Kroger customers can now have restaurant-style meals delivered to their door as the supermarket partners with the cloud-kitchen platform ClusterTruck.
"As we're growing, we were starting to think about strategic partnerships and folks that can take our software platform to the next level," Chris Baggott, CEO and co-founder of ClusterTruck, told Cheddar Thursday. "Kroger — being a Midwestern company like ClusterTruck — they were a natural [fit]."
Cincinnati-based Kroger, the largest supermarket chain in the U.S., is launching the service in four cities. ClusterTruck was founded in one of them — Indianapolis.
Kroger's Business Development Leader Ethan Grob says that his company is trying to capitalize on the larger industry trend of delivery-only restaurants.
"If you've been to a restaurant recently, you see third-party delivery people lining up to deliver these restaurant orders, which can take away from the in-store restaurant experience," Grob said. "Restaurants are increasingly looking to take that food preparation out of their main kitchens and into these ghost kitchens or dark kitchens."
And that's exactly what Kroger's found in ClusterTruck.
"We've built a profitable model by being vertically-integrated, and leveraging software and machine learning to control every aspect," Baggott said, citing ClusterTruck's drivers and food cooked in-house.
"We're really tied tight with Kroger on this," Baggott said of his Midwestern neighbor. "We're very invested in being successful with this together."
Stocks fell after the opening bell Friday but will end on another positive week.
Cheddar News' Need2Know is brought to you by Securitize, which helps unlock broader access to alternative investments in private businesses, funds, and other alternative assets. The private credit boom is here and the Hamilton Lane Senior Credit Opportunities Fund has tripled in assets under management in just six months from November 2022 through April this year. Visit Securitize.io to learn more.
Americans picked up their spending from October to November as the unofficial holiday season kicked off, underscoring that shoppers still have power to keep buying.
The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate dropped below 7% to its lowest level since early August, another boost for prospective homebuyers who have largely been held back by sharply higher borrowing costs and heightened competition for relatively few homes for sale.
Mortgage rates have dropped below 7% for the first time since the middle of August.
Taylor Swift grossed nearly $2 billion this year, according to Billboard.
A study from US News and World Report has found the most affordable place to retire is in Ohio.
Millions of households could see higher internet costs next year as the affordable connectivity program could end.
Viveca Chow, NYC lifestyle expert, spoke with Cheddar News to provide tips on how to have some festive fun in the city on a budget.
Apple announced that it's releasing an iPhone security update to prevent attackers from acquiring users' private passcodes.
