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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Delivery & Commerce

Q&A: RoboEatz on the Importance of Robotics in Restaurants of the Future

Thanks in part to the pandemic and the changing restaurant experience, there is more interest in food robots these days. While we’re not yet at the point where counters, kitchens, and drive-thrus are fully manned by these bots, there is a steadily growing number of choices when it comes to machines that can speed up and/or smooth out operations, save on costs, and provide a truly contactless meal creation and pickup experience.

One such offering is the RoboEatz Ark 03. it is a standalone kiosk that contains an articulating arm, fresh ingredients (including soups and salad dressings), an induction cooker and cubbies to hold pickup orders. When a customer places an order (via phone or tablet), the robot arm grabs ingredients, places them in the rotating induction cooker, and puts the finished meal container in a cubby.

RoboEatz’ CEO Alex Barseghian will share more on this exciting new world of restaurant tech at The Spoon’s upcoming Restaurant Tech Summit on August 17. As a teaser, we recently got some thoughts from him about restaurant robotics, which you can read below. And if you haven’t already, grab a ticket to the virtual show here.

This Q&A has been lightly edited for clarity.

1. What problem does Roboeatz solve for restaurants/the restaurant industry?

The robot solves multiple things in one system. The ARK 03 can hold 80 ingredients allowing for 1,000 menu items to be made. Anyone from a salad concept to a pasta bar QSR or an Asian restaurant chain can leverage it. It self cleans the entire system and utensils, can dish out meals every 20 seconds and can serve 1,000 meals before it needs replenishment. It reduces waste, makes more consistent and great tasting food and labour shortages are resolved.

2. What is the biggest change in terms of the restaurant industry’s approach towards technology as a result of the pandemic?

There are a number. Touchless interaction is becoming more vital. Everything from digital menu boards, touchless payments and curbside pick have increased in demand during the pandemic. Chains are going to look to automate key areas of the kitchen or replace the whole kitchen to reduce mundane tasks. There is global labour shortage for the restaurant industry and technology is going to be a vital way to solve for that problem. 

3. Where do robotics and automation make the most sense in the restaurant industry (e.g., back of house, standalone machines, etc.)?

They can be either back of house or full standalone systems. The application will depend on the environment. For example, business canteens, student campuses, mining camps, airports and transit hubs can drop in a standalone machine like the ARK03. But if you have a casual fine dining chain with a massive infrastructure, you will take much more of an iterative approach to technology. Test and learn which pain points need to be fixed and automated. Only after can you scale — which takes time and extensive resources.

4. What is the biggest challenge for restaurants right now when it comes to digitization? 

The whole continuum of the journey is a challenge because there are so many aspects to digitization. From the ease of consumer ordering and personalization on the mobile phone to the end point of picking something in store, systems interacting with each other is a very large pain point.  

5. What are you most excited about when it comes to the impact of restaurant technology?

That we, as a society, can rely on is great quality food that is produced safely and without much food waste. We have a profitable model that is scalable for multiple restaurant verticals, from QSRs to managed food service companies with the aforementioned goal in mind.

6. What do you think the restaurant industry will look like in five years?

The fine dining restaurants will deploy automation that is not visible to customers.  Managed food service companies will deploy full systems in multiple verticals they service, especially where grab and go or 24/7 food is needed. QSR chains will have either a full system or have hybrid back of house functions. It is a very exciting time.  

Wendy’s to Launch 700 Ghost Kitchens Via Reef Partnership

Wendy’s announced this week it will expand its number of delivery-only kitchens via a partnership with ghost/mobile kitchen provider Reef. With the deal, Wendy’s plans to open 700 more of these kitchens over the next five years in the U.S., Canada, and the United Kingdom.

Wendy’s and Reef first announced their partnership in 2020, when the two started testing delivery-only kitchens in Canada. The partnership is part of Wendy’s ongoing strategy to be operating 7,000 units globally by the end of the year, according to the company’s earnings call this past week. The QSR chain plans to have 30 percent of all its new units come from nontraditional locations.  

