Food on Demand Stories gather from around the web during the month of March.
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McDonald’s included a pack of surprisingly bold McNuggets with its Investor Day in downtown Chicago earlier this week as the fast-food giant unveiled plans for meal delivery, app-based mobile ordering, curbside pickup and a “more modern, more exciting restaurant environment” as part of its new Experience of the Future restaurant concept that’s already delivering sales gains in markets outside of the United States. Calling delivery “one of the most significant disruptions in the restaurant business today,” McDonald’s committed to technological upgrades, in-store changes and partnership with third-party delivery providers to […]
Read MoreTales Spun ‘Round the Web – February 2017 Shelf Engine revs up to fine-tune restaurants’ ordering Predicting customer order patterns is just one of the headaches Seattle start-up Shelf Engine will help restaurants avoid. Money woes is one problem the three-person company doesn’t need to worry about now that it’s raised a $800,000 seed round. For the story, click here http://www.geekwire.com/2017/shelf-engine-raises-800k-help-food-retailers-use-artificial-intelligence-optimized-ordering/?mc_cid=1f17bd436c&mc_eid=8594c6830b Packaging is getting a bad rap Silent Sprint Institute’s latest study found fluorinated chemicals in one-third of the fast-food packaging, which could lead to it finding its way into […]
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We have seen the future, and it’s on demand. How are we going to survive in a world filled with replacement robots and never having to go outside to forage for food? For my money, fitness centers will be the smart investment by 2020.
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The tough economics of running a restaurant, the lofty goal of a 20 percent margin and then throw in the human capital of delivery on top, and it’s no wonder half of restaurants fail in the first two years. And even with all the clamor for convenient dining options, the food on demand space is just as perilous.
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In Europe a new program encourages people to stop by pickup locations for neighbors, as well as themselves, on their way home.
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Many restaurant owners get into the delivery game with the goal of expanding their brand’s reach, citing increased exposure to customers over expectations of greatly increasing revenue. They justify possible concerns over quality control and menu confusion with the expectation that more people will know their name and order their food. But what if those customers think of the delivery service first, not the restaurant? Where does the brand loyalty lie?
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By Nancy Weingartner
At one time we were all content to just have “everybody know our name” at hospitality locales, now we want them to remember our face. UFood Grill, a fast-casual healthy restaurant chain where every menu item is under 700 calories, is introducing facial-recognition software to help speed up the ordering process at its kiosks.
By Tom Kaiser
Low margins, enormous overhead, perishable inventory, cutthroat competition and crabby customers are just a few reasons the grocery business isn’t easy. But that’s not deterring Amazon’s most recent example of relentless expansion in its hometown of Seattle.
By Nick Upton
Caviar’s late 2016 acquisition of Philadelphia food-delivery startup Main Line Delivery put an end cap on the M&A activities in the food-on-demand realm. And deals like it could make 2017 a banner year for M&A in the space.
