Category: Foodservice

In the early days of the pandemic, every off-premises channel became a lifeline for sales, driving innovation across not just drive thru and delivery but also curbside pickup. 

Then attention toward curbside seemed to go away as restaurants re-opened and focused their efforts mostly around delivery and, when possible, drive thru.

Now Denver-based fast casual Teriyaki Madness is hoping to give curbside a little love once again. The 155-unit concept launched Mad Dash, a curbside platform that uses GPS technology to track customers and ensure that employees arrive at the curb 10 seconds before them, order in hand.

“Our food is fresh, it’s made to order, it’s customizable, it just doesn’t lend well to a traditional drive-thru,” said CMO Jodi Boyce. “And so we’re putting a lot of our efforts into bringing curbside back. … I think as an industry, curbside kind of went away a little bit in the last couple of years.”

Boyce joined the latest episode of Take-Away with Sam Oches to talk about the newfound potential in curbside pickup and how it’s helping Teriyaki Madness avoid discounting as it looks to drive more traffic to stores.

In this conversation, you’ll learn more about why: 

• Curbside is a perfectly suitable alternative to drive-thru
• Technology makes curbside far faster and more efficient than drive thru
• If you can’t beat third-party delivery players, at least take share from them
• Catering is another underappreciated off-premises channel 
• You shouldn’t pull a Bed Bath & Beyond with your discounting  
• Frequency, not discounting, is the right tool to help you weather economic woes

Contact Sam Oches at [email protected].

Shake Shack is rolling out sidewalk robot delivery for the first time in partnership with Serve Robotics and Uber Eats. Customers in Los Angeles that order their Shake Shack burgers via Uber Eats very well might have their food delivered by an autonomous robot.

While this might be the first time Serve Robotics’ sidewalk delivery robots will be working with Shake Shack, it’s not the burger chain’s first foray into autonomous delivery solutions. Last November, NRN reported that Shake Shack was partnering with Motional to use the company’s Ioniq 5 robotaxi to shuttle delivery orders around in Las Vegas, also in partnership with Uber. While sidewalk robots can handle short-range deliveries, autonomous vehicles like the robotaxi can take on longer delivery ranges.  

Related: Tech Tracker: How robots are finding their way on the restaurant floor

“We love working with Uber and Serve Robotics on this partnership and lean into their expertise to help further our commitment to leveraging innovation to enhance guest experiences,” Steph So, senior vice president of digital experience at Shake Shack, told Nation’s Restaurant News. “We see autonomous delivery continuing to grow in popularity and we want to meet our customers where they are while maintaining our enlightened hospitality and premium ingredients.”

So added that in early pilots of robotic technology in Miami, Shake Shack has seen shorter delivery times, increased capacity, and overall improved guest experiences. Right now, Shake Shack is still in early stages of testing, but So said that autonomous delivery could become a part of Shake Shack’s permanent strategy.

Related: Shake Shack moves to improve throughput

“Guests receiving deliveries are delighted and guests in-Shack benefit from less congestion of couriers in and out of the restaurant at peak times,” she said.

Uber Eats has also been a supporter of Serve Robotics for several years, and currently owns approximately a 16% stake in the company. Since Serve went public last year, the company has been working on expanding both to new territories and to new operator partners. Last summer, Uber and Serve’s partnership expanded the test in the Los Angeles, with the goal of growing to a fleet of 2,000 delivery robots by 2025 across the country.

“We are excited to add another national merchant like Shake Shack to our platform, a partnership made possible through the relationship we have built with Uber Eats across tens of thousands of successful deliveries,” Touraj Parang, President and COO of Serve Robotics, said in a statement. “This announcement highlights the value of Serve’s world-class strategic partnerships as we work to expand our geographic footprint.”

Contact Joanna at [email protected]m

NEWPORT BEACH, CALIF. — Higher-income consumers continue to eat at Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. despite recent menu price increases, while lower-income individuals are buying fewer burritos, said Brian R. Niccol, chairman and chief executive officer.

“While it is difficult to predict the macro impact on future spending trends, we know our value proposition remains strong, and we experienced minimal resistance to our price increase in the quarter,” Niccol said during an Oct. 25 earnings call. “To put it into perspective, our average chicken burrito bowl, which makes up about 50% of our orders across the US, is below $9 in our restaurants. This is a tremendous value when you consider the quality of our food, including our food with integrity standards, the fresh preparation utilizing classic cooking techniques, the customization, generous portions and of course, the convenience and speed.”

