Under a proposed Seattle City Council ordinance, restaurant delivery fees would be capped at 15 percent. According to a presentation from the Council, the ordinance would “require food delivery platforms to engage in agreed-upon, reasonable, and transparent business transactions when operating in Seattle to protect the interests of consumers and restaurants.” The presentation also claimed that 77 percent of local restaurants offer delivery, and food delivery platforms account for 21 to 30 percent of current restaurant sales in the city. The move would make permanent a COVID-era rule to cap […]
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In a new collection of guest sentiment data from the feedback platform Tattle, the customer is not all that happy and off-premises experiences especially could have been better. Overall, sentiment since January 2021 has declined across the board. Dine-in, takeout and delivery have all dipped in Tattle’s look at nearly 200 brands and 10,000 locations in the system. The dip in dine-in satisfaction was not exceptional, but takeout and delivery both declined more, according to Tattle founder and CEO Alex Beltrani. “It’s not supernatural that food quality, speed, packaging and […]
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One of the next frontiers in restaurant evolution is adopting modern payment technology to prevent customers needlessly waiting for servers or the bill, reduce staffing levels and minimize credit card fees generated by multiple transactions during a single guest visit. Mobile payment and online ordering platform CardFree is shifting its attention from pandemic-driven fires to helping restaurants adapt their business models to this new era. Aside from labor and processing fees, its middleware payment technology also helps operators capture valuable guest data, even if they’re not enrolled in a brand’s […]
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C3 announced a new strategic investment that will “evolve” its global presence and solidify its offerings across the United States and United Arab Emirates.
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Taiwan-based ghost kitchen operator and virtual brand creator JustKitchen will enter India under a new agreement to bring its virtual brands to the unique market. The company will partner with Kitchens Centre, a ghost kitchen operator that bills itself as a KaaS (Kitchen as a Service). It’s the largest shared kitchen space provider in India with more than 1,000 kitchens across 80 locations in 25 cities. CEO Lakshay Jain of Kitchens Centre said the company will integrate JustKitchen’s 32 brands into kitchens that already operate more than 350 brands. “We […]
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Two savvy automation startups are forging ahead on the promise of fully automated pizza deliveries. Serve, the robotic delivery company that was spun off from Postmates, and robotic artisanal pizza purveyor Piestro announced a new partnership. Under the agreement, upcoming Piestro pods will alert Serve to find the nearest available robot for pickup. According to Piestro CEO Massimo Noja De Marco, it will be a significant speed boost compared to traditional delivery. “Because Piestro’s scheduling system will automatically notify Serve’s fleet for the nearest available robot in Serve-enabled areas, we […]
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Ghost Financial will be the exclusive financial partner for Cruising Kitchens, a mobile ghost kitchen builder and food truck fabricator based in Texas.
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Scores of restaurants and grocery offer up unused food for charity, but the last mile between those food retailers people who need it has historically been a wide gap. Even in areas like California or New York which have donation mandates for edible surplus food struggle to save that food from the landfill. Food Rescue Hero, a delivery platform founded in 2016 in Pittsburg, sought to tackled that last-mile challenge. Since then, the company has grown to 27 cities, 34,000 volunteer drivers and diverted 100 million pounds of food from […]
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Before drones are flying around our burritos, prescriptions and maybe giving us a quote on roof repair, we’re going to need some infrastructure to enable this transformation. Even though the Federal Aviation Administration is going to take some time to allow drone delivery across the country, there are a handful of companies building out the nuts and bolts that will be necessary to get there. In a report from consultancy giant McKinsey, there are a lot of complex software needs, algorithms and routing plans that will ensure safe drone delivery, […]
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According to new data, Gopuff is seeing strong U.S. sales grow along and an expanding customer base.
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