Just Eat, Just Sold - The Global Marketplace Consolidation Continues

Welcome to this week’s episode of The Digital Restaurant Podcast! Carl is joined by special guest Olga Lopategui, a leading expert in restaurant loyalty and digital engagement, to break down the latest innovations shaping the restaurant industry.

⏱ [01:07] – Just Salad Gets $200M Investment

• What makes Just Salad’s tech stack unique?
• How will this funding impact digital transformation in restaurants?
• Will they use the investment for expansion, technology, or both?
  
  

⏱ [04:42] – Just Eat Takeaway’s Acquisition by Process

• What does this mean for global food delivery consolidation?
• How does it compare to previous acquisitions like Grubhub?
• Could DoorDash face challenges in global expansion?
  
  

⏱ [09:09] – The Digital Guest Experience & UX Innovation

• How should restaurant UI/UX evolve for better ordering?
• Why should apps customize the interface for individual users?
• What lessons can restaurants learn from brands like Taco Bell’s Veggie Mode?
  
  

⏱ [14:19] – What Are Digital Twins & Why Do They Matter?

• How do digital twins work in the restaurant industry?
• Can virtual simulations replace traditional prototype testing?
• How might predictive maintenance reduce restaurant downtime?
  
  Additional Paper here
  
  

⏱ [19:53] – Dutch Bros, Panda Express & Domino’s on Mobile Ordering

• How did Dutch Bros perfect their mobile app launch?
• What improvements are Panda and Domino’s making?
• Why is mobile ordering crucial for customer loyalty and convenience?

Chapters

• 0:00 TDR 3-3-25
• 1:23 Q1 - Just Salad gets $200M investment
• 4:41 Q2: Propos in talks to acquire Just Eat
• 9:08 Q3: The future of Guest Experiences
• 14:18 Q4 - What are digital twins and why are they important?
• 19:52 Q5 - Dutch Bros, Panda and Domino's all talking on Mobile Ordering

Transcript

[00:00:00] Joining Carl today is guest host Olga Loptegi, as they discuss digital twins and the impact to predictive analytics, Just Eat being bought, and what that means in the global delivery consolidation race, and looking into the success that has seen Just Salad raise 200 million. That's all ahead on this week's Digital Restaurant.  

[00:00:25] Carl: Happy Monday. Welcome to the Digital Restaurant and this week I have another special guest host with us, Olga. Welcome to the show. If you don't know Olga, where have you been for starters? Olga for me is the foremost expert when it comes to restaurant loyalty. Rewards programs, anything in that space, she is definitely the person that I turn to to get the latest views.

No surprise you'll hear that Olga's had 15 years in various marketing roles with the likes of Pizza Hut, KFC, TGA Fridays, and now she's in her own Business in a boutique consulting firm named [00:01:00] restaurant loyalty specialists. So we're very fortunate to have you with us today, Olga, because I know you have opinions about the world of the digital restaurant, and I'm looking forward to getting your take on the news and some of your opinions.

So welcome to the show. 

[00:01:12] Olga: I'll say you, thank you, Carl. You're, you're too kind.   

[00:01:14] Carl: You and I spent the week going through a lot of news articles There was a lot happening So hopefully we've chosen the best five to share with our listener base. 

Q1 - Just Salad gets $200M investment

[00:01:23] Carl: And Lucky how you have got the first question this week just salad has drawn a 200 million dollar funding round and I'm a big fan of this company, 

tell us about this. Why do you think they've got such a large funding round and why is this important for everyone to be aware of? 

[00:01:38] Olga: I'm actually very, very excited to see just a lot getting that funding round. I do know the marketing team and that's an amazing group of people doing really, really cool things.

So, unfortunately there is no just salad where I am in Austin, Texas. So I've only had had a chance to have a meal there once when I was in New York and it was very, very nice. But I've been watching [00:02:00] JustSalad for their marketing and loyalty strategy for a number of years now, because I think they're doing really cool stuff.

