5 tech things: Uber launches Google voice order option

In this special edition of its 5 Things series, Food Management highlights five recent technology-related developments affecting the foodservice world.

Here’s your list for today:

Uber has announced the integration of voice ordering with Google Assistant that allows customers to personalize their orders with voice comments like, “OK Google order my favorite salad from Sweetgreen” without having to say, type or add anything else. At the same time, the company also announced the launch of an autonomous delivery pilot program in Los Angeles and an Uber Eats/Postmates partnership at six sports sites—including Yankee Stadium in New York and Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles—that allows customers to order food for pickup at the stadium and skip the line to grab the order at the pickup counter when it is ready with no delivery fees..

Read more: Uber launches delivery robot pilot program; adds Google voice ordering

Domino’s Pizza has announced that it is working with Netflix on a “Stranger Things”-themed “mind ordering app” that uses facial recognition and eye-tracking to power pizza orders via movements such as nodding, tilting of the head and closing of eyes. “We’re geeked to launch this first-of-its-kind mind ordering app, just in time for the premiere of ‘Stranger Things’ new season,” Kate Trumbull, Domino’s senior vice president of brand and product innovation, said in a statement. “Now hungry customers and ‘Stranger Things’ fans across the U.S. will get a taste of what it’s like to be Eleven, and they may find some hidden surprises along the way, such as the Noid or Demogorgon.”

Related:5 things: Only 8% of NYC workers back in offices full-time, survey finds

Read more: Domino’s ‘Stranger Things’ Promotion Offers Ordering via Facial Recognition

Jersey Mike’s Subs announced the formation of a partnership with on-demand delivery leader Flytrex for drone-delivered food orders in Holly Springs, North Carolina. The new partnership will see orders from Jersey Mike’s delivered directly to the yards of local residents by drone, with a flight time of only five minutes.

Read more: Jersey Mike Subs by Drone: Flytrex Partners with National Food Chain

A small group of entrepreneurs at the Louisiana Technology Park have created a fully autonomous "restaurant in a box" called Speedy Eats designed to serve drive-thru, walk-up and delivery that can be placed indoors or outdoors and operate 24/7. The unit features a universal oven that allows for the restaurant to specialize in either pizza, barbecue, wings, chicken tenders or breakfast items, with the first units set to open in Baton Rouge within the next 18 months.

Related:5 things: Hospital opens all-hours kosher lounge

Read more: World's first fully-automated, smallest and fastest drive-thru kitchen produced in Baton Rouge

Here is a very cool one-take drone video tour of the recently re-opened Purdue University Memorial Union and its extensive social and dining spaces. FM readers are welcome to submit videos featuring their dining operations—especially new, innovative and cutting-edge venues—that they would like to showcase to the FM audience. Send video or file share links to [email protected]

Read more: Purdue Union reopens with a dozen food concepts

Bonus: Beep-boop…slurp? Ramen robot debuts in California hospital

Contact Mike Buzalka at [email protected]