A lot happened last week in the world of restaurant technology. If you missed it, scroll to the bottom of this page to get caught up, as we at Restaurant Business had it covered from multiple angles.
But if you, like us, couldn’t tear yourselves away, well, you may have missed some other important stuff that got lost in the shuffle.
Here are four other big developments from last week that flew under the radar.
DoorDash pulls away from Uber Eats
The rival delivery giants put up notably different top-line performances in the first quarter.
DoorDash reported $23.1 billion in order volume, an 8.5% increase compared to the previous quarter. The $1.8 billion increase was its biggest quarter-to-quarter jump since very early in the pandemic.
Uber Eats, meanwhile, had $20.4 billion in transactions, a 1.4% increase quarter over quarter. Volume grew by just $277 million, its smallest increase since 2022.
DoorDash has been pulling away from Uber Eats for a while, but it was particularly noticeable in Q1. The results looked like this:
DoorDash executives chalked up the growth to selection and product improvements, particularly in the grocery segment. In the first quarter, more customers ordered groceries on DoorDash than ever before, and they’re also spending more when they do.
Uber Eats buys its way into Turkey
Meanwhile, while DoorDash was expanding its European footprint with a deal to buy Deliveroo, Uber was making a move of its own: It plans to take an 85% stake in Turkish delivery service Trendyol Go for $700 million.
The deal will get Uber Eats into Turkey, where Trendyol generated $2 billion in gross bookings last year, a 50% increase year over year.
Uber Eats is available in about 45 countries, while DoorDash will be in about 40 pending the Deliveroo deal. Both are continuing to aggressively expand their global reach. Notably, DoorDash does not operate in Turkey.
Big players land big customers
Three big publicly traded restaurant tech firms each unveiled major new customers during earnings calls last week.
Online ordering provider Olo announced Thursday that burrito giant Chipotle plans to start using Olo’s catering software, Catering+.
It’s a major endorsement of Olo’s catering, which it has been quietly pushing in recent quarters. It’s even more impressive when you consider that Chipotle builds most of its technology itself, and is ditching a homegrown catering product for Olo.
Olo is reportedly considering a sale, but did not comment on that during its earnings call.
POS provider Toast, meanwhile, has a deal with golf-and-dine concept Topgolf. Toast is fresh off inking a contract with Applebee’s, its largest to date.
It’s another sign that Toast’s push to land large restaurant chains rather than just mom-and-pops is gaining traction. And it suggests that Toast’s tech is flexible enough to work in different environments: Topgolf is no Applebee’s.
Not to be outdone, PAR Technology announced that Popeyes will be rolling out PAR’s back-of-house software to all of its 3,500 locations. PAR is already used by Popeyes sister brand Burger King, and has now won four of the seven big-chain deals it had been working on since last year.
It has established itself as a bonafide restaurant tech leader, and is also continuing its move into retail: It announced that it acquired GoSkip, a self-checkout provider for convenience stores.
The subtext of the above news: Big restaurant brands remain keen on buying technology.
Instacart goes after groups
The grocery delivery service launched a new app that allows people to order drinks and snacks for parties, and restaurants may want to keep an eye on it.
The app is called Fizz, and it allows groups to add items to a shared shopping cart. Everyone pays individually for the things they put in, and it all gets delivered for a $5 flat fee. It’s focused specifically on snacks, drinks (both alcoholic and non-) and party supplies.
The idea is to make party planning easier, which could encroach on restaurants’ turf. Instead of ordering pizza or wings to keep things simple, partygoers can now collaborate on groceries and easily split the bill. One caveat: It's available only in the 30 states where booze delivery is legal.
Oh yeah, and Instacart’s CEO Fidji Simo is leaving the company to join OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT. She will be CEO of applications and could help OpenAI build an advertising business.