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restaurant tech

September 14, 2020

The CDC’s New Findings Put Restaurant Tech In the Hot Seat Once Again

The big restaurant news over the weekend was a new set of findings from the CDC that suggest a higher risk for COVID-19 among those who eat in restaurant dining rooms.

The inescapably obvious point is that the findings are worrying for restaurants planning to reopen or increase the capacity of their dining rooms. That in turn brings up a less-obvious point, that the so-called contactless technologies out there that say they’ll make restaurants safer have yet to prove their value.

As has been extensively covered, the CDC’s report found that adults who test positive for COVID-19 were “approximately twice as likely to have reported dining at a restaurant” than those who tested negative.

These are exactly the types of findings the restaurant industry has tried to avoid, and it has used a lot of tech to do that. When dining rooms first started to reopen, restaurant tech companies rushed to bring contactless “kits” — software that enables digital menus, ordering, and payments — to market. There are now so many of these offerings it’s often hard to distinguish one from the next.

To be super-duper clear, no company is claiming they’ll fend off COVID-19 with a QR-code enabled menu feature. It’s also worth noting that we don’t have extensive data yet on how many restaurants (including those in the CDC study) have actually implemented contactless software, which is expensive and a time-consuming process.

While we don’t know how vast contactless implementations are, we know restaurant tech companies use phrases like “safe,” “contact-free,” and “end-to-end contactless experience” all over their marketing copy and product-speak nowadays. 

But giving a piece of software the “contactless” label and actually eliminating (as opposed to minimizing) human-to-human contact in the dining room are two different things. Customers might be able to browse a menu, order a meal, and pay for it from their own device, but someone still has to run the food to the table, refill drinks, and step in if there is a problem with the order. Humans still cook and plate the food, and even spreading tables further apart won’t necessarily stop the spread of coronavirus. (One study found that infectious droplets can spread up to 16 feet away from the infected person.)

In their current form, contactless restaurant tech solutions can’t totally eradicate human intervention in the restaurant experience. Even if it could, there are still the other diners to contend with (see above), which means contactless tech can’t completely wipe out the risk that someone will get COVID-19 from going out to eat. Hence the CDC’s latest findings.

What contactless tech can do is speed up the order and pay process, help restaurants keep labor costs lower (fewer staff to pay), and even drive more people to restaurants’ native mobile apps instead of third-party delivery platforms. It can also speed up formats like curbside pickup and drive-thru, areas where restaurant operators should perhaps spend the bulk of their energy implementing contactless tech.

For now, at least, all signs point to off-premises formats like drive-thru and takeout as the areas where restaurants should be spending the bulk of their energy, period. The National Restaurant Association just released new figures that note one in six restaurants have closed either permanently or for the long term. I doubt the CDCs findings will make that number any less bleak anytime soon. For the present, restaurants should continue to focus on developing their off-premises formats, whether that’s faster curbside service via contactless tech, a ghost kitchen, or even a makeshift drive-thru lane.

As far as the dining room is concerned, it may be time for bolder moves than a QR code. By that I mean more robots to do things like run food and wash dishes, and more creative ways of arranging the dining room layout. In other words, it’s probably going to take more than iterative tech to get the restaurant biz back on its feet.

September 11, 2020

North American Bancard Acquires Restaurant Management Platform SALIDO

Restaurant tech platform SALIDO announced this week it has been acquired by payment tech company North American Bancard (NAB). According to a press release sent to The Spoon, NAB will “vertically integrate” SALIDO’s restaurant operating system onto its own payments platform, EPX.

SALIDO, which was founded in 2012, began its life as a POS system before evolving into a full restaurant-management platform that includes data analytics, staff management tools, menu management features, and a kitchen display system for back-of-house management. The platform works for both independent operators and large chains/franchises. The company counts EATALY, by CHLOE. and Restoration Hardware among its clients. 

SALIDO said in this week’s press release that since the acquisition, the company has been building out new products, including tableside mobile ordering, contactless payments, and online ordering — all features are fast becoming the norm in the restaurant industry. 

On that note, SALIDO is hardly alone in its efforts to build more digital, contactless tech into its platform. Actually, the majority of recent restaurant tech news has centered on these types of technologies, and SALIDO will compete with the likes of Paytronix, Toast, and many other companies, legacy and startup alike.

