🍟 McDonald’s AI play, explained

PLUS: The $1.5B asynchronous vid startup. November 2, 2021 [The Hustle]( Squid, a crypto token based on Netflix’s viral hit “Squid Game,” saw its price shoot up more than 310,000% last week. The cryptocurrency crashed to zero yesterday after its founders cashed out $2.5m. Guess that means game over? Today’s rundown: - Robots at the drive-thru: Mickey D’s big bet on AI. - The real gravy train: The economics of Thanksgiving dinner. - Email on camera: How Loom is building the future of asynchronous communication. - Around the web: A tour bus for nappers, a look inside Tokyo’s tiniest apartment, and more. Let’s do it. The Big Idea [drive-thru]( Is AI the future of drive-thrus? In the near future, you could order your Big Mac from a bot. Or maybe you already have... Restaurants have been [experimenting]( more and more with AI and robots, especially as companies struggle to find entry-level workers. McDonald’s has been working on tech-savvy drive-thrus for a while In 2019, it [acquired]( the startup Apprente, which specializes in voice ordering, and created McD Tech Labs. In June, it [tested]( the tech in 10 Chicago drive-thrus, allowing customers to [tell a computer]( their order. The bots were ~85% accurate. At that time, CEO Chris Kempczinski told CNBC that McDonald’s acquisition strategy was to bring companies in house for a short period, then find a partner to scale it. And that’s exactly what McDonald’s did Last week, McDonald’s [announced]( the sale of its Automated Order Taking (AOT) tech to IBM, which will also acquire McD Tech Labs. IBM already has Watson, its own [suite of AI tools]( (not to be confused with its [supercomputer]( of the same name that, in 2011, beat Ken Jennings at “Jeopardy”). McDonalds has a long way to go before it can roll out AI to all 14k of its US restaurants. But as it stands, 20% of orders in McD’s 6 top markets are already made digitally through apps, kiosks, or for delivery, accounting for $13B in sales, [per]( Restaurant Dive. Check this out: Amid the pandemic, a Moscow KFC was almost [entirely run by bots](, reducing employee-customer contact. In 2017, for National Fried Chicken Day, KFC built a [robot]( Colonel Sanders. [Share on Facebook]( [Share on Twitter]( [Send as email to a friend](mailto:?subject=The%20Hustle%20wrote%20something%20I%20think%20you%27ll%20like...%0A&body=Is+AI+the+future+of+drive-thrus%3F%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fthehustle.co%2F11022021-AI-drive-thrus%3Futm_campaign%3DAI%2BDrive-thrus%26utm_content%3D11022021-AI-drive-thrus%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Ddaily%0A%0AYou%20can%20subscribe%20with%20my%20link%20here%20to%20get%20the%20latest%20in%20tech%20and%20business%20daily:%0A [View on our website]( SNIPPETS Dell’s big deal: Dell [spun]( out software company VMware as an independent entity valued at $64B, leaving Dell proper valued at $33B. Sunshine startups: Companies in Florida have [raised]( $1B+ in early funding so far in 2021, ~4x the total raised in 2020. Toy trouble: Due to supply chain issues, Hasbro [had]( $100m in unfilled orders in its last quarter. Fickle fabric: Apple [revealed]( its most back-ordered product is the recently released Polishing Cloth, which is compatible with 88 different Apple products and costs $19. Head-to-head: Fantasy and sports-betting apps DraftKings and Fanduel are [among]( the bidders to buy The Athletic, a subscription sports website that is asking for $750m. --------------------------------------------------------------- Hey — enjoy getting quick updates on what you care about? Take [20 seconds]( to personalize your Snippets. Pick your preferences👇 and we’ll send you more of what you love. Boom. [Personalize my Email →]( No Thanks(giving) [Thanksgiving food prices]( Thanksgiving prices are hotter than a turkey fresh outta the oven There’s always something to be thankful for. This year, it’s not the price of food. All around us prices are [rising]( like a batch of easy-bake dinner rolls. In September, the CPI* for food was up 4.6% from 2020, and meat, poultry, fish, and egg prices were up 10.5%. But it’s not just inflation. Bumps early in the supply chain are driving up the cost of Thanksgiving essentials like turkey and cranberry sauce. Heck, even aluminum pans are feeling the heat, with the metal’s prices hitting 10-year-highs. GLOSSARY * Consumer Price Index (CPI): A measure of change over time in the average price for a basket of goods and services, including food, housing, recreation, education, communication, medical care, apparel, transportation, and housing. [Share on Facebook]( [Share on Twitter]( [Send as email to a friend](mailto:?subject=The%20Hustle%20wrote%20something%20I%20think%20you%27ll%20like...