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Category: RestaurantRevolution

RestaurantRevolution

  • This Crisis Is Going To Change Retail, Says Caruso CEO

    This Crisis Is Going To Change Retail, Says Caruso CEO

    “The important thing to think about is that the biggest threat to brick-and-mortar retail is really the current version of themselves,” says Caruso CEO Rick Caruso. Caruso is one of the most successful retail developers in the United States. “Many of them have to evolve and many of them have to change because the consumer is going to change. This crisis, I believe, is going to change consumer culture, their expectations, and what they want from retailers in a really significant way.”

    Rick Caruso, founder, and CEO of the Caruso real-estate empire discusses how retail will be forever changed even after the current crisis is over:

    This Crisis Is Going To Change Retail

    I hope (retail jobs) come back I think some are going to be lost. The retail environment is tough out there right now. The important thing to think about is that the biggest threat to brick-and-mortar retail is really the current version of themselves. Many of them have to evolve and many of them have to change because the consumer is going to change. This crisis, I believe, is going to change consumer culture, their expectations, and what they want from retailers in a really significant way. 

    They’re going to be winners and they’re going to be losers. I think the winners are going to be very connected. They’re going to be curated and feel more local. They’re going to feel more personalized and they’re going to have a better value proposition. There are many out there that we’re doing that before this crisis began and they’ll continue to do it. I think they will be rewarded with great success and hopefully, they will drive a lot of hiring. There will be more retail jobs coming back into the current economy.

    People Are Going To Want More Physical Space

    I do think that people are going to want to have more physical space (after this crisis is over). I think they’re going to operate differently. Listen, 9/11 fundamentally changed our habits as human beings. But the one thing that is always crystal clear is we’re human souls that want to have a sense of connection and community and our properties provide that. The challenge for retailers inside their four walls is going to be to meet the customer where the customer wants them to be. 

    The very innovative and very smart retailers are going to do very well. When you get to crowded restaurants and things like that I think they’re going to have to change how they operate. Movie theatres may have to change how they operate for a while. There’s certainly going to be a shift. What we have seen is the isolation gets very tiring very quickly. So I think people are going to want to come out and they’re going to want to celebrate life and they want to connect with their community.

    Economy Is Built On The Back Of The Entrepreneur

    Some (of our retail tenants) are and some aren’t (paying rent right now). The ones that I worry about the most and I care about a lot are the smaller ones. These are the entrepreneurs and the people that have started a small business or a small restaurant. We’re leaning in with all of those to support them. I’m a big believer that the economy is built off the back of the individual entrepreneur.

    We’re going to support them to get them reopened so they can rehire and move forward. The tenants that are more creditworthy, which is a big chunk of our portfolio, they have been paying. My expectation is that they should, given these times, so that we can put more resources into the smaller businesses which clearly will need our help.

    We’re Giving Smaller Tenants Concessions On Rent

    We’re meeting with each of (our small business tenants) individually. It depends on certain circumstances but we’re going to give them concessions on rent. We certainly may give them concessions and investment in terms of TI’s and maybe upgrading their stores. Whatever they need to do. Our properties are very popular for a number of reasons but one of them is the small retailers, the entrepreneurs, the restaurant tourism. They’re the soul of the properties and they’re the fabric of the properties. We need those to survive.

    What we don’t want to do is have successful properties that are just full of national retailers. National retailers could be great but they don’t have the same connection to the community and the same soul that a local entrepreneur has. Those are the ones we’re very focused on supporting and working with.

    This Crisis Is Going To Change Retail, Says Caruso CEO Rick Caruso
  • Grubhub Rolls Out $30 Million Stimulus To Restaurants

    Grubhub Rolls Out $30 Million Stimulus To Restaurants

    “A $250 payment per restaurant (from Grubhub) doesn’t sound like a lot but it’s going to be a huge difference,” says Grubhub CEO Matt Maloney. “We’re looking at it as a stimulus almost because the way we’re rolling it out is a consumer gets $10 if they spend $30. So our $30 million dollars is going to transform into over $100 million dollars of food sales to restaurants across the country.”

    Matt Maloney, CEO of Grubhub, announces a $30 million stimulus to restaurants in a discussion on CNBC:

    Grubhub Rolls Out $30 Million Stimulus To Restaurants 

    A $250 payment per restaurant (from Grubhub) doesn’t sound like a lot but it’s going to be a huge difference. We’re looking at it as a stimulus almost because the way we’re rolling it out is a consumer gets $10 if they spend $30. So our $30 million dollars is going to transform into over $100 million dollars of food sales to restaurants across the country. That’s a big slug when everyone’s working really hard to try to put money in the hands of small businesses.

    It depends on the market (in terms of how many restaurants are still open). In early COVID West Coast markets, we saw a dramatic dip in restaurants that went off the platform. Now they’re starting to come back on. You have New York and Detroit that are in the throes of the crisis right now and so you’re they’re peaking with about 30 percent of the restaurants off. But remember, we’re having thousands and thousands of restaurants coming on the platform for the first time so we’re seeing about the same number in terms of net. It’s just a transition.

    Grubhub Triples Highest Restaurant Onboarding Month Ever

    Our teams are working around the clock. We tripled our most onboarding month ever of restaurants. We had 15,000 restaurants go live in March. We’re probably going to do more in April. It’s just an incredible intensity of need right now for restaurants. We’re doing everything we can to help them. With drivers, we launched contact-free pickup or drop-off. We also just launched, just last week, curbside pickup for the drivers to make sure there are two layers of protection.

    There’s plenty of work on Grub and I know there’s lots of work on other delivery platforms as well. We have our own stimulus for our drivers too. If they get impacted directly by COVID we’re paying them. I know other platforms are also. And, of course, the CARES Act just came through with a lot of relief for gig workers also. Everyone right now is all hands on deck trying to help the restaurants, the drivers, and everyone impacted through this economic and health care crisis. 

    Fundamental Economics Are Still Intact

    I am hoping for the best. I think that the fundamental economics of our society is still intact. There is a lot of demand right now for restaurants. If we can help restaurants get through the next few weeks or months, depending on how bad this is, they will come back, they will be there for our communities. If they can’t, then that’s going to be a real problem.

