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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Coronavirus

The Spoon team is working hard to bring you the latest on the impact of COVID-19. Bookmark this page for our full archive on the pandemic and how the food industry is embracing innovation to fight back.

On April 6th, The Spoon had a full day virtual summit on COVID-19 strategies for food & restaurants. You can watch all the sessions from our virtual strategy summit here.

You can also check out this COVID-19 resource page for food and restaurant industry.

Delish to Host Instagram Live Cooking Classes for Parents and Kids

If you’re a parent working from home with kids out of school, chances are you’re on the lookout for creative ways to distract them — hopefully while they learn some things.

Maybe one of those things will be how to cook. Recipe platform Delish is launching an Instagram Live series to teach parents and kids how to cook together.

According to an email from Delish, the series will be hosted by the platform’s editorial director Jo Saltz and her children. Episodes will air each weekday at 1:00pm ET and last 15 to 20 minutes (the first episode aired today). If you can’t tune in at that time, episodes will be saved in a Highlights section of Delish’s Instagram so you can watch when you’re ready.

Each #CookingTogether lesson will feature “kid friendly” recipes like pizza waffles and something called puppy chow (which I just had to Google and must say, I now want very badly).

Healthy? Not exactly. But kids can be picky, and if you’re already fighting a battle trying to keep them educated and entertained it’s not exactly the time to try and sell them on broccoli, too.

I don’t have kids myself, but I think Delish’s #CookingTogether series is a smart way for the recipe brand to make the best of the current situation — and differentiate themselves from other recipe site competitors. While people are quarantined at home they’re looking for both inspiration on what to cook and free ways to entertain themselves (and their children).

I bet before the coronavirus pandemic has died down, we’ll be seeing a lot of recipe services experimenting with new tactics to cater to the new normal.

Could the COVID-19 Outbreak Save Meal Kits?

When I get anxious or stressed out, my natural response is to cook elaborate meals for myself. Following complex recipes soothes me.

But I understand that that is absolutely not the case for many folks out there. Nonetheless, in a time where we’re not supposed to be leaving the house, there’s only so much delivery you can order in — and so many meals of spaghetti you can make.

That’s where meal kits could come in handy. They’re delivered to your door (no venturing out to grocery stores!), contain ingredients for a balanced meal, and give folks who might not be super comfortable in the kitchen some training wheels to get them cooking. On top of that, most meal kit services are at least slightly cheaper than ordering delivery, especially when you factor in tip.

I reached out to a few meal kit companies to see how the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent social distancing is affecting them. And the news was uniformly positive! Unlike many food-related companies, meal kits are actually seeing a boost in sales.

Purple Carrot’s founder and CEO Andy Levitt told me that the company had seen a “sharp increase in demand for our plant-based meal kits since COVID-19 has been shifting consumer behavior.” A representative from HomeChef emailed me that the company was seeing an “unprecedented increase in orders” with “more people cooking at home.” Over email, Blue Apron’s CEO Linda Findley Kozlowski also noted that the company had seen “a sharp increase in consumer demand.” No one would disclose exact numbers.

All of the companies I contacted emphasized that their employees were following CDC guidelines to ensure food safety during sourcing and packing. One benefit of meal kits is that the ingredients are packed in a warehouse, which means there are also fewer people touching your food and less chance of contamination than in a supermarket.

As we’ve written about time and again on The Spoon, the meal kit industry has been struggling for quite a while. Will this recent boost in subscribers be enough to sustain meal kits? Levitt is optimistic; he anticipated that the demand would continue even after the COVID-19 pandemic dies down.

I’m perhaps less so. The basic problems for meal kits — managing disparate supply chains, encouraging customer stickiness, making recipes easy enough for anyone to cook, and competing against food delivery — will still be present in our post-coronavirus future.

True, maybe some folks who are trying out meal kits now will get hooked and decide to continue on that path. But overall, if meal kit companies want to survive I think they’ll have to continue to innovate to cater to shifting consumer needs by focusing on retail, enabling more customization, and creating easier, faster recipes.

