While restaurants were used to serving customers in their own dining rooms for years, they couldn’t rely on customers dining in for lunch or dinner in postwar America: They had to reach customers who wanted to eat at home in front of their television sets. As a result, restaurants in postwar America started offering takeout and delivery options. Since then, food delivery has become digitized through services such as Grubhub and Uber Eats. Here’s how the industry has evolved with changing consumer behavior and where it may be headed in the future.  Read More...

Consumers want to know where their food was grown, when, how and by whom — in short, they want to know they can trust it. Many grocers are turning to blockchain to provide transparency into this process, which not only satisfies the consumer appetite for info — it also helps the company address food safety concerns swiftly and with precision. French grocer Carrefour, which was already using blockchain to track the product journey of its storebrand chickens, is the latest to expand blockchain food traceability within its product offerings.  Read More...

It’s always bad manners to check your phone at a restaurant, unless you’re checking it in order to pay the check. Bruno Degiovanni, VP of Digital Payments, Western Europe, at Mastercard, told PYMNTS that a new partnership with Eataly — and other dining establishments in Italy — is turning what was once a dining out faux paus into a better customer and restaurant experience.  Read More...