Reef’s mobile kitchens certainly count as “nontraditional” when it comes to QSR formats. The company, which raised $700 million last year, houses ghost kitchens in mobile trailers that can be parked more or less anywhere there is underutilized real estate and demand for restaurant food. Right now, the company partners with existing restaurant chains that want to boost the number of delivery-only orders they fulfill. Saladworks, Wow Bao, and BurgerFi are just a few names using Reef’s mobile kitchen infrastructure. 

“We are still very early in our nontraditional development journey, but we are encouraged by the results that we’ve seen with Reef, and we’ll continue learning alongside them throughout this partnership as we grow our brand,” Wendy’s CEO Todd Penegor said on the earnings call.

Partnering with Reef on mobile kitchens allows Wendy’s to expand its new build-outs faster, since there’s less development time needed compared to a traditional QSR location with a dining room attached. Wendy’s decision to go the mobile kitchen route differs from other QSRs like Burger King, McDonald’s, and Taco Bell, all of whom have recently announced new store prototypes that emphasize digital ordering and delivery. In those cases, however, the units are stationary and have yet to be built out en masse.

Revenue in the online food delivery segment in the U.S. is expected to reach $32 billion in 2021, which is about 15 percent of the total U.S. fast food market today. That suggests a long-term trend towards non-dine-in formats for QSRs and more focus on the “hub-and-spoke” model where the kitchen is the central piece of the restaurant serving multiple different sales channels. QSRs, in particular, are well suited to the non-dine-in format because customers aren’t typically going to these establishments for the ambiance or experience one expects in a dining room setting.

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

5 Ways the Restaurant Biz Will Change In the Next 5 Years

If the last year and a half was about how restaurants could survive, this next stretch will be all about how they are and will continue to adapt to all the changes they’ve absorbed in the recent past. 

A lot of those changes have been around tech. In fact many would argue the restaurant biz made 10 years’ worth of technological evolution in the span of a few months because of the havoc the COVID-19 pandemic brought. Over the last year, online ordering has become table stakes, restaurants of all sizes have opened virtual, delivery-only concepts, and customer data has grown even more important for businesses to keep tabs on.

What do changes like these mean for the restaurant over the next five years? We’ll discuss that next week at The Spoon’s upcoming Restaurant Tech Summit. The virtual event takes place August 17, and you can still nab a ticket to it.

In preparation for the event, we’ve been publishing Q&As with restaurants, tech companies, analysts, and others who will be participating in the Summit. Below are some highlights from these individuals on where they see the restaurant biz headed over the next five years. 

Michael Schaefer, Head of Beverages and Foodservice Research, Euromonitor

“In the next five years, restaurants will become less synonymous with prepared food. Prepared meals will remain the primary business for restaurants, of course, and dining in restaurants will not be going away. However, the range of operators, concepts and venues for obtaining prepared meals and solving for daily meal occasions will continue to expand. Rather than a strict separation of restaurants and prepared meals on one end and grocers and packaged food and drinks on the other, we’ll see more of a spectrum, with a range of different approaches to prepared food and drinks, generally ordered via an app and often fulfilled by third-party delivery.”

Read Full Q&A

Allison Page, Founder, Sevenrooms

“We’re at the early innings of a data revolution for the hospitality industry. Over the next five years, hospitality experiences are only going to become more personalized and tailored to the wants and needs of guests – to the levels we see on an everyday basis from the likes of Amazon and Spotify today. The restaurant industry has been through a lot over the past year, but it’s one of the most inspiring industries to work in and be a part of every day and I’m excited to see what the next five years hold.” 

Read Full Q&A

Trish Paterson, CEO, Copper Branch

“There will be a surge in closings once the subsidies end — restauranteurs are focused on considering drive through and mobile pick up spaces for guests. There will be a stronger focus on touch-free technology (menus etc.). Due to labour shortages, there will be more focus on technology (robotics) for back of house and front of house, including self-serve kiosks, order from QR code at the table, etc.”

Read Full Q&A

Adam Brotman, CEO, Brightloom

“I predict we’ll see a couple of notable shifts. 

First, digital is here to stay and will only increase. Customers crave frictionless experiences. The accelerated shift to digital menus and mobile ordering and payment during the pandemic illuminated a new standard of customer convenience. If I can order ahead and arrange for curbside delivery with a few clicks on my phone, why would I ever return to waiting in line to order and pick up my food?

