First Robotic Mobile Restaurant and DoorDash’s Commissary Kitchen

In this edition of MRM News Bites, we feature Ono Food Co, DoorDash, Parts Town and  Heritage Foodservice, Rouxbe, Presto, Burger King and Uber Eats, Pared, Tork, Restaurant Technologies, Willie Degel, Bolay, Ritual, Preoday and TISSL, AdTheorent and Voodoo Doughnut.

World’s First Mobile Restaurant Powered by Advanced Robotics

Ono Food Co. unveiled the world’s first mobile restaurant powered by robotic technology, top video and photo. Created by alumni from companies in automation and logistics, including Instacart, Cafe X, L2F (systems integrator for Zume Pizza, Tesla, and SpaceX), and more. Ono’s robotic food truck will begin serving the greater Los Angeles community nutritious, delicious, and affordable smoothie blends for under six dollars, and prepared within 60 seconds beginning this Fall.

“We’re excited to be launching our first market in our backyard, sunny Los Angeles,” said Stephen Klein, Co-Founder, and CEO. “Fast food options usually fall into two buckets: fast, healthy, and unaffordable, or fast, unhealthy, and affordable and nothing in between. Combining our backgrounds in tech, automation, and culinary fine dining, we knew we could fill this void to give more people access to healthy, high-quality food.”

While Ono’s food truck is powered by complex technology, ordering an Ono Blend is simple. Customers simply approach Ono’s ordering kiosk, place their custom order, and watch as robotic systems create their blends from scratch. Within 60 seconds, blends are ready at Ono’s pick-up area. While ingredients like these are typically only found in $15-20 dollar smoothies, Ono is able to keep blend costs at a fraction of this cost by utilizing efficient technology.

Specific benefits include:

Accuracy – Unlike other food establishments where cross-contamination of ingredients is prevalent, Ono’s use of advanced patent-pending robotic technology ensures every blend will be created exactly as described, no matter how custom or complex. Since every part of Ono’s assembly process is monitored by hundreds of sensors to ensure there is no spillage, cross-contamination, or inconsistencies; customers with dietary restrictions, allergies, or simply specific preferences no longer have to worry that their blend might include ingredients it shouldn’t.

Increased Speed and Efficiency – Through automation, Ono can provide 60 people with blends per hour vs. the industry standard of just 20 per hour. With an understanding that not every customer has time to wait 5-10 minutes for a smoothie to be served, Ono’s robotic food truck ensures busy customers can quickly get the healthy food they need when they need it, so they can go about their day.

Minimal Waste – Ono’s food truck is designed to be environmentally sustainable. The robotic kitchen runs on batteries instead of a diesel generator. Additionally, while other smoothie establishments use gallons of water to clean each blender, Ono’s patent-pending automated self-cleaning blender and robotic systems use 28x less water because it only needs to clean the blade and because it’s blended in the customer’s compostable cup. From cups to straws, all of Ono’s consumables are compostable, making Ono more sustainable compared to traditional smoothie establishments.

Quality Control – Ono can ensure orders are to the customers' standards 100 percent of the time. In traditional smoothie shops, 1 in 10 orders are wrong, and this is at best a bad experience, and at worst can be life-threatening for people with dietary restrictions. Rather than assigning people to prep stations or at checkout, Ono takes advantage of automation to free people up to do what they do best; customer service/engagement and education. Ono Guides are on-site liaisons to teach people about where the ingredients are sourced, how blends can affect their wellbeing, and how to create blends specific to their dietary standards or nutritional preferences.

Cleanliness – The robotic kitchen is NSF 169 certified, which is the equivalent to best in class sanitation, to ensure customers know that their blend is created in the cleanest, safest, and most sanitary environment possible. With self-cleaning technology, there are never issues with equipment going uncleaned.

Customization – With hundreds of personalized combinations to choose from, Ono Guides can talk customers through how to customize vegetarian, gluten-free, and vegan options. Guides are on hand to share ways customers can create delicious blends with value-added benefits like more energy, stronger immunity, sharper focus, digestion, and better performance at no additional cost.

Following the initial launch, Ono will be launching an app where customers can view where the Ono Blends truck is located. Customers can place their order on their smartphone device to enjoy a personalized blend in advance. Once the individual is within a 300-foot radius of the truck, the robotic systems will initiate the order to ensure the blend is made fresh and will be ready when the customer arrives.

