NYC Officials Are Looking Into Grubhub’s Reviled Restaurant Fees

June 27, 2019 by Leave a Comment

New York City government officials are now diving into the Grubhub debacle, in which several restaurants have accused the food delivery app of slyly charging fees for customer phone calls that never resulted in actual delivery orders.

City Council’s Committee on Small Business will hold an oversight hearing to investigate those fees, as well as others charged by similar apps like like DoorDash and Uber Eats — an act that could eventually lead to more government regulation.

The hearing will go down on June 27, giving local restaurateurs a chance to voice their concerns. City officials will specifically focus on how these fees and other policies are affecting NYC restaurants, especially small mom and pop shops, the Post reports.

“If we see there is abuse, or if there is a manipulation here, then it could certainly be referred to the legal authorities,” Bronx Councilman Mark Gjonaj tells the Post. The hearing’s findings could eventually lead to the involvement of the Public Advocate, the city Comptroller, or the state Attorney General, he says.

Read more here.

Filed Under: Baking, Coffee, Cooking, Customer Trends, Enterprise Insight, Events, Heard on The Street, Local Market Buzz, Operations, Opportunities, sales, Your Restaurant Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

New York City Bill Proposes Eliminating Cashless Stores and Restaurants

February 22, 2019 by Leave a Comment

New York City Bill Proposes Eliminating Cashless Stores and Restaurants

“Supporters of a new bill want to make sure New Yorkers are able to keep paying cash at their local stores.

The New York City Council held a hearing last week on the bill that proposes to ban stores and restaurants from refusing cash. The legislation is in response to a push for cashlessness across the city and the nation. Backers of the bill argue that by refusing cash, these establishments discriminate against the poor, victims of domestic violence, homeless people and undocumented immigrants—all of whom are more likely to be unbanked.

“Given the sheer prevalence of unbanked people, I worry deeply about the cashless economy,” said New York City Councilman Ritchie Torres, who introduced the bill. “Not everyone has access to debit or credit, but everyone has access to cash.”

See more here.

Filed Under: Customer Trends, Events, Local Market Buzz, Operations, Trending Now, Your Restaurant Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Hy-Vee App Aims to Reduce Food Waste and Save Money

February 5, 2019 by Leave a Comment

“Hy-Vee Inc. has begun piloting a mobile shopping app that helps grocery retailers cut back on food waste. Called Flashfood, and developed by a Toronto company of the same name, the app enables consumers to browse and buy food items nearing their “best before” date at “significantly reduced” prices, Hy-Vee said Friday.

To use Flashfood, customers download the free app (available in iOS and Android versions) and then start shopping deals on items such as meat, dairy, bread and snacks. Purchases are then made directly from their smartphone and picked up at any time from the Flashfood Zone shelves or refrigerators in the store.

The program gives consumers a way to lower their grocery bill and help the environment by reducing unnecessary food waste, according to Flashfood.”

Read more here.

Filed Under: Customer Trends, Global Market Buzz, Heard on The Street, Operations, Shopbuzz, Trending Now Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
December 5, 2018 by Leave a Comment

Screen Shot 2018-12-04 at 5.56.24 PM.png

 

https://paigepapers.com/2018/12/05/17317/

Filed Under: Heard on The Street, Operations, Opportunities Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Ford teaming up with Walmart and Postmates on robot deliveries

November 14, 2018 by Leave a Comment

“Ford is joining forces with Walmart and Postmates to create a grocery delivery service using self-driving vehicles in Miami, the companies announced Wednesday.

Ford has been using Miami as a test bed for its self-driving vehicles since earlier this year. And more recently, the auto giant joined with Postmates to see how people ordering takeout food would interact with an autonomous delivery van.

Now Ford is moving to the next stage: grocery delivery. The company says it will experiment with different vehicle types, as well as modifications to those vehicles needed to keep perishable food items fresh. It will also experiment with a variety of scenarios, such as multiple deliveries on one trip and the user experience of retrieving delivery items from a fully driverless vehicle.”

See more here.