Second, we’ll see a rebalanced focus on customer retention relative to customer acquisition. It’s commonplace that loyal customers are almost always more profitable. Instead of over indexing on customer acquisition, restaurants will recalibrate their focus on driving sustainable revenue with existing customers based on historical transaction data.”

Read Full Q&A

Andy Wiederhorn, CEO, Fat Brands

“Five years from now, I think restaurants will be built upon the internet of things. Your POS talks to your grill, who talks to your fryer, who talks to your walk-in fridge, who makes an order to your potato supplier without a manager or cook having to lift a finger.” 

Read Full Q&A

You can hear all of these leaders at next week’s Restaurant Tech Summit on August 17th. Get your ticket today.

More Headlines

Ono Food Rebrands as Hyphen, Launches Makeline Food Assembly Robot to Work in Tandem with Humans – Hyphen just launched its Makeline assembly robot, which is meant to help fast casual restaurants quickly and accurately make meals for pick-up and delivery without taking up any additional space. 

Bite Ninja Raises $675,000 in Pre-Seed Funding to Virtually Staff Restaurants – The service allows restaurant workers to take drive-thru and counter orders remotely without interrupting the order process for consumers.

Kiwibot and Sodexo Bringing Delivery Robots to Three Colleges – Kiwibots will be rolling out to New Mexico State University, Loyola Marymount University in California, and Gonzaga University in Washington state.

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Taco Bell to Launch New Drive-Thru-Centric Store Prototype

Via a partnership with longtime franchisee Border Foods, Taco Bell is set to launch a new store design the QSR chain says will “simplify drive-thru time significantly,” according to a press release sent to The Spoon. Dubbed Taco Bell Defy, the initiative was first announced at the beginning of 2021, when the store prototype surfaced.

Border Foods enlisted Minneapolis-based design firm Vertical Works to assist with conceptualizing the new building, which will be restaurant number 230 for Taco Bell and Border Foods, and the pair’s 82nd new build.

Speed of service via digital means is the emphasis here. The Defy location will include four drive-thru lanes, three of which will be dedicated to mobile orders and pickups for delivery. (One lane will function like a traditional drive-thru lane.) For these mobile-order lanes, customers will check in and order via QR code, then retrieve their food from a lift system that eradicates the human-to-human touchpoint during a traditional food handoff. The kitchen itself, meanwhile, will be elevated above the drive-thru lanes and staff able to communicate with customers via audio and video features.  

Aspects of the Defy location are reminiscent of store design plans from another major QSR, Burger King. The Home of the Whopper unveiled a store prototype last year that also featured suspended kitchens, multiple drive-thru lanes, and a conveyor belt system that would deliver food to customers without an actual human-to-human interaction. 

Other chains, including McDonald’s, have announced various initiatives over the last several months aimed at digitizing more of the drive-thru operation and in the process speeding up service times. Wait times at the drive-thru have progressively increased over the last several years, and the latest data shows that total wait time in 2020 was about 30 seconds longer than 2019 across the QSR sector. 

So far, only the designs themselves have surfaced for these various store concepts. We have yet to see how these ideas function in real time, in real life, and just how widespread they wind up being in terms of the population’s QSR experience.

Taco Bell breaks ground this month in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, with plans to open by summer 2022.

Civic Technologies Powers Age Verification Tech in New Vending Machine

Something we’ve pondered here at The Spoon is how age verification might work for vending machines that sell beer or booze. We’ve seen other automated alcohol dispensers like Hop Robotics and Rotender rely on the venue where they are installed to have humans do the ID checking (think: a beer garden area at a festival). But Civic Technology announced today a new vending machine that uses blockchain, face mapping and QR codes to verify the age of the purchaser.

The new machine from Civic was developed in conjunction with Black Fire Innovation (a hospitality tech hub created by Caesars Entertainment and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas). It is proof-of-concept only. It currently serves non-alcoholic drinks to Black Fire’s tenants, but it’s meant to show off how Civic’s age verification technology works. Civic wants to show how it can confirm that a user’s ID information is correct and not altered, and that that ID information is being kept private and secure.

