A sad headline flashed across the phone right before a luncheon talk called The Autonomous Solution—a pedestrian was killed in Tucson, Arizona, by an autonomous vehicle, in what appears to be the first such death involving a driverless car. For the Postmates executive giving the talk at the Food on Demand Conference, it was a grim moment, for the tragedy itself, of course, and also for the chilling effect such incidents may have on research and development of these new technologies. “There could be a negative, kneejerk reaction where states […]
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For all the restaurant operators grappling with how they can expand mobile delivery without losing their shirt—in other words, all of them—Laura Rea Dickey says one statistic may convince them that jumping on the wave is not optional. “What we have found is for us, it’s not a choice,” said Dickey, CEO of the 77-year-old Dickey’s Barbecue Pit based in Dallas. “We would be losing probably 8 percent of our customer base if we didn’t have food on demand. That was really compelling to me.” She learned that choice statistic […]
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An operator rose from the audience at the FOD Conference to expose a major bone of contention between restaurateurs and third-party delivery systems. “We are financing their growth.”
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Pictured above – Gray Plant Mooty attorney Ryan Palmer Establishing a solid chain of control for your departing meals is even more important when a restaurant is using third-party delivery services, according to a panel at the FOD Conference. “If I do grocery delivery, for example, that chain of custody means I’m responsible,” Ryan Palmer, an attorney with Gray Plant Mooty, said. But for a (third-party) delivery, who is at fault will be murkier waters. “It’s going to depend on tamper-proof packaging, your ability to track that delivery,” he said. […]
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Fresh off the announcement of its deal to deliver for YUM Brands’ Taco Bell and KFC, Stan Chia, COO of Grubhub, told the audience at the FOD Conference, that the restaurant industry is mirroring the rise of e-commerce for retail, and for the first time ever people are spending more at restaurants than on groceries. “It’s a fun place to be,” he said about Grubhub’s market share. “Our goal is to connect restaurants and consumers.” Because YUM’s Pizza Hut is already a leader in pizza delivery, they won’t be doing […]
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Amazon’s Russell Baker gave conference attendees advice on how to be customer obsessed like the large, but nimble, company he works for as general manager of Amazon restaurants. “Obsession is all in, it preoccupies or intrudes on your mind,” he said. “Customers always want more, so this forces you to invent things they don’t even know they need yet. So pay attention to details.” For instance, “We noticed people are reordering the same thing from the same restaurant, so we put that at top (of the page), and programmed it […]
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When Denny’s management decided to “age-down the brand,” off-premise dining was one avenue, however, “we knew we had a challenge with packaging,” Dave Coltrin, VP Guest Experience & Marketing Tech. at Denny’s said.
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Food delivery is “not some cute fad” as some restaurant CEOs would suggest. “This is a fundamental shift,” declared Noah Glass, founder and CEO of Olo, speaking at the first Food On Demand Conference in Dallas today. Olo, as many of its 95 million users know, provides digital ordering and on-demand interfaces for the restaurant industry, so he may be said to have a vested interest in his predictions. But he painted a detailed and convincing case in a keynote address at the conference, the first of its kind and […]
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“It’s the very earliest innings of on-demand food delivery,” says Christopher Payne, COO of DoorDash, the third-party restaurant delivery service that is now in 60 markets and 600 cities and is about to blow up to three times that, he said during an on-stage interview at the debut Food on Demand Conference in Dallas today. “Door Dash is a 4 ½-year-old company, so we have a long way to go,” Payne said in response to questions from Food On Demand’s Deputy Editor Tom Kaiser. Many of the restaurant brands they […]
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I love cities, but have concerns about how the latest crop of high-tech upgrades will impact city life at the street and sidewalk level. Thanks to advancements like delivery robots, autonomous taxis and drones, which will eventually hit the urban scene in a big way, the one certainty is that cities of the future will look, feel and operate much different than they do today. With Lyfts on demand, tweeting food trucks and restaurants offering discounts when you’re within a given distance, we’re all guinea pigs as businesses figure out […]
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