ClusterTruck’s Message to MURTEC Audience: We’ve Figured Out Delivery So You Don’t Have To

In a highly anticipated MURTEC session entitled Delivery Disruptors, Brian Howenstein, COO at ClusterTruck delivered his message loud and clear to a rapt audience, “We are both a software company and a restaurant operator. We run the kitchens ourselves, we built the tech stack ourselves. If you want the turnkey model, we will franchise it.” 

They’ll also license it. It was unclear exactly what would be included in a licensing deal, but the message was unmistakable: ClusterTruck has created something unique when it comes to food delivery, in an industry struggling to reconcile skyrocketing delivery demand with margin-crushing price tags at every turn. And it’s sharing the love with restaurants willing to buy in.

The ClusterTruck model boasts under 10 percent delivery costs, a high-performance ghost kitchen, well-compensated, happy delivery drivers, an impressive tech stack allowing the company to promise food will never be more than six minutes old. With a short delivery window, no order batching (your food isn’t held hostage while drivers deal with other deliveries) and a slick app, ClusterTruck will likely be a hit with consumers - assuming they’re willing to get off the couch to meet the truck. There was no mention of how to attract said consumers.

How can ClusterTruck compete with the big guys? Only time will tell. What is clear is that the clever brand with a catchy name will not partner with them.

“We are a vertically-integrated service. We are not on third-party platforms. It’s all ClusterTruck from top to bottom,” Howenstein said. 

About the Author

Angela Diffly is the Co-Founder of Restaurant Technology Network. Follow her on LinkedIn to stay in the know on all-things restaurant technology: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angeladiffly/.

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