Grubhub for Groceries? Albertsons Thinks So...
Local Kitchens raises $40M, Waymo open to all 'Friscans, Getir splits in two
Today’s edition really has something for everyone: AVs, groceries, quick commerce, ghost kitchens and food halls! Looks like there’s still plenty to be excited about in the quick moving delivery space…
Today:
Grubhub Reheats Grocery Wars w/ Albertsons Deal
Local Kitchens’ $40M Series B
Chart Time | Getir Splits Up Ownership
Waymo Now Available to All San Franciscans
3PD | Grubhub Gets Serious About Groceries with Albertsons Deal
Grubhub is finally going big in the grocery space, thanks to a new partnership with the Albertsons Companies. This deal brings 1,800 supermarkets onto the platform, including iconic banners like Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Pavilions, Jewel-Osco, Shaw’s, ACME and Tom Thumb. “We’re pleased to grow our grocery offering with Albertsons Cos., one of the leading grocery retailers in the U.S., and give customers the opportunity to conveniently place their grocery orders within Grubhub,” said Craig Whitmer, vice president of new verticals at Grubhub, who joined the company this February, after stints at Postmates, Amazon, Yahoo, a variety of ad platforms, automation / voice ordering player Presto and payment card provider Tremendous.
The Big Picture: Grubhub really just started dipping its toes into the supermarket water two months ago, when it partnered with local grocer platform Mercato. This deal, with the nation’s 9th largest grocery brand, makes it a serious contender, as Albertsons has locations in 34 states. And that footprint will only get bigger, should its proposed merger with Kroger go through. This may be the final piece of the puzzle, whereby we’re seeing all the 3PDs converge into a similar shape, although Grubhub’s transformation has taken the longest, with the company getting its start way back in 2004. Now that you can use Grubhub for cans of beans and Instacart for a restaurant meal, it sure seems like this space is getting commoditized quickly…
GHOST KITCHENS | Local Kitchens Raises $40M
Say it with me now… “ghost kitchens aren’t dead!” They’ve just learned that to succeed they need to, uh, not be all that ghostly? That is to say, there’s value in having a consumer-facing storefront / foodhall, which negates the whole part of the equation that relied on putting these in Class C industrial real estate underneath some misbegotten bridge. Anyway, back to the news at hand, Bay Area-based Local Kitchens just raised $40 million in Series B financing, with the company saying its grown 5X since its 2021 Series A. Funding came from General Catalyst, Pear VC, Human Capital, and Stanley Tang, co-founder and Chief Product Officer of DoorDash, who will be joining the company’s board.
The Big Picture: Being more than just a ghost kitchen seems to be the key to Local Kitchens’ success. The company achieves 50% more sales per per person per hour than traditional restaurants, and claims per-unit profitability. LK operates each restaurant itself, working with brands like Boba Guys, Sushirrito and The Melt. The startup now boasts 12 locations across the Bay Area and Sacramento; an earlier foray into the competitive SoCal market didn’t seem to pan out. “Local Kitchens is accomplishing what other food delivery models have not been capable of — meeting customer experience preferences, driving unparalleled efficiency, and creating a solution that delights consumers, chefs and local communities alike,” says General Catalyst’s Kyle Doherty.
CHART TIME | Getir Gets Split in Two
Struggling super fast delivery player Getir just received $250 million in new financing from longtime backer Mubadala, Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund. As part of the deal, the company is splitting in two — with Mubadala serving as the majority owner of the traditional q-commerce arm, and a more complicated structure emerging for Getir Finance, its hold co for other endeavors: FreshDirect, N11 ecommerce, GetirBiTaksi ridehail and GetirArac carsharing. GetirFinance’s ownership is split with founders Nazim Salur, Serkan Borançılı and Tuncay Tütek taking 40%, Mubadala taking 32%, Turkish national bank Isbank’s investment arm Maxis taking 20% and Sequoia’s Michael Mortiz’s family fund Crankstart owning the remaining 8%.
AUTONOMY | Waymo Ones Opens for All Users in SF
Vehicular autonomy just took a big step, with Alphabet-backed Waymo announcing that its robotaxi services are now available to the entire public in San Francisco. The company notes that after about three years of operating its more limited commercial pilot, a whopping 300,000 Bay Areans have signed up to use the service. Waymo has now logged nearly 2 million paid rider miles, with 30% of rides going to local businesses and 36% connecting with other forms of transit.
The Big Picture: While Waymo has been offering its services to the unwashed masses in Phoenix for years now, this feels like a far bigger milestone, thanks not just to SF being the world’s technology capital, but due to the city’s far more complicated roads and urban environment. With apologies to Sinatra, “If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.” AVs also scored another big win, with the CA Legislature scuttling a bill that would have allowed cities to enforce local regulations and restrictions on the industry. So after years of promises and missed deadlines, we may have finally entered the era of autonomous driving being available for anyone and all occasions, hopefully leading to safer roads. One thing to watch for is if Waymo also expands its food delivery partnership with Uber Eats to the SF area.
A Few Good Links
Instacart smart carts roll out at Price Chopper and McKeever’s Market & Eatery. Shipt starts accepting SNAP EBT payments. Flipkart launches Super.money payment app. Cruise gets new CEO, ex-Xbox and Amazon exec. Uber Freight inks six year deal with Aurora. Chipotle Founder Steve Ells’ new resto, robo-powered Kernel, starts delivering with Grubhub. Rivian links up with VW, teases new vehicles. Gopuff partners with Responsibility.org for booze delivery principles. Heat wave burdens India’s gig workers. Biden Admin celebrates USPS sustainability. Zebra to optimize Walgreens. National Supermarket Assoc. opens New England office. Port of Nevada opens inland intermodal. Hyzon hits record revenue, plans strategic rethink. 2 Chainz opens a Smoothie King.
Got a tip, feedback, or just want to say hi? Reply back to this email.