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."
Minutes from a recent Federal Reserve meeting showed that members "expressed uncertainty about how much more policy tightening may be appropriate."
Microsoft said it detected malicious hacking activity against critical U.S. infrastructure by a Chinese state-sponsored group.
Cheddar News checks in to see what to look out for on The Day Ahead as earnings continue with reports from Gap, Best Buy, Costco Wholesale and Ulta Beauty while key economic data is also due to be released. It's also National Wine Day on Thursday.
Over 1,400 props from classic movies like Star Wars, Shawshank Redemption and Gladiator will be up for auction next month in what experts say will be one of the largest memorabilia auctions in the world.
The Consumer Federation of America released its annual list of top complaints filed with consumer agencies across the country.
Google is using new artificial intelligence models to generate descriptions for YoutTube shorts.
The European Union and Google are looking to develop a voluntary artificial intelligence pact with European and non-European companies ahead of rules to govern the technology.
The Federal Trade Commission is investigating whether baby formula makers colluded in bidding on state contracts, according to documents posted on the agency's website.
Target will stop selling some of its Pride gear over concerns about safety for its workers because of "threats."
Tesla is expected to choose the location for its next factory by the end of the year, Elon Musk announced at an event on Tuesday, with India, South Korea and Indonesia in the running.
