Food

The online reservation platform has launched a slate of new features, pricing updates, and a “full-on-charm offensive,” to lure high-profile restaurants away from its biggest rival, reports New York Magazine:

Doritos are changing shape for the first time. A limited number of square chips will be hidden in UK bags to promote the upcoming Minecraft movie, with a cash prize if you find one. New flavors named after the game’s Creeper and Ghast enemies are going on sale too. PepsiCo’s chief chip technician — a job title we should all aspire to — is clearly proud of his work.

Following McDonald’s in China releasing a Tetris-playing nugget last year, KFC in Spain has created a Tamagotchi-like digital pet called the Eduardochi. It was originally sold through KFC’s website and app, but starting on December 3rd it will be available through KFC’s restaurants across Spain for €3.99 (around $4.20) with many of them hopefully ending up on eBay.

Sorry, I had to. Anyway, please look at these pictures of how Nerds Gummy Clusters are made — and keep your eyes peeled for them this Halloween because they are scary good.

Our friends at New York peek into Wonder, the rapidly-expanding fancy food hall / delivery app that partners with fancy chefs and restaurants to bring their signature dishes to more locations. The back-end is, well, food kits?

DoorDash is bundling Max’s $9.99 / month ad-supported plan with its annual DashPash membership in the US, which costs $96 / year. Uber One offers a similar bundle with Disney Plus in the UK.

Bullying works: after TikTok users complained about Chipotle’s inconsistent portion sizes, the company announced this week it is “doubling down” on training to ensure customers get “correct and generous portions.” It will cost the company $50 million, executives told analysts.

With 8 temperature sensors, the Combustion Predictive Thermometer works even if you don’t place it “just right.” Those sensors also track temperature on the food’s surface and in the oven to “predict” when your food will be ready within minutes of starting to cook.

Most induction requires a 240V outlet, but this new cooktop from Impulse Labs has a battery inside that stores up juice for when you want to cook.

It’s hard to overstate Wendy’s satisfaction with its FreshAI chatbot, which it’s currently using to take drive-thru orders at four restaurants in Columbus, OH. In an update, the company says the generative AI system can takes orders without the need for employee intervention 86 percent of the time, and in one location is 22 seconds faster than average. Franchisees will be able to pilot the AI next year.

Wonder, a delivery service that licenses recipes from restaurants, bought Blue Apron for $103 million and, where available, will now use its couriers to deliver BA kits.

Just Eat is trialling a new AI-powered chatbot that’s designed to add items to your shopping basket in response to a query like “egg and cheese mcmuffin from mcdonalds.” It plans to pilot the assistant with UK users in the next few weeks, with a wider rollout to follow. Coincidentally, rival Uber Eats also plans to launch a similar chatbot this year.

The company’s been experimenting with its “Caper Cart” at limited Kroger and other food market locations — which automatically recognizes and rings up items as you put them in the cart — but now new versions are available at a Spotswood, New Jersey ShopRite, and are coming soon to a Fairway Market in NYC.