This week in restaurant tech: Pepsi wants to bridge the digital divide for Black-owned restaurants, a platform for florists turns to food, and delivery services get ready for the big game.
Pepsi’s investments
The food giant is partnering with three Black-owned restaurant businesses in honor of Black History Month.
This week it announced a “significant, multiyear investment” in EatOkra, a directory app for Black-owned restaurants, as well as an investment in Black and Mobile, a delivery service exclusively for Black-owned restaurants.
The funds will help EatOkra to scale and grow its database, and Black and Mobile to expand from its current markets of Atlanta, Baltimore, Detroit and Philadelphia.
It’s also collaborating with Kezia Williams, CEO of entrepreneurial training program Black upStart and founder of #MyBlackReceipt, to develop a system for people to share when they’ve visited a Black-owned restaurant.
The goal of the three partnerships is to help close the digital divide many Black-owned restaurants face.
“Restaurants need digital visibility to thrive, and it’s become a ‘make or break’ situation over the past year. We’re honored to work alongside visionary leaders who saw the consumer and business opportunity to help Black-owned restaurants grow five years ago,” said PepsiCo Global Foodservice CMO Scott Finlow in a statement announcing the EatOkra investment.
BloomNation’s pivot
The e-commerce platform for florists raised $11 million in a Series B round and is now offering its technology to restaurants and liquor stores under a newly created umbrella company called Promenade.
Dig-In, the company’s restaurant vertical, provides restaurants with online ordering and delivery integrations designed to help them generate more revenue via their own channels.
Santa Monica-based BloomNation was founded in 2010 and helps florists create and manage online storefronts. It works with thousands of florists across the U.S.
Delivery’s big day
Super Bowl Sunday is a massive day for food delivery, and new data shows which delivery services will dominate in each state among likely viewers of the big game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Helixa, which uses AI to analyze consumer behavior online, found that DoorDash is the favorite in the most states at 16. Uber Eats was next with 14, followed by Grubhub with 12 and Uber Eats owned-Postmates with eight.
In the biggest markets, results were split: Grubhub is tops in New York, Uber Eats in Florida, DoorDash in Texas and Postmates in California.
Meanwhile, Chiefs and Buccaneers fans seem to agree on at least one thing: They both prefer DoorDash, according to Helixa.
Seasoned’s new board member
Seasoned, a foodservice hiring platform, has added Black Box Intelligence CEO Kelli Valade to its board of directors.
The former Chili’s president will help guide Seasoned’s growth, specifically around its employee community, restaurant partnerships and diversity and inclusion initiatives.
Seasoned launched just last month in Dallas, offering a platform to connect restaurants and employees.
“I couldn’t be more excited to join Seasoned as they continue their rapid growth in Dallas and beyond,” said Valade in a statement. “I’ve watched firsthand as they’ve effectively navigated COVID-19, helping workers get jobs more quickly and providing businesses a fast, frictionless, and more effective tool to bring in employees at a time when hiring is changing rapidly. I look forward to working with the team to accelerate that innovation and growth.”
In case you missed it ...
Kitchen United takes its technology to the mall.
Grubhub is growing, but it’s still losing money.
Uber Eats and DoorDash have Super Bowl ads for the first time.
Uber Eats is getting into alcohol delivery.
Zuul is licensing its ghost kitchen technology.
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