LYFT Enters the Restaurant Delivery
LYFT enters the restaurant space in a partnership with OLO to deliver digital orders for Olo's network of restaurant brands. Olo's Dispatch product allows restaurant brands to accommodate delivery for orders generated through their website and apps by providing a network of third-party delivery service providers, such as Lyft. "With Dispatch, we help our customers enable delivery on their owned channels, using trusted partners like Lyft for local delivery. The addition of Lyft to the Dispatch network not only expands delivery coverage for our brands but drives competitive pricing at the benefit of guests and brands alike," says Shalin Sheth, VP, and GM of Dispatch for Olo.
Unanswered questions
BYND is SHORT
According to some, the BYND product is not good enough for Taco Bell but will drive significant sales and traffic at McDonald's. Beyond Meat traded higher yesterday on indications that the McPlant test at McDonald's locations is going well. "Following several channel checks with industry executives and franchisees, we believe McDonald's will expand the test of McPlant in the U.S. from 8 locations currently to several hundred restaurants in 1Q22." The part where MCD expands the text is entirely expected, but the national launch of McPlant in 2022 is not going to happen. The marketing and menu strategy to get the supply chain ready for 2022 was put in place last summer. McDonald's will likely expand the test of McPlant in the U.S. from 8 locations currently to several hundred restaurants sometime in 1H22. At best, BYND may be a 2023 launch, the last year of the three-year deal that BYND signed with MCD, so the clock is ticking for BYND.
SBUX & UNIONS
The union movement at Starbucks may have gained momentum. After a successful union vote at a Starbucks location in Buffalo last week, two Boston-area locations are beginning to take steps in a similar direction. In Buffalo, three more locations are also heading towards union elections, and another store in Mesa, Arizona, that just filed for a vote. "We want to ensure that our voices are heard and that we have equal power to affect positive change for our store, district, and company," a Boston employee wrote in a letter to Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson. "As partners and core contributors to the company's success, we deserve respect." So far, 36 of around 47 employees at locations in Brookline and Allston have signed cards indicating their intent to unionize. The same union was responsible for the win in Buffalo last week, with some employees even calling for a national movement to unionize the labor force, particularly at corporations in foodservice. Starbucks workers in Victoria, Canada, also ratified a collective bargaining agreement in July, nearly a year after voting to unionize. Over the years, the company has taken pride in its "cultivated and progressive brand," closing stores to hold racial bias training, offering health benefits to all employees, and education benefits. Recently Starbucks flew Howard Schultz to discuss the union happenings in Buffalo, where he told workers that "no partner has ever needed to have a representative seek to obtain things we all have as partners at Starbucks, and I am saddened and concerned to hear anyone thinks that is needed now."
