Domino's Dreams Up dxb Delivery Ebike
Instacart + Kiehl's, OpenTable's Top 100, drone delivery advances
Let’s end the week with something fun: Domino’s eye-popping new vehicle creation, the “dxb” (all lower case.) Some other funky new transport machines also debuted at the LA Auto Show; Kiehl’s is now live on Instacart; we break down the latest drone advancements; and take a look at OpenTable’s hottest restaurants. See you next week!
Today:
Meet Domino’s Futuristic “dxb” Delivery Bike
lnstacart Delivers Holiday Growth for Kiehl’s
Chart Time | OpenTable’s Top 100 Restos
Understanding Drone Delivery Acronyms
VEHICLES | Domino’s Unveils Pizza Delivery Optimized Ebike
You might associate pizza delivery with a rusty ol’ Honda with a little sign on the roof, but Domino’s is looking to update your mental associations: it just created the "dxb” — the first pizza-deliverin’, temperature-controllin’ ebike, set to hit the mean streets of Singapore. Sleek and space age, the bike has a built in “pizza pod” electric oven, meant to keep pies at 154 degrees Fahrenheit, while a strong suspension reduces g-forces by 67 percent, keeping both the delivery worker and your precious pie from getting jostled. (Note that Domino’s seems to be toying with both an ebike and an emoped variant.)
The Big Picture: While Domino’s only has 41 stores in the city-state, it’s a logical place to unveil this new concept. Not only is the whole country a bikable distance, but the license to buy a car costs about $106k (actual car not included,) a bit outside the average pizza guy’s salary. Domino’s Pizza Enterprises — a separate entity from your American pizza tosser — also operates in Australia, New Zealand, Belgium, France, The Netherlands, Japan, Germany, Luxembourg, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore and Cambodia, all of which would be great markets for a delivery vehicle of this size. For those of you in America, fear not — some innovative new work vehicles just debuted at the LA Auto Show as well: say hello to the Pebble trailer, the AITEKX pickup, an updated Nikola hydrogen semi and more.
3PD | Instacart Cleans Up With New Kiehl’s Partnership
Fancy soap and beauty products — the perfect gift for someone you don’t actually know very well! That’s what Instacart is banking on, as it onboards skincare and beauty brand Kiehl’s, just in time for the holidays. The 3PD is now offering same day delivery from all 58 of Kiehl’s U.S. stores; a partnership with the “apothecary skincare” brand’s 16 Canadian stores went live earlier this year. “We’re excited to bring Kiehl’s premium products directly to people’s doorsteps, especially as many look to ‘skip the ship’ by sending gifts through Instacart this holiday season,” said Blake Wallace, Senior Director of Retail Partnerships at Instacart. While the partnership promises to match in-store prices, we should note that currently the Kiehl’s website is running a 25% off sale for “cyber week,” while the Instacart storefront is offering $25 off carts of $100 or more.
The Big Picture: The more non-grocery storefronts that Instacart adds, the closer it comes to being a substitute for Amazon. Want face wash? They both have it. Dog leash? Both have it. Beach chair? On both. The tricky thing is that while Instacart does have a unified search, it still sorts results by partner storefront, making it hard to surface less common products. The company is taking a partial step towards solving that, as it revamps its Sell Sheet product — the tool that CPG brands use to “elevator pitch” their product to retailers. While its companion Brand Explorer function will allow retailers to better see emerging products like Liquid Death and Poppi, ultimately Instacart still needs to work on how those trickle down to consumers.
CHART TIME | OpenTable’s Top Restaurants of 2023
OpenTable just debuted its own list of top restaurants, and you know we love chartin’ that which wasn’t originally meant to be a chart! Breaking out some winners, California has 14 of the 100, despite only accounting for about 11% of the country’s population. Texas, Florida and New York may think of themselves as culinary hotspots, but they all do about as well as Nevada and Ohio (how do you say “haute cuisine” with a Midwestern accent?) We also have to give a little shout out to Puerto Rico, it got one restaurant on the list, but sadly doesn’t fit on the map. And to give this a bit of delivery flare — why not try Chicago-based finalist Girl & The Goat’s “YATC Dinner Kit,” available on Gold Belly?
AUTONOMY | Delivery Drones Advance
Delivery drone startup Flytrex recently secured a BVLOS exemption, meaning it can fly its drones “beyond the visual line of sight.” But other startups claim that a “Part 135 certification” offers that functionality… what’s the difference? While Part 135 means the drone *itself* can be piloted beyond the line of site, BVLOS goes further, as it removes the need for human visual observers, who are otherwise necessary to watch the skies for *other* flying objects. This cuts down on labor needs, and is critical if drone delivery ever hopes to be profitable.
The Big Picture: Flytrex and its partner Causey Unmanned Automation scored their BVLOS exemption in late October, catching up with well funded competitors like Zipline, UPS Flight Forward and uAvionix. Amazon’s Prime Air, meanwhile, appears to have jumped the Part 135 hoop, but doesn’t have the full BVLOS exemption. For its part, Flytrex recently launched a winch-based autonomous pickup service, as it keeps innovating in its North Carolina and Texas markets.
A Few Good Links
Norwegian online grocers Oda and Mathem merge. Otter integrates c-store management tool PDI. People dislike tip pools. Aurora AV pushes back safety analysis. Catch up with the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, two years after enactment. DoorDash brings booze delivery to the Garden State. Technomic releases food service predictions for 2024. Drone Delivery Canada completes first demonstration in West Michigan (hmm, time to check the map…) Lucid unveils electric SUV. Reyes Coca-Cola scores 20 EV eCascadias trucks. Food recycling comes to Phoenix. Jersey Mike’s donates to Feeding America. Pub operator Young’s swallows City Pubs Group. Donato’s Pizza expands in Kentucky, Florida. Payment processor Nuvei acquires Till. Gap returns to pop culture roots. Hyundai vehicles added to Amazon’s marketplace. Price hikes cool. Alibaba nixes plan to spin out cloud unit.
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