Grocery Delivery Digest

August 25, 2020

Peter Cook, Publisher

This week a handful of reports have been released which uncover more fully the incline and decline of various brands. DoorDash is launching new delivery outlets, while Grubhub and UberEats are contending with court rulings. Pizza Hut is closing 300 restaurants while Dominoes is hiring over 20,000 new employees. Success has also introduced itself to companies like ChopShop and Wingstop (rhyme not intended…). For those struggling companies, Waitr’s recent achievements offers a glimmer of hope.

One admirable story to catch this week surrounds how Fogo de Chao has committed themselves to delivering meals to their employees and frontline workers. It’s a fantastic example of taking care of prioritizing what matters most. Thank you to all the companies that demonstrate this service. Enjoy the reading and enjoy the week!

Issue #18

Fogo De Chão’s CEO Barry McGowan on How To Transition from Fine Dining to Off-Premise

The Brazilian steakhouse chain was hit hard during the coronavirus crisis but continued to feed staff and front line workers.


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Can Darden Restaurants Survive Another COVID-19 Lockdown?

The owner of Olive Garden and Longhorn Steakhouse managed through the first wave of closures OK.


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DoorDash Reportedly Could Go Public by the End of the Year

DoorDash could go public in November or December through a traditional initial public offering, according to Bloomberg, which cited people familiar with the matter.


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DoorDash Launches Grocery Delivery from Hy-Vee, Meijer and Other Stores

DoorDash users can now order their groceries through the delivery app from grocers including Wegmans, Hy-Vee, Gelson’s and others.


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Grubhub Petitions Against Food Delivery Fee Caps Implemented During Coronavirus

The third-party delivery service is reportedly petitioning against caps on its commission fees in New York City.


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Uber Says Food Delivery Business To Continue in California, Unaffected by Court Ruling

Ride-hailing company Uber Technologies Inc. will continue its food delivery service Uber Eats in California even if it's forced to shut down its primary business.


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Instacart Boosts Security for Shoppers After Breach

Instacart has disclosed a security incident in which two employees of a third-party vendor reviewed more shopper profiles than necessary for their work in tech support.


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Is In-House Delivery the Future for Restaurants?

Two fast casuals have started self-delivery programs to control the full experience.


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BJ's Launches Curbside Pickup

BJ’s Wholesale Club has introduced curbside pickup service at all of its 219 stores, according to a press release.


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Domino’s Is Hiring 20,000 More Employees As Coronavirus-Era Delivery Demand Grows

The pizza chain is looking for delivery drivers, pizzamakers, customer-service representatives and managers.


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Chains Will Never Recover Until Indoor Dining Fully Reopens, As Restaurant Closures Loom

Chains like Red Robin and Ruby Tuesday's sales are hindered by capacity limits, which will continue in most areas until there is a COVID-19 vaccine.


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300 Pizza Huts Are Closing After a Giant Franchisee Goes Bankrupt

Up to 300 Pizza Hut restaurants are slated to permanently close following the bankruptcy of one the chain's largest franchisees.


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Chipotle Mexican Grill Digs Deeper into Its Digital Channels with Free Delivery "Monday Matchup" Promotion

Fast-casual Mexican chain launches sports challenge promotion that could earn at least 10 loyalty fans free burritos for a year; the promotion includes free delivery every Monday through Sept. 28.


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Fazoli’s Online Ordering Skyrockets 410 Percent

Fazoli’s concluded its most successful July in brand history with record-breaking sales and traffic. The iconic Italian brand followed up a tremendous May and June sales and traffic increase with an eye-popping 16 percent increase in sales and 17 percent increase in traffic over the prior year.


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The Pandemic Fuels a (Virtual) Wing Explosion

As more brands launch delivery-only wing concepts, there’s one big question: "Can anybody beat Wingstop?".


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Restaurants Tap Low and High-Tech Solutions to Smooth Operations During the Pandemic

Operators share the innovations that are getting them through these challenging times.