    What we’re seeing right now is as the crisis bottoms out in the market growth does start to come back in that local area. We’re seeing the crises (at different levels) around the country in different markets at different times so we’re trying to dynamically manage that situation on the ground.

    Grubhub Rolls Out $30 Million Stimulus To Restaurants, Says Grubhub CEO Matt Maloney

  • Coronavirus: Uber Business Taking Hit, Has Enough Funds

    Coronavirus: Uber Business Taking Hit, Has Enough Funds

    In a call to investors, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has said the company is losing significant business because of the coronavirus, but has enough funds on hand.

    According to Business Insider, Khosrowshahi told investors the hardest hit areas have seen a 60-70% decline in rides, and that could go as high as 80% for the year. In spite of that, the CEO said the company has $10 billion in unrestricted cash.

    “We have plenty of liquidity on the books which positions us to come out of this crisis strong and capable,” Khosrowshahi said.

    Another bright spot is Uber Eats, the company’s food delivery service. As people forgo restaurants, Uber Eats is seeing growth in even the worst hit areas. Between the news that Uber has enough cash to survive the crisis, and news its food delivery service is growing, the company’s stock was up as much as 43% Thursday.

    Uber should serve as an example for other companies. Between having enough cash to weather a storm, and diversifying into a disruptive business, the company seems well-positioned to survive any temporary hit to its core business.

  • Coronavirus: Amazon Taking Drastic Action to Meet Demand

    Coronavirus: Amazon Taking Drastic Action to Meet Demand

    Amazon is prioritizing shipments of essential items to its warehouses, as it struggles to keep up with demand in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.

    As governments, schools and companies take drastic measures to stop the spread of the virus, unprecedented numbers of individuals are staying home. With restaurants and bars closed in many areas, and grocery store shelves running light, people are having to rely on their home supplies and online shopping like never before. The new status quo has strained supply chains, prompting even Walmart to adjust hours to help give stocking crews a chance to catch up.

    Amazon has likewise felt the strain, and is now taking major action to try to meet demand.

    “As COVID-19 has spread, we’ve recently seen an increase in people shopping online which has had an impact on how we serve our customers,” reads a company blog post. “So in the short term, we are making the decision to temporarily prioritize household staples, medical supplies and other high-demand products coming into our fulfillment centers so we can more quickly receive, restock and ship these products to customers. Products already on its way to our fulfillment centers will be accepted. This does not impact products being delivered to customers, or products currently in stock in our store. Customers can continue to buy any in-stock product in our store, and we will continue to deliver them.”

    Amazon’s announcement is a major change and will likely have far-reaching financial consequences for companies that rely on Amazon to sell their products. Amazon has already faced tremendous skepticism from retail companies who are reluctant to rely on the company’s cloud solutions, as Amazon is one of their biggest competitors. Now that many companies are seeing one of their primary order fulfillment avenues suspend shipment of their products, even temporarily, companies may be more hesitant to rely as heavily on Amazon in the future.

  • Coronavirus: Google Will Show Businesses That Are Temporarily Closed

    Coronavirus: Google Will Show Businesses That Are Temporarily Closed

    As more restaurants, bars and businesses close in an attempt to blunt the spread of the coronavirus, Google Search and Maps will inform users.

    In a blog post on the company’s site, CEO Sundar Pichai outlined the various steps the company is taking to help fight the spread of the pandemic, including “promoting the ‘Do the Five’ campaign to raise awareness of simple measures people can take to slow the spread of the disease, according to the WHO.”

    Google is also working hard to fight misinformation regarding the pandemic. A big part of that has been removing videos that are dangerous or misleading from YouTube, as well as taking down false information, fake reviews and misleading information on Google Maps.

    The company is also working to help businesses inform customers via Search and Maps when they are temporarily closed as a result of the virus.

    “Based on data from governments and other authoritative sources, Google Search and Maps will now display if a place, like a school or local business, is temporarily closed,” continues Pichai. “In the coming days, we’ll make it possible for businesses to easily mark themselves as ‘temporarily closed’ using Google My Business. We’re also using our artificial intelligence (AI) technology Duplex where possible to contact businesses to confirm their updated business hours, so we can reflect them accurately when people are looking on Search and Maps.”

    These are welcome steps the search giant is taking to help individuals and businesses alike in the face of the pandemic.

  • How Wendy’s Innovated the Digital Journey To Improve the Customer Experience

    How Wendy’s Innovated the Digital Journey To Improve the Customer Experience

    “Speed and convenience and really driving consistency of operations are core themes,” says Wendy’s CEO Todd Penegor. “You think about how you can continue to drive speed. The digital journey is a big one. How do we drive folks into mobile ordering? How do we drive awareness on mobile ordering? What we do see is when folks mobile order the check size is about 20 percent higher. Those are just great opportunities to continue to connect to that next generation of consumer and create a better experience and gather even more data to connect with them into the future.”

    Todd Penegor, CEO of Wendy’s, discusses how their innovative improvements in the digital journey are improving speed and the customer experience in an interview by Jim Cramer on CNBC:

    Wendy’s Innovated the Digital Journey For a Better CX

    We are connecting to that next generation of consumer through social media and having a lot of fun doing it. It is driving folks into our restaurant. Chance the Rapper tweeted that he would love to have his spicy nuggets back. We challenged him to see how many likes he could get. We said that if you get two million likes we will bring spicy nuggets back. He did that and we brought spicy nuggets back. Immediately, and you see that in our third-quarter results, from day one, even before we turned on national advertising, people showed up in our restaurants to buy those spicy chicken nuggets. They wanted them back and they learned about it through social.

    There’s a ton of good things happening. We’re still working on speed, so speed and convenience and really driving consistency of operations are core themes. You think about how you can continue to drive speed. The digital journey is a big one. How do we drive folks into mobile ordering? How do we drive awareness on mobile ordering? What we do see is when folks mobile order the check size is about 20 percent higher. Those are just great opportunities to continue to connect to that next generation of consumer and create a better experience and gather even more data to connect with them into the future.

