Two restaurant companies are scaling up their ghost kitchens, and they’re taking some slightly different approaches to make ghost operations fit with their brands. Health-focused WOWorks, the parent company of Saladworks, Frutta Bowls, Garbanzo Mediterranean and The Simple Greek, is rolling out 20 Saladworks locations with Combo Kitchen. Combo Kitchen, itself a franchise, has grown to 170 locations in its first year of business, partnering with franchisees to bring more cuisine types into their restaurants. These 20 ghost kitchens will be inside WingHouse restaurants in central Florida. Under the three-way […]
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Kitchen robotics are having a moment, both in terms of popular interest and investor support. Miso Robotics, the maker of “Flippy 2,” a robotic arm designed to operate a fry station and a handful of other automation products, is monetizing the interest through equity crowdfunding. Over the past two years, the company raised an impressive $50 million from more than 18,000 investors and recently announced another round of crowdfunding, hoping to raise an additional $40 million. The crowdfunding has been done under the Regulation A+ exemption. Sometimes known as a […]
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Serve Robotics announced a new investment from chipmaker Nvidia that deepens the relationship between the two companies and helps speed up growth and development. Nvidia will invest $10 million in the company as a strategic investment. Among investments in the robotic food delivery space, it’s not massive, but it’s important for a few reasons. According to data from investment analysis firm Crunchbase, this represents the largest direct investment by Nvidia in a partner company in the last several years. The next largest is $3.5 million investment in Kore.ai, a conversational […]
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Toronto-based Ghost Kitchen Brands discusses what it means to be a ghost kitchen, and explains their vision for the future.
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Uber Eats is relaunching its Group Ordering with new features that allow friends, family and coworkers to split the bill.
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Grubhub has severed its ties with Yandex Self-Driving Group in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
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Branch, a workforce payments platform that allows restaurants to go cashless and enable digital tips, raised $75 million through a Series C.
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Location services company Radar looks to expand dramatically in the restaurant space after a $55 million fundraise and a new partnership with restaurant logistics giant Olo. The core work of the company is building out exceptionally accurate location services and making it easy for brands and developers to utilize the services. It’s among many geolocation services, but co-founder and CEO Nick Patrick said the company is laser-focused on being “developer first.” “Where we’re really focused is ease of integration,” said Patrick. “There are a lot of other great developer first […]
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Gas prices have always been a leading indicator of economic conditions. In the age of third-party delivery, record prices put a new strain on contract delivery drivers. According to AAA, prices per gallon reached $4.17, the highest price on record, eclipsing the prior record of $4.11 set in 2008. Gas prices have surged since Russia invaded Ukraine, and there’s no indication prices will moderate anytime soon. President Joe Biden announced it would bar imports of Russian oil into the U.S. as another layer of sanctions against the regime. In an […]
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DoorDash is acquiring Bbot, the digital ordering, mobile payment and marketing software provider.
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