June 30, 2022
Peter Cook, Editor
While the ghost kitchen and virtual brand industry continues to grow around the world, finding the right partners and technology solutions are vital. This week’s Ghost Kitchen Digest highlights examples of technology to consider, new partnerships, and companies that have failed. Plenty to learn. Take a look.
And now, the news…
Lunchbox Essential is a free online ordering platform for growing restaurants with 1-3 locations. Lunchbox Essential allows operators to create an online storefront and direct ordering in under 30 minutes.
Qdoba is launching its first virtual brand, Pure Gold by Qdoba, which is only available on third-party apps, the company said Tuesday. It is available in select U.S. markets, including Denver, Michigan and Indianapolis, with potential for expansion.
The company, which framed itself as a transformative agent in the foodservice sphere, folded with little public warning, leaving hundreds of hotels short on foodservice options.
Lemay is bringing his personally-created Cake Cup Creamery dessert to ice cream lovers of all ages nationwide through his partnership with Nextbite, the virtual restaurant company that matches on-trend menu concepts with under-utilized kitchens to help restaurants succeed in the growing off-premises and digital era.
The agreement highlights expanding the presence of the company’s Chili's Grill & Bar, It's Just Wings (Chili's virtual brand) and Maggiano's Little Italy brands on the Grubhub Marketplace.
As for the decision to open a food hall in Stamford Town Center, which has been looking to non-retailers to fill vacancies, English said he thinks “malls are redefining themselves.
The partnership formed in May 2022, making Packed Bowls meals available for delivery via Uber Eats, DoorDash and Grubhub in all 50 states via the alliance with Nextbite, which taps into Wiz Khalifa’s vision and personality to create a one-of-a-kind menu that goes a long way in support of helping redefine late-night dining.
Sharebite, a platform that enables restaurants to deliver food to corporate clients, has secured $39 million in Series B funding. The company will use the funding to grow and launch new product.
If you’re looking to understand critical trends for restaurants and c-stores in the areas of sales, fulfillment, guest experience, and guest retention, Paytronix’s annual Order and Delivery Report is a good place to start. The report reviews industry trends from large multiunit restaurant brands, independent restaurants, and convenience stores.
People have high expectations of food delivery. That is the conclusion of a recent study entitled “How Spoiled Are Consumers With On-Demand Delivery?” by logistics platform Circuit.
Universities turn to robots to address labor shortages and explore new businesses.
It's the latest local example of restaurants tapping into the closest customer base they have — their upstairs neighbors.
Providing the best possible customer experience will significantly improve your upper hand in this competitive marketplace. With technological advancement, you can easily stand out from the crowd, improving your competitive advantage.
Biometric data is on track to become an $82.9 billion industry by 2027. We currently see companies using thermal, fingerprint and iris scanning alongside face id, voice prints, and palm or even finger pattern recognition. Let’s discuss how these emerging technologies might impact the restaurant industry.
In the metaverse, people use digital avatars to work, play and shop—and it is gaining early traction and attracting investors. Here are some things for those in the restaurant arena to consider.
Aggregators are advancing their technology to bring in the accuracy of time. Previously, Zomato used to calculate KPT as the difference between the restaurants accepted order timestamp and delivery partner order pick-up timestamp.
Restaurant delivery took off during the pandemic, and now things are changing. Many restaurants are reevaluating their strategies and determining whether or not they should continue offering delivery options.
When introducing food delivery into your restaurant there are different options you can choose from. You can either hire an in-house delivery team, use a third-party delivery service, or integrate delivery as a service (DaaS)! Each method has its advantages and disadvantages so it’s up to you to decide what works best for your restaurant!
U.S. consumers perceive convenience stores to be on par with quick-service restaurants, and 59% consider purchasing a meal from a c-store when stopping for fast food, according to Bluedot’s “The Convenience Experience Report”.
Delivery drivers are declining more and more orders.
As online ordering booms, restaurants are finding new ways to fortify relationships with one of their most important types of customer: regulars.
Bob DeCastro is joined by Graham Humphreys, the CEO of the Culinary Edge, a consulting service for the food services. Humphreys discusses the changes in food service post-pandemic. Humphreys talks about the advent of ghost kitchens and what types of food they are best for.
The conversation centers around Paytronix’s 2022 Order & Delivery Report and explores the changing nature of online ordering and delivery in 2022.
Skip Kimpel has a great interview of Noah Glass.
The platform has emerged as a hack around Uber Eats and Rappi's high fees.
According to Simone Galante, CEO of Galunion, the share of delivery, within the sample, fell 16%, due to the reopening of the salons. But with the overall growth of the movement, total sales for the channel grew 8% in 2021.
Deliveroo Plc is expanding access for advertisers on its app and website, joining a growing number of delivery companies using ads to improve sales and profitability.
From its 330 operational virtual restaurants, Kaykroo has taken the delivery food business by storm, and forged a role as the largest cloud kitchen platform for its own virtual restaurants in the UAE.
With the latest collaboration with leading food-technology firm KitchenomiKs, the Oman Convention & Exhibition Center (OCEC) is leveraging its state-of-the-art commercial kitchens to expand the range of culinary choice offered at the venue and bring about a game-changing evolution in Muscat and Oman’s Food & Beverage landscape.
talabat, the region’s leading local tech platform delivering food and q-commerce solutions, officially announced the launch of its successful drone food delivery pilot programme in Qatar last week.
Fat Brands launches Johnny Rockets, Fatburger and Buffalo’s Express in Bahrain.
The Careem Food and MUNCH:ON teams will work together to introduce low-cost meal segments that the latter has pioneered in the region, as well as new food discovery and delivery options for corporates.
Zomato already owned more than 9 per cent stake in Blinkit (earlier Grofers). While the earlier Blinkit deal was valued around $700 million, the drop in Zomato's share price reduced it to $568 million.
Having a profound understanding of their customers, restaurateurs are able to develop their offerings over a period of time. On the other hand, cloud kitchen marketing is data-driven, intensive, and straightforward.
Major cloud kitchen players in Indonesia such as Grab Kitchen and Yummy have been enablers for brands to expand at low cost. In the endemic world, we foresee that F&B businesses will continue to leverage food delivery platforms and cloud kitchens, given the latter’s favorable unit economics. These businesses also see the benefits of using these platforms to innovate new dishes and test market’s acceptance at low costs.
Kenya’s online food delivery sector is also heating up. Buoyed by an increasingly digital tech-savvy population, the space was worth $79 million in 2021, with Jumia Food, Bolt Food, Take Eat Easy, and Uber Eats, among others, being serious players. However, while platform-to-consumer deliveries dominate globally, restaurant deliveries take the lion’s share, with a market value of $53 million, compared to $26 million from platform delivery companies.
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.
We will only email you relevant news, analysis and announcements along with occasional sponsored content. You may unsubscribe at any time.
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
Do you provide delivery services or technology? Advertise in our newsletters!
© Copyright 2020 OnTrend Concepts. All Rights Reserved.