Delivery Hero is ending its restaurant deals in Norway, and Friendly’s is opening a more digital-centric restaurant concept. Plus, Starbucks is reversing its decision to mandate vaccinations or weekly testing, and Andrew Robbins, CEO of Paytronix, discusses how restaurants can leverage loyalty-driving tools to navigate crises.

Delivery Hero Ends Exclusive Restaurant Deals in Norway After Competition Probe

Norway residents will soon have other ways of getting their meals delivered. Delivery Hero, one of the biggest online food delivery companies in Europe, has been remanded for its exclusivity agreements. The Norwegian Competition Authority (NCA), the government agency responsible for ensuring competition, and the German-based delivery giant settled an anti-competitive probe into Foodora, a Delivery Hero subsidiary.

Friendly’s is gearing up to open a fast-casual concept; Starbucks is backpedaling on its vaccine mandate; Del Taco is opening a digital-order-focused store; and Pret a Manger has been ordered to settle a lawsuit over alleged biometric privacy violations.

Restoran Bersandar pada Pelanggan Setia untuk Menavigasi Omicron, Dampak Inflasi

“A strong loyalty CRM program, online ordering, those are the twin pillars of a good strategy,” Andrew Robbins, CEO of Paytronix, told PYMNTS’ Karen Webster in an interview. “And we see this every single time there’s a downturn.”

Buy Now, Pay Later Coming to Food and Beverage Categories Despite Pushback

Consumer finance company Zilch has come under fire for promoting its buy now, pay later (BNPL) option as a way to pay for pizza at the supermarket in a now-deleted blog post, but for better or quite likely for worse, Zilch is not the only company attempting to extend BNPL to the food and beverage space.

The Generation Gap in Restaurant Loyalty Programs

Ketika datang ke program loyalitas restoran, ada perbedaan generasi. Menurut penelitian PYMNTS, 64% pengunjung Generasi Z dan 61% milenial berpartisipasi dalam program ini di satu atau dua restoran layanan meja yang sering mereka kunjungi. Untuk orang tua dan kakek-nenek mereka, itu adalah cerita yang berbeda. Hanya 37% Gen X dan 27% pelanggan baby boomer yang melakukan hal yang sama.

Virtual Restaurants Are Evolving Beyond the Need for Aggregators

“Saya pikir [pemesanan langsung] akan mengarah pada perubahan baru tentang bagaimana loyalitas diciptakan, yang akan sangat menarik untuk dilihat — bagaimana kita bertarung untuk orang-orang di dunia online secara berbeda daripada ketika kita memiliki mereka di ruang audiensi di dalam kita. restoran,” Rishi Nagam, CEO penyedia solusi restoran virtual Franklin Junction, mengatakan kepada PYMNTS dalam sebuah wawancara.