News Briefs

Chipotle Mexican Grill is increasing its commitment to its Cultivate Next venture fund by $50 million, which brings the fund's total investment pool to $100 million. Introduced in 2022, Cultivate Next makes early-stage investments into strategically aligned companies that further Chipotle's mission to Cultivate a Better World and help accelerate the company's aggressive longer term growth plans to operate 7,000 restaurants in North America.

"Our decision to double our commitment to our Cultivate Next venture fund is a clear indicator that we are investing in the right companies that we can learn from and utilize to improve the human experience of our restaurant teams, farmers, and suppliers," said Curt Garner, Chief Customer and Technology Officer, Chipotle. "The parallel growth of Chipotle and our partners will continue to further our mission to Cultivate a Better World by increasing access to real food."

Cultivate Next Investments

To date, Chipotle has invested in a wide range of companies innovating in areas such as farming, supply chain, advanced robotics, and plant-based foods. The new $50 million commitment will expand the company's existing portfolio, which currently features:

• Hyphen

  • Hyphen is a foodservice platform designed to help restaurant owners, operators, and budding chefs move their business forward by automating kitchen operations. Chipotle is working with Hyphen to build a new digital makeline that uses intelligent automation to build bowls and salads while Chipotle employees operate the top makeline to make burritos, tacos, and quesadillas. In the coming months, Chipotle's Hyphen digital makeline will debut in a single restaurant location as part of the company's stage-gate process. Hyphen recently received an additional investment from Chipotle through Cultivate Next.

    In a February 6 earnings call with analysts, CEO Brian Niccol said, “Both Hyphen and Autocado (a cobiotic that peels, cores and processes avocado)  could help to improve the overall experience for our teams by removing less favorable tasks and for our guests by providing on time accurate and delicious food.”                                 

• Local Line
  • Local Line is a leading local food sourcing platform for regional food systems, serving farms, producers, food hubs, and food buyers. In less than a year, Chipotle's investment has helped Local Line digitize their operations, increase their retention rate of customers, build their farm database, and expand to serve international farms in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. In tandem, Local Line has been a key partner in enabling Chipotle to meet its local produce sourcing goals.
  • Due to the early successes with the platform, Cultivate Next has made an incremental investment in Local Line. Chipotle will also leverage Local Line to fund grants to local farms within 350 miles of its new restaurants. The company plans to open 285 to 315 new locations in 2024.
• GreenField Robotics
  • GreenField Robotics is a company founded with the vision of making regenerative farming more efficient, cost-effective, and sustainable by leveraging the latest advances in AI, robotics, and sensing technologies. The company's autonomous agricultural robots can weed crops both day and night, while reducing the need for toxic herbicides. With its Cultivate Next investment, GreenField will continue to build out its robotic fleets, which are currently running on farms in several states, and release additional capabilities for the robots including micro-spraying, cover-crop planting, and soil testing.
• Nitricity
  • Nitricity is a company seeking to tackle greenhouse gas emissions by creating fertilizer products that are better for fields, farmers, and the environment. Funding from Cultivate Next will be used to scale up Nitricity's production of nitrogen, build out the company's infrastructure, and support the launch of its first commercial product within the next two years.
• Vebu
  • Vebu is a product development company that works with food industry leaders to co-create intelligent automation and technology solutions. Chipotle is collaborating with Vebu to build and scale Autocado, Vebu's proprietary avocado processing cobotic (collaborative robot) prototype. Autocado is currently progressing through Chipotle's stage-gate process and will undergo an operational test in one restaurant this spring.
• Meati
  • Meati Foods serves nutrient-dense whole-food products made from MushroomRoot™. Chipotle is continuing to explore opportunities to bring real, fresh vegetables to the center of the plate with menu innovations that uphold its Food with Integrity standards.
• Zero Acre Farms
  • Zero Acre Farms is a food company focused on healthy, sustainable oils and fats that is on a mission to end the food industry's dependence on vegetable oils. The company has introduced a new category of healthy oils and fats made by fermentation that are more environmentally friendly. Chipotle is in the early trials of testing Zero Acre Farms at its Cultivate Center test kitchen in Irvine, California.

"It is incredible to see the possibilities that exist when we bring the right founders, startups or ventures into collaboration with Chipotle," said Christian Gammill, Cultivate Next Fund Manager. "Witnessing the progress of our cohorts over the past two years has motivated us to scale our efforts and drive real change in the supply chain, agriculture, restaurant innovation, and automation sectors."

The Future of Cultivate Next
Chipotle will continue to provide updates on the Cultivate Next venture fund in 2024 and beyond. Companies interested in collaborating with Chipotle through the Cultivate Next venture fund can apply by emailing [email protected].  