Door Dash Shared Kitchen

​DoorDash​ is launching a shared commissary kitchen with multiple restaurants under one roof. The brand’s to-go-only concept, DoorDash Kitchens, is located in Redwood City, California. With DoorDash Kitchens, this is the first time popular locally-founded and national restaurants including Nation’s Giant Hamburgers, Rooster & Rice, Humphry Slocombe, and The Halal Guys will offer delivery, pickup, and group order options to local residents across the California Peninsula area. 

DoorDash Kitchens provides on-demand delivery access from popular restaurants to customers across seven Bay Area markets including Atherton, Belmont, Menlo Park, Palo Alto, Redwood City, San Carlos, and Woodside. Pickup options are available to customers in 13 key suburban markets including Atherton, Belmont, Burlingame, Foster City, Los Altos, Menlo Park, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Redwood City, San Carlos, San Mateo, Sunnyvale, and Woodside. 

Customers within range of DoorDash Kitchens can open up the DoorDash app and find these beloved restaurants in their feed, a welcome surprise from the far distances customers previously would travel to access their favorite foods. To celebrate the grand opening, DoorDash is offering $0 delivery fees to DoorDash Kitchens’ restaurants ​including Nation’s Giant Hamburgers, Rooster & Rice, Humphry Slocombe, and The Halal Guys ​through the end of the year. 

“We are constantly working on innovations that help merchants find new, meaningful ways to reach customers and run their businesses more efficiently,” said Fuad Hannon, Head of New Business Verticals at DoorDash. “We launched DoorDash over six years ago in the Peninsula, and can’t wait to bring even more selection to the local community we know and admire.” 

DoorDash connects brick-and-mortar restaurants to the online convenience economy, providing businesses with transformational access to expand their reach and revenue. With DoorDash Kitchens, merchants can access new customers in neighboring communities without the same overhead costs involved in opening additional store locations. DoorDash Kitchens provides the infrastructure, maintenance, marketing, and last-mile logistics, offering an end-to-end solution that enables restaurateurs to focus on creating delicious meals. 

"Given our founders’ Bay Area roots, we are always interested in how technology can change the way food is delivered and shared,” said Min Park, Chief Financial Officer of Rooster & Rice. “We were impressed by the overall partnership and scale DoorDash could reach with this concept, and we found the notion of a delivery-only kitchen in Redwood City very appealing as it helps us test out demand in new markets, reaching new customers and areas quickly." 

DoorDash works in close partnership with each merchant, co-designing the DoorDash Kitchens’ space with the restaurants to customize the environment to their needs. DoorDash hopes to empower a new set of entrepreneurs to thrive on the platform, further enabling customers to access their favorite restaurants and local delicacies at the touch of a button. 

DoorDash Kitchens will build its team of up to 50 full or part-time employees in the Redwood City area as well as create flexible work opportunities for Dashers. With multiple restaurants in a shared space, DoorDash will empower these merchants to offer their customers new menu offerings and pairings unique to the DoorDash Kitchens’ restaurants. 

Parts Town and Heritage Combine

Parts Town and Heritage Foodservice Group are coming together to strengthen their OEM (original equipment manufacturer) parts distribution capabilities. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Steve Snower, CEO of Parts Town for the past 15 years, has led the team that grew Parts Town from five employees and less than $3 million in revenue in 2003 to more than 1,800 global team members and over $650 million revenue today.  John McDonough, CEO of Heritage, has led that business through a highly successful transformation over the past 7 years, returning the business to high growth and performance with over 800 team members across North America and over $300 million revenue. This performance has been driven by focusing on industry-leading customer service, manufacturer relationships, company talent and culture, and digital transformation. Snower will lead the combined organization and partner closely with McDonough through the integration. McDonough will join the combined company’s Board of Directors.

Snower stated, “Both of our businesses have been relentlessly focused on genuine OEM parts, and we intend to continue to improve the safety, reliability, and performance of foodservice equipment in support of our manufacturer and customer partners all over the world. This combination will help field-service organizations serve their customers faster than ever before, improving equipment up-time and performance. As we join our extraordinary team members together, we will keep innovating to make finding and buying foodservice equipment parts easier than ever.”

