Today in restaurant and grocery tech news, Target’s digital investments led to food and beverage growth, while Google made moves to replace Instacart as the go-to grocery aggregator. Plus, the president of Toast discusses why ghost kitchens may not in fact be the future of restaurants.
Digital Drives Huge Gains in Target Grocery Sales
With the strength of its eCommerce business, Target is quickly becoming a major player in grocery. Discussing its third-quarter 2021 financial results on Wednesday (Nov. 17), the retailer announced comparable sales growth in the food and beverage category in the mid-teens percentage range, on top of mid-thirties growth in the third quarter of 2020, attributing this growth in part to the success of its digital investments.
Google Maps Aims to Edge out Instacart With Grocery Aggregator Features
Google Maps is becoming a grocery aggregator. On Tuesday (Nov. 16), the company announced in a blog post that after an initial test in Portland, Oregon, in the spring, Google has now rolled out pickup features for more than 2,000 grocery stores across 30 states.
Toast President Says Ghost Kitchens No Substitute for On-Premises Dining Experience
“Restaurants are timeless, and the jobs that restaurants do for us — whether it’s date nights or drinks after work with friends or anniversary celebrations, and so on — these are these are all things that aren’t going away,” Steve Fredette, president and co-founder of Toast, tells PYMNTS in an interview.
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