Pandemic

Pandemic logistics help wanted: Fast-food managers, road race experts

Mitchell R. Lajoie 3 weeks ago

National Association of Manufacturers President and CEO Jay Timmons discusses encouraging workers to get the coronavirus vaccine and the Biden administration’s actions so far.

A year into the coronavirus pandemic, Americans are painfully aware that overcoming the scourge is a marathon, not a sprint.

Enter Dave McGillivray, who knows a thing or two about endurance events – and logistics.

The race director of the Boston Marathon, which is on hold until fall, has been tapped by the state of Massachusetts to run mass vaccination operations at Gillette Stadium and Fenway Park.

Idled at his day job by the pandemic, he’s part of an emerging group of event organizers and other unconventional logistics experts who are using their skills to help the nation vaccinate as many people against COVID-19 as possible.

“It’s amazing how our event management skill set can be applied to running a massive vaccination site,” said McGillivray, who

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Shoreline Menus food delivery disruptor stepping up for mom and pop restaurants struggling amid pandemic

Mitchell R. Lajoie 3 weeks ago

OLD SAYBROOK, Conn. (WTNH) — A local food delivery service is changing the game. Since, the COVID-19 pandemic they’ve grown exponentially and given the big guys, like Uber Eats a run for their money.

ShorelineMenus.com launched about two years ago. It all started in Old Saybrook when Penny Lane Pub owner, Alex Foulkes got fed up with one of the delivery service companies. He wanted a local option, didn’t see it, so created it.

He got together with other restaurants and hired drivers.

“It was made by the mom and pop restaurants and for the mom and pop restaurants with all of the constraints that are unique to small independent restaurants in mind,” said Foulkes.

Before the pandemic hit, they had 20 restaurants. Now, they’re up to 70 spanning from Branford to East Lyme. They hired their own drivers, emphasized quality control, and business has skyrocketed.

“Every day we’re meeting

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Food delivery company Starship Technologies has enjoyed explosive growth during the pandemic. It doesn’t mind that kids are feeding its robots bananas.

Mitchell R. Lajoie 3 weeks ago


Starship's growth has been fueled by hungry students and lockdowns. Starship Technologies

© Starship Technologies
Starship’s growth has been fueled by hungry students and lockdowns. Starship Technologies
  • Robotic food delivery company Starship Technologies hit 1 million deliveries this month.
  • The company has seen explosive growth due to the pandemic, doubling its robot fleet over 2020.
  • It has spotted children trying to feed the robots bananas.
  • Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Starship Technologies, the autonomous delivery company that sends little six-wheeled robots to people’s doorsteps with groceries and takeout, has had an astonishing year.

Starship Technologies was founded by Skype cofounders Ahti Heinla and Janus Friis in 2014. Its autonomous deliveries were already starting to ramp up prior to 2020, but the pandemic supercharged its growth. The company hit 1 million autonomous deliveries this month, representing a 900% increase from August 2019 to January 2021. Previously, it took the company five years to hit 100,000 deliveries.



diagram, timeline: Graphic showing Starship deliveries worldwide. Starship Technologies

© Starship Technologies
Graphic

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‘Selena + Chef,’ ‘The Pioneer Woman,’ and How the Pandemic Made Cooking Shows Better

2 months ago

You don’t need me to point out how much COVID-19 took away from all of us in 2020, but in a bizarre twist, the challenges of quarantine might have inadvertently pushed one genre to the next tier of excellence. Cooking shows — whether hosted on Food Network, HBO Max, or YouTube channels — nimbly adjusted to home kitchens where chefs finally had to confront the reality home cooks faced every day. More than that, the format of cooking shows like Selena + Chef or Amy Schumer Learns to Cook helped professional chefs react on the fly to a novice’s interpretation of their recipes. All told, cooking became less elitist and more down-to-earth, all good for inspiring wannabe chefs to try their hand at a new dish in the kitchen…

Thanks to the long lag time in most TV production schedules, the first part of food media that visibly showed

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