August 12, 2021

Peter Cook, Editor

Big news from Wendy’s, REEF, Domino’s, Chick-fil-A, DoorDash, GrubHub, Olo, Uber and more.  Exciting times for our industry!

The big news this week is the announcement of the Florida Ghost Kitchen and Virtual Restaurant Seminar (October 19th in Tampa)!  Looking forward to seeing many of you there.  The event website is https://ontrendconcepts.com/florida/.

Please feel free to share the Ghost Kitchen Digest with any co-workers, clients, or vendors whom you think would be interested.

And now, the news…

Issue #55

Wendy's Signs Deal with REEF to Open 700 Ghost Kitchens in Five Years

Wendy's and REEF expect to open approximately 50 delivery kitchens in 2021, with the remainder launched by 2025.


Read More
 

Domino’s takes aim at delivery apps by surprising customers with free food

The company's "Surprise Frees" program is a direct response to apps like DoorDash and Uber Eats and it's obvious the popular pizza chain wants to grab more delivery orders with this giveaway.


Read More
 

Florida Ghost Kitchen & Virtual Restaurant Seminar Announced!

With all the talk about ghost kitchens, dark kitchens, virtual restaurants, cloud kitchens and other mysterious terms, we decided that it is high time we organized an event for restaurant operators to get the details regarding the various approaches to ghost kitchens and virtual restaurants, the costs and benefits, digital marketing, delivery options, and more.


Read More
 

Chick-fil-A launching delivery-only concept with new Atlanta ghost kitchen

The Business Journals: The facility will span 10,000 square feet and include eight commercial kitchens


Read More
 

DoorDash Now Has A Way To Order From 2 Spots For A Single Delivery Fee

DoorDash announced its new DoubleDash feature on Thursday, Aug. 5, and it’s a total game-changer.


Read More

Denny’s encouraged by off-premises sales in base, virtual brands

Denny’s Corp. found off-premises demand in both its base brand and its two new virtual offerings helped boost systemwide sales in the second quarter, executives said Tuesday.


Read More
 

Olo Strikes Deal with Grubhub to Integrate Digital Orders

Olo announced an engagement with Grubhub to integrate digital orders directly into the point-of-sale (POS) of tens of thousands of restaurant brand locations via Olo Rails.


Read More
 

Uber Reigns In Restaurant Delivery, Eyes Grocery Growth

All around the world, delivery services that began with restaurant meals are making moves into the grocery space.


Read More
 

Kiwibot partners with hospitality giant Sodexo to bring food delivery robots to more college campuses

Kiwibot, the robotic sidewalk delivery startup, has announced a partnership with food services and facilities management giant Sodexo to bring its robots to U.S. college campuses.


Read More
 

New York City Set to Solidify Third-Party Delivery Regulations

New York City Council passed a raft of bills last week that would significantly alter the relationship between NYC restaurants and third-party delivery services.


Read More
 

‘SARS-CoV-2 is not a direct food safety concern…’ Neither food nor food packaging is a 'pathway for the spread of COVID-19,' says FAO

“Current data indicates that neither food nor food packaging is a pathway for the spread of viruses causing respiratory illnesses, including SARS-CoV-2,” according to a new guidance document from the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO): “In other words, SARS-CoV-2 is not a direct food safety concern.”


Read More
 

New Restaurant Loyalty Data: Average Customer Uses Four Channels To Place Food Orders

The 12th edition of PYMNTS' ongoing study series Delivering on Restaurant Rewards, a Paytronix collaboration, begins with a thought that all restaurant operators should internalize with urgency


Read More
 

Cost of groceries, eating out continue to climb across US

Grocery prices, the cost of eating out, and overall consumer prices continued to be hot and creeping up in July.


Read More
 

Woodspoon Raises $14M for its Delivery Platform that Features Home Cooked Meals

WoodSpoon is a delivery platform that connects diners with home chefs that prepare authentic ethnic dishes.


Read More
 

Research Offers an Insight on Covid-19's Impact on Online Food Delivery Services

Leading online food ordering software services provider Upmenu has published a new report indicating the impact of Covid-19 on the online food delivery services.


Read More
 

CPK Founder Cooks Up Another Pizza Concept

A brand built to scale and built for the off-premises movement.


Read More
 

Amid the Labor Shortage, Robots Step in to Make the French Fries

WSJ: Fast-food chains are working with a host of startups to bring automation to their kitchens


Read More
 

South Korea: Restaurant delivery customer's 'bland' water complaint causes ire

Public anger has grown over the malicious review of a picky consumer who ordered mineral water from a restaurant and rated the place as poor because the water was "bland."


Read More
 

Australia: Peckish delivery driver busted eating customer’s food before delivering their incomplete meal

A family was left short-changed over the weekend after their food delivery driver helped themselves to part of their meal.


Read More
 

Italy: Food Delivery Services Face GDPR Fines Over AI Algorithms

The regulator said that workers could be penalized based on how artificial intelligence - aka machine learning - algorithms were being used to assess their work.


Read More
 

France: Travis Kalanick is building a secretive dark kitchen empire in Europe

Company filings suggest the Uber founder is growing a dark kitchen business across Europe.


Read More
 

Germany: DoorDash in talks to invest in German grocery app Gorillas

DoorDash, the biggest US food delivery group, is preparing to make its first investment in Europe by taking a stake in Gorillas, the fast-growing Berlin-based grocery delivery app.


Read More
 

India: How Novotel floated its cloud kitchens

The Accor group hotel beat lockdown blues with some smart pivots


Read More

Subscribe

Our newsletters are a collection of all the news from the previous week related to each digest topic.  The focus is on trends, deal announcements, technology, and other industry disruptors and innovations.

  • Newsletters

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

We will only email you relevant news, analysis and announcements along with occasional sponsored content. You may unsubscribe at any time.

Share Your News

Send us your press releases and any other news articles which you believe would be of interest to our readers. Email submissions to contact@ontrendconcepts.com

Advertising

Do you provide delivery services or technology? Advertise in our newsletters!

© Copyright 2020 OnTrend Concepts. All Rights Reserved.