“Speed” and “efficiency” are two words you’ll hear frequently around the restaurant industry these days, as businesses fight to stay alive. Controlling operations in the restaurant is one way to get closer to achieving those things. SALIDO bills itself as a “unified” solution with which restaurants can do this. The integration with NAB will also give the platform better capabilities around digital payments, another new norm of the restaurant biz.

NAB acquired the EPX payment-processing platform in 2014. The acquisition of SALIDO will further embed the company in the hospitality industry. 

September 1, 2020

Galley Solutions’ Founders Talk Recipes, Data, and What It Will Take to Build a Better Food System

In the food world, San Diego-based tech startup Galley Solutions is perhaps best known for its software system that uses recipe-level data to automate the restaurant back of house. But founders Benji Koltai and Ian Christopher have much bigger plans for the role they want their company to play in creating a more efficient, accurate, and safer food system overall.

I recently hopped on a Zoom chat with Koltai and Christopher — who also happen to be brothers-in-law — to talk about their vision for the future food system, how a system like Galley’s can contribute, and what foodservice businesses can do right now to make their operations more efficient.

You can watch the full video below. Some highlights include:

  • The definition of “food business” is changing as we speak, from college dining halls now offering grab ’n’ go meals to ghost kitchens operating out of grocery stores.
  • Moving forward, restaurants must learn to leverage their recipe-level data to make operations more efficient, cut overall costs, and save on labor and time to accommodate these new formats.
  • Technology is everywhere in the foodservice world, yet for all the different devices and solutions, there is no common dataset to bring those disparate pieces together.
  • A truly efficient back-of-house system will use one source for all the business’s data. For example, a centralized data source could populate the digital order forms sent to vendors and at the same time tell the kitchen robot how long to leave a burger on the grill.

September 1, 2020

Holo Industries Provides Futuristic Holographic Menu Solutions

Pre-pandemic, most people didn’t think twice about checking out at a supermarket or ordering in a restaurant. Now, after entering our PIN numbers or holding a menu, the new normal involves vigorous hand scrubbing and sanitizing. Given that, dozens of companies are now rushing to create more contactless experiences in public spaces. One such is Holo Industries, a brand of Convergence Promotions that provides holographic and contactless-touch solutions that can be used in place of elevator buttons, restaurant menus, check-out kiosks, and more.

I spoke with Glenn ImObersteg, the president of Convergence Promotions, on the phone this week about recent developments within Holo Industries. The development of the brand’s contactless-touch hologram units began in March 2020, just as COVID-19 hit in the U.S. COVID-19 spiked the demand for technology like this, and the company was able to have these units ready for use by May 1, 2020.

The hologram interface is made possible through the pairing of Neonode Touch Sensor Modules, the ASKA 3D Holographic plate from Asukanet, and other components from Holo Industries. The holographic menus are touch responsive, and when your finger touches a button mid-air, it triggers an audible response from the unit.

Holographic Kiosk/Restaurant Demo - HI-DEMO-KR

Contactless solutions alone won’t be able to save struggling restaurants from going under, but they may be able to reassure customers — who demand transparency around safety nowadays — and get more foot traffic into the dining room. So far Sevenrooms, Paytronix , Payjunction also offer variations of contactless order and pay systems.

Contactless ordering and payment may be a key component to easing customers back into dine-in restaurant service. A touch-less holographic kiosk removes the risk of coming into contact with germs, bacteria, and pathogens, and does not require cleaning.  Holo’s units can be used as a menu, a method of paying for a meal, or even used to broadcast the menu from inside the restaurant to the outside. 

The contactless and holographic units from Holo Industries currently cost about $2,500. Currently, the products from Holo Industries are being used by elevator companies, and the company is also piloting a kiosk program with two undisclosed restaurant companies. Holo Industries has yet to receive outside funding but is currently looking for investors to enable its expansion. The Sacramento-based brand will become its own company separate from Convergence Promotions in October 2020.

