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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

same-day delivery

Can FedEx’s Autonomous Bot Improve Pizza Hut’s Last-Mile Logistics Problem?

Last week, my colleague Chris Albrecht noted that FedEx is launching an autonomous delivery vehicle called SameDay Bot. Pizza Hut, whose delivery strategy has had to undergo major changes in recent months, has jumped on board the opportunity and will use the bot to deliver to hungry customers later this year.

FedEx’s creation is a zero-emission, battery-powered bot designed to travel sidewalks and roads, and even climb stairs and curbs. FedEx enlisted the help of engineer Dean Kamen, best known as the inventor of the Segway, to develop the vehicle. And since it’s autonomous, the bot is equipped with mapping tools and cameras that allow it to maneuver through cities without crashing into pedestrians or upsetting other aspects of sidewalk life. It looks like a small fridge on wheels. When it reaches its destination, two doors automatically open and customers can grab their pizzas from inside.

Pizza Hut’s test run is slated for summer 2019 in Memphis, TN.

Getting a hot pizza into a customer’s hands — also known as last-mile logistics — is a key area for companies to get right when it comes to delivery. There are tons of potential solutions out there, from Postmates’ adorable li’l rover Served to Kiwi’s bots, currently roaming the streets of Westwood in Los Angeles.

Pizza chains seem especially aggressive when it comes to solving the last-mile logistics question — justifiably so, since pizza gets cold quickly and, despite coming in a nice, stackable box, will sometimes upset in transit and leave half the cheese and toppings on the cardboard, not the pie.

Partnering with FedEx isn’t Pizza Hut’s first foray into last-mile solutions. Last year, the Plano, TX-based company unveiled an autonomous kitchen that would cook pizzas in transit. The Tundra PIE Pro, as it’s called, is still a prototype, and Pizza Hut hasn’t disclosed if or when it will actually come to market. The company also expanded beer delivery earlier this year.

Even so, The Hut has its work cut out when it comes to standing out in last-mile logistics. Its chief rival, Domino’s, is widely recognized as one of the most tech-savvy and innovative restaurant companies in business today. Last year it launched “HotSpots,” or delivery locations that don’t have a traditional address but are instead places like parks, beaches, and other areas where groups gather. Domino’s has over 150,000 of these so far. In a completely separate endeavor, the company also expanded its partnership with what3words, whose algorithm converts GPS coordinates into more precise address locations. Domino’s is finding this initiative especially helpful in countries where traditional, orderly street addresses aren’t necessarily a guarantee.

Domino’s builds most of its tech in-house. Pizza Hut’s success with the SameDay Bot, meanwhile, will in part depend on FedEx, since the technology belongs to the latter. If FedEx decides the technology is a bust and shelves it, Pizza Hut will have to find another route to autonomous delivery vehicles. On the other hand, FedEx is a last-mile logistics company, and the SameDay bot could very well prove itself an efficient, cost-effective way of delivering products. In that case, Pizza Hut will have found a far cheaper solution to autonomous delivery than any in-house tech ever could be — for the company, its franchises, and its customers.

Whisk Partners with Amazon to Expand its Shoppable Recipe Reach

In a move that will bolster the trend of recipes becoming center for discovery and commerce, Amazon has partnered with AI food platform Whisk to create shoppable recipes from more than 20 publishers.

Whisk partners with major food brands such as Pillsbury and General Mills and publishers like BBC Good Food and Food Network to connect their recipes with retailers. So, for example, if you like Pillsbury’s recipe for Blueberry Biscuits with Sweet Lemon Glaze, Whisk’s platform lets you automatically order all the necessary ingredients for delivery with just a few clicks.

In the United States, Whisk has been working with Walmart and Peapod for ingredient purchases and with today’s announcement adds Amazon Fresh as another partner. Whisk’s partnership will extend to Amazon UK starting on March 1.

For Amazon, Whisk joins AllRecipes and Fexy Media as another channel for shoppable recipes sales. We pegged shoppable recipes as a trend to watch this year as it has the power to transform the way we think about meal preparation.

Recipes used to be a source of both inspiration and frustration when the contents of our pantries fell short of the ideal meal. With same day delivery, retailers like Amazon, Albertsons, Walmart can now monetize that inspiration with (somewhat) instant gratification. Shoppable recipes make cooking almost any meal more frictionless.

