McDonald's Targets Cars & Beverages with CosMc's
Cinemark delivers popcorn, Uber's holiday promos for merchants, DoorDash acceptance stats
Wow, we’ve got some big launches today! McDonald’s has a new concept that’s out of this world, Cinemark and Otter bring the movie theater (food) experience to you and Uber has some new promo tools to help restaurateurs maximize the holiday season. Read on!
Today:
CosMc’s Marks McD’s Auto-Oriented Fight for Afternoon Drinkers
Cinemark & Otter Deliver the Theater to You (Sans Movie)
Chart Time | DoorDash Hourly Acceptance Stats
Uber Unveils New Holiday Promo Tools for Merchants
BRANDS | McDonald’s Launches Beverage Oriented CosMc’s
There’s a new alien in town, and he’s thirsty! McDonald’s just cut the ribbon on its new concept — CosMc’s — with the first location now open in suburban Illinois. This initial restaurant (a former Boston Market) has a whopping *four* drive-up ordering stalls, all of which then funnel into one drive thru pickup lane; an interesting way to optimize for automotive-based consumption (and of course speed through those couriers doing pickups.) The menu is drink heavy: churro frappés, blackberry mint green tea, cold brew, and boba abound. The Golden Arches plans to open 10 more locations through 2024, with an emphasis on DFW and San Antonio.
The Big Picture: This first location is literally next door to a traditional McDonald’s, and is less than 30 miles away from company HQ, suggesting Ronald wants to keep a close watch on the concept before expanding broadly. Can one food pickup window really support four ordering stalls? And is that the right mix of food and beverages? The latter question is fundamental to getting the concept right — as CosMc’s is meant to help the chain compete in the late afternoon daypart when consumers don’t want another hamburger but may still be thirsty or jonesin’ for some caffeine. “We homed in on specialty beverages and coffee... It’s a space we believe we have the right to win,” said CEO Chris Kempczinski.
3PD | CineMark, Otter Bring Popcorn & Icees to You
Have you ever wanted room-temperature popcorn, or a melted Icee? Well CineMark and Otter sure hope so, as the two have teamed up to bring your favorite movie theater snacks to you, via Uber Eats, DoorDash and Grubhub. This represents the first time a major theater chain has offered “food” delivery; although of Cinemark’s 507 theaters, it appears only a few dozen are participating, with an emphasis on those near its TX HQ. Perusing one Plano location, we see a $6.50 hot dog, $3.50 Coke, 50 cents for butter packets (shots, anyone?!) and $3 for a small bag of Dorito’s — evidently folks that don’t mind theater concession prices will barely blink at the usual delivery fees.
The Big Picture: Post-Covid, theaters are still desperate for revenue, so it’s not shocking that CineMark would opt for this stunt, even if operationally it sounds like a nightmare; we pity the poor courier that has the park at the mall, enter the theater, explain to the ticket-taker why they should be allowed in, and then deal with the huge queue. For Otter, its a nice partnership to add to its list of case studies, as the Cloud Kitchens-owned ordering software provider becomes a more familiar brand; it now works with 275,000+ restaurants across 40+ countries, including CKE, Steak & Shake and Uno Restaurants.
CHART TIME | DoorDash Touts Flexible Hours
With 3PD worker pay models under fire in places like NYC, DoorDash is firing back with data about how its flexible work options are a unique attribute that many couriers prefer over traditional employment. Order acceptance rate, and the preferred time of day to work, varies greatly between workers. 42% of Dashers report that they do errands in between paid deliveries, while 50% mix in leisurely activities.
MERCHANTS | UE Introduces New Holiday Promo Tools
Uber Eats is rolling out four new features to help merchants make the most of the holidays. The first — holiday happy hours — lets businesses run daily specials at off-peak hours to push special deals that might drive additional traffic. Multi-location offers lets managers with multiple storefronts easily roll out offers to more than one location. Percent off offers allows for store-wide discounts based off of percentages, as opposed to exact dollar amounts. And personalized marketing recommendations means the management tool will suggest to restaurant operators which promos are most likely to move the needle for them this holiday season.
The Big Picture: “The holidays can often be a busy and stressful time for restaurants, who balance demand from hurried shoppers, seasonal parties, and large families orders. Our team has been hard at work creating important new tools and offer types to help restaurants maximize their sales and reach more customers,” said Manas Mittal, Senior Director of Product Management at Uber. 66% of shoppers say prices and promotions are their top factor for consideration, this holiday season. 77% of consumers are ordering from restaurants for holiday meals. Merchants, restaurateurs — get to work!
A Few Good Links
The Onion offers its take on the launch of CosMc’s. Restaurant wage growth slows. Cibotica enters the robotic bowl and salad makeline wars. Class 8 truck orders surge. Amazon to stop accepting Venmo. Curb Flow API unifies taxis and TNCs. Car IQ and Fluid Truck partner on driver fleet payments. Detroit demos road that charges while you drive. Aurora targets 20 autonomous trucks for 2024. Amazon saddles sellers with low inventory, inbound transpo fees. Robo pizzeria PizzaForno comes to Mexico. Ikea keeps growing. McDonald’s partners with Google Cloud to improve McD’s app. Pennsylvanians hate Wawa’s pizza (it’s a gas station, people, come on!)
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is cosmcs able to order on uber eats or door dash?
When is somebody going to draw attention to all the idling cars places like this attract? The emissions from the line of cars at my local Starbucks must be substantial and now we're publicizing and encouraging more drive thrus.