    Delivery Innovation Continues To Be a Great Growth Engine

    Delivery continues to be a great growth engine for us. We’ve got over 85 percent of the system supported by delivery. We announced today that we will have all of our ordering integrated on delivery into our point-of-sale system. That’ll allow us to get the food to the customers even faster. We’re one of the fastest today at 30 minutes from the time you order to the time you get the food. Now that it’s going to be integrated into our POS we can probably shave another three to five minutes. It could also open us up to use other delivery providers beyond just DoorDash which will be another great opportunity to expand access to our brand.

    We talked a lot today about our brand and really doing fast food done right. Fast food done right can resonate across the globe and fresh is what a consumer is really looking for. It is a true point of differentiation (with competitors). We talked about making a move into Europe over the next 12 to 18 months and really starting in the UK and really front-running some of that with company restaurants. We talked about up to 20 company restaurants over the next couple of years. We will bring franchisees into to play that out in the UK, but it will create a beachhead for us to really start to drive some growth into all of Europe. It’s a big burger-eating area of the world. The category has been growing and we have the right to play and can be differentiated on fresh.

    Wendy’s Reintroducing the Black Bean Veggie Burger

    We’ve talked about plant-based probably four years ago. We are way ahead of the curve when we had a black bean burger that we were working on. Unfortunately, at the time it was operationally complex and it took additional equipment in the restaurant. Today, we figured out how to solve for that. We’re looking for that flexitarian customer. We’re trying to do it the Wendy’s way. We’re trying to do it with Wendy’s quality. Whether you’re a flexitarian or a vegetarian the black bean burger can solve for that. We have that in tests in one market now and we’re looking to bring that to market sometime during the course of 2020.

    Flexitarian is one of those millennial terms and in folks are looking to have a lot of beef but and traditional proteins but also flip into more vegetable and and other proteins. We’re real fresh never frozen North American beef. We are about having great quality food and we always want to do things the Wendy’s way. We think a black bean burger, something that’s natural in a square to make sure that it follows along the lines of our square hamburgers, is a great fit for our brand will allow folks to continue to come into our restaurant to drive frequency.

    We talked a lot about frequency. Our average customer comes to a Wendy’s five and a half times a year. We have a huge opportunity to drive frequency. Whether it’s the offerings like a plant-based burger, whether it’s entering breakfast, or driving our digital journey going forward.

    How Wendy’s Innovated the Digital Journey To Improve the Customer Experience – CEO Todd Penegor
  • Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to Open NRF 2020 Vision: Retail’s Big Show

    Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to Open NRF 2020 Vision: Retail’s Big Show

    In a press release issued today, the National Retail Federation (NRF) announced that Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is scheduled to deliver the opening keynote at the federation’s 109th annual convention.

    Microsoft has supported the NRF’s annual convention for over 20 years, leveraging their IoT, cloud, data, AI, modern workplace and mixed reality solutions to help retailers digitally transform and embrace intelligent retail.

    “At NRF 2020, we’re bringing together the brightest and most influential leaders from around the world who have a clear vision for the retail industry’s future,” NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said. “Satya Nadella will kick us off with an inspiring session on how Microsoft’s success is built around a purpose-led culture and business model.”

    Other notable speakers include:

    Mastercard President and CEO Ajay Banga

    Hudson’s Bay Company CEO Helena Foulkes

    Sam’s Club President and CEO John Furner

    Crate and Barrel CEO Neela Montgomery

    Nordstrom Co-President Erik Nordstrom

    Former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives (2015-2019) Paul Ryan

    Additional details for sessions and speakers at NRF 2020 Vision: Retail’s Big Show can be accessed here.

    Complimentary registration is available to editorial members of the news media and discounted registration is available to accredited retail analysts. For more information, visit the NRF 2020: Retail’s Big Show media registration page.

    About NRF
    The National Retail Federation, the world’s largest retail trade association, passionately advocates for the people, brands, policies and ideas that help retail thrive. From its headquarters in Washington, D.C., NRF empowers the industry that powers the economy. Retail is the nation’s largest private-sector employer, contributing $2.6 trillion to annual GDP and supporting one in four U.S. jobs — 42 million working Americans. For over a century, NRF has been a voice for every retailer and every retail job, educating, inspiring and communicating the powerful impact retail has on local communities and global economies.

  • Google Takes Page From Microsoft’s Playbook, Targets Retail Cloud Market

    Google Takes Page From Microsoft’s Playbook, Targets Retail Cloud Market

    Google has used the National Retail Federation’s annual conference as a platform to unveil its latest efforts to gain retail cloud customers.

    Amazon may be the dominant cloud player, but Microsoft and Google are both working to chip away at that lead. One area, in particular, that Amazon is vulnerable is in the retail market. Many retailers are reluctant to rely on the cloud giant, with whom they often compete with for online sales. Microsoft has made headlines lately with a focus on the retail market, emphasizing partnership with retail customers, rather than competing with them.

    Google appears to be taking the same approach, improving their retail-oriented features in the hopes of continuing to be an appealing alternative to Amazon. According to a post on the company’s blog, Google has expanded its Retail Acceleration Program (RAP).

    “That’s why we’re excited to expand our Retail Acceleration Program (RAP) to a broader set of customers in 2020. RAP is a services offering that helps retailers optimize their websites, build a unified view of customer data, and drive increased foot traffic. Today, we’re also expanding the availability of Customer Reliability Engineering, a white-glove service that helps retailers plan and execute flawlessly during their peak shopping seasons. Customers such as Kohl’s, Wayfair, and Shopify have already turned to Google Cloud to help them stay worry-free during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.”

    Google is also using its position to help retailers provided a unified experience for customers.

    “Retail customers are becoming more and more “channel-less” in their shopping. It’s imperative, then, to provide a consistent experience for customers as they move between channels in their shopping journeys. Our Google Cloud API Management for Retail solution, powered by Apigee, allows retailers to easily integrate the systems that power different sales channels, providing a more unified shopping experience for customers.

    “Retailers struggle with the real estate that bulky computer servers take up in their stock rooms, and also face challenges in centrally managing all of their server applications. Today, we’re piloting Google Cloud Anthos for Retail, which helps retailers streamline and modernize their store operations. Rolling out more broadly in 2020, Anthos for Retail enables retailers to consistently deploy, configure, and manage applications across their fleet of stores at scale—without sacrificing performance or reliability.”