But for now, meal kits are filling an important need for consumers who want to cook more at home, but aren’t sure how. It’s a small but noteworthy silver lining in the time of COVID-19.

My Elderly Parents Kept Going to the Grocery Store, So I Finally Instacarted for Them (and It was Great!)

Parents, especially elderly ones, can be stubborn. They have their routines and will stick to ’em by gum. For my septuagenarian parents, it’s going to their local grocery store, which they love (my dad actually had his 65th birthday party there).

But as the COVID-19 shroud continues to unfurl across the nation and people are being asked to stay at home, going to the grocery store, especially if you’re elderly (sorry, mom!), seems like not such a great idea anymore.

We’ve already seen some grocery stores create special, early hours where only seniors can shop, which is a good idea. But honestly, I would prefer if my parents didn’t have to go out in the world at all, at least for the next few weeks.

I’ve been telling them about online grocery shopping since this pandemic began, and how it could be an option for them to get food without leaving their house. They politely nodded and said that yes that was an option, and then went to the store anyway. My mother in particular is pretty tech-savvy, so the concept of getting groceries online wasn’t scary to her; I think it was more about their routines.

As this pandemic transmogrified a full-on international crisis, I upped the pressure on my parents to give up the grocery store. But they kept going. I don’t live near them (otherwise I’d shop for them), so finally yesterday I Instacarted for them. And it was fantastic.

I live in a rural area where Instacart isn’t available, so I hadn’t used the service yet. But after downloading the app, I was able to plug in my parents’ address, find their local store, and start shopping.

My Instacart Shopper was super helpful at finding product replacements.

My mom sent a list of items and I placed the order. While I was expecting deliveries to be delayed at least a few days, surprisingly there was a same-day window. Aces!

What I appreciated was how my shopper, Julia, was communicative throughout the whole process. Understandably, a lot of what I ordered was out of stock, so she sent suggestions and photos of options (or lack thereof, almost all of the bread was gone). Finally, I left instructions for her to just drop off the groceries on my parents’ front porch (no touching!). Julia sent me a pic when the delivery was done and I FaceTimed my parents to let them know.

I’m deeply aware that we are asking more of gig workers and delivery people than ever before. In this case, Julia is literally helping keep my parents fed. Instacart has a pretty crappy track record when it comes to treating its workers well. Given that their shoppers are on the front lines of this pandemic, Instacart better damn well step up and do the right thing (all of the tip I left should have gone to Julia). It would also be cool if Instacart offered something similar to Chatt.us, wherein you could buy groceries for someone else in need (because with all the restaurant closures and job losses, there is going to be a lot of need).

I realize that many of you reading this are probably saying Duh, Chris, we know all about Instacart. Great! I’m sharing this story because in these strange times, we can re-think how we use our existing resources to help others. Anecdotally, I’ve heard from a bunch of friends who are struggling with their parents going out for groceries. If you are concerned for your elderly parents, and have the means and can use a tool like Instacart or Safeway online or Walmart for them, maybe consider it.

Will this experiment push my parents into online grocery shopping? I don’t know yet, they say they are stocked for a few weeks. But hopefully when I bring up Instacart again, they won’t just nod their head politely.

We’re spending every day tracking the impact of COVID-19 on the world of food. Subscribe to our newsletter to get our analysis and hear stories from the front lines.

Guided Cooking Deals to Help You Eat Better While Social Distancing

Being in the business of covering food news, it’s easy to be all doom and gloom right now. While the COVID-19 outbreak is certainly causing huge disruptions in the foodservice industry, there are some silver linings.

The coronavirus — and subsequent social distancing measures — could have a real effect within our own kitchen. Reuters reported last week that quarantined folks in China have been spending time in their kitchens and learning to cook, leading to increased downloads in recipe apps and guided cooking services.

If you’re also cooped up at home and looking to flex your cooking skills, there are plenty of great services out there to help you learn to be a better chef. And good news — some are even offering deals!

