Uber Eats & DeliverZero Bring Reusable Packaging to West Coast
Starship + Nickelytics, Kroger closes fulfillment centers, women gig workers
Wow, is anyone else still glowing from Friday’s amazing Curbivore event? We’d like to thank everyone who came for making it our best event yet. And for those that couldn’t make it, we’ve got some big industry announcements to share, live from the stage (and parking lot) at Curbivore 2024.
This newsletter will be taking the rest of the week off — sorry, not an April Fools joke — for a bit of R & R.
Today:
Uber Eats & DeliverZero Launch in LA, SF
Starship Goes Live on Nickelytics’ Ad Platform
Chart Time | Gig Workin’ Gals
Kroger Scales Back Delivery Plans
3PD | Uber Eats & DeliverZero Bring Sustainable Packaging to LA, SF
In an announcement made live from the Curbivore stage, DeliverZero and conference partner Uber Eats are bringing their sustainable packaging collaboration to the West Coast, with the service now live in Greater Los Angeles and the SF Bay Area. Qualifying orders will have the option to “Use DeliverZero containers,” which generates a slight upcharge (generally $1, but free until 4/22 for Earth Day.) A customer’s meal is then delivered in reusable, returnable packaging. Customers can then drop the packaging back at the original restaurant (or any other participating restaurant), or schedule a pickup separately by a DeliverZero partnered courier. The packaging is then cleaned and sanitized and readied for redeployment.
The Big Picture: UE & DZ have already prevented over 11,000 single use containers from ending up in the waste stream, since going live in New York almost one year ago. (Uber Eats has similar partnerships in France, Switzerland, Germany and the UK, with companies like London-based Cleancell.) While there are already 130+ American restaurants now using the service, Richard Rea, Culinary Director of 5-unit vegan restaurant Butcher’s Daughter, explained on stage that not only is the service appealing for the environmental benefits, but that restaurateurs will be drawn to the cost savings of not having to provide gratuitous plastic packaging.
ADS | Starship Selects Nickelytics for On-Bot Advertising
Starship Technologies and Nickelytics are teaming up, in announcement timed with their presence at last Friday’s Curbivore. The Florida-based adtech firm will handle on-robot advertising for the PDD giant, starting with the UCLA and University of Utah campuses. To kick off the collaboration, the two companies are launching a campaign called “Love, Your Mind,” aimed at combating mental health issues on college quads. "This … campaign aligns perfectly with our mission to leverage cutting-edge technology for socially impactful initiatives. By integrating our autonomous delivery services with Nickelytics' innovative advertising approach, we are setting a new standard for how technology can support mental health awareness and education in university communities. We believe this partnership will open up new possibilities for how brands can connect with their audiences in deeply resonant and responsible ways,” noted Starship VP of Business Development Chris Neider.
The Big Picture: While Curbivore partners Starship and Nickelytics hope to expand this collaboration to cover all 50+ of the delivery bot cos’ campuses, Nickelytics already manages to cover a lot of terrain. Its partnership with Serve covers large swathes of Los Angeles, a team-up with Carkten covers Miami, while a deal with Kiwibot gets ads on colleges like Howard University.
CHART TIME | Flexible Work Appeals to Women
New DoorDash data shows that flexible gig work appears to be particularly appealing to female workers. Nearly 2 in 5 women Dashers (39%) say that one of the main reasons they deliver is so they can earn money but also have time to care for a child or loved one (compared to 23% of men, deadbeats as usual.) While DD makes the case that this shows the importance of ensuring lawmakers respect the flexibility of the gig economy, one could also say it makes a compelling case for more benefit payments to new parents, or maybe even UBI…
GROCERY | Kroger Shuttering Three Ecom Fulfillment Locations
Mega-grocer Kroger is rethinking its digital delivery strategy, as it looks to shutter three e-commerce fulfillment facilities: one in South Florida and two in Texas. These are no ancient warehouses either, rather they were opened in just the past few years, and powered by Ocado’s autonomous warehouse pick-and-pack machines. This comes half a year after Kroger opted to pause the further expansion of its automated warehouses, which were once seen as a lynchpin of its online strategy. Despite those headwinds, the supermarket’s 2023 digital sales were up 12% to $12 billion.
The Big Picture: Whether it’s for restaurants or grocery stores, building out an entirely new set of infrastructure just for deliveries is a tricky proposition. In some ways, Kroger’s stumbles here are not so different from the recent pullbacks in the ghost kitchen space. On the other hand, the grocer did it self no favors with its Florida launch, where it went to market under its Harris Teeter flag, a brand with a stronger presence a few states further north, but only one physical store in the Sunshine State. Evidently it’ll take a stronger value proposition to tear Floridians away from their beloved Publix sandwiches.
A Few Good Links
NYC retools cargo bike rules in a win for sustainable delivery. Yum Brands leans in on AI-powered operations. While we’re on that subject, this “benevolent heads up” regarding voice-based security by OpenAI basically sounds like inventing a gun and then warning the world that someone else might fire it. Singapore gov confirms it was investigating competitive concerns regarding Grab + Delivery Hero deal. Truckers big mad about new ZEV requirements. USPS picks UPS to replace FedEx for air cargo. ChowNow acquires 3PD-streamliner Cuboh. Favor picks team of “order-in experts.” Iron Sheepdog building tech-enabled short haul trucking. Domino’s Q1 dropping 4/29. The most New York Post headline to ever headline….
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