Over the past year, the coronavirus pandemic has forced businesses in the food industry to rethink their traditional models and put more focus on digital transactions. For Chipotle, expansion isn't just limited to in-app orders — the company is planning to roll out its own fleet of delivery robots.
The burrito chain has partnered with Nuro, which uses brain imaging technology for marketing and analytics, to bring your favorite meal to your doorstep. Nuro is designing a robotic vehicle specially designed to complete tasks, like food delivery, although the design is still in its early stages.
"It's a few years out but we think it's within probably a five-year time frame," Jack Hartung, Chipotle's chief financial officer, told Cheddar.
The program will likely be initiated in suburban areas primarily while Nuro and Chipotle navigate how to make the service more city-friendly.
"Right now there's no talk about having the robot enter the building and navigate an elevator," he said of urban delivery challenges.
The introduction of delivery robots is part of a larger internal plan for Chiptole to expand its digital business, which, according to Hartung, was already the fastest-growing segment of the business.
"We think that investing in technology in general, which we've done a lot over the last three or four or five years, we think that's really paid off for us not only during the pandemic but even before the pandemic," he explained.
A new delivery vehicle has yet to be designed for the initiative but will be created with consumers in mind. Hartung expects the vehicles to come equipped with temperature-controlled compartments to keep hot foods hot, cold foods cold.
While bots aren't expected to roll up with burritos in tow for at least five years, customers in Canada can expect a few new locations to pop up over the next year. Eight to be exact.
Canada already has nearly two dozen locations and Hartung says the brand's success is driving the new round of openings.
"Canada has been a great market for us. Most of our attention over the last few years has been on the U.S. business for obvious reasons," Hartung said. "But in the meantime, we hired a new managing director, Anat Davidzon, in Canada about four years ago, and she's done a great job with shoring up the operations, a great job with strengthening our supply chain. She's also tightened up the economics there."
It’s a chicken-and-egg problem: Restaurants are struggling with record-high U.S. egg prices, but their omelets, scrambles and huevos rancheros may be part of the problem. Breakfast is booming at U.S. eateries. First Watch, a restaurant chain that serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, nearly quadrupled its locations over the past decade to 570. Fast-food chains like Starbucks and Wendy's added more egg-filled breakfast items. In normal times, egg producers could meet the demand. But a bird flu outbreak that has forced them to slaughter their flocks is making supplies scarcer and pushing up prices. Some restaurants like Waffle House have added a surcharge to offset their costs.
William Falcon, CEO and Founder of Lightning AI, discusses the ongoing feud between Elon Musk and Sam Altman, and how everyday people can use AI in their lives.
U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum “will not go unanswered,” European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen vowed on Tuesday, adding that they will trigger toug
The Trump administration has ordered the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to stop nearly all its work, effectively shutting down the agency that was created to protect consumers after the 2008 financial crisis and subprime mortgage-lending scandal. Russell Vought is the newly installed director of the Office of Management and Budget. Vought directed the CFPB in a Saturday night email to stop work on proposed rules, to suspend the effective dates on any rules that were finalized but not yet effective, and to stop investigative work and not begin any new investigations. The agency has been a target of conservatives since President Barack Obama created it following the 2007-2008 financial crisis.
Jeff Benedict, author of 'The Dynasty,' weighs in on the Kansas City Chiefs being the next big dynasty, who he thinks will win Super Bowl LIX and more. Watch!
