Knock knock ... Who’s there? Taco Bell and the Colonel
As the big fast-food restaurants increasingly see vast potential in pushing convenience beyond the drive-thru, Taco Bell and KFC are expanding delivery nationwide in partnership with Grubhub. Yum Brands, which owns both restaurants, said Grubhub will provide the delivery people and the technology to take online orders and make deliveries across the United States. People will be able to order through the KFC, Taco Bell or Grubhub apps and websites. Yum Brands is not alone in seeing the possibilities. McDonald’s, in partnership with Uber Eats, already has expanded delivery from 5,000 of its nearly 14,000 U.S. stores.
Lanxess closes on acquisition
Lanxess, a Germany-based specialty chemicals maker with North American headquarters in Findlay, closed on its purchase of Solvay’s phosphorus unit. Solvay is based in Belgium and the deal includes production facilities in Charleston, S.C., that employ 90. Lanxess said the acquired business has annual sales of about $79 million.
Shadyside shop
Lily & Val, which produces greeting cards, prints and other gifts that feature chalkart designs, has closed its retail store on Ellsworth Avenue, Shadyside. The store opened in 2016 and was closed effective Feb. 1. Owner Valerie McKeehan said she will continue to design and sell her products through the company website and in other retail venues.
Twitter makes money for first time ever
Twitter made money for the first time in its nearly 12-year history. The company is still struggling to get people to sign up, despite the attention President Donald Trump’s no-holds barred tweets have drawn to the service. One problem: Anyone can read tweets without signing up. As a result, Twitter’s user base pales compared with Facebook and the Facebook-owned Instagram. And that means fewer advertising opportunities. Twitter said it had an average of 330 million monthly active users in the final three months of last year. Facebook has 2.2 billion and Instagram has more than 800 million. The company grew revenue by 2 percent to $732 million in the final three months of 2017.