%0A&body=Thanksgiving+prices+are+hotter+than+a+turkey+fresh+outta+the+oven%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fthehustle.co%2F11022021-Thanksgiving-prices%3Futm_campaign%3DAI%2BDrive-thrus%26utm_content%3D11022021-Thanksgiving-prices%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Ddaily%0A%0AYou%20can%20subscribe%20with%20my%20link%20here%20to%20get%20the%20latest%20in%20tech%20and%20business%20daily:%0A [View on our website]( Vid Tech [asynchronous video screenshot]( Loom and the rise of asynchronous video Of all the Zoom stories that have gone viral, the student who put a [selfie]( background so he could skip class ranks right up there. He was definitely on to something, though. Not every remote video call has to be synchronous, with all viewers attending at the same time. One startup has reached unicorn status… … making asynchronous video the norm: Loom, a platform used to quickly record videos for work. According to [Protocol](, the company was founded in 2015 by Joe Thomas, Vinay Hiremath, and Shahed Khan and has since: - Onboarded 14m+ users - Raised $160m at a $1.53B valuation - Hosted 100m+ “looms” (AKA video recordings) The office communication landscape... … traditionally falls into 3 buckets, per Protocol: - Synchronous video (Zoom and FaceTime) - Synchronous text (Slack and Teams) - Asynchronous text (email) While Loom faces competition in the asynchronous video space -- from Slack, Dropbox, and Cisco -- it leads in mindshare. To grow even more, it’s wooing developers to build on its platform via the loomSDK. What separates Loom? The video startup is best known for the “Loom bubble,” which captures a speaker in a small circle while the person explains a screenshare. However, the real secret sauce is speed: Loom patented a method of “instantaneous asynchronous media sharing” that quickly sends a recording to the cloud to be shared and watched by others (at up to 2x speed). Loom ultimately wants to be “email on camera.” We suspect the student with the selfie Zoom background likes the sound of that. [Share on Facebook]( [Share on Twitter]( [Send as email to a friend](mailto:?subject=The%20Hustle%20wrote%20something%20I%20think%20you%27ll%20like...%0A&body=Loom+and+the+rise+of+asynchronous+video%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fthehustle.co%2F11022021-asynchronous-video%3Futm_campaign%3DAI%2BDrive-thrus%26utm_content%3D11022021-asynchronous-video%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Ddaily%0A%0AYou%20can%20subscribe%20with%20my%20link%20here%20to%20get%20the%20latest%20in%20tech%20and%20business%20daily:%0A [View on our website]( TRENDS Just 3 examples. When you’re a part of the [Trends community](, you see businesses being built every single day. Just off the top, let’s run through 3 businesses started by Trends members in the last year. - Austin, a guy with no prior experience in ecommerce, started Comfort Plants. Now he’s bringing in $10k/mo+ and growing 🌱 - After reading our[piece on how newsletters make money](, Samuel launched the Ticker Nerd newsletter and hit 5 figures within 3 months 💸 - Nathan founded Bubblehotels after[our report on yurts](. They booked $850k of reservations in their 1st month ⛺️ And those are really just the tip of the iceberg. When you become a member of Trends, we give you thousands of vetted business ideas for you to start and a network that will help you make it a reality. [Try Trends for 7 days for just $1](; surprise yourself and see what’s possible. We’ll see you on the inside. [Get Access →]( AROUND THE WEB 📅  On this day: In 1983, President Ronald Regan signed the bill that made Martin Luther King Jr. Day a [national holiday](. It’s observed on the 3rd Monday of January. 🎁 Useful: [Jolly]( is an app that lets you anonymously exchange gifts with others, thus taking the “Secret Santa” tradition digital. 💰 How to: CNBC reports that 55% of workers are looking for a new job. If that’s you, here’s [how]( to handle your 401(k) as you transition. 😴 That’s interesting: In Hong Kong, a tour bus is [offering]( a 5-hour ride exclusively for passengers who want to nap. Tickets are $13-$51 and include an eye mask and earplugs. 🏠Whoa: A YouTuber [toured]( what is reportedly Tokyo’s tiniest apartment and it’s not half bad! 🥩 Haha: You’ve heard of the metaverse, but click [here]( to enter the meataverse. Meme of the day [McDonald's meme] Yup. Would definitely rather order from a robot… (Source: [SayingImages]() [The Hustle Recommends] Source: [Wikipedia]( [Lunch Atop a Skyscraper: The Story Behind the 1932 Photo]( This 5-minute documentary tells the backstory of one of the craziest photographs of all time. I loved it, even if the footage made me feel a little woozy. -Rob How did you like today’s email? Today's email was brought to you by [Trung Phan](, [Jacob Cohen](, [Juliet Bennett Rylah](, [Rob Litterst](, [Sara Cravatts](. Editing by: Zachary “Big Mac with fries, please” Crockett. [PODCAST]( [JOBS]( [CONTACT US](mailto:news@thehustle.co) [Facebook]( [Youtube]( [Instagram]( [Trends]( 25 FIRST ST. 2ND FLOOR, CAMBRIDGE, MA 02141, UNITED STATES  +1 888 482 7768 Never want to hear from us again? Break our hearts and [unsubscribe](list=thehustle). [The Hustle](