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Chipotle is redesigning its restaurants to better serve mobile orders
No one wants to wait in line for their Chipotle order, and honestly, most people don't want to talk to anyone either. For those reasons, Chipotle's "digital business" -- orders placed through the app, online or via third-parties like DoorDash -- has grown to $1 billion. Now, Chipotle says it's going to make the digital ordering process even better with new restaurant designs optimized for pickups.
Beyond Meat breakfast options are coming to Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s
Carl's Jr. started 2019 by adding plant-based Beyond Meat burgers to the menu at 1,000 of its locations across the US. It now plans to end the year by adding new Beyond Meat breakfast and lunch options -- something sister chain Hardee's will do as well.
Alexa can reorder your go-to Chipotle meal
It just became disconcertingly easy to have Mexican food show up at your door. Chipotle has introduced an Alexa skill that lets you reorder your favorite meals for delivery. If you're fond of a particular burrito bowl, you can have it sent without lifting a finger. You can't start an order from scratch, unfortunately, but it beats having to wade through the mobile app when you're already starving.
Google Maps will help you discover cities by following Local Guides
Google has a new strategy for helping you discover new restaurants: it's getting some of its most active contributors to show you around. The search firm has unveiled a test feature that will let you follow top Local Guides to see where they're going and what they recommend. Tap "follow" and you'll see their recommendations both in the For You tab as well as in the map view. If all goes well, you could find the best place to eat in an unfamiliar city by following a local who knows all the out-of-the-way eateries.
KFC's plant-based 'chicken' sold out in five hours
There's little doubt that plant-based meat substitutes have been popular, but when's the last time they triggered the kind of frenzies associated with movie aficionados and sneaker hypebeasts? Today, apparently. Beyond Meat and KFC have revealed that their Beyond Fried Chicken test in Atlanta sold out in less than five hours on August 27th, with lines "wrapped around the restaurant" from the moment the store opened. Restaurants only have so much food to go around in general, but this was apparently no mean feat -- KFC sold as much of the meatless 'chicken' as it typically sells popcorn chicken in a week.
Panera Bread now delivers through DoorDash, GrubHub and Uber Eats
Panera Bread can't resist the siren's call of offering food through third-party delivery apps. The restaurant chain has made its delivery service available outside of its own apps for the first time, offering its menu through DoorDash, GrubHub and Uber Eats. Don't expect to see someone from those services at your door, though. Panera's own couriers will fulfill orders in "most markets," so you could still see familiar faces if you're used to having your Toasted Frontega Chicken sandwiches delivered.
KFC is testing Beyond Meat 'chicken' in an Atlanta restaurant
Plant-based meat substitutes may soon be an option for fast food chicken. CNBC reports that KFC will start testing Beyond Fried Chicken at an Atlanta restaurant on August 27th. Yes, you could grab a bucket of chicken without feeling quite so guilty -- or greasy, if Beyond Meat's earlier work is any indication. Whether or not availability grows will depend on feedback, but other restaurant chains (such as Del Taco) have seen upticks in demand since adding meat substitutes.
Domino's will use e-bikes to deliver pizzas across the US
Domino's Pizza is once again adopting cutting edge delivery vehicles, although you're much more likely to see these ones in action. In the wake of successful tests, the restaurant chain is launching a US-wide e-bike delivery program that will give stores the choice of using custom Rad Power e-bikes to carry pizza. They're typical electric two-wheelers at their heart with motors that assist pedaling for 25 to 40 miles on a charge with a 20MPH top speed, but they also include front and rear insulated cargo spaces that hold a combined 12 large pizzas. A delivery person could make several stops before having to cycle back to home base.
GrubHub is quietly replacing restaurant phone numbers on Yelp
GrubHub has once again been accused of hijacking restaurants' online presences in the name of revenue. Motherboard and the Underunderstood podcast have learned that some phone listings in the Yelp app have been replaced with GrubHub numbers so that the delivery service can collect a "referral fee" from resulting orders. You may get the restaurant's actual phone number if you tap the call button for "general questions," for instance, but an entirely different GrubHub-owned number if you tap "delivery or takeout."
Uber Eats dine-in option lets you pre-order your food
Uber Eats has a new option for those diners who want the ambiance of a restaurant but hate the wait. The company has unveiled a dine-in feature in some cities that lets customers pre-order food on the app and then eat at the restaurant, according to TechCrunch. And unlike most of Uber's services, the driver or the courier is cut out of the equation entirely. Diners order food on the app and arrange transportation to the restaurant themselves -- there's currently no option to link a ride with your food order. Diners pay with the Uber Eats app, and can add an optional tip. Uber Eats launched the dine-in feature back in November, and is currently testing it in Dallas, Austin, Tucson and San Diego, reported Eater.
