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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

pickup

Datassential: 10% of U.S. Restaurants Have Closed Permanently

A total of 10.2 percent of all U.S. restaurants have permanently closed since the start of the pandemic, according to new research from food industry intelligence firm Datassential.

The report finds that of the 778,807 restaurants of all types in the U.S. that were open at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, 79,438 have closed for good as of today. (The figure includes restaurants launched during the pandemic.)

Food trucks have suffered the most of any category, with 22.5 percent of them permanently shuttered. Chains with less than 501 units have also seen high rates of permanent closures, and the report finds that chains with between 51 and 100 units have see the highest closure rate (16.2 percent).

Unsurprisingly, larger QSR chains have come out of the last year with the fewest closures: 9.8 percent. Because these businesses were already set up to cater to off-premises orders like takeout and drive-thru, they were inherently better able to weather the figurative storm that shuttered dining rooms in 2020 and forced an industry-wide shift to off-premises formats. As well, large QSR brands like Chipotle or McDonald’s had the money to further invest in digital ordering tools and new(ish) formats like delivery. 

These companies are also the ones currently leading a quasi-reinvention of the fast food format. Burger King, Shake Shack, the aforementioned brands, and many others have in recent months released designs for new store formats that emphasize more drive-thru lanes, less dining room space, and more ways to automate the order and pickup process. (Conveyor belts!)

Meanwhile, the Small Business Administration will start taking applications next month for grants from the $28.6 billion Restaurant Revitalization Fund. Restaurants, bars, and other foodservice establishments that are not publicly traded and have fewer than 20 locations are eligible to apply.

Albertsons Pilots Temperature-Controlled Lockers to Expand Pickup Options

Albertsons announced today that it will pilot temperature-controlled lockers as an added pickup option for its grocery customers.

The lockers, delivered by Bell and Howell, are modular, can be installed either inside or outside and feature dynamic temperature control to accommodate various items placed in them. Customers will see this new “PickUp” option from participating stores when they shop via Albertsons website or mobile app. Customers placing an order will receive a unique code they use to unlock the self-serve locker.

Grocery retailers could soon be facing a double whammy of demand, given the continued use of e-commerce, thanks to the pandemic (and flu season!) and the impeding holidays. During the early days of the pandemic, we saw the strain as retailers couldn’t keep up with demand for grocery delivery. Though those systems seem to have improved, grocers like Walmart and Target have vastly expanded curbside pickup options to provide more flexibility for customers. Adding self-serve lockers gives customers even more options for getting their food while relieving increased demand pressure placed on the grocers.

Delivery lockers like the ones Albertsons is installing are starting to become a trend. The winner of last week’s Smart Kitchen Summit Startup Showcase was Minnow Technologies, which makes IoT-enabled food delivery lockers for places like offices, residential buildings and restaurants.

Amazon pioneered the pickup locker, many of which were at grocery stores, ironically. Though those were for general Amazon packages, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Amazon adding similar temperature-controlled pickup lockers at its new chain of Amazon Fresh and Go Grocery stores.

The first Albertsons PickUp lockers will be installed at select Jewel-Osco locations in Chicago, with more coming to San Francisco Bay Area Safeways later this year.

Domino’s Launches Pie Pass to Speed Up Pickup Orders

Domino’s is best known for delivery, but this week, the Ann Arbor, MI-based pizza chain has turned its attention to pickup orders. Yesterday, the company announced Pie Pass, a new feature that lets customers skip the line when they order a pizza for pickup online.

With Pie Pass, customers can place an order on the Domino’s mobile app, then check in via the Domino’s Tracker once they reach the store. Checking in alerts employees to ready the order. In the store, a digital board will display the customer’s name when the pie is ready for pickup, at which point an employee simply hands the order off to the customer.

Much of the discussion around off-premises orders these days centers on delivery. But pickup still represents the vast majority of those sales, and Domino’s is hardly the only restaurant-related company to introduce technology that makes the process faster for customers. The Pie Pass has some similarities with Little Caesars’ Pizza Portal, a heated, self-service pickup station where customers can grab orders placed online or via the Little Caesars mobile app.

Even straight-up delivery companies are paying attention to pickup. In January, Grubhub announced its own proprietary platform, Ultimate, dedicated to pickup orders. It, too, displays a customer’s name in the store, and provides updates on the status of their order. 

