Ghost kitchens started cropping up several years ago, typically with individual restaurants operating a delivery-only business that differed from what they sold in their dining rooms. Now, like some other big players, Canadian restaurant conglomerate Recipe Unlimited Corp. is creating its own virtual concept — named Ultimate Kitchen. The first...
Salad-bowl magnate Sweetgreen is experimenting with something squarer, flatter, and hotter: “plates.” The DC-born chain announced today that it will launch a new dinner-esque menu category at all 100-plus locations nationally, offering nine healthful combinations of proteins such as hot honey chicken and tofu matched—not mixed—with veggies and...
Ghost kitchens became the hot new restaurant industry trend in 2019. Even big-name tech talent got in on the action, with former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick backing start-up CloudKitchens. In essence, ghost kitchens provide the “kitchen” piece of a restaurant operation without the on-premises dining or direct customer interaction—no host or wait...
Several months ago, at least 4 startups created software platforms for restaurants to purchase food from their suppliers. Then COVID-19 forced the closure of restaurants and these startups -- Choco, Cheetah, Pepper and DineMarket -- all pivoted to allow consumers to buy directly from the companies that used to supply restaurants. The questions...
In 1917, as the United States deployed troops to a Europe battered by warfare and food shortages, victory gardens sprang up across the U.S. Planted by civilians with urging by the government, these small gardens were made to feed American infantry and help “win the war.” Now, more than a century later, victory gardens are once again in fashion...
In the future, shelf-stable groceries will be delivered en mass, while perishable foods and more upscale items will take over supermarkets. That's the trend that coronavirus is accelerating, one that will change the habits of shoppers and remake the middle aisles of supermarkets. Increased appreciation for shelf-stable foods will outlive COVID-...
Robot delivery service company Starship Technologies, among others, is seeing a massive opportunity to grow amid the coronavirus outbreak. “The demand for contactless delivery has expanded exponentially in recent weeks,” the company’s business development head, Ryan Tuohy, said. Restaurants and stores are still relying on humans to make...
McDonald’s has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to acquire technology companies that specialize in artificial intelligence and machine learning. And the fast-food chain has even established a new tech hub in the heart of Silicon Valley — the McD Tech Labs — where a team of engineers and data scientists is working on voice-recognition...
Low-quality or even fake olive oil has been a problem for quite a while—going back at least to the Romans. In extreme cases, the “olive oil” you’re buying isn’t even made from olives, but from nuts, seeds, or soybeans. And now, there’s a way to prove whether olive oil is real and high-enough quality for the “extra virgin” designation. To show...
Earlier this year, Domino's Pizza said it would let you track your pizza deliveries using GPS. And, well, the company is now delivering on that promise. Domino's announced today that approximately a quarter of its locations across the US will have the technology in place by the end of this year. In 2020, a "significant portion" of Domino's...