Restaurant365, an all-in-one restaurant enterprise management platform, announced the release of its tip automation tool.

Accurately managing the distribution and accounting of tips is critical to restaurants' day-to-day operations and long-term success.

"Restaurant365 Tip Automation gives me four to five hours of my week back," said Chad Arnold, an Oklahoma-based Summer Moon Coffee franchisee and early adopter of the tool. "Now, it's simple for me to delegate and teach someone how to use tip automation versus a spreadsheet, and from an employee standpoint, it's regulated; they know a software is managing the process, so it builds trust."

Eliminating Manual Chaos  

Previously, restaurants used nonstandard processes to manage how they account for and distribute tips, requiring multiple individuals to make manual calculations, opening the door for mistakes and inconsistencies. Restaurant365 Tip Automation bridges the gap between POS punches and the payroll system, eliminating the need for cumbersome data entry and auditing, while automating record keeping. Users can create as many rules as needed to accurately manage tip shares and pools, eliminating the need for manual work and any doubt that tips are distributed according to company policies.

"As with many other restaurant management functions, we've long seen leaders spending too much time working with disconnected sets of generic tools and spreadsheets that prevent them from performing at their best," said Mark Calvillo, senior vice president of product at Restaurant365. "With Restaurant365 Tip Automation, restaurant companies of all sizes can create automated, integrated workflows that streamline manual work so leaders can focus on what matters most — their guests and teams — with the confidence that tips are properly managed and accounted for."

By moving the entire tip workflow to an automated system, restaurant leaders and employees get greater visibility into the entire process. Employees can see their tips within Restaurant365's mobile app, including total tips earned for each pay period, broken down to shift totals, giving employees financial visibility to better manage their money and expenses. 

Designed by sustainable tourism experts, Weeva champions continuous improvement actions, backed by consistent data management, to boost efficiency, reduce wastage and, ultimately, support profitability and business resilience within the industry. 

Renowned for establishing partnerships that keep its member hotels ahead of the curve, Design Hotels is currently hosting an ongoing series of online workshops and virtual roundtables to connect its members with partners, industry experts, and each other around actionable insights and forward-thinking ideas and practices. 

The first of these conversations, hosted by Elin Kann, Director Sustainability & Culture at Design Hotels, and moderated by Dr Andrea Ferry, Head of Sustainability at Weeva, focussed on the importance of developing an internal culture of sustainability. A key takeaway was: 

“If ‘vision’ is where you are going, ‘culture’ makes sure you can get there.”

Weeva’s reporting tools can generate tailored Impact Reports for hotels to share with their guests, tour operators and other suppliers. Reports show metrics such as the carbon footprint per bed night or an overall view of a property’s impact. It’s not about being perfect, but rather quantifying goals and showing improvement. Using a system like Weeva helps streamline internal management, sharing the load between departments, from HR employee wellness surveys for to showcasing your community projects. It is also an invaluable data aggregator for those wishing to gain certifications. 

Julie Cheetham, Managing Director and Co-Founder of Weeva commented: 

“We’re so excited to onboard many of the Design Hotels member hotels into our system in 2024, giving them access to all our best-practice educational guides, suggested improvements and easy-to-understand tools and dashboards that track results in real-time. 

The travel industry has long needed affordable, accessible sustainability technology to measure and improve operations for the benefit of profit, people and the planet – so it is wonderful to see our software being adopted by hotels of this calibre globally.”  

Stijn Oyen, Managing Director of Design Hotels, said: 

“We are delighted to collaborate with Weeva to share the exemplary sustainability efforts and successes of our member hotels in transparent, measurable ways. 

By utilizing Weeva’s data-driven, science-backed approach, our aim is to learn more about the impact our hotels have on the planet, and apply these insights to develop new, meaningful initiatives that guide them towards a more conscious, sustainable future.” 

IDeaS, a provider of hospitality revenue optimization software and services, and Accor, a hospitality group with one of the industry’s most diverse hospitality ecosystems encompassing more than 45 hotel brands from luxury to economy, have announced, following a rigorous selection process, that Accor has chosen IDeaS as its global revenue management software (RMS) provider.

Partnering on a bespoke suite of advanced IDeaS revenue management solutions, Accor continues to transform its commercial strategy to benefit hotels, property owners, and managers and redefine revenue excellence while driving RevPAR and Revenue Generation Index (RGI) growth.

Accor is a leading hospitality company operating over 5,600 hotels in more than 110 countries. IDeaS and Accor have signed a partnership, introducing a range of IDeaS solutions to Accor’s diverse global brand portfolio, aligning IDeaS’ transformational capabilities with the unique needs of the Accor hotelier.

