7-Eleven Wants to Deliver Real Food
Google kills direct ordering, Bolt's revenue jolt, Cartken raises $10M
We hope it’s not lunch time when you read today’s edition… otherwise our 7-Eleven story may send you running out for a middling piece of pizza (they do sell 99 million slices per year.) Then read on for big news from Google, Bolt and Cartken!
Join us tomorrow in Culver City for a mobility and delivery happy hour, brought to you by GridMatrix.
Today:
7-Eleven Ups Its Food Game
Google Restaurants Kills Direct Ordering
Chart Time | Bolt’s Bulging Finances
Cartken Raises $10M for Delivery Bots
OPS | 7-Eleven Looks to Grow Prepared Food Biz
Iconic convenience store brand 7-Eleven is looking to up its prepared food game, as its traditional moneymakers — cigarettes and gasoline — face long-term headwinds. In 2022, the chain did $72 billion in overall sales, with 24% of that coming from food items like well-rolled hot dogs and those iconic Slurpees (153 million Slurpees a year, to be specific.) By 2025, it wants store brand goods, including food, to make up a whopping one third of overall sales. Partners like Warabeya are helping power that change, with localized factories able to make a larger array of snackable treats. Another big part of that change is the continued growth of 7NOW, the c-store’s q-commerce app. Building off its 95 million loyalty members, delivery is the fastest growing part of the business, and delivery orders are usually twice the size of in-store purchases.
The Big Picture: This isn’t the first time 7-Eleven has looked to its Japanese parent co for inspiration. When the Tokyo-based conglomerate bought the American biz out of bankruptcy in the ‘90s, they found they did things a bit different down in Texas. While inventory and promo decisions in Japan were quick-moving and very data driven, American franchisees would only get new stock twice a week, and an audit found that 40% of SKUs sold less than one unit per month. Seven & I Holdings built up a whole new distribution network for its American c-stores, and with that groundwork in place, it can now take things to the next level.
HAPPY HOUR | Join Us Tomorrow Evening in Culver City
It's summer, so that's the perfect time to join your mobility & delivery friends for some happy hour drinks, on the sunny rooftop of Bar Bohemien in Downtown Culver City, brought to you by our friends at GridMatrix.
ONLINE ORDERING | Google Restaurants Ends Direct Ordering
Well, this is the fateful month! Less than half a year after announcing it, Order with Google has been sunset, joining other long-gone Google products like Orkut, Jamboard, Talk and Hangouts. Now when a customer clicks “Order” on a Google Search or Maps result, it will direct them to any number of 3PDs, or the restaurant’s direct ordering platform. Winning that “top of box” slot is a big battle for the myriad platforms, with data from ChowNow showing that customers are four times more likely to pick whichever ordering method is denoted as “Preferred by Business.”
The Big Picture: Restaurant operators — now’s the time to update those listings. If you’ve got a particular platform that offers you the best deal, make sure to mark it as your preferred option. Google handily explains how:
Go to your Business Profile.
To set your online ordering options:
With Google Search, select Food Ordering.
With Google Maps, select Edit Profile and then Food Ordering.
Select a provider or link from the list of options.
Select Set as preferred.
Toggle to set the ordering option as preferred for pickup or delivery.
CHART TIME | Bolt’s Booming Revenue
European mobility and delivery super app Bolt released its 2023 financial results, showing overall revenue up 37.4% to €1.7 billion ($1.84B) as it continues its hunt for an IPO. Its delivery arm grew a healthy 37.5% as well, while growth in rental services (think scooters) was slower. Breaking sales down by geography, Europe came in at €1.48B and Africa was €181.5M, while the rest of the world registered just €39.5M.
INTERVIEW | Cartken COO Has Big Plans for Her New Funding
Five year old delivery robotics startup Cartken just raised a fresh $10 million in funding, led by 468 Capital, with participation from Incubate Fund, LDV Partners, Vela Partners, Magna International, Mitsubishi Electric, Shell Ventures, and Volex.
Cartken has now raised $22.5 million in total funding, with plans to use the new capital to pursue more enterprise relationships and advance its lidar-free AV technology. In the past few years, the California-based company has made notable forays into the industrial AMR space, working with biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, OEM and chemical conglomerates, while scaling its sidewalk delivery robotics business to the point of profitability.
