Burger King, Popeyes Pilot Delivery

The fast-food chains are testing delivery at hundreds of restaurants with encouraging early results.

May 04, 2018

MIAMI – In 2011, Burger King debuted its BK Delivers in Brooklyn, N.Y.; Chicago; Houston; Las Vegas; Los Angeles; Miami; Oakland, Calif.; San Francisco; San Jose, Calif.; and Washington, D.C. Customers ordered online or via a toll-free number, with the food delivered in proprietary thermal packaging technology to keep it hot or cold.

But Burger King was too ahead of the curve, and the available technology—and customers—couldn’t sustain the service. Now, parent company Restaurant Brands International (RBI) CEO Daniel Schwartz said the Burger King had started a pilot delivery service at hundreds of locations across several markets, QSR Magazine reports.

“We’re encouraged by the results so far,” Schwartz said. “Though it is still early, delivery has been successful for us in many of our international markets, including places like China and Spain, and we intend to further expand our test in the U.S. over the coming months.”

RBI is simultaneously testing delivery at hundreds of U.S. Popeyes locations too. “Our results thus far have shown that consumers have particularly enjoyed using the delivery channel to purchase Popeyes products for the dinner and for the late-night day parts, which are day parts that typically involve larger check sizes. As with BK it is still early, but the results have been encouraging so far and we intend to meaningfully broaden our test in the coming months,” he said.

This week, Chipotle Mexican Grill announced its partnership with DoorDash for delivery, Reuters reports. More than 1,500 U.S. locations will be served by the agreement. “We are making Chipotle even more convenient and accessible to our customers,” said Curt Garner, chief digital and information officer at Chipotle.

Fast-food companies are jumping on the delivery bandwagon with both feet recently. McDonald’s partnered with UberEats to deliver its menu from thousands of U.S. restaurants, while Wendy’s announced a partnership with DoorDash for units across the country. 

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