We’ve listed some below, and will be updating the list as we learn of more. If you notice any are missing please leave us a comment or email tips@thespoon.tech.

Plant Jammer
If you stocked up on a bunch of vegetables but aren’t sure exactly how to turn them into meals, Plant Jammer could be a useful guide. The service, which is available via a website or an app, uses AI to generate vegetarian recipes based on what you have available at your house (which could be very helpful if you’re trying to make use of what you have without hitting up the grocery store).

As of today Plant Jammer’s paid features will be free to all users. According to an email from the company, they will assess how long to continue the offer based off of the progression of the coronavirus outbreak.

Photo: Hestan Cue

Hestan Cue

If you have a smart cooking system Hestan Cue at home and want to finally learn how to use it to make fancy restaurant meals at home, you’re in luck. The company, which makes a connected cooktop and pan set that connects with your phone to guide your cooking, is now offering a free Hestan Cue Cooking School. The first course is all about Mastering Eggs — other courses have not been announced yet. If you want to follow along, you can sign up here.

Photo: Now Serving

Bookstores

It’s never been a better time to invest in cookbooks: you get new recipes to try, great reading material, and are able to support local bookstores that have had to shutter to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Now Serving, L.A.’s only cookbook bookstore, is trying to beef up sales by offering free online shipping. If you’re in the area you can also get curbside pickup. The Book Larder, Seattle’s only cookbook bookstore, is also offering free shipping on orders over $50.

Photo: ckbk Instagram

ckbk
Looking for cooking inspiration and bored of your usual staples? Online subscription service ckbk lets you browse a bunch of cookbooks virtually — sort of like a Spotify for cookbooks. Interested folks can use the code WECANCOOKTHROUGHTHIS to get a 30 day free trial to ckbk, which allows them to browse 360 cookbooks and 85,000 recipes to find new recipe inspiration.

Photo: Blue Apron

Meal kits
Some of us need a little more hand-holding during our cooking process. In that case, several meal kit services are offering discounts. Blue Apron is offering $60 off through March, and Hello Fresh has a variety of promotions going (including $80 off over four weeks).

Do you have a guided cooking service offering a deal to help folks cook during this trying time? Give us a shout in the comment section or drop us a line.


Newsletter: Covering Food Tech in the Time of COVID-19

This is the web version of our newsletter. Sign up today to get updates on the rapidly changing nature of the food tech industry.

How can we help?

Honestly, that is the overriding discussion we’ve had here at The Spoon over the past couple of weeks as this epidemic turned into a pandemic and then into a full-on international crisis.

We just want to be a useful resource for the food tech industry in these trying times. As such, we’ll still be covering industry news (like Impossible raising a(n Impossible) whopper of a Series F – $500 million), but a lot of our immediate emphasis will be on how COVID-19 is impacting the entire meal journey today, tomorrow and what it will mean well into the future.

Team Spoon has already put together some great resources for those wondering how COVID-19 is already altering the food tech biz, including:

And we’ve got more in the works. But what stories would be most helpful to you, Spoon reader? Whether you work in a startup, a huge CPG company, a restaurant or a grocery store, we want to know what information will be the most helpful in getting you through this. Drop us a line and let us know what you want to see covered, and we’ll do our best to make it happen.

We don’t just write about the food tech community, we’re a part of it, and we’ll do our best to help it get through all of this. Thanks for reading. Stay safe, stay well and stay far apart from each other.

Drinkworks Launches Beer Pods

After everything happening every day, who could blame you for wanting/needing a drink. But with bars and restaurants increasingly closed, what’s a person to do? If you’re in one of the states where it’s available, Drinkworks has good brews for you!

The home cocktail robot expanded beyond mixed drinks this week and launched its first beer pods. Pop one into the Drinkworks, press a button and out pours the beer. No homebrewing necessary.

The beer is made by Los Angeles-based Gold Road Brewery, and is actual beer that has been freeze distilled down to its essence. A four-pack of wheat-based beers will set you back $12.99, but in these trying times, that may not be a huge price to pay.