So, what I like about their program, a lot of custom technology and some of it is public, what they're doing. Some of it is they keeping to themselves, but they have an unusual amount of customization in their marketing technology stack for a brand of their size. There's a lot of, a lot of Work they've done to make their app very distinctive, but also very user friendly.

So if you download it, it doesn't look like your standard Like completely standard typical loyalty app that you see with the majority of the restaurants. They've Kind of mimic the flow of their process in the restaurant, in their app, which some brands do as well. But they've done, they put their own twist on it.

And they're also one of the few brands that actually does a really good job with challenges and gamification. So, I think they deserve a big break. The category is pretty [00:03:00] crowded. I'm really excited to see where they're going to go from here. 

[00:03:03] Carl: Yeah, I agree. I think a because we need to have more affordable, healthy food options in America.

I have a big belief in that. And so I love that part of it. The fact that they make the overall user interface super effective as well. I mean, it's just, it's one omni channel experience. And I think that is something that's super important with any kind of restaurant group that's making strides in this space.

And I'd be curious. I don't know whether the article covered much in this, but I doubt it, but I'd be curious as to how much of that 200 million is going to be put into the tech stack as well as into growing new locations, right?

Because clearly they are on a journey. They believe in technology and the digital interface, and it'll be exciting to see how it now can be used to greater heights. 

[00:03:48] Olga: Yeah, I completely agree and I'm really curious to see how their differentiation points such as, bringing back your reusable bowls and the whole sustainability element, how is that going to [00:04:00] manifest even more in their technology going forward?

Because it's one thing to just put those words on the website and another one to weave them into the customer experience and being in New York and being in a market that is very technology driven, just by the nature of being very urban. I think they have a huge opportunity with that. So I'd love to see how they stack up against, they your covers, your sweet greens and the rest of the guys playing at that same category.

I want everybody to win, but I'm very excited that just Celad gets to play. 

[00:04:31] Carl: Especially if they open a location in Austin and Orange County, California. That's what we're asking for, guys. Please do that for us. We will be a loyal customer for sure. 

Mhm.

Q2: Propos in talks to acquire Just Eat 

[00:04:41] Olga: So the next question is about the news coming out of Europe. So just eat takeaway has been just recently purchased by a company called process. So the consolidation continues in the European market.

So what does it mean for us? What does it mean for restaurants in Europe? What does it mean in terms of global trance? What do you think, Carl? [00:05:00] 

[00:05:00] Carl: Yeah, it's a fascinating one, right? I put a post out last week on the numbers when it comes to this environment. When you think about Just Eat buying Grubhub billion when was that in 2020?

And then they sold it recently, of course to Wunder for 615 million, a 92 percent loss. And now Process is bidding to purchase Just Eat for 4. 3 billion, which is a 63 percent premium on its stock price, but still lower than its 2016 IPO price. And it's, it's an interesting one for me, Olga, quite honestly, because, growth without sustainable profitability is dangerous, right?

And Restaurants and platforms alike clearly are having to continue to prioritize unit economics and not just scale. And scale has definitely been the name of the game when it comes to the marketplace environment. But I think the thing that really blew me away when I read about this is, who is this process?

Right? I mean, have you met anyone there? I haven't met anyone. 

[00:05:53] Olga: I've never I've never heard of those people. I'm not as in touch with the European market Just it yes, [00:06:00] but Brussels who they are 

[00:06:01] Carl: I I hear you I mean, they're a tech investor and they've got deep pockets and holdings So they their own ifood, which is in latin america.

They have a good a good stake in swiggy in india mitel on the huge chinese giant in this space and delivery hero in germany So now with Just Eat, which, as you rightly say, is a big European player, that's very much solidifying their kind of European food delivery dominance, right? And so this global trend that's happening, what with Mito on dominating China, you've got Uber Eats and DoorDash fighting for North America.

And then you've got process, which is, becoming the strongest European player, and especially in some of these emerging markets, it's really interesting that fewer platforms now controlling more markets, therefore, perhaps giving them even more power over restaurants and their strategy. Now, I was thinking about this from the angle of what does this mean for DoorDash?

