MealMe Integrates Delivery Into Any App
Wendy's & McDonald's Q3, Avride's new bots, Lyft late night
It’s earnings season once again, where we can glean some interesting learnings from the performance of the food and ecommerce giants. Add in some new tech launches and we’ve got plenty to parse as we wrap up the week… read on!
This week’s edition is brought to you by GetScale.
Today:
MealMe Joins Delivery Integration Party
Wendy’s & McDonald’s Flip Q3 Patties
Chart Time | Lyft and DoorDash Drive Late Night
Avride Rolls Out New Delivery Bots
INTEGRATIONS | MealMe Wants All Apps to Be Delivery Apps
San Francisco-based MealMe just raised $8 million for its food and retail ordering API, which serves as a B2B integrator for other sites and services that want to add in restaurant delivery. Mercury Fund led this Series A round, with participation from Gaingels and Palm Drive Capital. MealMe ingests over one billion SKUs from 1.2 million restaurants, grocers and retailers; its customers include Fantuan and Tripadvisor.
The Big Picture: Integrated ordering is a booming business. Just Eat Takeaway is also tooting its own horn, announcing its services are now built-in into Mercedes vehicles across Europe. SoundHound is also hollering about its voice-based approach to the space: it’s now processed over 100 million interactions with restaurant customers, driving multiple hundreds of millions in food order value. Smart Ordering AI customers includes Chipotle, Jersey Mike’s, Applebee’s, Habit Burger, Noodles & Company, Beef O’Bradys, Casey’s General Stores, and many more.
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FINANCE | Mixed Bag for Wendy’s & McDonald’s Q3
The fast food giants are pumping out their Q3 results, and so far the results are a bit uneven. Wendy’s net income was down 13.4% YoY to $50.2 million, while revenue grew 2.9% to $566.7M. Same store sales inched up 0.2%. Hamburger heavyweight McDonald’s grew its own same store sales 0.3%, an improvement from the previous quarter’s shrinkage. Quarterly revenue (ex f/x) grew 2% to a whopping $6.873 billion, but net income shrunk 3% to $2.255 billion. Despite the so-so results, your average Mickey D’s customer would kill for margins that healthy!
The Big Picture: While FSRs aren’t plumping up too quickly these days, they’re all still pointing to delivery as a growth vehicle. McDonald’s called out that “…successful restaurant level execution and continued digital and delivery growth contributed to slightly positive comparable sales results.” Wendy’s CEO Kirk Tanner added “We continued to strengthen the relationship with our customers through our digital and loyalty platforms…” America’s #3 burger chain may be growing its digital footprint, but it’s shrinking its IRL one: the company plans to close 140 underperforming storefronts in Q4.
CHART TIME | Lyftin’ to the Bar
Lyft’s published new data showing that *shockingly* people are more likely to take a Lyft to a bar or entertainment venue on weekend nights. This humdrum data is really meant to highlight the TNC’s new tie-up with DoorDash, which should drive fresh users to DashPass. There’s some more fun data in the report, including popular late night delivery orders: Minneapolitans like soft tacos (how authentic!) while Atlanta opts for apple pies. D.C. denizens are ordering hair setting spray, while Angeleños are opting for collagen cleansing wipes. Fun!
AUTONOMY | Avride Intros New Delivery Bots
Autonomous vehicle startup Avride isn’t resting on its robo-laurels, as it continues to make big announcements. The Austin-based firm just debuted a new delivery robot model, ditching the six-wheel design it had opted for since 2019. The bot also features a detachable cargo compartment, allowing for modifications depending on the particular delivery task; the new model also features an expressive LED face, something that’s become rather common amongst its competition. The machines are now being manufactured in Taiwan, and will be deployed to Austin’s master-planned Mueller neighborhood in short order.
The Big Picture: This launch comes hot off the heals of Avride’s partnership with Uber, meaning there should be plenty or order volume to feed into these bots. Avride’s got a storied history, having originally been a part of Yandex’s Self Driving Group, but the two companies are now fully separated. Expect more updates as Avride makes up for lost time.
A Few Good Links
DoorDash announces new relief partnership for Baltimore-area restaurants. Grubhub exec talks cybersecurity. 7-Eleven adds $5 meal deal. FAT Brands loses $44.8M on $143.4M in rev. Access Group buys Patronix loyalty software. AI adoption spiking corporate cloud costs. Ibotta adds SNAP rewards. New tech drives subscription growth or Mother’s Market. Square partners with eGrowcery. Climate United aims to make e-trucks affordable for indy operators. Specialty vehicle outfitter Shyft group sees sales fall 3.6%. Kia hits sales record. Nikola ships 90 trucks. Bingo debuts universal swappable battery system. Port strike heads to Vancouver. Uber’s car-light challenge shows promise. Amazon beats earnings estimate.
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