What is the Future of Ghost Kitchens

With dine-in areas being shut down and restaurants pivoting to delivery, could ghost kitchens be a lifeline for the restaurant industry?

We’ll be holding an appropriately socially distant webinar on the future of ghost kitchens on March 19th (that’s this Thursday) at 10 a.m.

We’ve actually been planning this webinar for awhile, but the topic has certainly taken on a new importance given world events. Guests Ashley Colpaart, CEO of the Food Corridor, Shawn Lange, President of Lab2Fab, a division of Middleby will be able to provide an insider’s perspective as to what’s happening with ghost kitchens, where they are headed, and how COVID-19 is already changing the business.

The webinar is free and you can register for it here.

Toast Launches a Relief Plan for Restaurants

Restaurant tech company Toast just announced it has set up a fund to support restaurants and restaurant workers as COVID-19 spreads and businesses are forced to close in response.

The fund comes in the form of Rally for Restaurants, an online directory of restaurants nationwide. Users can search the directory, choose a restaurant, and donate to that business by purchasing one (or several) gift cards. Toast said in an email that it will match up to $250,000 in contributions.

Right now there are over 18,000 restaurants listed on the platform from cities large and small across the U.S. Many more can be added, of course. Currently there are over 600,000 restaurants in the U.S., and many of them independent businesses whose very livelihoods are at stake right now.

Restaurants that are not currently on the platform can submit their business here. If you’re a customer who just happens to love a particular restaurant you don’t see listed, you can submit it here. Toast will confirm the restaurant’s information with the business itself before adding it to the platform.

Separate from the fund, Toast also said it has eliminated software fees for restaurant customers for the next month and will provide those customers with free access to its digital ordering, marketing, and gift card programs for three months. Additionally, the company has set up an online resource center that includes content on how to manage the changes currently sweeping across the restaurant industry. 

Grocery Store Workers Are Now Front Line Workers. Be Kind to Them.

As I walked up to the cashier this morning at my local WinCo, she saw the big bulk bag of rice I had loaded on the conveyor belt, shook her head and looked visibly annoyed. She said something about the price of the bag.

I was confused and thought for a moment I had picked up something I wasn’t allowed to buy. I asked her if I needed to go get the price from the aisle and she shook her head.

“The price is on the bottom of the bag. I have to pick that bag up to ring it and it’s too heavy for me,” she said.

I instantly felt pretty horrible for indulging my newfound doomsday prepper sense of dread with a 10 pound bag of rice.

I asked her if things have been hard lately.

“I’ve been working 12 hour days for the past week.”

Like many of you, I thought a lot about the people who are working the types of jobs that require them to be in contact with people all day, every day, during this crisis. Grocery stores, in particular, are getting crushed with long lines of people who might or might not be infected and who are, almost to a person, uneasy about the future. That leads to lots of short tempers and stress for those doing their job.

I asked the woman if I could help her lift the bag up to the scanner and she said yes. We talked for a while and she told me about workers who have been working for two weeks straight without a day off and one coworker who hadn’t really had a break for 48 hours.

I thanked her for her hard work and that we appreciate what she’s doing. She nodded and went on to scan the next customer’s groceries.

While someday we’ll no doubt see lots more automated checkout and other technology that will change the way our grocery stores look and operate, the reality is grocery stores rely on humans who are working hard and, in days like this, potentially sacrificing their own well being.

Many of the workers at this store were young, but not all. No matter the age, everyone I talked to or interacted with were professional and polite. Even my checker, although tired, was professional and worked quickly.

Listen, this is going to be long and working at grocery stores is now a front lines job. We need to be kind to them. We’re in this together and we especially need to show it to those working hard for us while potentially sacrificing their own personal wellbeing.

