With the Winter Olympics underway this week, we’ve been getting a glimpse at some technological innovations used to feed the thousands of athletes in attendance. Robotic technology is helping serve athletes in Beijing, for example. …
Celebrity chef and restaurant consultant Brian Duffy (Bar Rescue, Date Plate) talks about industry pain points, his experience opening a restaurant during the pandemic, and best practices for treating staff.
Fast-food value deals are back, but they’re not quite the same as before. Over the past several weeks, brands such as McDonald’s have returned to value messaging for the first time in several years, noted …
With a new year comes new insights into consumers’ habits, and that’s especially true for the beverage industry. Check out the Food Institute’s latest Small Bites video, where we go over the top anticipated drink …
Editor’s note: The Food Institute has a new Plant-Based Insider newsletter, coming in February! To sign up, click here. Plant-based chicken is taking center stage in 2022. KFC is the latest chain to introduce a …
The so-called Great Resignation is only picking up speed, it seems. LinkedIn data show millions of baby boomers are retiring early, and millions of Gen Z workers in their 20s are quitting and re-evaluating life …
The leisure and hospitality industries posted solid job growth in December, but it remains to be seen how the fourth wave of COVID-19 will affect consumer demand and labor force participation. BLS Report Muted Compared …
The U.S. reported a single-day record of COVID cases with more than one million new infections as the Omicron variant spreads across the country. The total may be partly due to delayed reporting from over …
Convenience stores have been reaping the benefits of pandemic-induced shifts in consumer behavior and many chains across the U.S. are targeting expansion, according to a Retail Tenant Expansion Report by real estate firm Stan Johnson …
The omicron coronavirus variant is causing headaches for American businesses. With the daily COVID case count surging above the half-million mark in the U.S., governments and businesses are imposing vaccine requirements on both employees and …
Here’s an eye-opener: even as the pandemic continues, breakfast visits to restaurants have increased significantly. In the three months ending in November, online and physical visits to restaurants for breakfast increased 11% year over year, …
How does the venture capital world view the current state of the food industry?
Ride-hailing service Lyft is entering the food-delivery space in a partnership with online-ordering platform Olo. Though it may sound like Lyft is trying to become the next Uber Eats, it’s setting itself apart with a …
Since the outset of the pandemic, foodservice delivery companies have become a staple of many American consumers’ habits. While they offered a lifeline to hungry consumers earlier in the pandemic during forced closures, many of …
This webinar was sponsored by ProChile, Chilealimentos, and the MaquiBerry from Chile Committee. Superfruits are often touted as having remarkable health benefits. Many consumers already know of about superfruits such as blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, acai …
As another challenging year for the restaurant industry winds down, operators continue to push back on the permeating impacts of COVID-19. All the while, innovative prospects glimmer on the horizon. Reduced Menus Increased food costs …
Propelled by the pandemic, robotic innovations are still making food-industry headlines. A few of the latest developments include: 7-Eleven partnered with Nuro to pilot a commercial delivery service using autonomous vehicles in the Silicon Valley …
Menu innovations are a key part of Shake Shack’s strategy, as CEO Randy Garutti noted in the chain’s latest earnings call. Though it has become well-known for its ShackBurgers, crinkle-cut fries and milkshakes, the chain …
Third-party delivery services like Instacart, UberEats and DoorDash have taken the world of grocery, retail and restaurants by storm. So, what’s the next great innovation for these segments? It could be autonomous delivery, using vehicles …
Pizza sales skyrocketed during the pandemic. Major chains saw a combined 6% uptick to $27.5 billion in 2020, according to an industry report from Technomic. And while boom may have leveled off in recent months, …
New research shows reason for optimism in the fine-dining space. Merchant Centric, which monitors customer reviews, recently noted that, during the first half of 2021, fine dining had the strongest guest sentiment and star rating …
Shipt (the company that brought same-day delivery to Target) is betting that people, and not processing power, will be the biggest differentiator for delivery in the coming years.
The labor shortage continues to take a toll on restaurants across the U.S., just as the holiday season gets underway. For example, a California Boston Market shut on Thanksgiving after staff did not show up, …
Online and physical restaurant visits during lunch rose 4% in the year ending September 2021 compared to a year ago when visits were down 11%, based on The NPD Group’s U.S. foodservice industry tracking. “Consumers are …
How does a business go from one small storefront to 9+ locations in 4 years, with no outside capital? In this latest video, The Food Institute conducts a case study of Chip City, an NYC-based …
While some might shy away from investing in restaurants right now, Dan Rowe is doubling down. The way he sees it, even during a lingering pandemic, people still wake up hungry every day, so certain …
What Vijay Kodali envisioned for years has finally become a reality. “We figure that, if we open our own restaurant and launch it, and make it operational, it’ll be a great story for us to …
The sandwich market’s potential appears to be underscored by recent quick-service restaurant acquisitions. In the span of two weeks, a pair of QSR parent companies expanded their culinary offerings via acquisitions of established brands. Restaurant …
Although plant-based and cell-cultured meat alternatives are grabbing headlines, the animal protein sector remains robust with plenty of opportunities for mergers and acquisitions, according to Mesirow Managing Director Paul Mariani.
Chicago residents in need of last-minute ingredients are in luck. Getir, the Turkish provider of ultrafast, 10-minute grocery delivery, started operations in the Windy City this week. The company, which was founded in Istanbul in …
During CPG Growth Strategies in an Inflationary 2022 – a recent webinar presented by IRI and RBC Capital Markets – experts noted what to expect in the months ahead regarding food prices, the labor pool, …