Right, because DoorDash clearly is the big market leader now in the U. S., but maybe it's starting to face a few global gaps. In Europe it's got Walt, but that's got a lot of presence in [00:07:00] Scandinavia, Germany, and Eastern Europe, but it still trails Uber Eats and Just Eat in Western Europe, like to UK, France, and Spain.

It's got not really much footprint in Latin America. It's got a few. Elements in Asia, but not too much. So, you know, maybe there's a potential chink in DoorDash's army. It was, as you start to see Uber Eats, the process family and might one becoming more globally diversified, might one don't forget in our last, was it last episode or two episodes ago, I talked about them getting into Saudi Arabia.

If North America slows down, where does DoorDash grow, right? And so I think there's some really interesting ways just to see how the global delivery marketplace environment is going to change out here. And what does it mean for restaurants? Well, as I say, food delivery power is concentrating into fewer hands, perhaps expect more pricing and policy changes.

Are these companies going to compete for profitability or, are you going to find restaurants having to adapt in different ways? Either way The reality of the marketplace environment and the consolidation that's happening means we are in an era of global [00:08:00] superpowers now It's no longer an individual country game.

[00:08:05] Olga: Yeah, I agree. I don't think it's an individual country game anymore However, there is another term underneath it as the consolidation happens where it all ends up is restaurants end up paying higher fees because there are less players to work with and less competition and new players come up from, from underneath and the number of startups that reach out to me was their pitches, which I can absolutely cannot help them with because I have nothing to do with delivery, but the number of startups that reach out to me asking me, well, what do you think about our delivery?

What do you think about our KDA system? What do you think about our, Okay. solution that they're trying to grow in, in the background and trying to displace those big players one at a time. Just the sheer quantity, the army of those people trying to get on the game is absolutely fascinating. And I think as the big players try to take bigger and bigger chunks out of the restaurant profit margins, you will see more and more small players fighting for space there.

[00:09:00] And some of them will eventually displace the big guys. So it'll be interesting to see how that all of that develops. 

Mhm.

Q3: The future of Guest Experiences

[00:09:08] Carl: Absolutely. All right. Well, let's move on to a topic that is close to both of our hearts the guest experience and where it's heading and the importance of it because maybe in link to that last article there, if you have a great guest experience through your own first party channel.

You're at least able to compete a little bit more effectively as well. So you took a look at this article what's your view on where the guest experience is heading, especially from a digital perspective? 

[00:09:35] Olga: Yeah, so they And the article is linked to the video, right? It's on the in the footnotes.

Yes Yeah, so they so this article, from the qsr magazine It caught my attention because it talks about the user experience from the ui perspective And we don't often get a good view of that We talk about user experience from the in store perspective, we'll look at their experience [00:10:00] with the product, but the UI as a driver of loyalty is not a very common common point of consideration.

So what I really liked as I was reading through this is it brings all those ideas around how can you actually adapt your UI in the future, probably not quite right now. To optimize the experience of the guest and by that I mean Not just a suggestive recommendations, right? Not just knowing what you purchased before what you're likely to purchase again It's also removing irrelevant buttons from visible interface If you know that i'm a person that never clicks on this Do not show it to me if and me personally, I I'm actually not a delivery person I've never ordered delivery in my life.

I don't use door dash. I like to pick up my food. That's It would be absolutely wonderful if the UI of the restaurant apps that they use regularly was actually aware of that and was not even popping that in front of me as an option. I'm, it's always take away from me if I were online. There is no, no [00:11:00] other option.

So it's eliminating friction, it's creating more space for merchandising the food. So, I think that's maybe not the next step on the evolution of UI, but it's a couple of steps ahead and it's something that we need to start thinking about. So, for Carl, when Carl goes to order food. On the app or on the website for a given run How can you make it the cleanest interface for carl?

What does carl not care about what will he never click on? Get it out of his view and put things he wants to see in front of him 

Yeah, 

[00:11:30] Olga: So that's what that article made me think about and I haven't seen that experience myself, but I know it's possible I absolutely know it's possible. 

[00:11:37] Carl: I think it's only a matter of time before we see that As the dominant force the closest I've seen to it.