To make an age-restricted purchase through the vending machine, a user must first download the Civic Wallet mobile app and register their information. To do so, a user must verify their phone number and email address, and scan their official ID document (Civic works with 4,000 different documents types across 95 countries). Users then must take a 3D selfie to map their face, which Civic then matches with the ID document provided.

At the vending machine, Civic uses Identity.com‘s open-source age verification ecosystem. A QR code is presented to the user, which they scan with the Civic Wallet app. The user then shows their face to the phone which matches that with the verified ID information. It’s important to note that no personal information is being exchanged with the machine. A person’s data is stored on their phone and all that is being transmitted to the vending machine is a yes or no. Either the user is an age verified person making the transaction or not. The transaction then becomes an entry and recorded on using blockchain technology.

The ability for an unattended machine to verify ages before purchases could be a boon to venues like hotels and stadiums. For instance, sales of canned beer and hard seltzers could shift over to a vending machine and free up human workers to focus on more complicated (and profitable) cocktails or other aspects of customer service. Normally when I talk about vending machines, I also tout the fact that they can work around the clock, but in the case of alcohol, that might not be a benefit for everyone.

Civic is one of a few verification systems we’ve seen coming to market. In 2019, Pan Pacific debuted the SmartPan Pro beer vending machine that used finger vein biometrics for verification. Prior to that, CLEAR, of airport security fame, had its own biometric, pay and verify your age with your finger technology at stadiums. Though, one has to wonder if the finger biometric has lost its appeal post-COVID, when retailers are looking for more contactless experiences.

The pandemic has accelerated all kinds of interest in automation and robotics and generally removing human-to-human contact during retail transactions. Unattended age verifying vending machines could certainly be a part of that movement.

Q&A: Fat Brands’ Andy Wiederhorn Talks Virtual Dining, Delivery Adoption, and the Biggest Challenge for Restaurants Right Now

Fat Brands, parent company of Fatburger, Hurricane Grill & Wings, and others, was something of an early mover in the world of delivery-only and virtual restaurant concepts. The SoCal-based company, which owns several restaurant brands, was one of the first to trial delivery via third-party services. And when the pandemic hit last year and shut down dining rooms, Fat Brands was quick to respond by launching virtual concepts in its existing restaurant locations.

Since that time, the company has acquired the Johnny Rockets brand and completed merger with Fog Cutter Capital Group, among other milestones from the last year and a half. 

Fat Brands CEO Andy Wiederhorn will share his thoughts on digitizing a restaurant company in the pandemic era at The Spoon’s upcoming Restaurant Tech Summit on August 17. As a teaser, we recently got some high-level thoughts from him around the future of virtual restaurants, ghost kitchens, restaurant tech, and more. Full Q&A is below. And if you haven’t already, grab a ticket to the virtual show here.

This Q&A has been lightly edited for clarity.

The Spoon: What problem does FAT Brands solve for restaurants/the restaurant industry as a franchisor?

Andy Wiederhorn: One thing that’s especially exciting in today’s landscape is our multi-concept offerings. We make it efficient for franchisees to be able to operate a variety of concepts under the same umbrella under one franchisor. As a result, our franchisees are able to offer things like virtual restaurants out the back door of their anchor brand. Under other franchisors, this wouldn’t be permissible. 

What is the biggest change in terms of the restaurant industry’s approach towards technology as a result of the pandemic?

Delivery adoption has far exceeded what was an already impressive growth trajectory. The shift to online ordering also accelerated dramatically. This led to innovative changes in tamper-proof packaging, POS and more. There is still so much more to come regarding increasing speed of service, labor crisis relief, and overall margin improvement thanks to rising wages.  

Is the restaurant dining room going away for fast casual/QSR formats?

No. Are they evolving to accommodate digital users? Yes. These formats also need to evolve to accommodate virtual restaurant capabilities. At the end of the day, people want to go out to eat and, more specifically, want to eat and socialize in a dining room. If you look at restaurant sales today, it’s abundantly clear there is a strong demand for people to eat and socialize in restaurants. 

What is the biggest challenge for restaurants right now when it comes to digitization?

The biggest challenge for restaurants starts with finding the right POS system. Outdated POS makes it very difficult to implement exciting new technology as they don’t have robust systems to tap into API. New cloud-based systems allow for quick and easy pivots that lead to a comprehensive ecosystem encompassing delivery, loyalty, mobile payments, apps and more software solutions. 

