There are even some like Nuro, which has made what can be best described as a mini-robotic car, that fall somewhere in between. Postmates has a delivery robot called Serve that can carry 50 pounds of cargo. There is a handful of startups operating delivery robots of varying sizes - everything from fully sized minivans like Udelv to robots that look almost identical to Starship’s like Amazon and Yandex. And they can climb curbs but not stairs, which may limit their appeal to customers who live in multistory buildings.įood delivery via robot is still relatively novel in the US. The robots have a delivery radius of three to four miles and can travel a maximum speed of 4mph, which is obviously slower than a delivery by a human on a bike or in a car. Starship’s robots will carry deliveries for a number of national restaurant chains, including Starbucks, Panda Express, Freshii, Subway, Auntie Anne’s, Panera Bread, Baja Fresh, Qdoba, and others.Įach robot is electric, has a trunk that can fit about 20 pounds of cargo, and has a number of embedded cameras that can be used to identify obstacles and help guide it to its destination. The owner of the restaurant, TriArtisan Capital Advisors, also recently invested $ 10 million investment in C3 (Creating Culinary Communities), a company that leverages kitchen capacity in existing restaurants to deploy virtual restaurant brands.Currently, the company operates on 15 college campuses with a global fleet that totals 1,115 delivery robots The casual chain works with JustKitchen in Taiwan, for example. This is also not TGI Friday’s first foray into ghost kitchen partnerships. In the 2nd quarter of 2020, Sale at TGI Fridays were down 80%, but since then rebounded on the chain’s investment for delivery and collection to the curb. The Reef Deal strengthens TGI Fridays’ off-premise strategy that helped the chain get through the past 18 months. This opportunity could potentially allow the chain to re-enter some of the markets it left during the worst period of the pandemic as well. This model could make it possible TGI Fridays to expand into new markets at reduced cost – a value proposition that is a major contributor to the extension from the ghost kitchen segment.
Autumn 8 from tgi solutions software#
It supports these delivery kitchens with its software and digital infrastructure, including a new direct order platform. The platform turns unused urban space like parking lots into turntables for ghost restaurants by opening relatively small ghost kitchens, often with trailers. Reef’s model doesn’t require a lot of real estate investment. The flexibility of the Bond model could give Reef an edge over the more traditional ghost kitchen providers who typically rely on large warehouse logistics centers. Just this week, Reef also took over the logistics company Bond, which has a network of refrigerated “nano warehouses” for last-mile delivery. The company currently has 5,000 locations in 30 cities worldwide, but only about 450 ghost kitchen units in its network, Reef said in a recent interview.
![autumn 8 from tgi solutions autumn 8 from tgi solutions](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/fashion/2019/09/05/ANNIE-GREEN-EDITED-3-LR-xlarge_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqYtkW4DzbCPM_hy4t4hQwrRL6g7rVB97qUpFOJRfWDbA.jpg)
This partnership with TGI Fridays builds on Reef’s goal to expand to 10,000 locations. In August, an agreement was reached with Wendy’s to open 700 delivery kitchens. Less than a month ago, the Ghost Kitchen platform announced plans to open 500 locations with 800 degrees of pizza. The partnership is the latest in a spate of dining options for Reef.In a statement, Ray Blanchette, CEO of TGI Fridays, called Reef a “launch pad” to deliver the Friday menu while “prioritizing convenience and quality”.
![autumn 8 from tgi solutions autumn 8 from tgi solutions](https://fastly.4sqi.net/img/general/600x600/6289051_Zzniiozgs_6N-d7BcE-8Xeetvvan06nlGf74-nMapmM.jpg)
This is Reef’s first partnership with a global casual dining concept.The first location opens in Miami, where Reef is headquartered. TGI Fridays is partnering with Reef Technology to launch 300 delivery kitchens in North America and other international markets over the next five years, the company said in an email press release to Restaurant Dive.