Food on Demand

In the 31st episode of the Food On Demand Podcast, hosts Tom and Bernadette interview Michael Boyan, director of digital operations at Shake Shack. They also cover Instacart’s big IPO and Kitchen United CEO Michael Montagano departing for Dog Haus.

In the 30th episode of the Food On Demand Podcast, hosts Tom and Bernadette interview Bikky co-founder and CEO Abhinav Kapur about the future of customer relationship management and loyalty in restaurants. They also cover MrBeast filing suit against Virtual Dining Concepts and Domino’s signing with its first third-party delivery provider—Uber Eats.

In the 29th episode of the Food On Demand Podcast, hosts Tom and Jared interview Meredith Sandland and Carl Orsbourn, authors of Delivering the Digital Restaurant, about their next book coming soon. They also cover the Kroger-Albertsons mega merger and Reef hitting a municipal snag in Texas and Pennsylvania.

In the 28th episode of the Food On Demand Podcast, hosts Tom and Nick interview Natha Dempsey, president of the Foodservice Packaging Institute. As a preview for the upcoming Food On Demand Off-Premises Packaging Summit, they cover new products hitting the market, the rising issue of so-called forever chemicals, and bringing beverages and desserts into the delivery ecosystem.

In the 27th episode of the Food On Demand Podcast, hosts Tom and Nick interview Rob Carpenter, founder and CEO of Valyant AI, an AI platform for quick-serve restaurants. They also cover dynamic pricing coming into the restaurant space, Waitr officially rebranding to ASAP, DoorDash and Uber Eats starting nationwide shipping, and a new study showing drones emitting much less carbon during deliveries.

In the 26th episode of the Food On Demand Podcast, hosts Tom and Nick interview Khanh Nguyen, founder and CEO of Zalat Pizza, a pizza concept that does all its delivery via third-party platforms. They also cover the Daily Harvest foodborne illness outbreak, Kwali’s kitchen computer vision, Wonder’s eye-popping valuation and Just Eat Takeaway’s stock dropping on Grubhub sale concerns.

In the 25th episode of the Food On Demand Podcast, hosts Tom and Nick speak with Alex Vasilkin, co-founder and CEO of Cartwheel, which is a company helping restaurants manage their delivery fleets and set up hybrid or fully in-house delivery. They also cover a new product improving delivery and takeout food quality, Deliverect’s virtual restaurant marketplace, Uber’s nationwide shipping and Dexai kitchen AI.

In the 24th episode of the Food On Demand Podcast, hosts Tom and Nick interview Kristen Barnett, founder and CEO of Hungry House, a ghost kitchen bringing a rotating roster of notable chefs to New York City diners. They also cover McDonald’s hitting a huge digital sales milestone, a partnership accelerating the move to sustainable delivery packaging and the latest automation advancements from Miso Robotics.

In the 23rd episode of the Food On Demand Podcast, hosts Tom and Nick interview Jason Chen, the CEO of JustKitchen, a Taiwanese ghost kitchen brand that’s now expanding into North America. They also cover Starship raising $100 million, DoorDash buying Bbot, the possible implosion of Buyk and the impact of rising gas prices on delivery drivers.

In the 22nd episode of the Food On Demand Podcast, hosts Tom and Nick interview Buyk CEO James Walker about scaling the ultra-fast grocery category. They also dive into DoorDash providing financing for restaurants, White Castle bringing Flippy bots into its kitchens, Grubhub partnering with 7-Eleven on convenience and Coco expanding its robotic delivery service to Austin.

In the 21st episode of the Food On Demand Podcast hosts Tom and Nick talk about the latest big DoorDash acquisition, ghost kitchen operational issues and Uber's new all-encompassing membership program. They also interview Zhong Xu, founder of order integrator and delivery experience company Deliverect about the competitive restaurant technology space, where the market is going and novel delivery use cases from across Europe.

In the 20th episode of the Food On Demand Podcast, hosts Tom and Nick give a brief preview of this year’s Food On Demand Conference, and interview Meredith Sandland and Carl Orsbourn, authors of “Delivering the Digital Restaurant,” about delivery providers diversifying their offerings, the convergence of the grocery and restaurants, and how these changes will show themselves in the build form of suburbia.

In the 19th episode of the Food On Demand Podcast, hosts Tom and Nick talk with Dirk Izzo, president and GM of NCR’s hospitality division. They also cover Toast’s IPO, Alphabet’s Wing hitting the 100,000 drone delivery milestone, the rise of local delivery co-ops and the ongoing Proposition 22 debate about delivery drivers.

In the 18th episode of the Food On Demand Podcast, hosts Tom and Nick talk with David Bloom, Chief Development and Operating Officer for Capriotti’s and Wing Zone. They also cover DoorDash’s new Full Service model that allows restaurants to outsource everything—even the cooking—at its ghost kitchens, WoodSpoon landing $14 million in funding, and the Food On Demand team’s delivery price inflation test comparing the cost of delivery to dining in.

In the 17th episode of the Food On Demand Podcast, hosts Tom and Nick talk with Rishi Nigam, co-founder and CEO of Franklin Junction, which pioneered the host kitchen model bringing outside brands into under-utilized kitchens. They also cover Just Eat Takeaway finalizing its purchase of Grubhub, the rise of instant grocery delivery, Snackpass landing a big-dollar investment and delivery volumes remaining stable as we move into the peak of summer.

In the 16th episode of the Food On Demand Podcast, hosts Tom and Nick talk with Bobby Healy, founder of Manna, a drone delivery as a service provider, and Brody Sweeney, director, Camile Thai Kitchen, about their ongoing work delivering meals to customers in Ireland. They also cover Olo’s IPO, DoorDash suing Olo, Fuku’s rough delivery-only debut in Houston and the staying power of virtual restaurants as the pandemic slowly recedes.

In the 15th episode of the Food On Demand Podcast, hosts Tom and Nick talk with Nabeel Alamgir, founder and CEO of Lunchbox. They also dive into the rise of software platforms specifically designed for virtual restaurants, DoorDash acquiring Chowbotics, and also how their own dining and delivery habits are permanently changed because of the pandemic.

In the 14th episode of the Food On Demand Podcast, hosts Tom and Nick talk with Geoff Alexander, president and CEO of Wow Bao and a managing partner at Lettuce Entertain You. They also cover the National Restaurant Association's new guidelines for delivery providers, an Ohio city hiring its own delivery drivers, and the rise of celebrity-backed virtual restaurants.

In the 13th episode of the Food On Demand Podcast, hosts Tom and Nick talk with Chris Monk, founder and CEO of Your Fare, an order integration and logistics company that recently acquired Pronto and Beyond4. They also cover DoorDash’s imminent IPO, Chipotle’s first digital-only kitchen, Ordermark raising $120 million and California voters approval of Proposition 22 that allows delivery drivers to remain independent contractors.

In the 12th episode of the Food On Demand Podcast, hosts Tom and Nick talk with Ilir Sela, the founder and CEO of Slice, an online marketplace exclusively for independent pizzerias that recently crossed $1 billion in transactions. They also cover drone deliveries of pad thai in the U.K., electric delivery vehicles on campuses and beyond, Inspire Brands investing in ItsaCheckmate and Amazon going deeper into grocery delivery.