Amazon’s continued expansion into the shoppable recipe space is sure to set in motion more defensive moves from other grocers. Last month, Aisle Ahead bought BigOven to offer shoppable recipes services for grocers. Additionally, Kroger partnered with Myxx to bring shoppable recipes to its stores.

Amazon and Whole Foods Start Rolling Out Two Hour Delivery

Amazon and Whole Foods today announced that they are rolling out two-hour delivery, in a move that ratchets up the ongoing retailer battle royale over who can get you your groceries fastest.

At launch, the new service is available to Amazon Prime members in Austin, Cincinnati, Dallas and Virginia Beach, with plans to roll it out across the U.S. throughout the year. Users can shop from the Whole Foods Market selection via the Amazon Prime Now app and website to purchase produce, meats, seafood, pantry items, and even alcohol. Two-hour delivery is free or shoppers can opt for the super fast one-hour delivery for $7.99 on orders of $35 or more.

The move shouldn’t surprise anyone who’s been watching this space. Amazon Prime Now has been making same day deliveries for a while, and ever since acquiring Whole Foods last year, we’ve expected to see Amazon’s ruthless logistics and delivery efficiency applied to the grocer.

It does, however, up the ante for others vying to be your online grocer of choice. Walmart acquired Parcel and partnered with August and Deliv, Target acquired Shipt, and Instacart continues to hook up with grocery chains such as Albertsons — all to offer same day food delivery.

But as we’ve written before, faster Whole Foods delivery also helps set up Amazon to dominate the shoppable recipe and customized meal kit delivery space, as recipes evolve into discovery and commerce platforms. Between Whole Foods and Alexa, Amazon can help you figure out a meal, order your groceries, have them delivered in time and even guide you through the cooking.

You can hear about Amazon’s 2 hour delivery in our daily spoon podcast.  You can also subscribe in Apple podcasts or through our Amazon Alexa skill. 

August Home Expands In-Home Delivery Platform, Adds Deliv as Partner

Not long ago, my mom ordered a box of tea online, which a guy in a pizza delivery car tried to steal from her front porch while she was at work. Obviously, she’s not the first person to ever experience this. In her case, a neighbor happened to catch the guy in action and set the cops on his trail, recovering the package in process. Most folks, though, aren’t so lucky, and lots of them are ordering much more than a $20 box of tea.

All the same, risk of theft doesn’t deter most who order goods via same-day delivery. As we get busier and more mobile, we rely more and more on the convenience factor for anything from stereos to dental floss. And since this is as unlikely to change as mankind’s need to steal, it makes sense that that same-day, in-home delivery is rapidly becoming an option for both consumers and retailers.

News from August Home should help accelerate that option. The smart-lock maker just announced that it is opening up it’s in-home delivery platform to any retailer, and that it has formed a partnership with same-day delivery service Deliv for last mile delivery fulfillment.

It’s a pretty straightforward operation. August owners can order at a participating retailer and choose “same day” at checkout, along with their desired time window. Once the transaction is completed, they can opt to authorize “secure in-home delivery.” If no one answers the doorbell, the delivery driver can access a one-time-use passcode to unlock the door and leave the package. Users are notified via phone, so they know a delivery is occurring, even if they’re up the block folding the last of their laundry. If they have the equipment, customers can also choose to watch the delivery in real time through the August app (or view a recording of it later).

August’s move to expand its platform comes after Amazon launched Amazon Key in late 2017, which uses its own combination of smart lock and cloud camera, and helped make the concept of in-home delivery more prominent with mainstream consumers. Just last month, Amazon also purchased the maker of Blink security cameras, in a move that could bolster Key offerings.

August and Deliv partnered with Walmart this past September to test drive their new service. Not only did consumers have the option of in-home delivery, they could also get “in-fridge” delivery, where the driver enters your pad and puts any perishables in the fridge or freezer. Presumably, the same option will exist for this wider rollout of the August-Deliv service.

I’d love to say I’m weirded out by the idea of some dude walking into my house and opening my fridge, but I’m not. People open their homes to strangers all the time— cleaning services, maintenance work, and pet care, for example. And while a camera and a one-time passcode don’t guarantee complete security, they beat having your groceries swiped off the front porch by, of all things, the local food delivery guy.