Lunchbox, a next-gen online ordering engine, announced its partnership with Sodexo, a global food services and facilities management leader, and delivery robot startup Kiwibot, to facilitate autonomous and contactless food delivery across the University of Denver (UD) for students through a seamless and novel integration between the three companies. The partnership is Lunchbox’s first move into the robotics delivery space and will serve as a model for closely linking digital ordering and autonomous delivery while continuing to drive innovation in the rapidly expanding space.
Lunchbox worked with Sodexo to create the Eats DU app to facilitate campus-wide contactless delivery with Kiwibot’s delivery robots serving as the last-mile solution. This integration serves as a preview of what the future of food delivery holds as online ordering continues to rise and autonomous technology continues to become more sophisticated and agile. Lunchbox plans to scale this partnership to other locations including workplaces, hospitals and even cities moving forward.
“We’re beyond thrilled to add even more capabilities to the Lunchbox platform to actively redefine the future of robotic deliveries in the hospitality industry, and provide the next wave of on-campus meal-plan innovation for students and faculty,” says Nabeel Alamgir, CEO and co-founder of Lunchbox. “Our partnership with Sodexo will greatly expand our enterprise solutions that will contribute to the evolution of the digital ordering experience and decrease customers’ costly reliance on third-party options.”
The partnership between Lunchbox, Sodexo and Kiwibot comes at a time of accelerated innovation within the on-demand space. Companies like Walmart and Amazon have made significant investments in robotic and drone delivery solutions to provide more utility and value in a time when health and safety is a top concern for consumers. Lunchbox intends to continue expanding in this space and developing the platform to be at the forefront the latest trends in the on-demand economy.
The partnership with Sodexo and Kiwibot on the University of Denver campus follows Lunchbox’s recent $2 million funding round in January, and a slate of exponential partnership growth aimed at driving sales and consolidating digital commerce initiatives for restaurants under one platform, including companies like Toast and DoorDash Drive. Most recently, Lunchbox added a major new partner in fast-growing restaurant technology service provider Ordermark to help restaurants sustain revenue during COVID-19 by providing key infrastructure to enhance digital operations and drive guest engagement and sales.
