Page 8 - IAV Digital Magazine #520

iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine
Domino's Testing Pizza Delivery Robot In Texas
By Ben Hooper
April 13 (UPI) -
- Pizzeria chain Domino's announced it is teaming up with an autonomous vehicle company to offer cus- tomers in Houston contact- free delivery via robot.
Domino's said the R2 robot, developed by Nuro, will be delivering pizzas to Houston cus- tomers in the Woodland Heights neighbor- hood who opt-in to the autonomous delivery pilot pro- gram.
The robot car, which received regulatory approval from the U.S. Department of Transportation last year, will carry pizzas to customer's homes, and the patrons will receive text mes- sages with updates on the delivery status and a PIN to put into the robot's touchscreen to receive the orders.
"There is still so much for our brand to learn about the autonomous delivery space," Dennis Maloney,
Domino's senior vice president and chief innova- tion officer, said in a news release.
"This program will allow us to better understand how customers respond to the deliveries, how they interact with the robot and how it affects store operations."
Domino's previ- ously experiment- ed with a self- driving Ford Fusion hybrid delivery vehicle in Ann Arbor, Mich., in 2017 and delivery
via drone in Britain in 2013.
Restaurants Across The Country Are Experiencing A Ketchup Shortage
By CNN
There's a short- age on one of America's favorite condiments: ketchup.
Restaurants have relied heavily on takeout orders to get through the pandemic — which caused a demand for more ketchup packets.
But once those started running low, some eater-
ies
began pouring out bulk ketchup into individual cups.
The Wall Street Journal reports the low inventory of ketchup is hit- ting mom-and- pop restaurants as well as chain establishments like Texas Roadhouse and Long John Silver's.
According to restaurant busi-
ness
platform "Plate IQ," the ketchup shortage has caused packet prices to rise 13% since January 2020.
But there is some good news: USA Today reports that America's most popular brand Heinz is working to increase its sup- plies in order to produce 12 billion packets a year.