Filed Under: Global Market Buzz, Heard on The Street, Operations, Opportunities Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

NYC Food Trucks To Soon Get Letter Grades Like Restaurants

November 12, 2018 by Leave a Comment

Food Carts, Trucks to Get Letter Grades Just Like NYC Restaurants

“Every cart or truck will be getting (a) newly designed decal, and when the inspector finishes the inspection, an ‘A’ looks just like the restaurant A,” says Deputy Commissioner for Environmental Health Corrine Schiff.

Beginning in December, all of the city’s 5,500 mobile food vendors will be graded on their food safety and will receive a corresponding alphabet score. A tracking device will also be attached to every unit so inspectors can keep track of each business.”

Read more here.

Filed Under: Cooking, Heard on The Street, Local Market Buzz, Openings, Operations Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Chipotle Is Tired of Being Behind on Digital Strategy

November 6, 2018 by Leave a Comment

“Chipotle’s new CEO Brain Niccol pulled no punches when he sat down for his first earnings call in April and candidly described Chipotle as an invisible brand. “This brand needs to be leading culture, not reacting to it,” Niccol said at the time.

In day-to-day operations, that’s led to a significant shift in the way that the company thinks about growth. Niccol said that he encourages more of a “test-and-see approach” on new initiatives under his watch, and in practice, the team has been freed up to move much more quickly on making decisions and testing new innovations. Niccol himself practices what he preaches — three months after he officially started as CEO, Niccol announced that Chipotle would be relocating its headquarters from Denver to southern California and closing down the New York City office.”

Read more here.

Filed Under: Opportunities, Trending Now Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Walmart Employees Encouraged To use In-house Apps

November 5, 2018 by Leave a Comment

Walmart Encourages Associates to Perform Tasks with Their Smartphones for Better Efficiency

“Walmart continues its push to empower its employees through technology, now encouraging store associates to accomplish everyday tasks on the job with their smartphones instead of store-supplied devices, with the intent of improving efficiency via familiarity.”

“We know technology is helping our associates be more productive and deliver for our customers in new ways,” said Brock McKeel, senior director of digital operations, on the retailer’s blog. “BYOD is just another option our people will have to access the custom apps that help associates perform their jobs.”

Read more here.

Filed Under: Operations, Shopbuzz Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Pizza Hut Says It Will Use Robots to Cook Pizza En Route

November 1, 2018 by Leave a Comment

Image result for Pizza Hut Says It Will Use Robots to Cook Pizza En Route

“Pizza Hut is fusing two of America’s favorite pastimes — pizza pies and pickup trucks — in a bid to cut delivery times as fast-food competition heats up.

As part of the restaurant’s latest partnership with Toyota Motor Corp., Pizza Hut has unveiled a robot-operated mobile pizza factory in the bed of a modified Toyota Tundra. The prototype will use automated technology to cook pies on-the-go in six to seven minutes, letting the chain expand its delivery area without the pizzas getting cold.

“We’re bringing the oven closer to the consumer’s door; nobody is doing that,” Pizza Hut’s chief customer and operations officer in the U.S., Nicolas Burquier, said in an interview. “We are pretty obsessed with improving the customer experience. The more we can get closer to their homes or the point of delivery, the better and hotter the product will be.”

View more here.

Filed Under: Cooking, Global Market Buzz, Heard on The Street, Operations, Trending Now Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

A Restaurant Brand Creator on How to Keep People Coming Back

October 26, 2018 by Leave a Comment

“Sue Chan is the founder and chief executive officer of Care of Chan, a two-year-old brand management agency that has worked with a hit list of restaurants including Alta, Cosme, Una Pizza Napoletana, and Wildair to create that all-important but so-hard-to-capture great restaurant experience. Chan was previously the brand director at Momofuku for seven years.

At her own company, Chan focuses in on everything that makes a memorable restaurant experience the type of place that customers want to keep returning to again and again. While there’s no set formula for creating that unforgettable experience, once it’s in place it can drive sales and longterm customer loyalty like no quick-hitting press coverage can. “It doesn’t matter if you’re on Bon Appetit’s top ten, you could close in a year or two,” Chan explained. “That is a real thing that happens a lot. It’s more about just caring about the actual customers who come in every single day, and focusing on that community and building that community.”

See full interview here.

 

Filed Under: Events, Local Market Buzz Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,
Next Page»