GrubHub is buying web domains for the restaurants it lists (updated)
GrubHub's bid to conquer app-based food delivery may be hurting the web presences of the restaurants themselves. New Food Economy has discovered that GrubHub and its Seamless sub-brand have been acquiring "thousands" of web domains linked to restaurants, over 23,000 of which belong directly to GrubHub. Most of them are close or identical to the eateries' actual names, effectively preventing the locations from buying an address they might want to use.
Google Maps AI helps you discover a restaurant's popular dishes
Google is trying to take some of the guesswork out of trying a new restaurant. The company is trotting out an update to Google Maps that uses machine learning to highlight the popular dishes at an eatery. Tap on a place and it'll show the most popular meals in the overview section, with the menu tab showing the most discussed options. If you're curious to know more (and prevent any rude surprises at the table), selecting a dish will show reviews and photos.
Google Lens may add translation and restaurant 'filters'
As clever as Google Lens can be, it's still quite limited in what it can do before it points you to another app. You might not have to lean on those other apps quite so often n the near future. In the wake of an initial discovery earlier in April, the 9to5Google team has spotted evidence that Lens could soon include a host of "filters" aimed at fulfilling specific augmented reality tasks. A "translate" filter, for instance, might auto-detect one language and offer to convert it to another instead of simply copying text and asking to launch Google Translate.
Google's Duplex AI now makes reservations in 43 states
You can ask Google Assistant to make a restaurant reservation over the phone for you in 43 states as of today, as Google is bringing its Duplex automated voice-calling tech to more Pixel phones. It was previously available to a small number of Pixel owners in a few cities.
Meatless 'Beyond Burgers' come to Carl's Jr. restaurants
The competition in lab-made veggie burgers is heating up. Beyond Meat has brought its burgers to more than 1,000 Carl's Jr. locations in the US, marking its Beyond's largest restaurant deal to date. Order a $6.29 Beyond Famous Star and you can eat a vegetarian (sorry vegans, there's American cheese) burg that tastes much like its conventional beef counterparts. You can also pay $2 to add a Beyond patty to other burgers on the menu.
Starbucks will offer Uber Eats delivery from more than 2,000 US stores
It might be almost too easy to get a Starbucks fix in the near future. In the wake of trials, the coffee giant will offer delivery through Uber Eats from over 2,000 US stores (roughly a quarter of its footprint in the country) in early 2019. The company hasn't detailed pricing or selection, but there's a good possibility that a grande mocha latte will be just a few taps away.
Google's conversational Duplex AI rolls out to some Pixel owners
After months of hype, Google's reservation-placing Duplex AI is available to the general public -- if only just. The company has confirmed to VentureBeat that Duplex is rolling out to a "small group" of Pixel phone users in "select cities." It wasn't specific about those cities, but it likely includes the previously announced cities of Atlanta, New York City, Phoenix and San Francisco. Google is starting with a "slow rollout" to ensure a "good experience" for both Pixel owners and businesses,
Google model identifies restaurants that could give you food poisoning
Google could soon tell you which restaurants are more likely to give you food poisoning, thanks to an algorithm that can identify lapses in food safety in near real time. Working with researchers from Harvard University, Google tested a machine-learned model in Chicago and Las Vegas to identify user search queries such as "stomach cramps" or "diarrhea", and then cross-referenced them with saved location history data -- in particular recently-visited food establishments -- from the smartphones used to make those searches.
Yelp's hygiene score cards for restaurants go nationwide
Back in 2013, Yelp introduced an attribute that someone who values hygiene above all else would love: restaurants' health inspection scores. The website has only been displaying ratings on select restaurants' pages in New York and San Francisco, though, since the feature is part of the company's Local Inspector Value-entry Specification (LIVES) program developed with those megacities' local health departments. Now, the crowdsourced reviews portal is expanding its availability nationwide, giving you easy access to establishments' hygiene score cards across the US. You don't have to painstakingly dig for them in government websites anymore.
Food delivery drones take flight in China
You don't have to wait for food delivery drones... if you live in the right part of China. Alibaba's online meal giant Ele.me has been cleared to use drones for delivering orders in Shanghai's Jinshan Industrial Park. The initiative won't deliver directly to your abode, but it will save you a lot of travel time: there are 17 routes, each of with two fixed drop-off points. Your food should arrive within 20 minutes, which isn't always possible with conventional cars slogging through traffic.
