Today in Restaurant and Grocery Tech: As Dine-In Struggles, IHOP Turns to Fast-Casual

Today in restaurant and grocery tech news, quick-service restaurants (QSRs) close their dining rooms in response to vaccine mandates, while IHOP opens the first location of its fast-casual concept. Plus, Tasteful Foods CEO Anders Christensen explains that teaming up with retailers to offer alternatives to takeout helps fend off the company’s biggest competitor: restaurants.

Gopuff to Open Fulfillment Store to Consumers

Gopuff will open an omnichannel store in San Francisco to manage both in-store and online orders, Grocery Dive reported. An application Gopuff filed with the city outlines that there will be a modified dark store, in which in-store shoppers can use digital terminals to order beverages and any number of items, from ice cream to diapers. Then workers will pick the orders from a product storage area that also works with the online orders and brings them to the customer, according to the report.

Dine-In Dealt Another Deathblow as QSRs Revert to Digital Ordering vs Policing Vax Mandates

Once again, restaurants are closing their dining rooms for virus-related reasons, though this time it is not out of fear of transmission — it is to avoid the challenges of enforcing vaccine mandates. Some quick-service restaurant (QSR) locations in cities with proof of vaccine requirements are closing their seating areas, Reuters reported on Friday (Oct. 1).

IHOP Opens Fast-Casual Brand; Chipotle Offers Increased Personalization

This week in restaurant news, the first location of Flip’d by IHOP opened its doors; Chipotle added nutrition filters; First Watch went public; and the restaurant industry’s recovery reversed course.

Denmark’s Tasteful Foods CEO: Restaurant Business Is Biggest Competitor

“Every time a consumer decides to order a butter chicken via an app to be delivered to [his/her] house from a restaurant, the opportunity to sell rice and vegetables to the consumer disappears for the retailer,” CEO Anders Christensen told PYMNTS.