August 28, 2020

Grocery Chain H-E-B Opens a Food Hall Offering Takeout and Delivery Meals

Grocery retailer H-E-B further dissolved the boundaries between groceries and restaurants this week when it opened a food hall at one of its Austin, TX stores. Dubbed Main Streat, the venue has five restaurants and a full-service bar.

Given the current state of the foodservice industry, now would seem an odd time to open a public space dedicated to restaurant fare. In most states, restaurant dining rooms must operate a reduced capacity. Many businesses are either mandated or choosing to stick to outdoor patio seating, though that will change once colder weather arrives.

H-E-B has clearly considered all of this, as Main Streat caters to the off-premises customer as much as it does the one who wants a patio table. The company said meals from the venue’s five restaurants are available for pickup and delivery (the latter through local third-party delivery service Favor) along with limited seating inside the food hall and on the patio.The to-go format even applies to alcoholic beverages from the aforementioned full-service bar.

Less than a year ago, starting a foodservice business with a built-in off-premises strategy would have been an anomaly. Catering to takeout and delivery formats was certainly becoming an important strategy for these businesses, but that transition was meant to unfold over a longer period of time, say, five years. The pandemic changed all of that, and H-E-B’s to-go-centric food court is one example of something that will become table stakes very soon for restaurants: opening a business with multiple formats from the start.

Main Streat also underscores how our definition of the word “restaurant” is quickly changing, and how the grocery store is a part of that transition. In the last several months, we’ve seen QSRs selling groceries at the drive-thru, third-party delivery services like DoorDash peddling grocery and convenience store items, and the rise of services like Good Egg selling restaurant meals and supplies via e-commerce. All of which is to say, both restaurants and grocery stores seem to be redefining the word “experience” these days, and often doing so together. The common denominator? Off, premises, obviously. 

August 27, 2020

Front-of-House Igloo? Chicago Asks Residents to Redesign the Outdoor Dining Experience for Winter

We’ve said it multiple times in the last couple of weeks: winter is coming for outdoor dining. And when it arrives, restaurants may be even more limited as to how they can serve dine-in customers in the midst of a pandemic and reduced capacity mandates for the dining room.

Chicago, a city that’s no stranger to harsh winters, is preemptively dealing with this situation by challenging residents to redesign the outdoor restaurant experience. Dubbed the Winter Design Challenge and done in partnership with IDEO, BMO Harris Bank, and the Illinois Restaurant Association, the contest is looking for outdoor dining ideas that can adhere to safety restrictions around COVID-19 while still allowing restaurant customers to eat outdoors.

Participants can submit ideas through September 7. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office told NBC Chicago that winners will receive $5,000 each and “opportunities to start their idea at restaurants and bars around the city.”

Sam Toia, president and CEO of the Illinois Restaurant Association, added that, “We need out-of-the-box thinking to address the hardship facing our industry.”

We’ve seen some of that outside-the-box thinking already in the restaurant industry, from outdoor self-service kiosks to greenhouse-like buildings that enclose individual tables. But winter weather provides a whole new set of challenges that a few heat lamps may not be enough to solve. 

A panel of local judges will pick one winner from the following categories: outdoor structures; indoor-adjacent spaces; and cultural change/other ideas.

Ideas are already pouring in, including heated tent rentals, blankets, solar-powered pergolas, and actual igloos. There are also several suggestions to simply not open, which underscores how divided the general public remains about eating in restaurants in the time of a pandemic.

Submissions will be accepted through September 7 at 11:30 PST. All suggestions should address on-premises dining, not delivery or takeout.

Whatever winning solutions emerge from this could provide a blueprint for other cities around the country when it comes to addressing the upcoming winter. Chicago may have a reputation for harsh weather, but it’s hardly the only city in the U.S. to endure snow, ice, and sub-zero temperature. It wouldn’t be surprising if more cities launch their own challenges in the coming weeks in a collective effort to pull the restaurant industry through the changes and prevent even more from having to permanently close their doors.

August 26, 2020

Order for Me’s Contactless Restaurant Tech Lets You Split the Check — Among Other New Features

If there was an official buzzword of the pandemic-era restaurant, it would be “contactless.” But as is the case with any technology that becomes an overnight trend, there are now so many contactless restaurant tech solutions available it is getting hard to tell them apart. That means the next few months will see these companies introducing new features in a bid to make their products stand out. One such is Order for Me, a Los Angeles-based company that offers contactless tech for dine-in and takeout service.