McDonough added, “This combination makes perfect sense for manufacturers, customers, and our teams.  Increased inventory availability, faster delivery, better data, and constant innovation add value to the entire supply chain. By coming together, we can create one of the truly great technology-enabled distribution businesses found in any industry. I am excited to partner with Steve and the team to help realize our full potential.”

Snower continues, “There will be immediate benefits to our customers and manufacturer partners and we expect many more improvements over time. We will bring the best organization together, honoring our commitment to genuine OEM parts and to delivering an extraordinary experience for our customers. Additionally, we will soon introduce a series of new technologies that will bring unique benefits to our manufacturers and, in particular, our field service customers.”

The new organization will continue to have operations in both Addison, IL (Parts Town’s headquarters) and Ft. Wayne, IN (Heritage’s headquarters), in addition to other operations in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and Germany.

In support of key manufacturer partners, the companies will continue to operate field service organizations in select US markets and across Canada. Those businesses operate separately from the core parts distribution operations and will continue to do so. 

Plant-Based Learning

Rouxbe officially launched their plant-based course for enterprise customers. Designed for professionals looking to improve their culinary skills to keep pace with the increase in demand for vegan and vegetarian menu options, Plant-Based Foundations provides the most extensive online course for plant-based cooking available to culinary teams today. 

“Plant-based dining is not a fad that is going away. As we’ve become more aware and attuned to what we put into our bodies, along with the impact our food has on the environment, we have observed a shift in the way people think about food, ” said Ken Rubin, Chief Culinary Officer at Rouxbe. “Restaurants are catching on and realizing that it isn’t as simple as adding a vegan burger onto the menu. Consumers want amazing food that is as good, if not better than, dishes centered around meat. Most chefs, however,  have not been trained in cooking a plant-based diet, at least not on a heightened level. With the new Rouxbe program, we’re empowering chefs to not only embrace this new consumer demand but do so in a way the produces incredible food that will attract new and returning diners to their tables.” 

There is some significant data that backs up this increased need:

• There has been a 600-percent increase in people identifying as vegans over the past three years. (GlobalData)
• 31 percent of Americans practice meat-free days. (Mintel)
• In 2018, 51% of chefs in the United States added vegan items to their menus. (Foodable Labs)
• Restaurant owners saw a 13 percent increase in business in response to adding vegan options. (Foodable Labs)
• Total sales of plant-based foods now exceed $3.7 billion. (Foodable Labs)
• 55 out of the top 100 U.S. restaurant chains have a plant-based entrée. (The Good Food Institute)

The new course includes 5 units, 22 lessons, and 138 tasks over the course of 30 hours. Topics vary from plant-based staples such as soups, dressings and marinades, to meat and dairy alternatives and no-heat cooking. 

“There is no doubt that we’ve seen an increase in demand for plant-based meals across all of our restaurants and bars,” said Executive Chef Andre Natera, of the Fairmont Hotel in Austin. “As with any food we prepare, delivering on the high expectations of our customers is key — and plant-based options are no different. This new offering from Rouxbe comes at the right time, as there is a significant need for an industry-wide training option on the key fundamentals of plant-based cooking.”

Presto's New Vision

Presto launched Presto Vision — the first comprehensive computer vision product for restaurants. Presto Vision leverages pioneering technology that uses discreet cameras placed in the restaurant lobby and other areas. Hosts, staff, guests, and other individuals are automatically tagged in real-time and their motion analyzed. Interaction effects such as host availability, individual wait times, and customer bounce rates are measured and guest experience score forecasted.

The new Presto Vision product enables analysis of staff and guest interactions with an incredible level of granularity. Here are some important benefits offered by this product:

• Extraction of data-driven insights on performance metrics and noteworthy events, such as excessively long waits, untidy lobbies, unavailable hosts, and customer bounce rates (i.e., the number of customers who leave without being seated or greeted)
• Ability for managers to flag and address problems immediately, if required
• Gathering of visual content to identify potential coaching and training opportunities
• Remote, immediate visual access across multiple locations, and a high-level view of performance metrics and noteworthy events across brands for large restaurant chains
• Forecasted guest experience score and potential corrective actions

Security and privacy are important aspects of the Presto Vision system. Data captured by the cameras is stored only temporarily for the analysis and is automatically deleted after 30 days. No personally identifiable information is tracked or recorded on any individual. The system models individuals as abstracted entities (e.g., boxes) and only monitors attributes directly relevant to restaurant operations. The computer vision technology used in Presto Vision is robust and already in use in other industries such as Amazon Go, automated toll booths, traffic monitoring, manufacturing and medical imaging.

