Apps & Technology

The latest news and updates on apps and technology, from the business journalists at Catering Today. We bring you the latest on what’s happening in the restaurants, bars and catering industry, with exclusive stories, analysis, best practice and industry comment.

Jul- 2018 -

25 July

BRC welcomes ‘much needed’ review into card-acquiring services

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has welcomed news that the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) will carry out a market review into card-acquiring services due to an “alarming increase in card fees and charges”. Andrew Cregan, policy adviser at the BRC has welcomed the review, and said it comes at a…
Read More »
24 July

Deliveroo hits back at Frank Field report

Deliveroo has issued to a statement to Catering Today hitting back at MP Frank Field following his report into the working conditions of the company’s riders. The door-to-door app said that it welcomes Field’s comments regarding the benefits of ‘gig-economy’ work, but says his report makes “a number of claims…
Read More »
24 July

Frank Field report finds some Deliveroo riders ‘earning £2 per hour’

A report released today concluding a five-week investigation by MP Frank Field has found that some Deliveroo drivers are earning as little as £2 per hour. The MP demanded that Deliveroo riders were paid the minimum wage of £7.83 per hour, Field’s report said that the company kept an oversupply…
Read More »
19 July

Is Deliveroo moving customers from cover to couch?

Stolen food, high commission prices, overworked staff and ruining restaurants’ relationships with their customers – just a few claims made by restaurateurs who partner with door-to-door delivery apps such as Deliveroo. The massive growth of the British-born smartphone app, which allows customers to order meals from well-known high street restaurants…
Read More »
18 July

Artificial hamburgers to hit restaurants by 2021

A Dutch company that has created a lab-produced hamburger, Mosa Meat, has received £6.7m to bring its creation to restaurants from 2021. The majority of the company’s investment fund was from German company M Ventures and Bell Food Group. Mosa Meat said the German company were frontrunners in the production…
Read More »
6 July

New Yotam Ottolenghi restaurant forced to close for a week after new technology fails

Yotam Ottolenghi’s new Rovi restaurant has been forced to close for a week after a new eco-friendly heat recovery system failed. The restaurant, based in London’s Fitzrovia, had installed the new system to replace the current heat extraction equipment with an eco-friendly alternative. The restaurant said in a statement: “Rovi…
Read More »
3 July

Personal information of job applicants leaked in Costa Coffee data breach

The parent company of Costa Coffee, Whitbread, has been the subject of a data breach which has seen personal information of job candidates exposed. A cyber attack was carried out on Whitbread’s recruitment agency, PageUp, potentially leaving data including home address, email address, telephone number, maiden name, date of birth,…
Read More »
Jun- 2018 -

13 June

5,000 restaurants to join Deliveroo as it introduces self delivery

Deliveroo has announced it is to allow restaurants to use their own delivery networks with its the new service ‘Marketplace+’, which will lead to 5,000 more restaurants available on the app by the end of the year. Deliveroo said it expects the new service will improve delivery times, “result in…
Read More »
7 June

Deliveroo announce new tech to ‘save restaurants millions of pounds’

Deliveroo has announced it is rolling out new technology that it claims will “save restaurants millions of pounds” by automatically updating restaurant sales systems in real time. The food delivery app company says initial tests showed a “dramatic cut in the order processing time” from two and a half minutes…
Read More »
4 June

Absolute Taste to allow diners to scan and track history of meals

London-based catering specialist Absolute Taste has announced a partnership with blockchain platform Omnitude to allow customers to track the history of their meals. Absolute Taste provides food experiences to international and domestic events such as Formula E; The British Grand Prix at Silverstone; The Fever Tree Championships at Queens and…
Read More »