    With Google a distant third among U.S. cloud providers, behind Amazon and Microsoft, it will be interesting to see if the company’s retail efforts yield results.

  • The Mall Is More or Less Dead, Says Legendary Retail Analyst Jan Kniffen

    The Mall Is More or Less Dead, Says Legendary Retail Analyst Jan Kniffen

    “The mall is more or less dead except in 279 great cases where we’ve got fabulous malls out there,” says legendary retail analyst Jan Kniffen. “But the 1,100 malls they’re struggling. It’s the levered retailers and the mall-based retailers that are struggling. We’re going to have 26 retail bankruptcies this year. But in a downturn, we could see 100 and we’re going to see 12,000 stores closed this year. It will be the highest number that’s ever closed in history. But we could see 50,000 close in a downturn. It’s because we don’t really need those retailers and we don’t need those stores because the business is moving online at a fierce pace.”

    Jan Kniffen, CEO of J Rogers Kniffen World Wide, says the mall is more or less dead as consumers move their shopping to online platforms at a fierce pace. Kniffen was interviewed on CNBC:

    The Mall Is More or Less Dead

    We’ve had really good retail reports. Think about it. Walmart was fabulous. Target was fabulous. Home Depot was good. Lowe’s was good. Just run down through the group that has already reported and, in general, if you weren’t mall-based full price you did great. Off-mall did great, online did great, and discount did great. The retail market and the consumer couldn’t be better. Levered mall-based retailers are dead. The mall is more or less dead except in 279 great cases where we’ve got fabulous malls out there. But the 1,100 malls they’re struggling. They’re running down comps. The mall is not the place to hang out anymore. Now you hang out in front of your computer and then you go with your friends to do something like go to restaurants and you don’t care about hanging in the mall. 

    But the people hanging in the mall were never the people that bought the stuff in them. All the people who bought the stuff in the mall were all the women in America who went to work for the first time in the 1980s and blasted them all to the ceiling. We pulled everything out of the mall except for women’s apparel for all practical purposes and that has now settled into this nice slow roll. People don’t dress for work anymore and the malls not any fun and there’s plenty of other alternatives. Just 20 years ago when the mall was really booming we didn’t have a strong T.J. Maxx and Ross stores and Burlington stores. The stuff across the street from the mall was very boring in those days. Those are really good retailers today. 

    Business Is Moving Online At a Fierce Pace

    The two best retailers in the world right now are Costco and Walmart. They are big, strong, have super supply chains, and can handle the tariffs no problem. They’ll gain market share under tariffs. They can even handle a downturn in the economy because they’re both super well-capitalized. Even people like Macy’s that have been struggling, they can handle a downturn in the economy because they’re not levered. They’ve got plenty of cash flow. They pay a 10 percent dividend and they buy back stock. 

    It’s the levered retailers and the mall-based retailers that are struggling. I keep saying we’re going to have 26 retail bankruptcies this year. We just got two more to talk about. But in a downturn, we could see a hundred and we’re going to see 12,000 stores closed this year. It will be the highest number that’s ever closed in history. But we could see 50,000 close in a downturn. It’s because we don’t really need those retailers and we don’t need those stores because the business is moving online at a fierce pace.

    We Know That Everybody’s Getting Out of China

    We know that everybody’s getting out of China. They were getting out of China before the tariffs started. Now they’re just getting out of China faster. Yeah, the shoe guys are still getting 60 percent of their stuff out of China but it used to be 90 percent. The apparel guys are still getting 15 percent of their stuff out of China but it used to be 50 percent. So that’s already happening.

    The tariffs have not been that big a deal. Tier four, the new tariffs that are about to kick in, if they kick in, would be a big deal for my world. But maybe they’re not going to kick in, which is the other thing that’s going on. We’re not really sure it’s going to happen but it’s still causing everybody to move faster out of China. So Trump has accomplished what he wanted to accomplish. He’s getting American business out of China.

    The Mall Is More or Less Dead, Says Legendary Retail Analyst Jan Kniffen
  • PSA: Cybercriminals Preying On Nest Users With ‘Sextortion’ Scheme

    PSA: Cybercriminals Preying On Nest Users With ‘Sextortion’ Scheme

    Following reports of connected security cameras, such as Ring and Nest, being targeted by hackers, scammers are preying on people’s fears with a “sextortion” scheme, according to CNBC.

    The scam relies on “social engineering,” or the ability to convince an unsuspecting victim do something they wouldn’t normally do, through the use of charm, guilt, shame or authority. The scammer has usually done enough research and has enough information and half-truths to make the scam seem credible.

    According to CNBC, IT security firm Mimecast saw “a huge spike in the new tactic, with more than 1,600 scam emails intercepted in just a two-day period from Jan. 2 to Jan. 3.”

    When describing this particular scam Kiri Addison, head of data science, said “this one is a bit different. It stood out, because it’s really convoluted in a way. It starts out with a single email saying ‘we’ve got some nude photos of you.’”

    The email will include a link to a website showing Nest footage from an innocent area the person could have visited, such as a bar or restaurant. The idea is to make the person believe they’ve been monitored and recorded over a long period of time, in any number of situations, making it more believable they may have been recorded in a compromising position.

    Ultimately, the victim is walked through the process of establishing a bitcoin wallet and paying the scammers $500 to keep their photos and videos from being released on porn sites. It’s important to understand there aren’t actually any photos or videos.

    As CNBC points out, “if you receive a sextortion email, the best thing you can do is ignore it.

    “Although internet-connected cameras and smartphones can be hacked, this is a very rare event. It’s practically non-existent for such a hack to be combined with an extortion demand.”

  • Microsoft Gaining Ground As Retail Cloud Alternative To Amazon

    Microsoft Gaining Ground As Retail Cloud Alternative To Amazon

    According to a report by Bloomberg, Microsoft is increasingly positioning itself as the cloud vendor of choice for retailers seeking to avoid Amazon, as well as more generalized software vendors.

    The software giant has been rolling out a number of cloud tools and services designed specifically for the retail market. Microsoft has had tremendous success in this market, as many retailers want to avoid relying on software made by their primary competitor, Amazon.

    “A key part of our offering is that we partner and we don’t compete,” Shelley Bransten, Corporate Vice President, Global Retail & Consumer Goods, told Bloomberg.