Video: Creator Engineered an Awesome Way to Deliver Germ-Free Burgers

COVID-19 has spawned a lot of new safety protocols in food delivery to help stem the outbreak. Grocery stores are wiping everything down more often. Delivery companies are dropping food off without human contact. But leave it to Creator, which built an entire robot to make (delicious) cheeseburgers, to take who concept of clean food to a whole new level.

During this pandemic, Creator has shifted to a delivery only model, and the company posted a video to Instagram today showing off its high-tech, highly-engineered solution for making sure the food you eat is as germ-free as possible. Creator described the new system in an email sent to us, saying:

Our engineers have worked around the clock to create a transfer chamber that protects the inside of the restaurant from outside air yet still allows us to transport completed meals, in their hermetically sealed bags, out to customers. The chamber uses a positive pressure system combined with a self-sanitizing conveyor.

In addition to this Andromeda Strain-level of prevention, Creator’s robot can also potentially help curb the spread of disease because it removes another human from the equation (though there are still humans involved in assembling your order).

Creator’s solution may seem over-the-top, but honestly, over-the-top solutions are exactly what we need right now.

When You Drink at Home (and You Will), Tip a Chattanooga Service Worker with Chatt.us

We are all for finding bright spots amidst all the dark news the COVID-19 virus is wreaking across the food industry. With a growing list of cities and states forcing restaurants and bars to cease in-person service, a lot of waiters, bussers, bartenders, dishwashers and more are being laid off.

While relief groups are being set up and one hopes that the federal government will do their job and provide assistance, we came across one novel solution that we had to share. The website chatt.us is now letting you tip a service worker via Venmo or the Cash app.

Chatt.us describes itself this way:

Help the Chattanooga Service Industry

Every time you have a drink at home during social distancing, consider tipping a local service industry worker through Venmo or Cash App. Refresh this page to get a new person to support.

Right now, service industry people are severely impacted by social distancing and quarantine. Lower amounts of patrons and restaurants closing will be tough on everyone. Every little bit helps.

So when you’re making that vodka soda after trying to teach your elementary school son or daughter about how to calculate perimeters and areas while also putting in a full day’s home of remote work, you can visit the site and offer up a tip as a literally random act of kindness.

Chatt.us didn’t have a whole lot of, well, any information about who created the site, but God bless ’em, whoever they are. Hopefully the site inspires people in more cities to do the same.

Bright spots, everyone. They light the way. We’ve been compiling a list of companies and services that are helping out the restaurant industry during this pandemic. If you know of interesting solutions (local or national) to help those in the food industry out, drop us a line and let us know!

Foodservice Companies Pivot to Feed Hospital Workers

In times where the news seems bleaker than ever, it’s encouraging to be able to report on uplifting stories, however small. So I was happy to receive a press release from Simply Good Jars, a Philadelphia-based startup that sells fresh meals in reusable jars via smart RFID-enabled fridges. It places these fridges in high traffic spots like offices and hospitals so people can grab-and-go with a healthier meal than, say, a bag of chips or candy bar.

The company reached out to let us know that they were pivoting from the smart fridge model to a delivery one. Under the new model, folks in the Philly area can order eight Simply Good Jars salads that will be delivered to their door on a weekly basis through April 8. There’s no delivery fee and the jars will not be collected for reuse. If you live in Philadelphia and are interested you can sign up here.

That’s interesting in itself — a smart fridge-oriented company pivoting to delivery — but what caught our eye was what followed that announcement: Simply Good Jars is also offering free meals to hospital workers at the three hospitals that normally already have their smart fridges. In a time when many healthcare professionals are working grueling hours under tons of stress, a free, fresh meal is not just a nicety, but critical.

Photo: Sweetgreen

Simply Good Jars isn’t the only company stepping up. Sweetgreen is reappropriating its Outpost operations to deliver free salads and bowls (in newly compostable containers!) to hospital workers in the cities Sweetgreen currently serves. Outpost is Sweetgreen’s delivery-catering hybrid service that sets up batched delivery drop-off sites in offices of larger companies. I’m not sure how many hospitals have an Outpost — it seems more targeted towards tech companies — but if you work at a health facility and want a Sweetgreen Outpost there, you can head to bit.ly/sgimpactoutpost to request one.

