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Grubhub Acquires Campus Ordering Platform Tapingo

By Tom Kaiser | September 27, 2018

Chicago-based Grubhub has acquired campus food ordering Platform Tapingo in a $150 million deal. With more than 150 college campus partners, Tapingo enables order-ahead transactions for more than half a million active diners at on-campus cafes, restaurants and cashier-less stores.

Reports: Uber Might Buy Deliveroo

By Tom Kaiser | September 21, 2018

Bloomberg has reported that Uber might be buying Europe’s Deliveroo, a major player in the continent’s third-party delivery landscape. According to the report, Uber Technologies is in talks to plunk down “several billion dollars” for Deliveroo, citing unnamed people familiar with the potential deal.

Postmates Gets ‘Unicorn’ Status with $300M Investment

By Nicholas Upton | September 18, 2018

Postmates is the name of the week when it comes to investments. The third-party delivery provider announced a $300 million investment form Tiger Capital today. According to a press release, the new funds will go toward growth and investments in efficiency. With this funding, Postmates will expand its selection advantage; broaden coverage to over 70% of U.S. households by the end of the year; unleash new point-of-sale integration technologies; deploy state of the art API tools (offering white-glove delivery services to non-brick and mortar retail partners at scale); scale social […]

ezCater Acquires French-based GoCater

By fodnews | September 13, 2018

After attracting a cool $100 million of investor cash to be used to fuel international expansion, the Boston-based ezCater acquired GoCater, a Paris-headquartered corporate catering platform. Shortly after the news broke, we spoke with ezCater Founder Stefania Mallett who said the French acquisition was the first move as the company works to establish further beachheads across Europe. “We have always said we would be international,” she said of the company’s open-book expansion plans. “The people we acquired have proven to be, in just a short time, very capable, very insightful, […]

Naf Naf Grill Officially Begins Third-Party Delivery

By Nicholas Upton | September 13, 2018

The fast-growing Middle Eastern concept Naf Naf Grill has been putting a lot of work into its delivery infrastructure and is now open for business.

Take-Aways from a Tourist in Denmark

By Nancy Monroe | September 13, 2018

There are lots of reasons to pay attention to culinary trends coming out of Denmark. First of all: Noma, the restaurant claiming the No.1 restaurant in the world distinction for four years is in Copenhagen, along with three-star Geranium and other Michelin Star Restaurants. Organic and vegetarian options are prominent on most menus and outdoor dining along the canals provides one of the longest bar scenes in the world. Because they bike everywhere—we were told there are two bikes to every person in Copenhagen—Danes build up an appetite for good […]

IBM’s New Coffee Drone

By Tom Kaiser | September 13, 2018

Feeling a little underpowered? Be careful what you wish for, as a new patent from IBM shows the technology giant wants no yawn left behind as it develops a drone that can detect tired souls and immediately swoop in with a hot cup of coffee. In a patent filed with the U.S. government last month, IBM says coordinating drone-based coffee drops would require a fully autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle connected to an electronic processing circuit that “identifies an individual among the people that may have a predetermined cognitive state based […]

McDonald’s, Wendy’s Check Sizes Doubling with Delivery

By fodnews | September 13, 2018

As McDonald’s and Wendy’s continue expanding third-party delivery at a growing number of locations, the mega-chain restaurants are reporting average check sizes 1.5 to two times higher than traditional, dine-in customers according to a new report from Stephens. “We have seen early adopters of third-party delivery attract incremental traffic and penny profits, which we believe is evidence of the pent-up and growing demand for this convenience proposition,” said Stephens Analyst Will Slabaugh. “We believe early successes by most brands are signaling that third-party delivery can be a meaningful piece of […]

Foodsby raises $13.5 million in new venture capital

By fodnews | September 13, 2018

Foodsby, a Minneapolis-based office catering company, raised $13.5 million in a Series B funding round led by Piper Jaffray Merchant Banking. Greycroft Partners, Corazon Capital and Rally Ventures also participated, and this latest round increases Foodsby’s total raised to $21 million. In a statement, Foodsby’s founder and CEO Ben Cattoor said, “We have established a successful model for new market entry with a tried and true combination of talent and technology. We look forward to building on our early successes and learnings to deliver continued growth for our investors and […]

Kroger to expand online grocery delivery with Instacart

By fodnews | September 13, 2018

After less than a year of partnering with same-day grocery delivery service Instacart, supermarket giant Kroger announced it’s expanding the service to another 75 markets by late October. That increase means Instacart will be available at more than 1,600 Kroger stores and makes the San Francisco-based company Kroger’s main delivery provider (it uses Uber and Shipt in some markets). “We are redefining the customer experience through Restock Kroger by rapidly accelerating our customer coverage area for seamless shopping, giving our shoppers the choice of stores, delivery, curbside pickup or ship […]