It’s not surprising that Domino’s would develop its own in-house tech for pickup, rather than teaming up with Grubhub. More than once, the chain has made it clear it will not use third-party services like Grubhub or DoorDash. Domino’s CEO Ritch Allison said last year that he didn’t “see a need” for Domino’s to be on third-party platforms. “It’s not clear why I would want to give up our franchisees’ margin, or data in our business, and give it to someone who would ultimately use it against our business,” he said. 

That line of thinking extends to pickup, as well, and it might just work. The Pie Pass system will ideally mean employees can more easily have a pizza ready as soon as a customer walks into the store. More customers would in turn be compelled to use the Domino’s mobile app to place their pickup orders, which would mean more brand loyalty for the chain, not to mention more customer data.

Grubhub Launches Its Own Tech Platform for Restaurant Pickup Orders

Grubhub today announced the launch of its own proprietary tech platform for pickup orders. According to a press release, the system connects the front and back of house to give diners and restaurant staff real-time views on their order status. It also integrates all ordering channels into a single ticket stream.

Dubbed Ultimate, the platform is a hardware-software combination is made up of four main components: A POS system that integrates directly into the Grubhub website and app; a customer-facing display system that shows an order status throughout its different stages; a kitchen display system; and in-store self-service kiosks.

For now, Ultimate is focused specifically on pickup orders. Once a users places an order — whether with a cashier, online, or via one of the kiosks — they can see their order status in a digital queue displayed in the app and on the digital boards in the front of house. Delivery drivers pickup up orders can also utilize the queue to better time when they pick up their customers’ orders. According to the press release, the back-of-house displays show the exact same queue.

“Most people do not want to order in person or by calling if they have an alternative, and by integrating pickup with delivery orders our restaurant partners have a complete picture to more efficiently manage their operations,” Grubhub’s CEO Matt Maloney said in a statement.

Integrating the front and back of house and streamlining the order process for customers are huge priorities right now for restaurants right now. Tech platforms like Brightloom, who recently inked a massive deal with Starbucks, have already been pushing solutions to restaurants that address faster, more accurate digital ordering. Grubhub, however, is the first delivery company to bring its own system to market instead of licensing tech from a third party.

Importantly, the press release mentions the role this technology could play in non-restaurant settings like food halls and stadiums: “Instead of standing in never-ending lines, sports fans and concert-goers can order ahead directly from their seat via Grubhub, watching their place from the in-app queue for the exact moment the order is ready.” That’s something Grubhub rival Postmates is already trying, as is a company called WaitTime, which uses cameras and AI to basically function like the Waze for concession stands. 

While there are no baseball or football stadiums on its roster yet, Ultimate is already on the market. The system is currently in pilot stage at over 100 locations across NYC and Grubhub’s hometown Chicago. 

Uber Eats Makes Pickup Feature Available Nationwide, Launches Food Guides

Today, Uber Eats announced that the Pickup feature on its on-demand restaurant food app is now available to customers nationwide. According to an article this morning in USA Today, the company has been testing the feature in San Diego, Phoenix, and Austin and has now made it available to all customers in the U.S.

Pickup is just as it sounds: Uber Eats customers order their food through the app as usual. Then, instead of paying a delivery fee and waiting for someone to drop the food at their door, they go to the restaurant and collect it themselves.

While hardly a new concept, having a pickup option for food seems a necessary step when it comes to appealing to certain parts of the population, particularly in dense urban areas where the restaurant of choice might be on the next block and the $5 delivery fee is not justifiable on such an order. Other major on-demand food competitors — Grubhub, DoorDash, and Postmates — already offer the pickup option to customers. Why Uber Eats has waited so long to unveil its own version of pickup remains a mystery, but with both off-premises orders and competition among third-party aggregators increasing, the service needs every tool it can possibly utilize to entice more diners.

Speaking of which: Simultaneous to the nationwide rollout of Pickup, Eats also launched its Uber Eats Pickup Guides Powered by JUMP. The guides, run by Uber’s JUMP electric bike and scooter program, trace the most efficient route between different local restaurants that offer Uber Eats. While definitely more of a gimmick than anything else, it’s at least a nicely designed one. If you’re visiting a city, it’s also a convenient way to scoot around exploring the different food options — all, of course, while staying well contained inside the Uber Ecosystem.

The Pickup Guides are available for Austin, Washington, DC, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami, and Sacramento.

These new features come on the heels of news that Uber is laying off 1 percent of its workforce, including some Uber Eats staff. The company continues to struggle with financial losses, and Eats, in particular, isn’t likely to become a profitable business for some time. Alas, a pickup feature and a handy city guide aren’t likely to change those facts.