    One such feature that has come from that partnership is one that allows Teams users to use their phones as walkie-talkies for in-store communication. Microsoft is quick to point out, however, that features such as this one have value far beyond the retail environment.

    The end result of this focus has been some large, high-profile defections from competing products to Microsoft. Ikea, for example, has already moved 70,000 employees from Slack to Teams and “plans to have the rest of its 165,000-person workforce on Office 365 cloud software and Teams by the end of spring.”

    As Bloomberg points out, Microsoft’s stature in this market is turning heads. CEO Satya Nadella is scheduled to speak at the National Retail Federation’s annual show next week, “underscoring how significant the industry is to Amazon’s biggest cloud competitors.”

  • CES 2020: Impossible Foods Is Taking On Pork

    CES 2020: Impossible Foods Is Taking On Pork

    It was bound to happen. With the success of Impossible Burger, Impossible Foods has moved on to the next logical meat replacement products: Impossible Sausage and Impossible Pork.

    According to Business Insider, “Impossible Foods will be testing its first sausage product at 139 Burger King restaurants at the end of the month, located in Savannah, Georgia; Lansing, Michigan; Springfield, Illinois; Albuquerque, New Mexico; and Montgomery, Alabama. Those restaurants will be getting the Impossible Croissan’wich, a sandwich that consists of egg, cheese, and Impossible Sausage on a toasted croissant.”

    Although not yet available, the company’s Impossible Pork is designed to be used in any recipe that calls for ground pork. Like Impossible Burger, the new product is made using heme, the protein that gives the patties their meat-like look and texture.

    Rachel Konrad, Impossible Foods chief communications officer told Business Insider the heme in Impossible Pork has been tweaked to make it more consistent with pork’s texture. Konrad also said Impossible Pork will likely show up in restaurants before it hits grocery shelves, just like Impossible Burgerbefore it.

    The company is working on steaks, and may branch into fish and poultry. If the company is as successful as it has been with beef, it may well convert far more people to the plant-based food.

  • Facebook Defends Tracking Users Even They Opt Out

    Facebook Defends Tracking Users Even They Opt Out

    According to The Hill, Facebook has admitted to senators that it ignores users’ settings and continues to track their location in order to profit off of that information.

    Senators Christopher Coons (D-Del.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) had questioned how the social media giant handled location tracking, specifically whether it continued to track individuals even if they turned location tracking off. In reply to the senators’ request, Facebook’s deputy chief privacy officer, Rob Sherman, indicated that the company continues to use other means at its disposal to track users, regardless of their location sharing settings.

    “When location services is off, Facebook may still understand people’s locations using information people share through their activities on Facebook or through IP addresses and other network connections they use,” Sherman wrote.

    Sherman went on to add that as people use Facebook, they often leave indicators of their activities, such as checking in at a restaurant, location-tagging a photo or appearing in a friend’s photo, all of which the company uses to continue tracking them. In addition, the company uses this indirect tracking information to keep providing targeted ads based on that location data, even if location tracking is turned off on their phone.

    Needless to say, the senators were not pleased with this admission and had strong words regarding the company’s behavior.

    “Facebook claims that users are in control of their own privacy, but in reality, users aren’t even given an option to stop Facebook from collecting and monetizing their location information,” Coons said. “The American people deserve to know how tech companies use their data, and I will continue working to find solutions to protect Americans’ sensitive information.”

    “There is no opting out. No control over your personal information,” Hawley tweeted. “That’s Big Tech. And that’s why Congress needs to take action.”

  • Incognito Mode Comes to Google Maps For iOS

    Incognito Mode Comes to Google Maps For iOS

    Google has brought Incognito Mode to Google Maps for iOS, according to an announcement on the company’s website.

    According to the blog post, when Google Maps is in Incognito Mode, “the places you search for or navigate to won’t be saved to your Google Account and you won’t see personalized features within Maps, like restaurant recommendations based on dining spots you’ve been to previously. Using Incognito mode on your phone will not update your Location History, so the places you go won’t be saved to your Timeline.”

    Google has been working to address concerns about how it handles users’ private data, unveiling new ways for customers to interact with their data and manage what is stored. Incognito Mode is another step in the right direction, allowing individuals to keep their travels private.

  • TripAdvisor Acquires SinglePlatform to Help Restaurants Enhance Experience

    TripAdvisor Acquires SinglePlatform to Help Restaurants Enhance Experience

    TripAdvisor has announced the acquisition of SinglePlatform from its parent company, Endurance International Group.

    SinglePlatform works with restaurants to help them publish and manage their menus online, as well as other pertinent information, such as their hours of operation and contact information. The service has become increasingly important to restaurants, given that “93 percent of diners check menus online before choosing a place to eat.”

    “We are obsessed with making restaurateurs’ jobs easier and more successful, and our acquisition of SinglePlatform is an important step in offering them a place to conveniently manage their entire online presence across the web from TripAdvisor,” said Bertrand Jelensperger, senior vice president, TripAdvisor Restaurants. “We look forward to bringing SinglePlatform’s technology and know-how to a truly global audience to help millions of restaurant owners and managers unlock more digital opportunities.”

    “We could not be more excited to join forces with TripAdvisor,” said Josh Glantz, senior vice president and general manager, SinglePlatform. “SinglePlatform’s strength in the United States combined with TripAdvisor’s global reach and advertising platform for restaurants perfectly positions our combined team to offer more solutions for owner-operators and multi-location brands everywhere to reach consumers at the moment they are looking for dining options.”

    The combination of TripAdvisor and SinglePlatform is a logical one, as TripAdvisor is one of the platforms SinglePlatform publishes information to. Meanwhile, TripAdvisor has been working to expand its services and value to the restaurant industry and the new acquisition will help it make significant strides in that direction.

  • The Next Silicon Valley? Try Ohio—Columbus-Based Venture Capital Firm Raises $350 Million

    The Next Silicon Valley? Try Ohio—Columbus-Based Venture Capital Firm Raises $350 Million

    Business Insider is reporting that two ex-Sequoia investors have raised $350 million to invest in Midwestern startups.