I've mentioned it on the show in the past is Taco Bell in their kiosks where you can select veggie mode, right? And suddenly you've just got a vegetarian. Clearly that is for a customer segment, not a specific customer, but it's a good representation of just showing me the things that are okay that I want to eat.

So I think that's [00:12:00] going to be you'll see more and more of that, especially as we've seen such a proliferation in the kiosk space recently. 

[00:12:08] Olga: Yeah, and like one of the examples that i've also given recently is like for example for me as a customer of mcdonald's There's mcdonald's next door to my house I sometimes I just get food for my husband.

Sometimes I get the food for the family if I wish my nearby mcdonald's was aware of the fact that when I order for three people It's my husband and my kids and knew what exactly my kids are eating Because I have to customize the damn thing every single time. I still haven't figured out how to say that Or how to save it, but be able to use the coupon at the same time.

Because every time I add a Happy Meal coupon into my app, all my customizations disappear, I have to do it all over again. Why is that so hard? You know what I order. One doesn't like pickles, another one doesn't like cheese. And I've done it probably 20 times in the last two years. Let's get it in the UI.

[00:12:59] Carl: [00:13:00] I love that comment. I've got a question for you though. So, I'm sure you have a Netflix account for the family like I do. You know how you might have Olga's account, you might have your husband's account. Do you think that additional element of a profile even though it's another step In the user journey in terms of the amount of clicks Do you think that's the type of way in which restaurants are going to be able to solve for this?

[00:13:20] Olga: I I haven't done the research on it, but my guess is that it's not about user profiles, it's about asking a question, who are you ordering for? And if I say I'm ordering for the family, that's all they need to know. Now the kids stuff appears, are you ordering just for yourself, or are you ordering for a party?

Having that contextual question that then changes what's happening. That's what's, that's, I think they, I think that's how it's going to work best. Because I also, I don't want to be in a veggie mode when I'm ordering for people that are not veggie eaters. Every now and then that will happen.

And having to like, oh my god, how do I turn myself into the normal menu, accessible to everybody else. [00:14:00] Or, once in a lifetime when I actually want to get an alcoholic drink, which doesn't happen very often. Don't hide it from me the one time I want it. Hide the dessert, keep on hiding the dessert.

Yeah, 

[00:14:13] Carl: yeah, very good. Awesome. All right, well, let's move on.

Mhm.

Q4 - What are digital twins and why are they important?

[00:14:18] Olga: Okay, question 4 digital twins. So that was a very interesting article. I actually have never heard about digital twins before. But when I read the article, I'm familiar with the concept. I've never just never heard that term. 

What is it? How does it 

[00:14:34] Carl: work? Yeah I I don't think many people have and so I thought it would be a good thing just to to talk a little bit About because it's it's not a news article this one It's just talking about the concept of digital twins and I thought it'd be worthwhile touching on it because the article Uh was titled from kitchens to conference rooms how digital twins are redefining Operational efficiency and hospitality and the author of it.

Joseph callaghan is the ceo. I think it's called a cyrate he was really [00:15:00] exploring this kind of transformative potential of how this digital twin technology can actually take a real role within the hospitality industry and Let me explain what they are first, digital twins are virtual replicas of physical assets or systems, and they're becoming instrumental in enhancing various operational facets and I'll touch on a few of them.

But, what he does in the articles, he explains the role of spatial computing. which is a technology that merges the physical and digital realms in revolutionizing the way in which hospitality operators can think. And we've talked about augmented reality and virtual reality in the past. And, and that is one way to perhaps frame the thinking around this, because if you take that type of capability and pair it with predictive tools, it's now allowing businesses to simulate and test new processes on equipment, perhaps, but do it in a risk free virtual environment, which therefore.

mitigates all the potential disruptions and costs that can sometimes come with real world testing. You [00:16:00] think back to your days in the big chains, right? Where you'd put out test concept stores. That takes a lot of effort and time. Whereas now there are ways in which these things can be done to try and address the ways in which customers and staff will interact with the systems.