“We expect Presto Vision to bring about a tectonic shift in the restaurant industry,” said Rajat Suri, Founder and CEO of Presto. “E-commerce websites have always had detailed analytics on how customers navigate their sites, but restaurants never have had access to this information in their physical stores. With this product, restaurants can now have access to critical insights on how their stores actually work. This helps them provide better service, operate more efficiently, and reduce overhead.”

Presto Vision is currently being piloted at Outback Steakhouse. The pilot initially focuses on lobby analytics and is likely to expand to other parts of the restaurant, including back-of-house, curbside and dining areas. After a frictionless install, the product is entirely hands-off, with no need to train the staff or worry about hardware maintenance.

“Deeper guest interactions and superior hospitality are top priorities for us,” said Jeff Jones, President and CEO of Evergreen Restaurant Group, a leading Outback Steakhouse franchisee. “Presto Vision brings cutting edge computer vision technology to the restaurant industry for the first time in my experience. It has the potential to set new standards for service and operations at our franchise restaurants.”

Burger King Teams with Uber Eats

Flame grilled sandwiches from BURGER KING® restaurants can now be delivered right to doorsteps through Uber Eats. BK® guests nationwide can now place a food order with the tap of a button on the Uber Eats app*.

“At Burger King restaurants, delivery is a major priority to ensure our food is available to anyone, anywhere,” said Chris Finazzo, President, North America, Burger King Corporation. “We know our guests value convenience and adding the Burger King brand to Uber Eats is another way we will meet the demands of millions of people on this platform.”

To kick off the partnership, the King himself “paid a visit” to several hundred houses in LA to surprise and delight fans with a surprise message. 

“We’re thrilled to team up with Burger King restaurants to offer their beloved menu items to Uber Eats customers across the country,” said Janelle Sallenave, Head of Uber Eats, US & Canada. “A long history of innovation coupled with high-quality delicious food and brilliant marketing makes BK a perfect addition to Uber Eats.”

Reach for the Stars

Tork launched Reach for the Stars, a free, online module series housing knowledge to help restaurant managers and owners improve their business. Restaurateurs will have access to industry insights, inspiration and case studies to support them in their daily work. Different topics in the Reach for the Stars modules will be released over time, presenting even more in-depth insights about some of the most pressing issues within the foodservice industry. The first module topic is sustainability, offering tips and best practices for how to introduce sustainability practices without sacrificing, and actually increasing, customer satisfaction.

“With more than 50 years of experience, Tork understands the foodservice industry. We continuously conduct market research and speak to our customers to understand how they think and what challenges they are facing. From that comes a deep knowledge of the foodservice industry and business challenges,” said Hanneke Kuipers, Marketing Director HoReCa, Essity Professional Hygiene “With Reach for the Stars, our knowledge and experience is even more accessible to restaurant owners and managers, on a large scale and for free, to help businesses grow.” 

In addition to the Reach for the Stars program, Tork also launched the Tork Clean Care™ program for the foodservice industry. The aim is to educate businesses and professionals working within the foodservice industry on the importance of hand hygiene. The Clean Care program provides businesses with research, tools and training as well as product and service recommendations for kitchen hygiene.

“Good hygiene can have a big impact on results for restaurants. Gathering everything from research and training tips to service and product solutions on one website, we aim to help our customers improve their businesses,” Kuipers said.

For more information on Reach for the Stars, click here.

Pared in Philly

Pared, an app matching restaurants with skilled workers on demand, announced that it is now live in the Philadelphia market. Pared services restaurant and hospitality operators in the country’s biggest metropolitan areas – New York City, the San Francisco Bay Area, Washington D.C., and now, Philadelphia. Later this year, Pared will establish itself in additional major cities nationwide, with plans to continue expansion to other regions across the U.S. in 2020.

