Restaurants
Owner.com grabs $33M Series B to improve online guest experiences for mom-and-pop restaurants
Owner recently tapped into AI technology for its new email marketer feature that produces an email in the restaurant owner’s style and tone.
Yooga wants its restaurant operating system to be ‘Toast of Latin America’
Yooga provides software for restaurants to manage orders, send orders to the kitchen, last-mile delivery and control inventory and cash flow.
DoorDash tests a feature that rewards users for dining out, not ordering in
DoorDash has made a name for itself as a restaurant delivery service that has in later years expanded to categories like groceries and convenience store items. But the company is…
Superorder raises $10M to help restaurants maintain their online presence
Raghav Poddar was studying computer science at Columbia University when he became intrigued by the challenges restaurant owners were facing maintaining an online presence. A self-described “foodie,” Poddar — who…
After shutting down its food delivery business last year, Amazon India is now experimenting with dine-in payments. The company has initiated a limited introduction of bill payments at restaurants using…
Restaurant365 gobbles up $135M to supersize its software for the food service industry
The price of food continues to go up and up, but surprisingly that hasn’t (yet?) played out as pressure on the wider restaurant industry. Now, a startup that’s building technology…
Presto can now make Santa, celebrities, ‘appear’ in your drive-thru
The goal is to help restaurants increase sales by offering upsells, reduce wait times, improve order accuracy and just delight customers.
SaaS platform klikit saves restaurant kitchens from ‘tablet hell’
The proliferation of delivery services give customers many options but means chaos for busy restaurants that need to manage orders across multiple apps and channels. Many kitchens handle this by…
Holey Grail Donuts bites into $9M for Los Angeles retail expansion
The Hawaii company’s taro donut is fried in organic, fair trade coconut oil and comes with over 60 different flavors.
ChowNow, a startup that builds branded online ordering systems for restaurants, today announced layoffs internally, TechCrunch has learned. According to several sources who spoke to this reporter on the condition…
Bear Robotics targets restaurant staffing shortages with another $81M raise
One of the most interesting things about following food robotics startups over the past couple of years is tracking all of the different tasks companies are looking to automate, from…
Coatue leads another infusion into Lunchbox, which sees ghost kitchens leading restaurant tech revolution
The New York-based company is developing online ordering tools for enterprise restaurant chains and ghost kitchens to act as a restaurant’s entire digital tech stack.
Stanford engineers team up with Michelin-star chef to build modular restaurants
Mezli’s prototype robot restaurant is up and running and serving customers Mediterranean-style grain bowls and side dishes from the company’s KitchenTown location in San Mateo.
Creadev seasons Salted with new funding for its QSR brands
Salted created six brands so far, including moonbowls, Califlower Pizza and lulubowls, and serves food from Chinese takeout to pizza to salads.
Vendease gets $3.2M to help hotels and restaurants buy food supplies in Africa
Vendease, an online marketplace that allows restaurants and other food businesses to buy supplies straight from manufacturers and farms, has raised a seed round of $3.2 million, the company confirmed…
CookUnity whips up nationwide expansion following $47M round
CookUnity combines the ready-to-eat meal category with a chef-focused business model that provides restaurant-quality meals at home.
YC-backed Tablevibe’s customer surveys help restaurants reduce their reliance on delivery apps
Food delivery apps offer convenience for customers, but a host of headaches for restaurants, like commissions as high as 40% and very few tools to build customer loyalty. Based in…
Easy Eat AI raises $5M to help Southeast Asian restaurants digitize their operations
Easy Eat AI, a Singapore-based startup that wants to “transform restaurants into technology companies,” announced today it has raised $5 million in funding. Easy Eat AI offers an operating system…
Deliverect gobbles up $65M for a platform that streamlines online and offline food orders
Restaurants rode a wave of usage of food delivery services like Deliveroo, Uber Eats and DoorDash in the last year, discovering new revenues and ways to connect with diners to…
Investors get a rise out of Walmart’s agreement to stock more Beyond Meat
Beyond Meat shares soared today on the heels of an announcement that Walmart is beefing up its relationship with the purveyor of meatless protein patties, sausages, and balls. 900 stores…
Malaysia-based inventory management platform Food Market Hub raises $4 million from Go-Ventures, SIG
Many restaurants still rely on spreadsheets to track their inventory of produce, meat and other ingredients. But using manual methods often results in food wastage and higher costs. Malaysia-based Food…
McDonald’s is developing what it calls a plant-based platform called the McPlant that will debut in markets around the world early next year, according to a report in USA Today.…
Marriott International announces partnership with Grab in six Southeast Asian countries
The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the hospitality industry especially hard, and hotels around the world are looking for ways to regain revenue. Today, Marriott International and Grab announced a partnership…
Impossible Foods nabs some Canadian fast food franchises as it expands in North America
After rolling out in some of Canada’s most high-falutin burger bistros, Impossible Foods is hitting Canada’s fast casual market with new menu items at national chains like White Spot and…
Jakarta-based Wahyoo gets $5 million Series A to help small eateries digitize their operations
While growing up, Peter Shearer watched his mother get up every day at 2AM or 3AM to prepare for her catering business. For many people who own small food businesses…
White Castle becomes the first fast food chain to test out the robot fry cook, Flippy, from Miso Robotics
The next time Harold and Kumar go to a White Castle, there may be a robot making their French Fries. In one of the first trials of a robotic fry…
Mercato Partners just launched Savory, a $90 million fund focused on fueling fast-casual restaurant concepts
Mercato Partners, a 13-year-old, Salt Lake City, Utah-based investment firm that oversees a growth fund, a secondary investment fund and a venture fund, has launched yet another fund — this…
Nextdoor updates its app to allow businesses to link to fundraisers, gift cards and more
Neighborhood social networking app Nextdoor is rolling out a few changes focused on supporting local businesses. The COVID-19 outbreak has forced many businesses to close their doors, sometimes for good,…
Bay Area effort to help restaurants feed hospital workers partners with Jose Andres’ World Central Kitchen
An effort I’ve been following in the Bay Area to deliver meals to front-line hospital clinicians dealing with the results of COVID-19 is announcing a big new partnership today that…
Instagram founder launches gift card site for quarantined restaurants
Coronavirus quarantines are hurting local businesses, but Instagram co-founder Mike Krieger wants to help them keep revenue rolling in. Krieger and his wife Kaitlyn this week launched SaveOurFaves, a directory…