What are you most excited about when it comes to the impact of restaurant technology?

I’m excited about restaurant technology enhancing dining experiences. I don’t think people want robots to replace good servers, but there are exciting opportunities to improve everything from speed of service to overall efficiency.  

What do you think the restaurant industry will look like in five years?

Five years from now, I think restaurants will be built upon the internet of things. Your POS talks to your grill, who talks to your fryer, who talks to your walk-in fridge, who makes an order to your potato supplier without a manager or cook having to lift a finger. 

WoodSpoon Raises $14M to Expand its Home Chef Marketplace

WoodSpoon, the New York City-based online marketplace where home chefs can make their food available for ordering and on-demand delivery, announced today that it has raised a $14 million Series A round of funding. Restaurant Brands International (RBI) led the round with participation from World Trade Ventures, Victor Lazarte and other individual investors. This brings the total amount of funding raised by WoodSpoon to $16 million.

WoodSpoon is part of a slowly but steadily rising movement of startups such as DishDivvy and Shef that enable home cooks to sell their wares online. WoodSpoon vets potential home cooks for safety, sanitation and food quality before admitting them on to the platform. Once a chef is onboarded, WoodSpoon takes care of the logistics like insurance and delivery, and even helps with things like food photos and videos to better tell chefs’ stories. WoodSpoon currently operates in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens in New York City, where users download the WoodSpoon app or visit the website, order a meal and have it delivered in 30 to 40 minutes.

Oren Saar, Co-Founder and CEO of WoodSpoon told me during a video chat last week that the company currently has 150 active home chefs on its platform (“active” means they’ve cooked meals for sale two times in the past month). Saar also said that 35 percent of customers who buy their first meal on WoodSpoon buy an additional three meals on the service within 17 days.

Selling home-cooked meals is still very much a new idea, and regulations are still being worked out on a state-by-state basis. Because of this, Saar said that WoodSpoon puts a lot of effort into educating potential customers about the idea of buying your neighbor’s home cooked meals. Part of that process, Saar said, was putting the chefs front and center, highlighting the home cooks themselves and the kitchens where meals are made. “You can read everything about the chef making your food,” Saar said, “That should reduce the automatic bias.”

WoodSpoon’s funding is the second big raise we’ve seen from a home cook marketplace this summer, as Shef raised $20 million in June. Shef is a little different from WoodSpoon however, as Shef isn’t on-demand. It delivers prepared meals cold that are then heated up by the customer.

With its new capital, Saar said that WoodSpoon will expand to cover all of New York City before moving on to be in up to 15 different markets across the U.S. Worth noting about this funding round is that it’s led by RBI, which owns the famous QSR brands Burger King, Popeye’s and Tim Horton’s. RBI’s involvement could possibly help accelerate regulatory clarity and acceptance of legalized home cooking across the country, and perhaps it could even help create mini home cook moguls go from neighborhood business to national brand.

Starship’s Delivery Robots Roll Out to Four More College Campuses

It’s back-to-school season here in the U.S, and for an increasing number of students, that means getting back to robot food delivery on campus. Along those lines, Starship announced today that it is growing its roster of college campus clients with the addition of robot delivery at University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), University of Kentucky (UK), University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Daytona Beach, FL campus.

Starship makes cooler-sized robots that autonomously scurry along sidewalks to bring food and other goods to people. Customers order through the Starship mobile app (depending on location can use credit/debit card or student meal plan), and can watch the robot on a map as it makes its journey. Once it arrives, customers unlock the cargo compartment using the Starship app.

According to a press release sent to The Spoon, robot delivery service has already kicked off at UNR and Embry-Riddle. The University of Kentucky will get its robots next week and UIC’s program will start this fall. Starship provided the following breakdown of its added robot delivery:

  • UIC: 25 robots, with 11 merchants including Starbucks, Panda Express and Freshii
  • UK: 20 robots, starting with 7 merchants including Starbucks, Subway and Auntie Anne’s
  • UNR: 20 robots, with 14 merchants including Panera Bread, Habit Burger and Baja Fresh
  • Embry-Riddle: 20 robots, with 10 merchants including Starbucks, QDOBA, Flight Cafe and Legacy Walk Wings Food Truck

We’ve been chronicling the rise of Starship’s college delivery program since the company kicked it off at George Mason University back in January of 2019. Starship now serves nearly 20 different campuses in 15 states.