    Mark Kvamme left Sequoia nearly a decade ago and, after a brief stint in Ohio Governor John Kasich’s cabinet, invited Chris Olsen—another Sequoia alumni—to join him in Columbus. The two created Drive Capital, with a focus on investing in early-stage, Midwestern startups.

    While Silicon Valley may be the hub of the tech industry, more and more companies are beginning to look outside the Valley in recent years. Real estate costs, both for companies and their employers, have become increasingly prohibitive. Cost of living has made it difficult for even well-paid employees to make a success of it. With so many companies in such close proximity, there’s a much greater chance of seeing top talent poached by a rival across the street.

    Ohio, and the Midwest in general, offers a welcome change of pace for many tech companies. Lower real estate prices, reasonable cost of living, central location, plentiful colleges and universities, as well as cities eager to bring in more businesses make the Midwest an appealing home base.

    The venture capital firm has already invested in some winners, including the Duolingo language app, Root Insurance and Nowait, a restaurant-reservation app acquired by Yelp to the tune of $40 million.

    With Drive Capital’s third fund totaling $350 million, it’s a safe bet the Midwest will take on a bigger role in the tech industry.

  • How Domino’s Is Using Technology and Innovation To Drive Growth

    How Domino’s Is Using Technology and Innovation To Drive Growth

    “Each time we take a look at technology we look at all of the options,” says Domino’s CEO Ritch Allison. “Do we build it? Do we partner? Do we go out and buy something. For the things that are really core to our business like our point-of-sale system and our digital ordering capabilities, we believe we have to own those. But there are other places like new autonomous delivery where we’ll go out and partner with someone, like Nuro for example, because we’re not going to build the car itself. We’re going to build the interface around it for the customer.”

    Ritch Allison, CEO of Domino’s, discusses how the company is using technology, innovation, and reimagined stores to drive growth.

    We Look At All Technology Options

    We’ve had a very strong and profitable delivery business for many years now. So unlike a lot of the other restaurant brands, we don’t have to decide to get in or not or try to figure out which of these third-party aggregators is ultimately going to be the winner at the end of this shakeout. We’re really focused on continuing to build that delivery business with our franchisees and doing it in a profitable way for them. We believe that means doing it on our own.

    Each time we take a look at technology we look at all of the options. Do we build it? Do we partner? Do we go out and buy something. For the things that are really core to our business like our point-of-sale system and our digital ordering capabilities, we believe we have to own those. But there are other places like new autonomous delivery where we’ll go out and partner with someone, like Nuro for example, because we’re not going to build the car itself. We’re going to build the interface around it for the customer.

    We’ve Got a Terrific 4-Wall Economic Model

    Most certainly construction costs have gone up with the combination of tariffs on steel and aluminum. But also we’re in a really robust labor market right now and so wages have risen in construction as well. The good news for us is we’ve got such a terrific 4-wall economic model that even with some of those rising costs we’re still able to deliver to our franchisees a great investment. We are averaging two and a half year average paybacks for Domino’s Pizza today in the US.

    We’re not really seeing (much impact) in our business with respect to trade tensions. The great thing about our business model outside the US is we have international master franchisees. They’re locally owned, they employ the local citizens, and we buy almost all of our ingredients locally as well. We’re really building businesses that are benefiting the economies of these international markets that we operate in. So in places where we’re growing rapidly like China, India, and Brazil, we’re an emerging part of the economy in those countries.

    85 Percent of Our Global Footprint Reimaged

    We have grown our carryout business significantly over the course of the last ten years. A big part of that is having a great value offer for our customers. It’s about having the reimaged stores. We’ve now got 85 plus percent of our global footprint reimaged. Also, it’s about getting more stores on the map closer to our customers. The number one criteria when consumers choose is convenience with carryout. So we’re going to continue to build more units and get closer and closer to them.

    How Domino’s Is Using Technology and Innovation To Drive Growth – CEO Ritch Allison
  • How Non-Amazon Retailers “Leaned Into” Prime Day To Increase Sales

    How Non-Amazon Retailers “Leaned Into” Prime Day To Increase Sales

    “Retailers and brands took advantage of the buzz, the demand, the awareness, that Amazon has created and really rode that wave for great growth,” says Rob Garf, VP of Industry Strategy and Insights for Salesforce. “Retailers didn’t just ignore Prime Day, but they leaned into it. They really recognized this manufactured holiday, recognized the demand that was being created, and really took advantage of the consumers and their willingness to look for a good deal.”

    Rob Garf, VP Industry Strategy and Insights for Salesforce, discusses how retailers “leaned into” Amazon Prime Day, taking advantage of the buzz and overall consumer interest, to initiate their own Prime marketing. Rob was interviewed by Owen Milbury, Senior Manager, Analyst Relations for Salesforce:

    Retailers Didn’t Just Ignore Prime Day, They Leaned Into It

    What we saw is that this manufactured holiday, Hallmark has to be proud, really rose all ships if you well. The tide has risen where we saw 37 percent year over year growth for global retailers other than Amazon. What’s really interesting is that it just didn’t take place over those two days, but rather the entire month of July. We saw July having a ten percent higher growth rate than any typical month. Retailers and brands took advantage of the buzz, the demand, the awareness, that Amazon has created and really rode that wave for great growth. 

    Retailers didn’t just ignore Prime Day, but they leaned into it. What we found was that emails were at a heavy double-digit increase week over week. The other really interesting thing is our team stepped back and we actually looked at the Internet Retailer 500. We subscribed to all of their email lists and we went to their homepages over the last week. What we found was 51 percent of the IR 500, more than half, did some sort of promotion either on their home page or through email. 

    They just didn’t ignore it, they leaned into it. We found that 17 percent of the IR 500 mentioned either Prime Day or Black Friday in July as part of those promotions. They really recognized this manufactured holiday, recognized the demand that was being created, and really took advantage of the consumers and their willingness to look for a good deal. 

    We Saw Two Breakouts, Apparel, and Footwear

    Consumer electronics was certainly big. But we also saw two breakouts, apparel, and footwear. That’s really important because Amazon is leaning into their own private label. So these brands need to think how to differentiate. They didn’t just go to market and give deals. They also promoted limited edition products, special assortments, customizable merchandise, and even looking for subscriptions to be able not only to attract but to retain them over time. 