[00:16:14] Olga: You know, back in the day yeah, that made me think of the kitchen layout testing that I experienced back in one of my old jobs where instead of building a prototype store, we actually, you know, set aside on me, but the kitchen designers, they basically build like a cardboard model of a kitchen.

And put a bunch of real employees in there and we'll pretend it to make food. That was part of the testing testing exercise. We pretended to make food in the cardboard kitchen, but didn't really have any power. It was all about how you flow around. How do you bump shoulders to people or you don't. How you run one order to the other from the different sides of the kitchen.

And then you kind of troubleshoot it with humans, especially untrained humans, like marketing managers like myself. And you'll find out does it [00:17:00] really work or not. So my question back to you is is it easy enough to build on tasks in the virtual environment now? Or are you still better off building a cardboard kitchen and running a couple humans through it for a while?

[00:17:12] Carl: Yeah, it's a really good question because There's clearly costs attributed to different ways of interpreting this right? So one particular application of using this might be in the training department, right? So you take a very common experience of digital twins and that is how do you train a pilot where you don't put a trainee pilot up in a real plane because people die, right?

So that's what you get them into, one of the kind of air simulators. Well, if you have that same approach, what ways could you do that with perhaps training your maintenance teams on how they can solve for a problem like a complex HVAC unit? Right. Or maybe there are certain elements where you can train your GMs through certain activities to support certain maintenance activities themselves.

I don't know. The thing I do know is that I don't think we're going to see this in the kitchen anytime [00:18:00] soon when it comes to a culinary perspective. No. Because, texture, taste, smell, all of those kind of things, and the multitask nature of a kitchen. I think the augmented reality world is going to need to catch up quite a bit before that becomes a reality.

I'll tell you an area which I do think is interesting. And I suspect there are players out there already deploying it. And that's in the predictive maintenance space. So, give you another example of how this plays out. You think of a Formula One, I don't know whether you watch the F1 racing cars and the Formula One teams and how they use 

winds 

[00:18:29] Carl: to predict tire degradation, right?

So they analyze the temperature, the speed, their data, and that really helps them not only understand their race strategy before the race has started, but also in the race in terms of when to take a pit stop. So apply that same logic to equipment sensors and our kitchens, maybe sending data to digital twins, allowing predictive analytics to determine exactly when ovens, refrigerators and coffee machines are going to fail, therefore preventing the costly breakdowns.

But maybe it can also enables and [00:19:00] schedule preventative maintenance so that you don't ever get to that place where you're having sudden failures. Maybe it also could get to a world where you're helping the finance teams. Be able to establish where do I think the best bang for my buck is With regards to capital allocation when to invest in new particular types of equipment Does this equipment over here gonna have a better kind of outcome than this equipment over there?

So that one I think is going to be interesting and then I think as you said It's the whole thing around production of understanding the kitchen model, even understanding the layout of tables, the actual location of stores, all of those things can probably play a role as well. But as you say, it comes down to cost, and I think it's certainly something that bigger chains can make a case for.

The individual players probably have to rely upon those off the shelf technology companies to support them.

Mhm.

Q5 - Dutch Bros, Panda and Domino's all talking on Mobile Ordering

[00:19:52] Carl: Last stop this week. We've had some big brands in the news dutch brothers And Panda have been talking about their mobile ordering experiences and how that's [00:20:00] helping their business really move to new heights.

And Domino's also have been talking up a big game for what they're expecting this year as well. Care to tell us a little bit about what these guys are up to and are you excited by it? What do you think? 

[00:20:12] Olga: Oh, I'm I'm always excited about the improvements in digital ordering, particularly with Dutch Brothers.

They've been so late to the game. And once they have actually truly tested their their digital ordering experience on their app and they rolled it out absolutely flawlessly, it's just been so fun to watch. And we also got a Dutch Brothers next door, like, walking distance to my house just recently. So we actually use that that app a lot.

It's, it's really well done. So I know the technology that those guys are running it on and it's I think to me what is fascinating how long they've been testing it to make sure that it's it it's ideal for their type of typically drive thru experience, but it also works extremely well with the walk up orders.

