31. Maturing Delivery Markets – How Pizza Pilgrims Embraces Delivery Market Changes with Gavin Smith

Bharti Radix is the founder of BloomsYard, a café bar concept she built from scratch during COVID-19, now spanning 8 sites. Drawing on her background as a finance executive at Jamie Oliver Restaurants, BrewDog, and beyond, Bharti shares how financial fluency shaped her lean, organic approach to growth – and why delivery, for all its promise, still has something to prove to her business. In this episode, we discuss: How a finance career became the unexpected foundation for a hospitality business Why passion is the real driver behind surviving the hard times in hospitality The challenges small, independent café brands face on delivery platforms Corporate catering as an unplanned but thriving revenue stream Building inclusive communities around physical hospitality spaces

What if the entire delivery revolution came down to one person who just wanted a decent meal brought to his door? That is essentially what happened. Will Shu, co-founder of Deliveroo, unpacks how delivery really began, why logistics is "shockingly complex," what the three sides of a delivery marketplace actually demand, and where drones, AI and dynamic pricing are taking the industry next. In this episode, we discuss: Building Deliveroo from a personal need into a global delivery platform Balancing consumers, merchants and riders in a complex three-sided marketplace Using data, machine learning and dynamic pricing to optimise delivery logistics Trusting founder instinct while using data to make better decisions How AI, drones and changing consumer expectations could shape delivery’s future

What happens when ChatGPT becomes your food ordering platform? The answer might transform how restaurants connect with customers forever. In this week's minisode, Peter catches up with Bites founder Bala Subramaniam on their breakthrough as the first AI native food marketplace integrated into ChatGPT. Discover how restaurants are bypassing traditional delivery apps to offer conversational ordering that keeps control of margins and customer data in-house. Links mentioned in this episode: Bala Subramaniam on LinkedIn Bites Like the show? We’d be hugely grateful if you could help us spread the word by taking 1 minute to leave us a rating and review on your podcast platform of choice. Full instructions at https://www.thedelivery.world/ratingsandreviews

Sunny Chhina is the CEO and co-founder of The Fat Pizza, a rapidly expanding franchise operation opening one store per week across the UK. Starting in his family's Perfect Pizza business at age 12, Sunny has built a tech-forward delivery empire that combines traditional hospitality values with cutting-edge AI and automation. As chairman of the Pizza and Pasta Association, he shares insights on scaling through franchising, the future of delivery, and how family businesses can embrace innovation while maintaining their core essence. In this episode, we discuss: Growing from family pizza shop roots to tech-forward franchise empire Using AI and automation to optimise delivery operations and menu personalisation Franchising vs equity models and maintaining control while scaling rapidly The critical importance of volume and own-driver fleets in delivery success Balancing traditional hospitality values with modern technology innovation

In this episode of Delivery Prophets: Tech Smart, JP Then, founder of Slerp, joins us to reveal how restaurants are quietly taking back control – one direct order at a time. From inventing the sourdough doughnut at Crosstown to building tech that lets even small operators access delivery networks once reserved for the giants, JP shows how ‘unbundling’ from the marketplaces is reshaping the game for everyone, not just the big brands. In this episode, we discuss: Unbundling delivery platforms and expanding restaurant options Rise of direct ordering channels and customer data ownership Technical and operational challenges of delivery integration Delivery’s shift from resistance to an essential revenue stream Increasing role of AI and digital efficiency in operations Future trends: innovation in transport and ongoing digital growth