When you navigate to Serve Robotics’ website, it poses an interesting question: “Why deliver two-pound burritos in two-ton cars?”

After briefly wondering if burritos are actually that heavy, you may realize the answer to the actual question lies simply in the fact that there aren’t too many other delivery alternatives (and we all know the economics for rapid delivery aren’t great).

But a crop of companies believe they’ve cracked the code, offering what they say are cheaper, less labor-intensive, and more sustainable ways to complete local deliveries: robots. While Serve and Nuro’s deployments have been on a smaller, regional scale thus far, the companies are continuing to scale with new partners like 7-Eleven and Uber Eats, and hoping to break through this year.

Roll with it: Serve was started by Postmates in 2017, using data from the food delivery company that found over half of deliveries cover less than a few miles and 90% were delivered in cars, “which is both not very sustainable, but also very expensive,” Serve Robotics CEO and co-founder Ali Kashani told us.

• Serve moved to Uber when it acquired Postmates in 2020, but spun out as an independent company in 2021.

Its autonomous four-wheeled sidewalk robots, with eye-like sensors making it look “like a Disney character,” Kashani said, can carry up to 50 pounds of cargo. The company claims it could eliminate over 1 billion car miles and more than 370k tons of CO2 annually.

A partnership announced last month with 7-Eleven, which participated in Serve’s 2021 funding round through its 7-Ventures, is a step toward that goal. Serve is providing the c-store delivery-as-a-service in Los Angeles, following a similar model as delivery services that use humans, so retailers don’t have to purchase robots themselves. Deliveries are typically completed in ~30 minutes, Kashani said.

Keep reading here.—EC

On Wednesdays, we wear pink spotlight Retail Brew’s readers. Want to be featured in an upcoming edition? Click here to introduce yourself.

Today, we’re getting to know Lauren Gardner, general manager at Hammer Made, a Minnesota-based limited-run men’s shirt brand.

How would you describe your job to someone who doesn’t work in retail? I oversee all operations of the business.

One thing we can’t guess about your job from your LinkedIn profile? I also own a very small part of a nut-butter company [FIt Butters] that has taken off in the past couple of years in big ways.

What’s your favorite project you’ve worked on? It’s actually a current partnership we have with our professional baseball team. We take photos of the players in our shirts and the stadium uses those photos as their player profile photos on the jumbotron for their games. It’s what we are most known locally for.

Which emerging retail trend are you most excited about this year, and why? Utilizing micro-influencers for social media instead of agencies and celebrities. It feels much more organic and believable.

What’s your go-to coffee order? Pumpkin cream cold brew with sugar-free vanilla [syrup] at Starbucks. Lasts me two days!

Worst piece of advice you’ve received? That as a woman in my position for two years, I needed to “play the game” and sacrifice my pay so I could take on more opportunities to be able to prove I deserved a promotion—after I was told I didn’t receive the promotion and they instead gave it to a fresh-out-of-college male with no experience. I ended up finding a different opportunity a week later that ended up investing in my development and brought me to new heights.

What was your favorite retail product when you were 15, and what’s your favorite retail product now? I could not get enough of GX and JNCO jeans. They were all the rage, and when I had money to spend from my part-time jobs, I would buy a pair and wear them until they could stand up on their own. Of course, right now, I’m loving our men’s shackets from the fall/winter season, but on a personal level, I cannot go without my monthly perfume from Scentbird. They are the perfect size and I can never go through an entire tube in a month, so now I have a ton of options for whatever mood I am in.

“Christina Najjar, aka Tinx, is known as a lot of things on TikTok: dating coach, the app’s ‘big sister,’ creator of the ‘box theory.’ She’s also a fan of hot sauce, and it wasn’t long until Tabasco capitalized on that. Now, the two are collaborating on a salad dressing, marking the latest step in Tabasco’s evolving influencer marketing strategy,” writes Marketing Brew’s Katie Hicks:

Tabasco has more than 90,000 followers on Instagram and 500,000 followers on TikTok. Lee Susen, chief sales and marketing officer at McIlhenny Company, told us working with influencers is a key element of the brand’s social strategy.

As a legacy brand, Susen said, “The focus is, we have to maintain relevance. If you rest on your laurels, you’ll drive the business directly out of existence.”

Read the whole story here on Marketing Brew.

Striking a chord: How a Los Angeles guitar shop changed the city’s indie folk scene. (Switched on Pop)

Lock and key: Retailers see a notable drop in sales when they put products in locked display cases to deter retail theft. Security-device maker Indyme believes it may have the solution. (Insider)

Tough cell: The three leading cell-cultured meat companies have raised a combined $1.2 billion to develop meat alternatives created in a lab. But questions have arisen around the fact that they’re using immortalized cells—something most people haven’t intentionally eaten before—to do it. (Bloomberg)

Want to take your relationship with Retail Brew to the next level? Throughout the year, we will gather fellow retail leaders for discussion and dinner in NYC.

Apply now for a chance to partake in an evening of conversation about the most pressing issues facing today’s retailers—oh, and some great food!

Catch up on the Retail Brew stories you may have missed.

• The modern retail inspiration behind the NY Islanders’ team store
• A Gen Z founder’s unique take on where Web3 can take fashion
• Playboy’s Valentine’s Day lingerie collection and Gen Z