In an industry plagued with a debilitating turnover rate of 82% according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Pared is a crucial staffing tool that bridges the employment gap for both restaurant operators and skilled workers. By providing restaurants with skilled workers on demand, Pared is helping solve chronic staffing issues while also lowering restaurant overhead costs. Pared has also proven to be a game-changer for restaurant workers, providing them with consistent, fulfilling work that improves their quality of life and empowers them to not only enjoy schedule flexibility and higher wages than the industry average, but also increase their skill set and expand their network at thousands of top restaurants.

“We’ve seen great success with the Pared app so far, and are excited to bring our services to the iconic Philadelphia food scene,” said Will Pacio, co-founder and CEO of Pared. “With our database of over 100,000 highly qualified restaurant professionals available on demand to our customers across the country, we are confident that Philly restaurant operators will see a significant reduction in staffing issues and the resulting overhead costs.”

Many of the top restaurants and chefs in the world count on Pared to meet their staffing needs, including more than 30 Michelin-starred restaurants, with marquee names including Thomas Keller Restaurant Group, Jean Georges Restaurants, Altamarea Group and Crafted Hospitality, among others.On the hospitality side, Pared works with leading stadiums, higher education institutions, corporate kitchens, and also provides staff for elite catering companies at premier venues including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Guggenheim. 

“We used Pared for our New York team at High Street on Hudson to adjust for fluctuations in volume, unexpected call outs that would have otherwise disrupted service,” said Ellen Yin, co-owner of High Street Hospitality Group. “I am thrilled that Pared is launching in Philadelphia to enable our businesses to have more options to find great talent and fill staffing gaps.”=

Pared has separate apps for restaurant operators (Pared app) and experienced professionals (Pared Pros app), both available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. Restaurant operators can also visit the Pared website to sign up to use the service.

●      Restaurant professionals: Once verifiable work history and references are approved, workers can use the app to review a multitude of gigs on the platform, with roles spanning from line cooks, prep cooks and front of house support to bussers, dishwashers and more, as well as track earnings and manage their schedules.

●      Restaurant operators: Restaurateurs are matched with experienced restaurant and hospitality professionals that meet their specific needs and can get the job done, whether the shift is in a few hours or next week. Restaurant operators have the peace of mind that they are getting skilled workers since all restaurant and hospitality staff are vetted and reference-checked for experience and reliability. 

“We have been using Pared at many of our Bareburger operations in New York, from our restaurants to our commissary kitchens. They’ve really allowed us to flex our labor and manage our operating costs. Pared has done all the hard work of finding great people who can get the job done and done right,” said Jimmy Pelakanos, president and co-founder of Bareburger. “Whenever we need someone, we can turn to Pared for help. It’s made a huge difference in our plans for growth and expansion and I’m excited we can now use them in Philadelphia.”

Curran Joins Restaurant Technologies

Restaurant Technologies appointed Tim Curran as Senior Vice President of Operations.

In this new role at Restaurant Technologies, Curran will oversee Restaurant Technologies’ world-class operations team and help lead the expansion of the company’s nationwide service and distribution network, which consists of 41 depots and more than 1,100 employees.

“Tim Curran is a strong and innovative leader who will help Restaurant Technologies continue to expand our nationwide service and distribution network and build our service capabilities,” said Jeff Kiesel, CEO, Restaurant Technologies. “He will also bring a track record of customer-centered leadership to our three products: Total Oil Management, AutoMist™-the automated hood and flue cleaning system, and our disposable grease filters, Grease Lock.”

Curran said he looks forward to focusing on growth and continuous improvement strategies in his new role and collaborating with senior executives. “Restaurant Technologies has been recognized as the leader in its space for more than 20 years,” Curran said. “By fostering innovation, agility and excellence within the organization, we can expand our service portfolio and strengthen our position.”

Curran was most recently CEO of Binswanger Glass, a privately held leader in glass installation with 60 branch locations throughout the United States, and managed Binswanger’s sale to Wingate Partners. Before serving as Binswanger Glass CEO, Curran was Senior Vice President for G&K Services, a publicly traded leader in uniform rental and facility products with more than 165,000 customers and 7,800 employees. He also held roles with AlliedSignal, Inc./Honeywell and Xerox Corp.

