Foodservice

•  Applebee’s Services Inc. has announced its company-wide partnership with DoorDash for delivery. Applebee’s parent, Dine Brands Global Inc., has pointed out that this is not an exclusive partnership as the Applebee’s brand is largely franchised and alternative delivery options will be dependent on franchisees.

• Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. has installed AI-powered voice assistants for ordering at 1,800 of its 2,500 units. The company plans on expanding this technology to all locations by the end of the year.

• Doctor’s Associates Inc., McDonald’s Corporation and Restaurant Brands International’s Burger King are allegedly the first brands to pilot print ads with QR codes that provide readers with real-time offers from brands.

• Domino’s Pizza Inc. has announced the national rollout of their E-Bike delivery program. The program is made possible through a partnership with Rad Power Bikes. The program is intended to go in effective system-wide by the end of the year. The company also unveiled their 33,000 square foot ‘Innovation Garage’ to test new customer-facing technology.

• McDonald’s Corporation is rolling out its new AI-driven digital menu boards at 8,000 drive-thrus throughout the U.S. and 150 units in Australia. These menu boards (developed by Dynamic Yield, who is now owned by the company) suggest additional purchases to customers based on time of day and weather among other factors.

• Shake Shack Inc. has announced a partnership with Grubhub for 3^rd party delivery. The company is enacting a pilot program with a few company-owned locations. Based on the success of this, national rollout is expected over the next few quarters.

Grocery/Convenience

• 7-Eleven Inc. has introduced mobile checkout in New York, using the 7-Eleven app.

• Giant Eagle Inc. is teaming with Grabango, a checkout-free technology provider, on a first-of-its-kind partnership to create a no-wait checkout experience.

• Wakefern Food Corp. is opening a fulfillment center in Clifton, NJ that leverages hyperlocal, automated technology from Takeoff Technologies. The technology uses advanced robotics in which orders of up to 60 grocery items can be assembled in minutes.

• Weis Markets Inc. has added Weis 2 Go online ordering with pickup and home delivery to 61 more stores, bringing the total number of locations offering the service to 150.

Drug/Health/Beauty

• Giant Food Stores LLC has launched the Giant Pharmacy app, which allows customers to request refills, transfer prescriptions and view their prescription history.

Just because we don’t mention it here doesn’t mean it didn’t happen – or we didn’t capture it. In the past four weeks, we’ve updated more than 758 companies in the Database of Foodservice Technology and Database of Retail Technology, with many of those companies’ records updated at multiple points.