how a fast pivot to data-based decisions is attempting to transform the fifth-largest U.S. delivery brand from choppy waters to an industry leader—with an obsessive eye on the budget. A New Yorker who got started in the space helping big-city restaurants replace in-house delivery, Price moved to Waitr’s home of Lafayette, Louisiana, last February when he joined the company as chief […]
In all the excitement of delivery and off-premises growth broadly, the decision of whether to go out or stay in remains a key consideration. Obviously, consumers demand convenience when they want it, but according to a new survey, they still prefer a great restaurant experience. In the survey by Vixxo, a facility-management company in the restaurant and retail space, nearly two-thirds of respondents said they still prefer restaurant dining over takeout or delivery. In the survey of 1,000 people, a total of 62 percent said they would prefer to eat […]
With driverless grocery deliveries ramping up during the first quarter of 2020, Walmart is beginning a new autonomous delivery pilot in Houston with Nuro, the latest of several big-name partnerships for the California-based autonomous vehicle manufacturer. In an interview with Automotive News, David Estrada of Nuro said the company chose Houston due to the diversity, quality and busyness of the city’s road network. “It’s a great place to develop the technology,” he said, “and then we want to show we can make this an efficient service that can work for […]
Amid the holiday feasting, Grubhub unveiled its annual “Year In Food” report, showing what we all feasted on throughout this year of delivery. One of the most notable highlights was the collision of the delivery trend and plant-based restaurant options. The fastest growing delivered item by far was cauliflower pizza; it grew in popularity by 650 percent. Right behind it were a slew of other plant-based menu items from Brussels sprouts with 622 percent growth; Portobello empanadas with 601 percent growth; black bean and sweet potato tacos with 514 percent […]
In the seventh installment of analyst firm Cowen’s “Delivery Expert Series” that asks influential members of the delivery landscape about the future of the category, its panelists agreed the era of rapid expansion of delivery footprints is over, as third-party delivery increasingly becomes a commodity in the eyes of consumers. The panelists also agreed that the promotional arms race among providers will continue as the pizza delivery category remains challenged and Grubhub’s difficulties likely will persist throughout 2020. Cowen’s report includes feedback from Noah Glass, founder and CEO of Olo, […]
In quick-service restaurants, where every second is scrutinized and monetized, taking out inefficiencies has been drilled down to the microscopic level. To reduce unnecessary human interaction and make it easier and faster for customers to pick up to-go orders, an industrial supply chain manufacturer has developed smart shelves that alert customers when their orders are ready, integrate directly with POS and shave off precious time for restaurants looking to boost their to-go business. Based outside of Cincinnati, Apex Supply Chain Technology’s so-called Order Pick-up Solutions are a modern-day version of […]
In what is being hailed as the first cross-country delivery by an automated semi truck, Plus.ai brought butter from California to Pennsylvania—no driver required. The Cupertino-based (of course) company took three days to tow the 40,000-pound shipment from Tulare, California, to Quakertown, Pennsylvania—which is a 2,800-mile trip. The technology behind the wheel included “multimodal sensor fusion, deep learning visual algorithms, and simultaneous location and mapping (SLAM) technologies,” according to the press release. That puts the technology at what is known as automation level four, where a human driver stands by […]
Baby food delivery is one of those “why didn’t I think of that” ideas in the delivery world, especially when they announce a huge investment round like Yumi just did. Yumi is a science-based, early-childhood meal delivery program and one of a handful of startups in the baby food delivery market. It just successfully raised $8 million to fuel further expansion. So far, the company has now raised $12.1 million. According to a Techcrunch article about the fundraising efforts, the latest round included big names in next-wave foodservice like Blue […]