    The other one was consumer product goods. What was interesting about that was typically what you find in a grocery store they use the retailer as the intermediary, they’re looking generally to leapfrog these retailers. According to Salesforce research, 99 percent have some sort of active direct to consumer (D2C) type of initiative underway. That was no different this Amazon Prime Day. They were taking advantage of the buzz and really looking for ways to engage the consumer directly.

    49 Percent of Orders For Non-Amazon Retailers Were On Mobile

    When you think about the time of the year, most of Europe was on holiday, most of the US was taking time off as well, they’re not tethered to their computer. They don’t have the luxury of sitting down and searching that way. That showed in our data. In fact, 49 percent of orders for all non-Amazon retailers were done on a mobile device. This just speaks to the fact we’re on the go, the phone is the remote control of our daily lives. 

    We’re using it to break through the friction that usually exists between inspiration—I like something and I want to buy it—and then actually purchasing. Just for a point of context, that was a 20 percent increase year over year. It’s become a bellwether for shopping not only during the rest of the year but in particular on Prime Day.

    Retailers Saw Prime Day As a Test Run For Holidays

    Retailers are seeing this as really the test run for the holidays. They’re looking at their mobile strategy. How are they going to breakdown their friction? They want to make sure that they have mobile wallets so that they can really get through the checkout process. They are incorporating artificial intelligence so not forcing the consumer to swipe five times down the phone to find if you like this you might like this. Instead, putting it right above the fold. 

    They are also looking for fulfillment as well. As you are thinking through towards Cyber Week and the overall holiday season, and with it being five or six days shorter between Thanksgiving and Christmas, how are we going to use the store as a fulfillment center? You really bump up against that shipping deadline and need to also be able to fulfill that for several days after. Retailers are really cutting their teeth. They’re really bearing down. They’re looking at Prime Day as a way to get ready and gear up and go full force to back to school, Halloween, and through the holiday season.

    https://youtu.be/JHm8PZ2z1xU
    How Non-Amazon Retailers “Leaned Into” Prime Day To Increase Sales – Salesforce Execs Explain
  • Uber CEO Reveals Formula To Profitability

    Uber CEO Reveals Formula To Profitability

    “Scale is the primary driver toward profitability,” says Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. “It’s getting big. We’ve got over a billion rides per quarter and we’ve got trips growing at 35 percent on a year on year basis. It’s a combination of growing top-line over 35 percent, technology innovation to delight the customer and take costs down at the same time, and then good old fashioned efficiency, making sure that our corporate costs don’t grow as fast as our revenue. All of those together give you a formula to get to profitability.”

    Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber Technologies Inc., discusses how Uber can continue to be transformational and ultimately be profitable in an interview on Bloomberg Technology:

    Uber Can Continue To Be Transformational

    We have resolved all of the governance conflicts that the company had. There were many legal issues that the company was involved with. We have SoftBank as a partner and you want SoftBank to be behind you and a big partner and a big investor. We have a great investor base. We’ve taken the company public and company’s revenue, gross bookings, have grown 75 percent since I joined. We now have a path to profitability. So while we’ve had bumps on the road, and every adventure has bumps on the road, I like where we are. I especially like the position we are in now for the next two years.

    I think Uber (can continue to be transformational over the next decade). Really what Uber has done is brought transportation and opportunity at this point to what we believe is just a small segment of the population. We’ve got over four million driver-partners all over the world which is a huge number. It is unparalleled. But we want Uber to be available to everybody. What we are doing now is going into the next step of introducing other transportation choices to Uber. We’ve always gone with pool, but for example, we are testing busses in Cairo now to even bring the price of Uber down to the next level, a dollar or a buck fifty, etc. 

    The Rideshare Business Itself Is Turning Quite Profitable

    We are introducing bikes and scooters for personal electric mobility. Essentially, anyway that you want to get around your city we are going to be there for you. It will be mostly Uber goods but we will also have other third parties such as transit, such as one of our partners Lime as well. Any way that you want to get around we want Uber to be there. And if you want food, if you want even local commerce which I think we will power or even Uber Eats or some of our other services will be there for you as well.

    If you look at our rideshare business, it covered our overhead less than about $100 million. The rideshare business itself is turning quite profitable. We believe that the profits in the rideshare business are not only going to grow top-line but we believe we are going to grow the bottom-line as well. Then there are other businesses, Eats, autonomous, freight, etc. These are extraordinary opportunities that we are funding. I do believe that we are going to prove to our investors that we can take on a serial basis big parts of our business, turn them profitable, and use those parts of our business to fund investments in other areas. 

    Our Formula To Profitability

    I’m very confident that Uber can be profitable. I think the losses that we reported, it was a $5 billion loss from an accounting perspective. If you live in an accounting world that’s a big loss. I live in the real world. Actually, in the real world or EBITDA losses of $656 million were lower than Q1 and were on a good path in terms of our EBITDA losses as well. None of this is going to be easy. All of this is going to take great execution from all of our teams, marketing, technology, etc. We are going to be demanding our employees to be doing even more with less and to execute incredibly effectively in order for us to grow the top-line and the bottom-line as well. 

    Scale (is the primary driver toward profitability). It’s getting big. We’ve got over a billion rides per quarter and we’ve got trips growing at 35 percent on a year on year basis. We think we can use technology to be much more efficient. For example, instead of you now having to email a call center agent or call a call center agent if you have issues, you can just do it in the app. These are technology innovations that allow customers to have a better experience and at the same time they bring down costs. It’s a combination of growing top-line over 35 percent, technology innovation to delight the customer and take costs down at the same time, and then good old fashioned efficiency, making sure that our corporate costs don’t grow as fast as our revenue. All of those together give you a formula to get to profitability.

    Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi: Our Formula To Profitability
  • There’s So Much Investor Subsidy In The Delivery Business Model, Says Domino’s CEO

    There’s So Much Investor Subsidy In The Delivery Business Model, Says Domino’s CEO

    “What we’re going to see here in the near term is that there’s so much investor subsidy into that (delivery) business model right now,” says Domino’s CEO Ritch Allison. “We’re not really sure where it’s going to shake out long term. There’s substantial discounting and over-investment in advertising right now to drive consumer demand. We don’t know how that’s going to shake out once consumers actually have to pay the full cost of that delivery because those fees are quite substantial relative to the cost of the underlying food.”