For those who want something a little more comfort food-y, &Pizza is offering free, unlimited pizza pies to hospital workers who show identification. If they’re unable to leave their post, workers can text 200-03#HERO to get a code which they can use to get their pie delivered.

Obviously these offers aren’t entirely selfless. Giving away free product to healthcare workers is a smart marketing strategy as well as, you know, the right thing to do. But in times when everything seems pretty bleak, we’ll take good news where we can find it. Feeding hospital workers is an important way to support those on the front lines fighting the outbreak — and it’s also an encouraging show of humanity and community support.

Plus, these actions could encourage similar foodservice companies, especially those with deep pockets, to start their own service to feed medical professionals.

In fact, why stop at hospital workers? I’d love to see Chipotle and other healthy-ish fast casual chains sending food to low-income residents, seniors and other groups that are especially vulnerable to COVID-19 (with proper distancing and sanitation precautions, of course). Because these are tough times — but they become a little easier if we’re well-nourished. It’s time for more foodservice companies to step up.

If you know of any other restaurants or foodservice establishments feeding hospital workers (or other high-need groups) drop us a line at tips@thespoon.tech or comment on this post to let us know!

Chipotle Partners with Uber Eats to Reach More Diners during COVID-19

Quarantined burrito lovers, take note. Chipotle announced today it has added Uber Eats to its list of third-party delivery partners. The chain also announced that it will waive delivery fees on orders of $10 or more placed through the Uber Eats app for the rest of March.

Chipotle is taking extra precautions to make sure anyone who orders through Uber Eats has the option to for “no-contact” deliveries. Chipotle food will have a tamper-evident packaging seal to prove that food has been untouched on its route to the customer.

This is the first time Chipotle and Uber Eats have teamed up for delivery, and the move is no doubt in response to the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping across the globe and keeping people home. Chipotle chain has had a partnership with DoorDash since 2018 and is also available through Postmates.

As resident restaurant tech expert Jenn Marston previously noted, delivery remains a major driver for digital growth for Chipotle. The company has a hybrid delivery strategy which uses a combo of in-house and third-party functionality to build out a unique delivery operation for each individual storefront. It’s also experimenting with Chipotlanes, which are drive-thru lanes that place special emphasis on mobile ordering.

Chipotle’s digital business surpassed $1 billion in sales in 2019 and digital orders made up one-fifth of the company’s sales in Q4 of last year. With the coronavirus outbreak spurring massive restaurant closures, it’s likely that Chipotle — and other fast-casual chains — will double down on its digital and delivery capabilities. With Uber Eats on its side, that could mean more burritos for all of us social distancing right now.

Own a Restaurant? Here Are Some Resources for Surviving COVID-19

It’s way too soon to know exactly how badly restaurants will be impacted by the mandatory dining room shutdowns happening due to the spread of coronavirus. In a letter to the government obtained by The Spoon, The National Restaurant Association said it anticipates a sales decline of $225 billion over the next three months and the loss of between 5–7 million jobs. Since news of both COVID-19 and its effects on daily life and business change overnight now, there’s no telling if that number will go up in the near future.

To help restaurant owners, managers, workers, and other industry folks affected by this unprecedented situation, we’ve put together a list of useful websites, funds, fact sheets, and more. I’ll be adding to this list daily, so if you know of an organization or movement or own a tech company pushing out solutions to help restaurants, drop me a line at tips@thespoon.tech. 

The National Restaurant Association has put together a COVID-19 fact sheet (PDF) that includes information specific to the restaurant industry, such as the difference between cleaning and sanitizing and what to do if an employee gets sick.

Allset, a reservations and order-ahead app, now offers a contactless pickup option at participating restaurants. For all existing restaurant partners that provide the contactless pickup option at their stores, the company is waiving commission fees. Allset is also offering a daily $4 discount to customers for all pickup orders placed via its platform.