The system uses QR code technology, where users can enter the table code or scan it with their own device and subsequently pull up the menu. Like other contactless systems out there, Order for Me lets customers view that menu, order items, and pay for them from their own mobile devices. 

At this point, such features are table stakes in the contactless dining room game, and so Order for Me has taken its system one step further. Users can also keep the bill open — the virtual equivalent of a “tab” — until they are ready to pay for the entire meal, which might include an impulse purchase like dessert or a second (or fifth) cocktail partway through the meal. Order for Me also lets guests split the check and tip, so that each person can pay their share via their own mobile device. All of this is done through a patent-pending ordering technology, according to an email sent to The Spoon. 

While the ability to wait until the end of the meal to pay and tip might at first seem a small development in the world of the contactless restaurant, it actually has huge implications, especially in the dining room. The features allow for potentially bigger tickets for restaurants, which need all the help they can get right now in this time of reduced dining room capacity.

For servers, these features could also lead to higher tips. While anecdotal evidence, a server I know commented recently that he rarely gets anything above 15 percent with his restaurant’s contactless payment system because guests are tipping before the meal actually arrives or they’ve had any real chance to interact with him. That’s a rough lot for servers if they’re getting 15 percent no matter how well they do their jobs — jobs that might disappear if the restaurant closes because of a pandemic.

The other notable restaurant tech company offering customers the ability to keep a tab open is Paytronix, which raised $10 million earlier this year and announced its contactless software for the dining room in June. 

So far, Order for Me is the only system we know of that also allows guests to split the bill. But given the way tech trends evolve, it’s only a matter of time before other restaurant tech systems incorporate that feature into their own systems. 

August 23, 2020

Can Ghost Kitchens Save the Vanishing Restaurant Biz?

“Perhaps we should stop using the term ghost kitchen. Ghosts are rarely seen, but ghost kitchens? Well, they are popping up everywhere.”

Spoon Editor Chris Albrecht was half-kidding when he wrote that line earlier this week, but he might have been onto something. Ghost kitchens, a concept that only really started turning heads one year ago, are practically unavoidable these days in a conversation about the restaurant industry. 

In the past few weeks alone:

  • Foodservice distribution giant US Foods launched its own ghost kitchen service that will provide restaurants “guidance and resources” to open their own kitchens.
  • Gig economy engagement platform ShiftPixy unveiled a ghost kitchen incubator that connects restaurants with physical kitchen space and the tech to run a ghost kitchen.
  • Dubai-based iKcon, raised $5 million to expand its kitchen network and the proprietary tech stack that goes with it.
  • Fat Brands announced that Johnny Rockets, a brand it intends to purchase for $25 million, will expand via ghost kitchens, many of them inside the kitchens of other Fat Brands restaurants.
  • Sweetgreen said it is testing the ghost kitchen concept out by working from a Zuul kitchen in NYC.

And those are just the highlights.

What’s noteworthy here is not that a bunch more restaurants and food industry companies have hopped aboard the ghost kitchen train. It’s that there are a fast-growing number of options when it comes to where and how a restaurant can open a ghost kitchen. With a company like iKcon, for example, a restaurant’s ghost kitchen essentially becomes a franchisee. Renting space from Zuul or another third-party kitchen provider is another way. Operating one brand out of the kitchen of a sister brand is perhaps the most intriguing concept on this list, and one we’ll see a lot more of in the future.

Add to all that choices around location, technology, and figuring out if they even have enough demand to warrant a ghost kitchen, and restaurants have a lot to consider in today’s off-premises-centric world.

What’s more, those restaurants are being forced to consider their choices when it comes to ghost kitchens. The pandemic has decimated the dine-in business for both large restaurant chains and smaller independent businesses. Recovery from the fallout will be slow, and the idea of most customers returning to brick-and-mortar restaurants seems less possible each week. Given those factors, more restaurants will have to consider either supplementing their existing operations with ghost kitchens or pivoting their entire model to a virtual, delivery-only one.