More Meat House in Atlanta

 Willie Degel, founder of the New York-based Uncle Jack’s restaurant group and former host of Food Network’s ‘Restaurant Stakeout,’ will be opening a second Uncle Jack’s Meat House in metropolitan Atlanta in mid-2020. Degel has signed a 10-year lease to anchor the final commercial building in Peachtree Corners Town Center, an upscale 21-acre mixed-use development north of downtown Atlanta.

Degel opened his first Atlanta-area location in 2016 in suburban Duluth with total indoor/outdoor seating for 150, including an 80-seat outdoor patio. The new Peachtree Corners location will seat 225 guests in a space including a 4,000-sq-foot dining room, enclosed 1,000-sq-ft patio, 800-sq-ft umbrella patio, front 300-sq-ft bar lounge and outdoor café, and private party room.

The bar-and-grill-style menu will feature scratch-made appetizers, salads, burgers, sandwiches and steak specialties including American Wagyu and Kobe cuts, including signature dishes such as the Ooey Goey Mooey Burger and seafood-based Pot from the Duluth location, along with new lunch options for lighter eating.

As at the Duluth location, the decor will replicate the look and feel of a 1900s building in New York’s Meatpacking District to provide a unique dining environment. Unusual appointments will include meat hooks, custom light fixtures incorporating butchers’ cleavers and chefs’ knives, custom wallpaper featuring archival butcher photos, and flying pigs and steer heads mounted on the walls.

Degel also owns and operates a third Uncle Jack’s Meat House and two Uncle Jack’s Steakhouse fine-dining locations in New York City.

Bolay Promotes Gutierrez

Bolay named Angela Gutierrez Operations Partner for its new Oviedo location, which is set to open on November 8th. Angela joined the Bolay family in late 2017 and has quickly become an integral member of the team.

“I am honored to be named Operating Partner of our newest location in Oviedo and excited to make this move,” said Angela Gutierrez. “I consider it an incredible opportunity to work for a company that has strong core values, a great vision, and cares about the community and it’s people the same way I do.”

Prior to working at Bolay, Angela worked as a Nutritional Services Manager at Winter Park Memorial Hospital and as Managing Partner at Carrabba’s Italian Grill where she learned the ins and outs of the restaurant and hospitality industries.  She brought this experience with her to Bolay where she served as Lake Nona’s first Operating Partner. She will now oversee all operations of the Oviedo location and ensure each guest experiences the “Bolay Way,” a fresh, bold approach to life.

“Angela embodies everything we value at Bolay. From how she inspires her team to the way she welcomes our guests, Angela has the genuine energy and excitement for the brand needed to make a real impact in Oviedo,” said Chris Gannon, Bolay CEO. “I have no doubt that she will lead our newest location to great success.”  

Bolay Oviedo is set to open on November 8th at 1079 Alafaya Trail, Suite 1203 Oviedo, Florida.

Ritual Expansion

Mobile pickup app Ritual expanded its international footprint by launching in Germany, Hong Kong and the Netherlands. Entering into new markets globally brings more restaurants greater exposure to real-time data and insights, and access to new, repeat customers. Ritual now reaches more than 50 cities and seven countries globally.

“Whenever we expand into a new city or country, we look for population density, strong restaurant coverage, and a food-focused culture,” said Ray Reddy, Co-Founder and CEO of Ritual. “Hong Kong, Berlin, Hamburg and Amsterdam met that criteria for us while also allowing us to maximize on how much we could learn from new, non-English speaking markets.”

Since launching in Toronto in 2014 and in the United States in 2017, Ritual has continued to provide convenience, value and choice to both consumers and restaurants. Expansion outside of North America in January of this year to London and Sydney was the first step in testing Ritual’s proposition in international English speaking markets, with a larger goal to explore Ritual's offering in non-English speaking markets.

Ritual provides restaurants real-time data on store experience, food quality and customer satisfaction metrics so operators can increase their customer base, and keep up with customer’s favorites and overall run a better business. With Ritual’s social ordering feature, Piggyback, Ritual connects over 150,000 teams globally to connect and collaborate on lunch and coffee orders, making ordering more social and convenient. With Ritual Rewards, users earn points on every order they place with Ritual — earning bonus rewards for teaming up with co-workers or bringing back their food — so every order gets users closer to redeeming a free meal.