Restaurant tech company Chowly is offering a “no cost” starter package to businesses needing to quickly pivot to delivery models as more cities and states shut down dining rooms. Chowly’s software funnels orders coming from multiple different channels directly into a restaurant’s main POS system, which saves restaurants from having to manually input that information. Right now, Chowly says restaurants can get set up in as little as two business days.

DailyPay, an app that lets restaurant workers access their earnings immediately, has waived all access fees so that individuals using the service can get their earned income immediately. According to a press release from DailyPay, 43% of employees using DailyPay are accessing their pay early for COVID-19-related expenses. Restaurants not yet working with DailyPay can now do so at zero cost right now.

A group of restaurant industry professionals has set up an initiative to get immediate funds to restaurants through a campaign called “Dining Bonds.” It works like a savings bond: guests purchase a bond at today’s value rate and can redeem it for full face value at a later date. Customers can connect and purchase bonds from participating restaurants here.

DoorDash/Caviar is waiving commission fees for 30 days for new independent restaurants. Existing restaurant customers will pay zero commission fees on pickup orders for 30 days. The service has also set up a fund to assist impacted drivers and couriers.

Epicuri is waiving set up fees and offering a 60-day free trial with no commitment of its restaurant POS and guest management software. If interested, email onboarding@epicuri.co.uk.

Foodetective, a restaurant delivery platform serving Switzerland, is offering a commission-free delivery and takeaway platform for restaurants in the U.S. Restaurants will pay a monthly subscription fee but no commissions on individual orders.

The Foodservice Training Portal, which provides online learning tools for foodservice establishments, just released a new course which outlines how to respond to and prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Grubhub/Seamless has suspended commission fees for independent restaurants and set up a fund to assist drivers impacted by COVID-19.

Modern Restaurant Management has compiled a massive list of companies, nonprofits, tech startups, and more all offering tools and tips for restaurants during this time. The list includes everything from free webinars to best practice lists to information about new products that can help restaurants shift to off-premises strategies quickly. Check the full roundup here.

OneDine is now providing its Touchless System for ordering and payment free to all restaurants. It will waive setup and transaction fees and provide free Tap & Order and Tap & Pay sensors to all restaurants staying open.

OpenTable has launched a Restaurant Resource Center with information to help restaurant owners adapt operations to weather forced closures during the coronavirus. It will also waive subscription fees to their booking service if the restaurant is closed, as well as gift card listing fees.

Ordermark, a software-hardware platform that streamlines the process of accepting, managing, and fulfilling delivery orders, is waiving all setup fees right now, according to an email sent to The Spoon.

Postmates will waive commission fees for new San Francisco restaurants signing up with the platform. The service has also set up a fund for impacted workers.

Restaurant order management platform Revention is offering an Online Ordering and Delivery Starter Bundle for a reduced price. It includes a POS terminal, optional DoorDash on-demand delivery service, and remote installation.

Restaurant Playbooks will offer sales and hospitality training programs free to restaurant operators who are using their mandatory closures to develop their team.

The Restaurant Workers Community Foundation now has a COVID-19 Crisis Relief Fund where individuals and businesses can donate to help provide financial relief to restaurants and workers. 

Seated, a restaurant reservation and rewards platform, has created a help hotline to provide free financial, business, and legal advice to restaurant owners.

Toast has set up a relief fund called Rally for Restaurants. Users can search an online directory for their favorite restaurants and donate to them by purchasing gift cards.

Uber Eats has waived delivery fees for independent restaurants and offers two weeks of pay to drivers diagnosed with or quarantined because of COVID-19.

USBG National Charity Foundation is raising funds for the COVID-19 Relief Campaign in order to finance the Bartender Emergency Assistance Program.

The U.S. Small Business Association is offering low-interest disaster recovery loans to small businesses that have been severely impacted by COVID-19.

Online food ordering platform Zuppler is offering free setup and reduced pricing for restaurants and caterers who want to add online or Google ordering to their websites.