5 tech things: Delaware North debuts two Just Walk Out stores at Globe Life Field

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:

1.    Two Just Walk Out stores to debut at Globe Life Field

Concessions firm Delaware North is opening two convenience-oriented foodservice outlets at Globe Life Field, home of Major League Baseball’s Texas Rangers, which becomes the first in a Dallas-area sports and entertainment venue equipped with Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology and Amazon One. Offerings include cheeseburgers, hot dogs, bratwurst, sausage and corn dogs, along with an assortment of packaged beer, spiked seltzers, soda, bottled water, chips, candies and sundries.

Read more: Globe Life Field is first sports and entertainment venue in Dallas area to use Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology and Amazon One

2.    Grubhub/Transact deal expands college student mobile order options

Food ordering/delivery firm Grubhub has announced a partnership with mobile credential/payment solutions firm Transact Campus to integrate its Marketplace into the Transact Mobile Ordering app to allow students to order from on- and off-campus restaurants via Grubhub's restaurant network using their campus card for a seamless ordering experience. Students will be able to access Grubhub's entire network of more than 365,000 restaurants nationwide and place orders no matter where they are while participating local restaurants get a new channel to market their business and generate more orders from the campus community.

Related:5 things: LAUSD reaches deal with striking support workers

Read more: Grubhub and Transact Campus Expand Partnership with First-of-Its-Kind Integrated Mobile Ordering Solution

3.    Panera to integrate Amazon palm-scan into its loyalty program

Panera announced a new partnership with Amazon to integrate the tech company’s Amazon One biometric palm scanning services into its loyalty rewards program. After linking their MyPanera account to Amazon’s contactless, palm-scanning Amazon One software, customers reportedly will be able to pay for meals, receive menu recommendations based on preferences and earn rewards points without any physical card requirements. While currently limited to a handful of locations in St. Louis, the feature will be added to more Panera US locations in the coming months, the company says.

Read more: Soup with a side of biometrics: Amazon One is coming to Panera

4.    Uber to go Ghostbusters on poor performing ghost kitchens

Uber will be launching a virtual restaurant certification program (a cross between a ghost kitchen mentorship program and virtual brand incubator), and will simultaneously be cracking down on any redundant or poorly performing virtual brands on its platform. This strategy is two-fold: the virtual restaurant certification program, in partnership with big-name virtual brand companies like Virtual Dining Concepts and Nextbite, is meant to provide support for restaurants that want to launch virtual brands in the future. The second aspect—the crackdown on virtual brands—is meant to provide quality control for brands and menus that already exist on the platform.

Related:5 things: USDA proposes to expand CEP

Read more: Uber Eats is starting to crack down on redundant and poorly rated virtual brands

5.    Drone firm reports delivering a lot of sandwiches, salads and chicken

Aerial delivery startup Flytrex has released its 2022 yardstick detailing customer trends across its drone delivery service in North Carolina and Texas that highlights the company’s achievements, from volume and types of items delivered to fastest time from order to delivery. Sandwiches and salads made up almost a fifth, or 19.8%, of restaurant orders, with chicken and wings coming in a close second at 18.5%. The largest order was stacked with three tomato soups and one noodle soup, two Cobb salads with chicken, two BLTs and 2.5 cheese sandwiches, the company said.

Read more: Flytrex Releases 2022 Drone Delivery Customer Trends

Bonus: Reimagined Café Presents Fresh Alternative at Manhasset, N.Y., Hospital

Contact Mike Buzalka at [email protected]