The Chicago City Council recently voted to remove the tipped minimum wage, marking a major win for workers’ rights advocates in the market. Currently, the city’s tipped minimum wage is $9.48, with gratuities making up the difference to the $15.80 minimum wage. As part of the new law, the tipped minimum wage will annually increase… read more

Taking orders at the drive-thru Technology is rapidly changing the way restaurants operate on-site, online, in corporate HQs, and throughout the supply chain. Restaurants of every size and style are adopting apps, software, robotics, and artificial intelligence to take on the tasks that take up time, freeing teams to focus on their core purpose: delivering… read more

Yooga, developing a Brazil-based restaurant operation management system, raised its first institutional funding of $2.3 million in seed capital. The round was led by SaaSholic with participation by Gilgamesh, Apex Partners and Backfuture. Vinicius Melo, Victor Sortica, and Cassiano Guerra Fernandes co-founded the company in 2017 and bootstrapped Yooga for three years before taking $300,000… read more

Blackbird Labs, a hospitality tech company whose platform helps restaurants stay in touch with guests and incentivize them to dine out more frequently today announced that it raised $24 million in a Series A round led by Andreessen Horowitz with participation from QED, Union Square Ventures, Shine, Variant and others, as well as restaurant groups… read more

New position will support the diner brand and Keke’s in IT Denny’s Corp. has named Pankaj Patra to the new position of chief digital and technology officer, the company said Friday. The Spartanburg, S.C.-based owner of the diner and Keke’s Breakfast Café brands said Patra will identify new technology solutions for its divisions and will… read more

Microsoft Cloud and Azure OpenAI Service are collaborating to create a generative AI tool to improve customer experience and help with back-of-house tasks Domino’s announced Tuesday that the pizza chain is working with Microsoft to develop an in-house generative AI assistant to help automate some back-of-house tasks for employees and improve the ordering process on… read more

Google has built an ad-measurement tool that connects with marketers’ first-party data and is designed to work without browser cookies and other data tools that measure performance based on old methods. Google Ads Data Manager — the measurement tool announced Wednesday — will become available in Google Ads early next year. The product roadmap includes… read more

Modern versions of brand anthems are “singles, not jingles,” one creative said. When you think of the most memorable advertising from the ’80s and ’90s, what comes to mind? We’d wager a bet that it’s a jingle—maybe dulcet tones from Stanley Steemer, promising to get your home cleaner, or a jaunty phone number sing-along for… read more

Sysco Corp. said it has agreed to buy restaurant supplier Edward Don & Co. with the intent of establishing a new operation focused on specialty equipment and supplies. The price and other transaction details were not disclosed. Edward Don sells and distributes a broad range of equipment, from ranges to rotisseries. It is also a… read more

Uber Eats customers can now order from two nearby restaurants or other businesses in the same order. The bundling can be done with no additional fee and is intended to meet consumer demand for affordability, Uber Eats said. It will be available only for restaurants that are close together and can be easily picked up… read more