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How Waitr's CEO Made the Company Profitable in 6 Months

Since Carl Grimstad joined the delivery company, employed drivers were switched to contractors, more restaurants joined the platform and it expanded into grocery and alcohol delivery.


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Home Cooking On Demand: This Food Delivery Company Just Raised $8.8 Million

Shef, an Airbnb-like platform for home cooked meals, is ramping up to meet that demand while providing opportunities for immigrants to earn money by sharing the home cooking of their cultures.


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Chef Rick Bayless’ Tortas Frontera Coming to Downtown Chicago

Tortas Frontera, the O’Hare airport cult favorite from chef Rick Bayless, is coming to downtown Chicago through a new partnership with leading kitchen-as-a-service company, Kitchen United.


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Del Taco Franchisee Jetz Foods Continues Healthy Growth

Two months after their successful opening in Dalton, multi-unit operating group Jetz Foods LLC is continuing to grow with Del Taco.


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COVID Can’t Keep Barbecue Icon Pat Martin Down

Gut punch after gut punch, the nationally renowned pitmaster continues to fight back.


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Cheesecake Factory Banks on Digital Initiatives

The Cheesecake Factory Inc. is poised to benefit from digitization, menu innovation and off-premise offerings.


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Amazon and Morrisons Launch Grocery Delivery Service

Amazon and Morrisons have announced that, for the first time, customers are now able to do their full Morrisons food shop on Amazon.co.uk.


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Tesco To Offer Free Grocery Delivery in Amazon Challenge

U.K.-based retailer Tesco will offer free grocery delivery in a bid to head off Amazon.com's attempt to break into the British online grocery market.


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SWIPEBY Launches Crowd Investment Campaign

Following SWIPEBY's mission to democratize the off-premise take-out market with cheaper and better technology, they have decided to participate in democratizing startup investing, raising $150k+ within the first few days from hundreds.


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Food Delivery Service App Bite Squad Grows Orlando Presence with New Jobs

Bite Squad plans to hire more than 200 contract drivers in the metro area. That comes as restaurants have seen an increase in take-out and delivery orders due to the Covid-19 pandemic.


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Fajita Pete's Set To Triple Location Count from 16 to 50 Units with Recent Franchise Signings

At a time when many restaurants are closing doors or scrambling to launch off-premise offerings, Fajita Pete's, a concept known for "fresh off the grill" fajita delivery, will triple its locations.


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Wiz Khalifa and Nextbite Announce Delivery-Only Restaurant HotBox

Wiz Khalifa has just unveiled his new business venture in partnership with Nextbite, opening a delivery-only restaurant chain called HotBox.


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Restaurant Closures in India Stymie Food Delivery Demand

Despite strong demand for food delivery in India due to dining restrictions wrought by COVID-19, transactions are below pre-pandemic levels because of a supply problem — many restaurants remain closed.


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Delivery Fees Were Killing North Miami Restaurants, but the City Is Helping

The city of North Miami will reimburse independent restaurants within the city’s community-redevelopment district for service fees they pay to Uber Eats, up to $5,000 a month per restaurant, the agency’s director said Wednesday.


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Asian Delivery Service Chowbus Launches in Houston

The arrival of delivery service Chowbus in Houston could not have come at a better time. Launched in the city in May, the platform focuses exclusively on Asian restaurants.


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Leadership in the Era of COVID-19: What’s next?

"Good can come out of this," NRAEF president Rob Gifford said during a Restaurants Rise leadership session that included comments from Wingstop CEO Charlie Morrison; the executives and a rising star hospitality student discuss how leaders are resetting the table during the pandemic.


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Food Delivery Gets Airborne with First Drone Tests in Singapore

Foodpanda showed the first delivery test flight of its new initiative “pandaFly,” a drone-based food delivery initiative in collaboration with ST Engineering.


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Rangers Offer New Ballpark Food Delivery Service Called “Field to Table”

Even though fans can't make it to baseball games in person, the Texas Rangers are trying to bring part of the ballpark experience to their front doors.


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