Internationally, Ritual will now operate in London, Sydney, Berlin, Hong Kong, Amsterdam, Melbourne, Brisbane and Hamburg by the end of 2019 and more than 40 North American cities including new cities Pittsburg, St. Louis, Miami, Portland and San Diego in the United States.

To celebrate the new city launches globally, Ritual will be hosting Ritual Food Festivals, the equivalent of Restaurant Week but for quick service restaurants and coffee shops, which allow users to sample and discover the best of their neighborhood at exclusive prices. Ritual Food Festivals will take place between October and November in participating cities including Berlin (Mitte), Hong Kong, Amsterdam (Zuidas, Centrum), Brisbane and Hamburg.

Preoday and TISSL Team

UK based point of sale company TISSL is partnering with digital ordering company, Preoday. Together they will provide integrated EPOS and digital ordering technologies to new and existing clients in the food and hospitality space.

TISSL’s  client portfolio ranges from independent coffee shops through to pub groups, fast food operations and Michelin starred restaurants. With several different product offerings to suit businesses of all sizes, the partnership is a natural one to provide seamless customer experience and efficient operations. The combination of Preoday with TISSL will help restaurants, bars and other hospitality venues engage with customers, manage and process transactions and analyse customer data, effortlessly. 

Steve Hawkins, Head of Channel & Partnerships, Preoday, comments: “We are impressed with TISSL’s breadth of clients working with large-scale and smaller businesses in many of our key markets. It’s an exciting partnership because, together, we believe we can enhance the ordering and payment process for thousands of businesses and offer a seamless experience for consumers across the globe.”

Lee Niles, Sales Director, TISSL,  added “ Preoday brings another level of functionality to our overall solutions and enhances what is available to the end user. Digital ordering and payments is a must have addition to the EPOS solution.”

AdTheorent's New Suite

AdTheorent, Inc., launched a suite of machine learning (ML) solutions for Dining and Restaurant brands and marketers. The solutions enable Quick-Service Restaurant (QSR) and Fast-Casual Restaurant (FCR) marketers to drive measurable business outcomes and are designed for specific campaign goals from increasing foot traffic and visitation, to acquiring new customers and increasing sales.

In 2018 AdTheorent successfully executed dining campaigns delivering an average visitation lift which outperformed industry benchmark by 8X and yielded an average rich media engagement rate 33% higher than industry average. Some of the brands that AdTheorent has executed successful campaigns for include Church's Chicken and Firehouse Subs. Based on the success of these campaigns, AdTheorent has created a suite of ML-based solutions tailored specifically to dining brands' goals and objectives.

"We have seen great success working with AdTheorent to use machine learning to drive incremental visits to Firehouse Subs locations across the United States," said Marisa Burton, Director of Field Marketing, Firehouse Subs. "AdTheorent's Cost Per Incremental Visit pricing model is such an attractive option since we only pay for those incremental visits that resulted from ad exposure."

"AdTheorent's machine learning-powered QSR and FCR products drive real-world value for our dining and restaurant clients," said James Lawson, CEO of AdTheorent. "We are excited to make digital advertising valuable for advertisers as measured by their business goals – including delivering new customers and driving new sales – and we believe performance-based pricing is a big part of that."

Voodoo Doughnut Teams with Big Brothers Big Sisters

Voodoo Doughnut has created another give-back promotion that’s too sweet to miss!   This fall, Voodoo has partnered with Big Brothers Big Sisters, creating a new limited time offering that pairs well with the seasonal holidays.  The Pie, Pie My Darling is a blueberry filled doughnut, dusted with cinnamon sugar.  

A portion from every Pie, Pie My Darling sold will go directly to Big Brothers Big Sisters, an organization dedicated tocreating and supporting one-to-one mentoring relationships that ignite the power and promise of youth.  

“We are thankful for the support of Voodoo Doughnut this holiday season. When customers purchase the new Pie, Pie My Darling doughnut, they are helping Big Brothers Big Sisters recruit more volunteers and build impactful, long-lasting mentoring relationships that empower youth to reach their potential,” said Cynthia Thompson, Chief Development Officer of Big Brothers Big Sisters Columbia Northwest.

As part of their 2019 quarterly giving campaign, Voodoo Doughnut has raised more than $22,000 on behalf of their national, non-profit partner organizations.