We checked in with Co-Founder and COO Anjali Naik, to learn about how different countries are adopting autonomous mobile robotics technology, as well as which universities are proving to be the most enthusiastic users. (Originally published at Ottomate.)
Jonah Bliss: It's a tough fundraising environment out there for hardware-oriented startups; what made Cartken's narrative attractive to investors?
Anjali Naik: Cartken's story stands out because of our AI-powered autonomy stack and hardware-agnostic approach, allowing our robots to work seamlessly both indoors and outdoors. This capability fills a crucial gap in industrial automation and last-mile delivery, where many traditional mobile robot solutions fall short.
Our tech stack uses low-cost sensors and cameras instead of expensive LIDAR systems, making our technology both reliable and cost-effective.
Plus, our track record is strong. We've completed hundreds of thousands of deliveries and saved employees thousands of hours in transportation time. We accomplished quite a lot with a small team and were capital efficient along the way. This makes Cartken a highly attractive investment.
Which investors are new to Cartken?
468 Capital, LDV Partners and Volex.
How do you plan to deploy the fresh capital?
The funding will be used to deepen enterprise partnerships, further advance Cartken’s self-driving technology, and drive further integration of Cartken's robots into biotech, pharmaceutical, chemical, and automotive sectors.
If the food delivery business is profitable, why spend resources on the AMR space?
While the food delivery use-case is profitable, the industrial space offers significant additional opportunities for growth and higher profit margins. The real game-changer is our robots' ability to work both indoors and outdoors. This opens up new markets for us in biotech, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, and automotive industries. In these areas, our technology can save a lot of employee time and boost productivity. It's a natural next step for us to expand into these lucrative sectors.
Which food delivery markets have shown the most promise for Cartken?
Miami Brickell has been fantastic for last-mile delivery. The high demand, dense area, and seamless integration with Uber Eats have made it a great market.
At Ohio State University, we’re breaking all records. We hit 150K deliveries in the 2023/2024 academic year, and have the highest robot utilization and autonomy there. Our smooth operation with Grubhub and integration into their platform have been key to our success there.
Cartken has robots in North America, Europe and Asia. How do you manage that with such a lean team, and have you noticed any interesting market-specific developments?
We manage it all thanks to strategic partnerships and our scalable technology platform. For example, Mitsubishi Electric helps us navigate the market in Japan, while Uber Eats and Grubhub enable us to scale through their delivery platforms.
Our robots are incredibly adaptable, quickly deployable, and they get smarter every day they operate. This efficiency means we don’t need a lot of manpower or resources to enter new markets.
When Japan allowed autonomous robots on streets, we were the first to get a permit. They are increasingly open to robotic solutions, and Japanese consumers have a very positive perception and acceptance of robots, which makes our operations run smoothly there.
A Few Good Links
Zedify raises £4M for sustainable delivery. DoorDash ups safety features. Uber and HopSkipDrive clash on fingerprinting requirements. Hong Kong may regulate TNCs. Cluby raises €2.9M for restaurant loyalty. Ola ends Google Maps contract for its driver app, saving $12M/year. Obi releases global rideshare report. Potbelly’s reveals small-format resto. Chipotle CFO stepping down. Dave’s Hot Chicken heads to UK&I (not exactly a place famous for loving heat…) Starbuck’s pilots reusable cups. Texan judge partially blocks FTC noncompete ban. Albertsons-Kroger list planned divestiture stores. El Rancho Supermercado launches loyalty program. Albertsons makes big improvements to delivery and curbside pickup, but Walmart and Target still lead. Google Maps adds speed-related features. Northbound raises $1.4M for logistics tracking. McDonald’s Canada debuts really cheap coffee. Bridgestone debuts new tires with special tread for LMD uses. Deliveroo Dubai pushes e-mopeds. Filipino c-stores (sari-saris) look to digitize. Popeyes gets in trouble on Twitter. BluSmart offers real-time driver feedback. Jollibee buys Compose Coffee, adds to bean empire which includes CBTL.
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