Starship is not the only robot delivery service hitting colleges however. Last year, Kiwibot, which makes its own cooler-sized rovers, partnered with Sodexo to bring robot food delivery to the University of Denver campus. While both companies use robots, there is a difference in the user experience for each service. Kiwibot integrates with the Sodexo food ordering app, while Starship requires users to download its own mobile app.

Starship weathered the pandemic last year despite forced closures of colleges and universities across the country. Having lived through that experience, I wouldn’t be surprised to see even more colleges adopt robot-powered delivery this school because of its contactless nature.

AeroFarms Partners With Nokia to Build Out Drone Control and Other Indoor Ag Tech

Vertical farming company AeroFarms announced today an official partnership with Nokia Bell Labs to further develop the technology capabilities of its industrial-scale indoor ag operation. 

Currently, New Jersey-based AeroFarms uses a proprietary system that combines machine vision and machine learning technologies with the company’s agSTACK software, custom lighting, and aeroponics. The goal is to create an indoor farming environment where temperature, humidity levels, and other environmental factors are fully controlled, and where automation can take over some of the tasks around the farm.

According to today’s press release,  Nokia Bell Labs, which is the research arm of Nokia, will contribute its autonomous drone control and orchestration systems to the partnership as well as imaging and sensor tech and new AI capabilities.

These drones fly over the crops and autonomously image each plant to collect more data on overall plant health. AeroFarms CTO Roger Buelow said in a statement today that scientists and engineers have been working for two years to train these systems in plant biology.

From the press release:

“Nokia Bell Labs’ machine vision technology has enabled the most precise data capture yet, down to the level of individual plants, using leaf size segmentation, quantification, and pixel-based scanning to identify consistency and variation. Going beyond what even the human eye can perceive, this state-of-the art imaging technology enables the gathering of immense insights about a plant including its leaf size, stem length, coloration, curvature, spotting, and tearing.“

The end goal of all of this is to improve plant quality, nutritional profile, and taste, as well as crop yield.

To what extent drone imaging can help with that remains to be seen. So far, few indoor ag companies employ drones for any tasks on the farm, Finland’s iFarm being a notable exception. Earlier this year, the company announced a partnership with Sadarah Partners to build an indoor farm in Qatar that will include drone tech. 

AeroFarms and Nokia have worked together since 2020, testing the technologies with some of AeroFarms’ crops. As of today, the tech capabilities are “ready to scale” to all of AeroFarms’ crops as well as to the company’s forthcoming farms in Danville, Virginia and the Abu Dhabi in United Arab Emirates. 

 

Tortoise Delivery Robots Rolling Into Dallas via Vroom Delivery

Tortoise‘s sidewalk delivery robots are making their way to Dallas, Texas, thanks to a new pilot program with Vroom Delivery and Urban Value Corner Store announced today. Launching in the coming months, the new service will use Tortoise’s teleoperated robots to deliver goods like milk and eggs, as well as snacks and alcohol.

Tortoise is different other players in the robot delivery space like Starship and Kiwibot. Tortoise’s robot is much bigger than those cooler-sized robots and able to carry 100 pounds of goods. Tortoise’s robots are also fully driven by remote human operators, as the company chose to forego the autonomous driving option in order to sidestep local regulatory issues around self-driving vehicles to get to market faster.

Another benefit of having human operators could be when it comes to robotic beer and alcohol delivery. Tortoise’s hefty robots are actually perfect for carrying beverages like cases of beer typically purchased at a convenience store. As Tortoise Co-Founder and President Dmitry Shevelenko explained to me by phone this morning, while details and regulations still need to be worked out, there is a scenario in which the human operator of the Tortoise robot could assist in providing ID verification on age restricted purchases.

Contactless delivery from robots like Tortoise could find increased interest as the COVID-19 Delta variants keep the pandemic top of mind here in the U.S. Though online grocery shopping, which requires curbside pickup or delivery, has come down from its record highs during the summer of last year, it is still much higher than pre-pandemic levels. Experts from Brick Meets Click anticipate that many consumers will stick with their new grocery e-commerce habits.