    Ritch Allison, CEO of Domino’s, discusses how investor subsidies of delivery companies like Grubhub and Uber Eats are impacting Domino’s in an interview with Jim Cramer on CNBC:

    There’s So Much Investor Subsidy In The Delivery Business Model

    What we’re going to see here in the near term is that there’s so much investor subsidy into that (delivery) business model right now. We’re not really sure where it’s going to shake out long term. There’s substantial discounting and over-investment in advertising right now to drive consumer demand. We don’t know how that’s going to shake out once consumers actually have to pay the full cost of that delivery because those fees are quite substantial relative to the cost of the underlying food. 

    We also have not yet seen what’s going to happen with the supply of restaurants on these platforms as well. Over time it’ll be proven out whether or not that business is truly incremental and whether or not that business is actually accretive from a margin standpoint to the operators that are offering that service through the third-party aggregators. So long-term still a lot of questions but short term certainly some pressure.

    We’re not going to do foolish things in the short term in reaction. We’re still very focused on our franchisees’ profitability. That’s first and foremost in our minds and we’re still very focused on generating great returns and free cash flow for our investors. We’re generating cash flow now at a pace of about a million dollars a day in the Domino’s business. So some near-term activity here that’s creating some turbulence in the marketplace but we’re going to remain focused on our long-term strategy, great profitability for our franchisees and strong operating cash flow and returns for our investors.

    We Still Gained a Significant Amount of Market Share In Q2

    When you take a look at our business we still gained a significant amount of market share in the pizza category during the second quarter. Our retail sales were up 6.8 percent which is significantly higher than the growth in the category and frankly much higher than the growth in the restaurant industry in general. So while same-store sales at three percent were at the lower end of our long-term outlook, the overall retail sales growth driven by the combination of that same-store sales and really strong unit growth was still quite positive.

    It is a tougher operating environment than it has been in years past. We do have new competition in the marketplace that we’re fighting against every day. There are also labor pressures in the marketplace, certainly, the tight employment environment and some of the rising minimum wages across the country are putting some pressure on. But we are really in a position of strength as we enter into this more turbulent period. 

    Bringing Data-Driven Decision Making To International Markets

    In 2018 our average store in the US had operating cash flow as measured by EBITA of $141,000. Our franchisees are very healthy. Cash on cash returns in the business are really strong. That’s why when you take a look at what’s going on with units, we opened 45 units in the second quarter in the US and only closed three, it’s still a very healthy business model. We’re positioned quite well as we look forward relative to the rest of the restaurant industry to continue to be successful.

    We are we’re working hand-in-hand with our master franchisees around the world. As you look from market to market the issues in markets can be different depending upon those specific circumstances. What we’re trying to do is work with the markets to bring some of the same terrific data-driven decision-making that we’ve used to grow the business in the US over a number of years now and help our international markets in that regard. 

    Broadly, when you take a look at the international business, retail sales were up 9.8 percent in the second quarter. We are gaining share at a significant pace in the international markets as well as having great growth in the international markets this past quarter with a 158 net store openings. It remains a very healthy business despite the comps over the last few quarters being on the lower end.

    There’s So Much Investor Subsidy In The Delivery Business Model, Says Domino’s CEO Ritch Allison
  • Virtual Restaurants Helping Power Uber Eats Growth

    Virtual Restaurants Helping Power Uber Eats Growth

    “Virtual restaurants is a very interesting initiative,” says Uber Eats EMEA head Rodrigo Arevalo. “Basically by leveraging the data on our platform, we can partner with other restaurants in order to cuisine types that only exist on food delivery platforms. If there is not a restaurant in a certain neighborhood we will partner with restaurants to make that happen. In the UK we are already doing 200 virtual restaurants and we are expanding throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.”

    Rodrigo Arevalo, head of EMEA at Uber Eats, discusses how virtual restaurants are helping power Uber Eats Growth in an interview on Bloomberg:

    Virtual Restaurants Helping Power Uber Eats Growth

    Virtual restaurants is a very interesting initiative. Basically, by leveraging the data on our platform we can partner with other restaurants in order to cuisine types that only exist on food delivery platforms. That has two benefits. The first one is that it helps restaurants utilize their kitchens a lot more. The second one is that it increases their revenue on their top line. It’s a very interesting initiative to provide more choice and to increase business for restaurants. 

    If there is not a restaurant in a certain neighborhood we will partner with restaurants to make that happen. In the UK we are already doing 200 virtual restaurants and we are expanding throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. It’s a type of local exercise that we are trying to tack on. It’s going really well and we’re excited about that.

    Uber East Demonstrates the Potential of Uber’s Logistics Platform

    Uber Eats fits into Uber’s overall strategy and portfolio in the way that it demonstrates the potential of Uber’s logistics platform. Just in three and a half years, we’ve been able to build a multi-billion dollar business and today we are already the biggest food delivery app outside of China. It’s all about the logistics network that we have built and how we can leverage the potential of that platform. 

    It’s about focus for us. We want to make sure that we deliver on the plan, deliver on the vision that (Uber CEO) Dara Khosrowshahi has set for the company. Focus is basically three pillars for Uber Eats. The first one is restaurant selection, providing consumers choice. The second one is customer experience for eaters, for restaurants, and for delivery partners. The third one is underpinning that with great technology and a great product that people would love to use every single day. 

    Uber Eats Partners With 220,000 Restaurants Globally

    We partner today with 220,000 restaurants globally and there is a vast variety of selection from every kind of meal that you would like; comfort food to the healthiest options such as vegan, salads, etc. We believe selection. We believe in consumer choice. We want to make sure that we provide all of those options to them. We very much focus on providing that information, providing those options, and making sure that consumers make an informed choice.

    When it comes to packaging we already partner with several companies that provide sustainable packaging. Given our platform, particularly in the UK, we already look for ways to facilitate sustainable packaging for restaurant partners, making sure we do our part in that sense.

    Virtual Restaurants Helping Power Uber Eats Growth – Uber Eats EMEA head Rodrigo Arevalo