Delivery, Inflation and Innovation

Thanks for joining and reading our inaugural newsletter. The delivery and digital space within the restaurant world is growing so fast it's hard to keep up. There are many sources of information out there so putting it all in one place, on a weekly basis, seemed liked a no-brainer. Here are the 3 things we want for our readers:

1. Easy - Five stories plus commentary will keep you on top of the headlines, legislation, data points, etc that impact our industry every week.
2. Relevant - The world of foodservice is BIG, we operate in a growing corner that faces its own unique challenges and opportunities. Focus is on the delivery/digital community.
3. Fun - It's Monday after-all, we can't promise to be funny but there will be attempts made at humor.

And without further ado the delivery/digital round up:

??The State of 3PD Inflation - balancing inflation, profitability, DSP search rank/SEO, and more on delivery channels can be like juggling cats (is that a phrase? ...it is now). This article shares some quotes from delivery providers?and their POV on the state of digital menu prices and inflation (average +20%). - Link

??Delivery Min Wage / DoorDash / NYC - DoorDash is raising some fees in relation to the increased minimum wage for delivery drivers, these changes are supposed to benefit the dashers and ultimately incentivize them to "Dash" more (bonuses, schedule priority, etc) - Link

????Operational Impact of Digital Sales - growing fast casual brand, Mad Greens, is changing their operation to support digital channels. Smaller dining rooms and kitchens with a dedicated line for digital orders. This is a growing trend as other brands shrink their on-premise footprint and digital sales grow - Link

??Drop a Pin - UberEats is enabling users to share their location with delivery drivers to make it a bit easier to find them, which is probably helpful if it's dark or if you live in a hard-to-find spot... could be a liability. Anyone who has ordered an Uber at O'Hare airport knows sharing your location is a useful function - Link

??Let's Talk Florida - there's always a legislative story, this time Florida is allowing restaurants to contact 3PD customers up to two hrs after the order has been delivered. This will most likely be used for payment/order resolution - it remains to be seen if this will be more helpful for customers, restaurants or neither. As with all legislative stories will these laws spread to other states? - Link

Upcoming Conferences

• MURTEC: NOW, let us know how it's going if you're there!
• Restaurant Franchising & Innovation Summit: March 24 - 26 in Kansas City (Link)
• Restaurant Leadership Conference: April 14 - 17 in Phoenix (Link)
• Food on Demand: May 8 - 10 in Las Vegas (Link)

Feedback

We want to hear from you! Let us know if there's anything important that we missed or something you would like to see covered in the future. I love to chat all things delivery and digital restaurants so if you need to vent or want to learn more feel free to reach out [email protected]; here's a link to my calendar

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Ian

PS... live look at me putting this together...