This deal with Vroom and Urban Value marks another publicly announced delivery deal this year for Tortoise. In March of this year, Albertsons said it would use Tortoise robots for grocery delivery at two Northern California Safeway locations.

According to the press announcement, Urban Value will launch its first Tortoise delivery location from its downtown Dallas location. Customers can use Vroom’s e-commerce platform to place their order for robot delivery from Urban Value. Vroom said that it is making Tortoise deliveries available to other convenience stores across the country.

Brightloom’s Adam Brotman Wants to Better Educate Restaurants on How to Use Their Data

One thing the restaurant industry has in abundance right now is data, and as more of the front and back of house get digitized, the amount of data will only grow. But unless you happen to be Starbucks, with deep pockets and lots of resources, making sense of all that data is, in Brightloom CEO Adam Brotman’s words, “a herculean feat” that most restaurants simply can’t afford right now.

Brightloom’s data-science-as-a-service platform aims to help restaurants including small- to medium-sized ones, make more sense of their data and get better insights from it via the company’s customer growth platform. With it, restaurants can organize their data to answer questions about who their customers are, how many customers they even have, what they’re buying, and how frequently they’re doing it, among others.

Brotman will be talking more about the importance of restaurant data at The Spoon’s upcoming Restaurant Tech Summit on August 17. As a teaser, we recently got some high-level thoughts from him around why data is important to the future of the restaurant and how businesses can better leverage it. Full Q&A is below. And if you haven’t already, grab a ticket to the virtual show here.

This Q&A has been lightly edited for clarity.

The Spoon: What problem does Brightloom solve for restaurants/the restaurant industry?

Adam Brotman: Brightloom provides restaurants of all sizes with the ability to develop an effective growth marketing strategy using the customer data they already have. At its essence, it is an intelligent marketing platform built around customer transaction data and powered by measurement and predictive modeling.

The Brightloom Customer Growth Platform (CGP) makes the secret sauce previously available only to giants like Amazon and Starbucks — data science and continuous optimization — available as a simple and affordable service to the huge segment of the market for whom the “build-your-own” option just isn’t a reality, especially now. With the CGP, restaurants can deliver personalized, relevant, and rewarding experiences to their customers that drive higher customer engagement and measurable business results.

We start with a brand’s existing data, we run it through our proprietary ML models and then the CGP provides insights and analytics around the brand’s digital customer base and digital business. Next, the CGP delivers smart segmentation that allows a brand to easily run a series of personalized marketing campaigns on their own channels.

What is the biggest change in terms of the restaurant industry’s approach towards technology as a result of the pandemic?

Last year, COVID-19 forced retailers and restaurants to digitize their operations seemingly overnight, and in turn, brands digitized a majority of their customer relationships. In fact, The Boston Consulting Group found that one-third of restaurants’ digital customers ordered online for the first time during the pandemic. With vaccine distribution well underway, signs of economic relief, and regional restrictions loosening, it’s paramount for restaurants to leverage technology in order to maintain these new digital relationships and drive sustainable revenue.

In the years leading up to the pandemic, brands have competed on customer experience. Now, the battlefront is moving squarely towards digital and omnichannel experiences. Restaurants have an opportunity to convert their new digital customer relationships into a highly effective customer growth strategy. 

What will happen to restaurants that don’t use this time to learn how to better leverage their data?

In short, they are going to be left behind. Restaurants are still reeling from last year’s disruptions, and we saw the pandemic force 100,000 restaurant closures in six months. The good news is there’s tremendous upside and potential for those who are able to adapt and take advantage of newly digitized customer relationships. The QSR, fast-casual, and casual restaurant segments have seen an uptick in purchase frequency for digital customers compared to non-digital customers. Relatedly, recent research found that more than 90% of customers who are fully vaccinated plan to continue to order online at least as often as they do now. Restaurants are sitting on a gold mine of first-party, transactional customer data. The key now is for them to harness it in a way that drives customer retention and sustainable revenue. 

What is the biggest challenge for restaurants right now when it comes to digitization? 

