News Briefs

Teriyaki Madness will provide a drone-based delivery option to customers in two Texas cities later this year.

The fast-growing Japanese cuisine restaurant franchisor is collaborating with Zipline, an American robotics company that designs, manufactures and operates what it says is the world’s largest autonomous delivery system, to fly orders straight to customers across the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex and Houston markets before the end of 2026. Drone delivery will start at Teriyaki Madness location in Denton, Texas, and then expand to additional stores in the state.

[READ MORE: Teriyaki Madness is out to bring Seattle’s tastiest dish to the nation]

“Getting bowls to people faster has always been the mission, and at some point you run out of shortcuts on the ground,” said Jodi Boyce, chief marketing officer of Teriyaki Madness. “Zipline has more flight experience than anyone out there, so we knew our bowls were in good hands — or, really, in good drones.”

To receive drone delivery, a Teriyaki Madness customer places an order in the Zipline app. Once the order is ready, Zipline’s drones autonomously retrieve it and fly it to the delivery destination. Upon arrival, the drone stays up to 300 feet in the air while a smaller pod containing the order descends to the ground on a tether. The pod places the order on the ground and can deliver in high winds and bad weather conditions. 

After delivery, the drone flies back to charge for its next order. Zipline’s all-electric drones are entirely autonomous and have zero-emissions. Most orders arrive in less than five minutes.

“Zipline brings customers the food they’re craving the fastest way possible,” said Emily Snyder, VP of restaurant sales at Zipline. “With Teriyaki Madness’s focus on fresh, premium ingredients, Zipline can make sure those quality meals are delivered exactly as the restaurant intended.”

Photo credit: Teriyaki Madness

The prices of key construction materials jumped in September driven by higher fuel costs and the impact of tariffs.

Overall construction input prices (includes energy, materials and equipment) increased 2.2% in September, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) analysis of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Producer Price Index data. Commercial construction costs rose 1.7%.

Crude petroleum and unprocessed energy materials prices increased 28.3% and 22.2%, respectively. Natural gas prices increased 5.1% for the month. The cost of fabricated structural metal prices rose 1.4%, and insulation prices increased 1.6%. Steel mill products rose 2.2%.

“Construction input prices have risen more than 11% over the past 12 months, the largest year-over-year increase in nearly four years,” said ABC chief economist Anirban Basu. “While higher fuel prices brought about by the conflict in Iran have driven a substantial portion of the increase, prices for tariffed materials like iron, copper and other metal products continue to rise rapidly.”

[READ MORE: Colliers: National retail vacancy rate hits 4.3% in Q3]

Associated Builders and Contractors is a national construction industry trade association established in 1950 with 67 chapters and 24,000 members.

Google is helping consumers get ready for the holidays with tools to streamline online shopping and research-backed seasonal shopping tips.

The online giant is releasing upgrades to the Universal Cart, an intelligent digital shopping cart it introduced in May; and also launching a new holiday shopping resource called the “When to Buy Guide” which advises when holiday discounts may hit their peak, based on data from 2025.

Following are overviews of each new Google offering:

Universal Cart

When a customer adds a product to Universal Cart, it automatically begins finding deals and price drops and provides insights on price history and alerts the shopper when an item is back in stock. Now it will save a shopper’s progress across Google so they never have to start their shopping from scratch.

Universal Cart also now takes advantage of its Google Wallet foundation to understand user card perks and intelligently help them choose among payment methods and show relevant promo codes right from the cart.

In addition, customers can now transfer items directly to a retailer’s cart to finish purchases on their site. Participating retailers include Nike, Sephora, Target, Ulta Beauty, Walmart, Wayfair, and many Shopify merchants. Either way, shoppers will receive direct confirmations and customer support from the retailer, and they will remain the seller of record.

[READ MORE: Google upgrades Universal Commerce Protocol; adds retail AI tools]

When to Buy Guide

This new digital shopping resource uses Google search and discount data to show when holiday deals peak. It also provides pricing trends and insights into last-minute gifting habits, such as which state claims the most last-minute shoppers.

Tips from the guide for the upcoming holiday season include purchasing fragrances early, waiting till mid-December to buy handbags and waiting until late December to purchase luggage and electronic toys.

Sbarro is centralizing data management and standardizing operations across its U.S. store footprint.

Aloha Next is built on a microservices architecture, meaning individual API-connected services can be deployed separately. Sbarro seeks to create a unified technology environment for its in-store and multi-store management operations, providing greater visibility and resiliency across its store fleet.

Other pizza retailers have also implemented the Aloha Next POS platform in the past year. Pizza Ranch Inc. rolled out the solution in July with the goal of creating a unified foundation for POS, payments and in-store capabilities; while Marco’s Pizza has been deploying the NCR Voyix Aloha Essentials platform architecture, featuring next-generation POS technology, hardware, software, professional services and full support desk coverage, for its international locations since October 2025.

[READ MORE: Marco’s Pizza selects POS platform for international stores]

Founded in 1956, Sbarro has a presence in more than 30 countries worldwide through a combination of company-owned and franchised restaurants.

Lidl US is offering its loyalty program members a Thanksgiving meal deal to feed the entire family for under $40.

From Nov. 11-25, members of the discount grocer’s Lidl Plus program can find the ingredients for a Thanksgiving meal that serves up to 10 people for only $35.86. The basket includes turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, macaroni and cheese, rolls and pumpkin pie.

Throughout November, Lidl US says it will also temporarily reduce the prices of 100 products each week. Lidl Plus customers who make a qualifying Lidl purchase once each week during November can earn up to an extra $25 in the LidlPlus app  in December. 

Lidl US says it has reduced the prices of more than 1,500 products this year.

“Thanksgiving is about bringing people together, and we believe families deserve More to Value – more food, more savings and more confidence in the prices they pay.” said Jassine Ouali, chief customer officer at Lidl US. “We’re proud to be a fresh discount grocer, delivering exceptional value every day and helping families celebrate the moments that matter.”

Also starting Nov. 11, Lidl Plus customers can benefit from the grocer’s 2026 Thanksgiving “Never Beaten on Price” promise. Lidl says it will match the comparable total price of the Thanksgiving basket at competitor retailers like Walmart and Aldi.

[READ MORE: Aldi in fall price-cutting move]

Part of Schwarz Group, Lidl operates around 12,900 stores in 32 countries. It made its U.S. debut in 2017, and now operates more than 200 stores across nine East Coast states.