I suspect this is just the beginning when it comes to types of ghost kitchens that rise out of the ashes of the on-premises restaurant experience. We’ve already seen restaurants employ countless amounts of creativity when it comes to running a restaurant during a pandemic and trying to create a concrete restaurant experience out of virtual tools. With the pandemic still very much a part of our lives, we will now see that creativity head for the ghost kitchen.

SipScience Raises Money to Reinvent the Bar

SipScience, a data analytics company specifically for the hospitality industry, is preparing to launch itself into the contactless payments realm by launching a new platform, Sip. 

According to a press release sent to The Spoon this week, there are two sides to Sip. The consumer-facing one comes in the form of an app that connects to a user’s digital wallet. The app lets said user find nearby bars and open a tab from their own mobile device, through which they can order and pay for drinks. When it launches, Sip will be available at participating bars and venues across the U.S. Bonus: those who sign up for a subscription will get half off their first 50 drinks ordered through the app.

For venues, such as bars and restaurants, the app is a new way to drive more traffic, and the accompanying SipSync analytics engine gives these places more data on in-venue customers. Brands, too, are provided with real-time purchasing data, which is not something a payments app normally provides.

The company said this week it had raised $1.3 million in SAFE notes. There is no official launch date yet for the app, which makes sense, given the state of in-person hospitality venues. Bars in many states remain closed, as to venues built to hold hundreds of people. 

Granted, no sane person would spend much time in a bar right now. But SipScience’s news suggests that folks start flocking back to their local watering holes, they’ll find a far more tech-driven experience waiting.

Restaurant Tech ‘Round the Web

Starbucks launched a digital traceability tool this week that lets customers learn more about their coffee, including where it came from and traveled, and the farmers and roasters involved in production.

Domino’s is hiring 20,000 more employees. That’s on top of the 10,000 the pizza chain said it was hiring right after the pandemic hit, and just goes to show you that the company’s delivery-centric business is alive and thriving. 

Grubhub has launched an online petition to commission fee caps and is reportedly going to run an ad campaign that calls the fee caps “food delivery taxes.” Grubhub says fee caps result in higher costs for consumers and ultimately hurt restaurants. 

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

August 18, 2020

Restaurant Rewards Platform Seated Raises $30M, Acquires VenueBook

Restaurant rewards platform Seated announced today it has raised $30 million in fresh funds. The round was led by Insight Partners with participation from Craft Ventures, Greycroft, and Rho Capital Partners.

The company also announced it has acquired digital event booking company VenueBook. The acquisition will allow restaurants to offer consumers and businesses rewards for booking private events, according to a press release sent to The Spoon. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. 

Like most other restaurant tech companies out there, Seated has been repositioning itself ever since the pandemic forced the industry to shift to off-premise formats like takeout and delivery. Originally, the platform allowed customers to book a table at a restaurant ahead of time and earn rewards, which could then be spent on in-person food and wine classes or gift cards to Amazon, Sephora, Airbnb, and other brands. 

When the pandemic hit, Seated added Seated at Home to its roster, which lets customers order delivery and takeout through the app.

With the acquisition of VenueBook, Seated now also offers Seated Events. Both individual customers and businesses can now get the aforementioned rewards for booking private events — anything from a birthday party to a corporate holiday party — at participating restaurants. 

It remains to be seen how popular Seated Events proves in the current times. By state mandates, many restaurants are still operating at reduced capacity, and large gatherings are banned. That doesn’t necessarily include birthday parties at restaurants, but whether consumers even want to invite 20 of their closes friends to congregate in a single space is uncertain.

What is certain is that restaurant tech companies are having to diversify to  stay relevant in these turbulent times. Seated’s addition of both its at-home platform and this event platform will allow the company to reach a wider audience than it would have with just its dining room app. Seated said in today’s press release it will use the new funds to further build out its platform and develop new products. 

August 17, 2020

Restaurants, Retailers Launch a ‘Pay-by-Face’ Network Powered by PopID

At the tail-end of last week, a number of Pasadena, CA-based restaurants and retailers announced they had established the first pay-by-face network in the U.S. According to a press release sent to The Spoon, a growing list of businesses in the Southern California city have deployed tech from PopID to let customers make purchases via facial recognition without even having to touch their own mobile phones.