Earlier in October, the fast-casual chain raised prices in approximately 700 restaurants to address pockets of outsized wage inflation, said John R. Hartung, chief financial officer.

“Menu prices in each restaurant increased between 2% and 3%, which had a company-wide impact of about 0.5% overall,” he said. “The benefit of menu price increases offset elevated costs across the board, most notably in dairy, packaging and tortillas.”

In the fourth quarter, executives expect the cost of sales to remain at about the same level as the benefit from the menu price increases will be offset by higher beef, chicken, dairy and tortilla costs, Hartung said.

Cooking oil remains pressured by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, he added.

“Paper and packaging, that’s driven significantly by the cost of freight because most of the packaging comes from overseas, from Asia, and it looks like some of the crazy freight costs that we’ve been paying in the past are easing,” Hartung said. “Dairy has been elevated, and so we’re optimistic that there will be some additional supply into next year. So, there’s kind of some pluses and some minuses.

“Overall, what we’re hoping is for mostly stabilization. So, if some of the softening in commodity costs can offset some of the pressure we’re seeing, especially in beef and cooking oil, and if we could break even for a while and not have to see either margins degrade or have to consider another price increase, that would be fantastic to be in that position for a while.”

Net income for the third quarter ended Sept. 30 was $257.1 million, or $9.26 per share on the common stock, an increase from $204.4 million, or $7.26, in the prior-year period. Unusual expenses in the quarter related to one-time employee separation expenses, corporate and restaurant asset impairments, corporate restructuring and performance share modification expenses.

Revenue totaled $2.2 billion, up 14% from $2 billion the year before.

Comparable restaurant sales increased 7.6%. Hartung noted an increase in traffic and a decrease in transaction size.

“As we’re seeing customers kind of return to more normal habits … it’s less digital, more in-restaurant, and even in the in-restaurant channel, there’s a slight decline in the group size,” Hartung said. “What seems to be happening is people rather than working from home and going with family, for example, were bringing dinner home for their family. They’re kind of back to eating more on their own as an individual that they might be out with a group of four people, but they’re all paying for their own lunch.”

During the quarter, the company opened 43 new restaurants and remains on track to open between 235 and 250 new restaurants this year. Additionally, management anticipates opening between 255 to 285 restaurants next year, with a focus on small towns across the United States.

“Overall, small-town restaurants have comparable margins and returns to the company average, and we’re excited about the growth opportunity, which is included in our 7,000 long-term restaurant target,” Niccol said.

BETHESDA, MD. — Food safety technology company Novolyze has been certified as a B Corporation by the nonprofit B Lab, which assesses end-to-end operational processes and certifies companies based on their overall positive environmental and social impact scores. Novolyze provides a software platform for food manufacturing companies that sources real-time data unification and increases overall operational efficiency, the company said.

“At Novolyze, we are constantly looking to deliver business value in the most ethical, responsible and progressive way possible,” said Karim-Franck Khinouche, founder and chief executive officer of Novolyze. “And to surpass the criteria of such a rigorous assessment like B Corp, it shows us that we are on the right path to achieving our broader business goals of making the world a better place and establishing ourselves as one of the most sustainability minded partners in the technology marketplace.”

In 2019, Novolyze was selected to join the Chipotle Aluminaries Project, sponsored by Chipotle Mexican Grill, which offers startup ventures the chance to receive coaching and mentorship from industry experts. In late 2021, the company raised $15 million in a Series A fundraising round.

Novolyze utilizes digital systems and microbiology solutions to streamline production and potentially increase sustainability at food companies including Mars, Cargill and Nestle, among others.

“In order to create a more sustainable and resilient world for tomorrow, businesses not only need to focus on their own efforts, but also how they can help others hit their own climate responsibility goals,” Khinouche said. “With that in mind, we have continued to work as hard as possible to emerge as a trusted partner both in terms of performance as well as social and climate responsibility. Thus, to be certified as a B Corp is both a source of tremendous pride as well as a catalyst that we will use to push ourselves further on our journey to hit more ambitious internal and external sustainability goals.”