February 21, 2022 | GroceryGeniuses Blog

Pizza Hut debuts a fully robot-powered restaurant in Israel

GroceryGeniuses February 21, 2022

This year, Pizza Hut has partnered with Hyper-Robotics, an Israel-based robot firm, to roll out its first-ever robot-powered restaurant. The modular restaurant is situated in a shopping mall in the central Israel city of Bnei Dror. The tech restaurant appears as a large container, with robots baking and handing out Pizza to customers. The ‘restaurant-in-a-box’ has a capacity of 50 pies per hour, 30 warming cabinets, two robotic dispensing arms and dispensers for up to 12 toppings of Pizza. To read more, visit The Spoon

Here’s what lies ahead for grocers in 2022

GroceryGeniuses February 21, 2022

Due to the Omicron variant, grocers are still grappling with supply chain issues and rising inflation. As per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, food-at-home rates went up by 6.5% last year. Supply-side shortages are infuriating the customers, and grocers have to deal with the fear of losing them. Brands are buying more private-labelled inventory as it is less expensive. They also buy a surplus of products beforehand to meet the ever-growing demand from customers and stay agile. Grocers have kept the prices of essential items minimal while increasing the prices of discretionary items to manage inflation and offer discounts. Private labels and infant brands have seen success during this time due to more customers buying from them. To read more, visit GroceryDive

Grabango grabs a deal with Mapco C-store as it expands partnerships with grocers

GroceryGeniuses February 21, 2022

Grabango, a frictionless checkout startup, has teamed up with Mapco, a convenience store chain, to install computer vision-based tech in its retail outlets. Mapco is in the process of rolling out checkout-free stores in Tennessee and will launch them later this year. Grabango has numerous partnership deals with grocers in its pipeline. The tech firm has already piloted its tech solution in a 40,000-square-foot store of an anonymous supermarket operator. CEO Will Glaser predicted that grocers will be big on these tech solutions by the year 2023. Hence, Grabango is ramping up its partnership work. To read more, visit GroceryDive

Save Mart rolls out autonomous delivery carts to its San Francisco-area Lucky California store

GroceryGeniuses February 21, 2022

Save Mart Supermarkets had collaborated with Starship Technologies, a robot developing platform, to roll out its bot delivery service in 2020. Recently, the grocer has added the autonomous robot delivery service to its second store in the San Francisco-area Lucky California store. The startup was founded in 2014 and mostly offered its services to educational institutions, including the University of California-Los Angeles. Save Mart now serves more than 55,000 households by offering its autonomous bot grocery delivery service. To read more, visit GroceryDive

GrubHub Foods to deliver 7-Eleven’s convenience grocery items to Diners nationwide

GroceryGeniuses February 21, 2022

Following DoorDash’s footsteps, GrubHub Goods, an American food and delivery platform, is teaming up with 7-Eleven to deliver convenience items nationwide through GrubHub Foods. GrubHub has piloted its delivery service in New York already and is now growing its presence to 3,000 new locations. GrubHub will offer items from 7-Eleven, including snacks and food, energy drinks, and personal care essentials, among more. To celebrate the new union, Grubhub will be offering 50% off on orders of $15 and above. To read more, visit NRN