One of the largest challenges we see restaurants struggle with is how to best collate customer data and in turn take action on it. The reason it’s so difficult is because it requires brands to perform a couple of herculean tasks in sequence.

First, they must access and organize their customer data to create customer segments. That alone isn’t difficult, but when you look at it from another dimension — e.g., what product offer should I send this customer — it becomes exponentially more complicated. Virtually no business could afford the human-hours required to do it manually. Instead, brands must use an algorithm and predictive modeling to understand product offers by customer segments instantly across multiple dimensions. Building this algorithm takes data engineers, data scientists, and digital product experts, and most brands don’t have the teams or resources to build it in-house. 

What are you most excited about when it comes to the impact of restaurant technology?

For too long digital leaders have been misled with the notion of a golden customer record. The attitude that more data is better is false. Marketers spend more time collecting and cleaning data than acting on it.

We’ve now reached a pivotal tipping point that will redefine the future of digital experiences and how brands engage with their customers. The digitization of restaurants and the explosion of data and analytics around what customers want has opened seemingly endless possible avenues for digital marketers to explore, ideate, and create. From intuitive payment to streamlined ordering to tailored loyalty programs, I’m excited to see how restaurants will continue to elevate the dining experience for their customers.

What do you think the restaurant industry will look like in five years?

I predict we’ll see a couple of notable shifts. 

First, digital is here to stay and will only increase. Customers crave frictionless experiences. The accelerated shift to digital menus and mobile ordering and payment during the pandemic illuminated a new standard of customer convenience. If I can order ahead and arrange for curbside delivery with a few clicks on my phone, why would I ever return to waiting in line to order and pick up my food?

Second, we’ll see a rebalanced focus on customer retention relative to customer acquisition. It’s commonplace that loyal customers are almost always more profitable. Instead of over indexing on customer acquisition, restaurants will recalibrate their focus on driving sustainable revenue with existing customers based on historical transaction data.

Q&A: Copper Branch CEO Trish Discusses the Intersection of Technology and the Plant-based Food Movement

By some accounts, the QSR is headed towards a future where more of its menu is derived from plant-based alternatives to meat and dairy. Canada-based chain Copper Branch is one such chain leading that shift. 

The company’s franchise locations span Canada and are now making their way into the U.S. and other parts of the world. But bringing more plant-based food to QSRs is only part of the Copper Branch mission. Earlier this year, company CEO Trish Paterson talked about the company’s “triangular focus” when it comes to sustainability. The goal is to strike a balance between human health, animal welfare, and planetary health when it comes to food, packaging, operations, and everything else it takes to run a restaurant. 

Trish will join The Spoon at our upcoming Restaurant Tech Summit on August 17, where she and other panelists will discuss the current state of the restaurant industry and where it’s headed. As a teaser, we recently got some high-level thoughts from her around the future of the data-driven restaurant. Full Q&A is below. And if you haven’t already, grab a ticket to the virtual show here.

This Q&A has been lightly edited for clarity.

The Spoon: What problem does Copper Branch solve for restaurants/the restaurant industry?

Copper Branch: Our restaurant brand provides a 100% plant-based option to our guests in a fast casual format including takeout and delivery. We are also an incubator for new food innovators to launch their products in food service.

What is the biggest change in terms of the restaurant industry’s approach towards technology as a result of the pandemic?

Much more emphasis on third-party delivery apps and proprietary mobile app for geolocation and customer loyalty, and revamping of loyalty programs.

Can tech play a role in moving more people over to plant-based foods and a plant-based diet? If so, how?

By tracking and rewarding sustainability as part of loyalty program. Copper Branch is considering creating a leaderboard across the chain that will reward customers using algorithms to track sustainable metrics.

What is the biggest challenge for restaurants right now when it comes to digitization? 

Cost and maintenance of systems and technology.

What are you most excited about when it comes to the impact of restaurant technology?

Better data and rewarding guests for eco-friendly initiatives.

What do you think the restaurant industry will look like in five years?

There will be a surge in closings once the subsidies end — restauranteurs are focused on considering drive through and mobile pick up spaces for guests. There will be a stronger focus on touch-free technology (menus etc.). Due to labour shortages, there will be more focus on technology (robotics) for back of house and front of house, including self-serve kiosks, order from QR code at the table, etc.