To use PopID’s facial recognition system, customers create a PopID account, which the company says users can now link their credit or debit card to in addition to their face. Then, at participating restaurants, those customers will be able to log into their account not only on their own mobile devices but also at restaurant-operated kiosks at the counter, drive-thru, and other areas of the business. Once the system scans the customer’s face, it automatically pulls up their account where past orders, loyalty points, and payment information are already stored.

What’s especially noteworthy about this news is that the technology enables some restaurant settings to be more contactless than many offerings out there that claim the same. Practically unheard of six months ago, so-called contactless technologies are now one of the most popular topics in the restaurant biz. Thing is, many of these systems, while they minimize or eliminate human-to-human contact, still require a customer to touch a kiosk, credit card machine, or other device handled by other customers. 

Some of PopID’s new deployments at these Pasadena restaurants will still require customers to touch a public-facing screen. Think walk-up or drive-thru kiosks. Others, however, will eliminate the need for customers to touch any device at all. Today’s press release mentions tableside order and payments that can happen with a server scanning a customer’s face with a handheld device. Creepy? Probably, but it still gets closest to providing actual “hands-free” order and payment methods for restaurant customers. 

PopID said the Pasadena launch of this pay-by-face network is the first of “a city-by-city rollout of the contactless payment service.” CEO John Miller said in each new city, the company initially focuses on college campuses and office buildings — which, given the state of the world, may or may not work as a long-term strategy. “As these communities grow comfortable using PopID to check-in, we enlist area restaurants and retailers to offer PopPay for transactions,” he said.

The popularity of Pasadena’s new pay-by-face network as well as subsequent deployments in other cities will tell us how much biometric data users are willing to swap in exchange for the promise of safety. If it turns out to be a lot, the nature of transactions could change must faster than anyone anticipated before the pandemic hit.

August 16, 2020

Uber Eats Is Not Bailing On California

California imposed an order this week that, for a minute there, led us all to believe Uber’s food delivery business in that state was on the rocks.

Spoiler alert: it’s totally not.

Recap: On Monday, a California judge issued a preliminary injunction ordering that Uber (along with Lyft) reclassify its drivers as employees in keeping with the state’s AB5, which was signed into law in January. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi then took to the airwaves to tell us all the company will likely have to temporarily shut down service in California if the court does not overturn the ruling.

As is usually the case when we talk about third-party delivery services, there’s fine print, which Eater SF promptly dug up. An Uber spokesperson confirmed to the publication that the shutdown would only apply to the company’s rideshare business, and that Uber Eats — now Uber’s biggest business — would continue “as is.”

I can’t really think of a better way of putting it than in Eater writer Eve Batey’s own words: “Uber’s threat to take their ball and go home if forced to comply with California law really only applies to a ball that, right now, isn’t the one that the other kids want to play with all that much.”

Eats currently generates more revenue than Rides, according to Uber’s second-quarter earnings report. That makes sense, seeing as the world has been in a pandemic-induced lockdown of late, and even with restrictions lifting in places, average consumers are just not going out as much. They are, however, ordering a ton of delivery meals from restaurants. Gross bookings for Eats were $6.96 billion in Q2, which was up 113 percent year-over-year and up 54 percent over Q1 2020.

Uber also recently struck a $2.65 billion deal to acquire fellow third-party delivery company Postmates — a service that just happens to be number one in Los Angeles, a city that just happens to be the second most populated one in the U.S. Yanking the plug on California, even temporarily, would make the deal pointless. Uber might have ethical flaws in its business model, but its leaders aren’t dumb.

Besides, they’ll get a chance to continue the fight to keep its delivery drivers and couriers as contract workers come November, when Californians vote on Proposition 22, which would exempt rideshare and delivery drivers from being considered employees. Needless to say, tech companies are all-in on this one.

But if regulators continue to scrutinize third-party delivery practices, and consumers continue to rely on off-premises meals while restrictions around in-house restaurant dining room remain in place, it seems only a matter of time before Uber et al. go from the frying pan to the fire with food delivery. 

Maybe then we can take eloquently worded threats to shut down seriously. 