And that's another thing where I would love to see some of that UI. Why improvement where we are the [00:21:00] walk up customers because we my husband and I we walk to the store and it is so close. We don't want to get on the car and make a couple of U turns. It's easier to walk, but we would love to see the app just default to walk up to the window, order at the window.

Yeah, so yeah, so I'm really excited about all of those changes because these big players are going to show the rest of the market what the apps need to do to be the most efficient for the guests to improve the experience to keep guests coming back. Convenience is just such a huge factor.

It's when you have an app or a web interface or even a wallet solution that allows you to quickly reorder, you know, you can get it done in a couple of clicks, you can do it while you're waiting at the traffic light. Or maybe two traffic lights worse to place an order. This is a huge differentiator because you don't have to call into the store, which often happens when people are in traffic and in commute.

You know that you can get what you need done very, very [00:22:00] quickly. And Getting the apps to the level where They achieve that goal that drives loyalty, right? It's not the loyalty programs alone the quality and the speed of experience the convenience of experience is extremely important I'm excited about that.

[00:22:17] Carl: It's a really good point about the pickup experience. Not just through the digital interface, but also Making it almost seamless as well during the actual process of walking up to a lot of these restaurants where They perhaps haven't necessarily created a great guest experience I was at a fast casual chain recently and you know I had to wait around for a while and it just felt like there was some opportunity for them to know A that I was in the same way as a chick fil a knows that my car is approaching from a minute away How can you do the same kind of logic with regards to your personal proximity from being a minute away?

So they're almost ready and holding my package of food as I'm walking in. What a great experience that could be.

[00:22:57] Olga: Yeah absolutely. I think it's [00:23:00] convenience is almost as important as the overall loyalty experience. Because people are the creatures of habit. And if you remember the rap book by Greg Treat. So the ease of use is, trumps a lot of things a lot of the times. So if you can get the guests into the habit get them into the convenience of it That's much of the loyalty game is one there 

[00:23:24] Carl: Now you see you just quoted a book there.

It's one of my personal favorites if you're in restaurants If you're in marketing do check out red marketing by ken mentioned and greg creed there Who are of course masters of their trade in this space and share some very good stories about their times at young brands talking of loyalty though olga i'd love to hear more about restaurant loyalty specialists.

What are you guys up to? How are you helping folks in the industry and who should reach out to you for support if they have questions? 

[00:23:54] Olga: Oh, yeah, absolutely. So restaurant loyalty specialist is a boutique consulting firm that I I [00:24:00] founded about six years ago and we do that in the space of loyalty, the specialized restaurant loyalty.

So we work with brands that launch new loyalty programs, change their existing loyalty programs, feel that their loyalty programs are not working as well as I would like them to. So anything related to loyalty space we do it. We are not the technology providers. So we work with whatever technology your brand has, whichever platform you may be using, or a combination of platforms.

So we adapt to your tech. And sometimes we help you switch to a different tech, only if you want to do that. So yeah, strategy, execution, anything loyalty related, give us a call. 

[00:24:38] Carl: Great. What's the best way for people to reach out to you? 

[00:24:41] Olga: Olga Lopategi on LinkedIn. There's only one of me.

So it's, let's say the joy of having a unique name combination. The first name is Russian. The last name is Puerto Rican. And there is just one of me out there. So Olga Lopategi or restaurantloyaltyspecialists. com. 

[00:24:58] Carl: Wonderful. I again, [00:25:00] heartily recommend Olga and her team. If you have a chance to spend some time with her, do so.

She's often out there at the conferences like I am. And Don't be shy do say hello. But Olga, thank you so much for helping me out today I'm the digital restaurant as our second guest host.

[00:25:13] Olga: Well, thank you for inviting it's been fun putting this together 

[00:25:17] Carl: likewise, thanks all the best 

The Digital Restaurant Podcast is available for you to follow and subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts. Watch us, rate us and subscribe to The Digital Restaurant on YouTube and follow along on all our social media digital restaurant channels. Thanks for listening.