Accelerating the Drive Thru

Of late, there’s been much ado about the drive-thru, with major restaurant chains like Shake Shack and Chipotle all announcing an increased focus on the format.

So it wasn’t too surprising this week to get new data showing the drive-thru is far and away the most popular restaurant “experience” among consumers. A new survey from Bluedot and research firm SeeLevel HX found that 74 percent of respondents said they have visited the drive-thru “the same amount or more often than usual” compared to 43 percent in April. Those consumers surveyed also named drive-thru “the safest” of the to-go formats polled in the report.

It’s all a bit of a no-brainer if you ask me. If you’ve hung around inside a restaurant lately waiting for your pickup order, you’ll know the experience is often tense and confusing. Meanwhile, curbside pickup is still so new for most restaurants that operational kinks have yet to be worked out. That makes drive-thru, a decades-old format, seemingly the safest and fastest way to collect your grub at a time when dining at a restaurant is a no-go for many consumers.

But drive thrus could be faster. A lot faster. In this week’s survey, 81 percent said waiting more than 10 minutes in the drive-thru is too long.

As mobile ordering increases in restaurants and more chains reformat their brick-and-mortar locations to accommodate drive-thru, speed of service will need to be at the top of the priority list.

Restaurant Tech ‘Round the Web

  • A new survey by Oracle Food and Beverage found that 59 percent of U.S. consumers and 47 percent in the U.K. “plan to dine-out as soon as they are able.” Forty percent in the U.S. and 39 percent in the U.K. would feel “safer” using a digital menu from their own device. Another 35 percent in the U.S. and 31 percent in the U.K. had similar feelings about digital payments. 
  • Mobile platform Mad Mobile has acquired restaurant tech company CAKE, best known for its POS system. Mad Mobile hopes to use the acquisition to create a next-gen POS designed for mobile-first restaurant experiences. 
  • For more on the future of ridesharing, which is usually an indicator of what’s to come for food delivery, check out this podcast from Axios Re:Cap. 

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

August 13, 2020

Report: The Restaurant Industry Could Lose $300B by the End of 2020

Technomic has revised its forecasts for the rest of 2020 and into 2021, according to a news release the firm sent out this week. The reason for these new numbers? You guessed it: the pandemic. Speaking in this week’s announcement, Joe Pawlak, a managing principle at Technomic, said to expect “continued decline” in restaurant sales for the rest of the year but “aggressive growth” in 2021.

“Few industries have felt the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic quite like foodservice,” he wrote, adding that restrictions (e.g., reduced capacity, no bar seating) “are wreaking havoc, especially on the segments that depend upon on-premises consumption.”

In light of that, the firm has made revised forecasts based on Best, Middle, and Worst Case scenarios. While the bulk of those numbers are behind Technomic’s paywall, the firm did release some telling facts based on the new forecasts:

  • Based on the Middle Case scenario, the restaurant industry will grow by 21 percent in 2021, but sales will still be down 11 percent compared to 2019 sales.
  • The restaurant industry is expected to lose between $250 billion to nearly $300 billion in sales for 2020, depending on the scenario.
  • QSRs are faring the best of any restaurant type at the moment; full-service restaurants and bars are struggling the most.

The firm also notes that the state of the industry’s prospects are “directly tied to medical advances related to COVID-19” such as a vaccine. 

It’s no secret that spikes in COVID-19 cases are in part tied to the reopening of states’ economies, of which restaurants are a major part. Just this week, the New York Times noted that “Data from states and cities show that many community outbreaks of the coronavirus this summer have centered on restaurants and bars, often the largest settings to infect Americans.” In a separate article, it also noted that indoors, the six-feet-apart rule for social distancing is misleading because “people think they are protected indoors and they’re really not.” Little wonder, then, that the CDC lists indoor dining as the highest-risk setting of all restaurant formats for spreading of the virus. the virus becomes easier to spread at a restaurant that offers on-site dining, even with reduced table capacity, according to the CDC.

None of that makes for an exactly encouraging scenario restaurants face in the coming months. Even in a Best Case scenario, full recovery will be slow at best. As we putter towards that prospect, businesses are best advised to keep their foot on the gas when it comes to offering off-premises formats.   

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