Accor will leverage IDeaS to future-proof its revenue management strategy by utilizing best-in-class technology to create a competitive advantage and deliver superior value while considering its global portfolio footprint. Through the focus and implementation of strategic pillars, the new toolsets will enable hotels to benefit from dynamic pricing, total revenue and profit optimization, and awareness of the competitive landscape to shift focus toward revenue management strategies while driving a strong revenue management culture across Accor’s global portfolio.

Benefits of the partnership include:

•             Proven RevPAR and RGI growth — Accor has already seen growth in RevPAR and RGI in hotels that have already been onboarded.

•             Tailored revenue solutions — The partnership includes a suite of revenue solutions designed to meet the unique needs of Accor and its global hotel portfolio, maximizing expertise, economy of scale, and financial returns.

•             Solutions and support for the future — As an industry-leading RMS technology provider, IDeaS is well-positioned for the future, with the demonstrated scalability and joint innovation capabilities needed to collaborate with Accor to shape the future of the hospitality market.

Ravi Mehrotra, co-founder and chief scientist, IDeaS, said: “We are thrilled to be selected as a global partner to drive Accor’s commercial revenue platform transformation at a moment of unparalleled growth and opportunity for the company worldwide. In a new era of innovation and consumer and product diversification, we are pleased to bring IDeaS’ market-leading automation, pricing approach, and a singular focus on holistic revenue optimization to Accor’s diverse brand portfolio.”

"We are driven to provide our owners and managers with the best possible solutions to achieve revenue expansion and optimal topline performance. As the hospitality industry evolves in response to dynamic market demands, deploying a robust and adapted hotel Revenue Management System secures our sustainable commercial growth, with demonstratable RevPar and RGI growth. The developed solution with IDeaS serves our unique, extensive and diverse brand portfolio and global footprint.” added Karelle Lamouche, Chief Commercial Officer, Accor, Premium, Midscale & Economy brands.

Burger King France is among the hospitality businesses adding electric vehicle (EV) charging.  

The QSR has partnered with Allego N.V. , a pan-European public electric vehicle fast and ultra-fast charging network, to rollout of ultra-fast chargers across Burger King France drive-thru and dine-in locations that are not in co-ownership.

Following Burger King France’s call for tenders, Allego has been chosen as the partner of choice to enable the installation of ultra-fast charging stations at existing and future Burger King France locations over the next three years; the deployment of charging stations will also depend on the agreement of the various landowners. The partnership has the potential to enable the deployment of a large number ultra-fast charge points across the restaurant’s locations in France. The first sites are expected to be operational by Q3 2024 and for easy recognition for the drivers, the chargers will be fitted with both Allego and Burger King branding.

This new partnership is expected to be a significant addition to Allego’s network in France where it currently operates a network of 190 ultra-fast charging locations. The Company is also rolling out a network of 4,000 charging points across 400 Carrefour hypermarket locations, Pathé cinemas, Klepierre shopping center and more throughout the country, which positions Allego to be one of the largest destination charging providers across the French market. 

Mathieu Bonnet, Chief Executive Officer of Allego, said, “To meet the demand of the ever growing EV market in Europe, we must swiftly roll out high power chargers in locations that are most convenient for drivers. This sort of growth cannot be achieved alone, so we must work with like-minded partners to support the considerable change brought by e-mobility. Through this partnership, we can make charging more accessible and enjoyable so drivers can travel with ever greater ease. Allego is reinforcing its position as one of the leading ultra-fast charging networks in France.”

RoomRaccoon, the leading hotel management system for independent hotels, today announced its integration with Zennio, a pioneer in control automation solutions. This is the very first Energy Management System integration available to RoomRaccoon users, empowering hoteliers to enhance guest comfort and reduce energy consumption.

Zennio's energy-saving solutions, when combined with RoomRaccoon, optimize room settings based on occupancy. This smart integration boosts energy efficiency and leads to significant cost savings, with rooms automatically switching to energy-saving mode upon guest check-out in RoomRaccoon’s PMS. 

"Controlling operating expenses is essential for the success of any hotel property.  Given the current market conditions and the constant pressure on the hospitality industry, investing in climate control technology can be a smart move to reduce operational costs. With the addition of Zennio to our marketplace, we are able to offer our hoteliers a comprehensive solution that not only improves guest experiences but also optimizes energy consumption, leading to a significant reduction in operational costs," says Steven Reffin, Head of Partnerships at RoomRaccoon

Other benefits of the integration include: 

Personalized Experience: Hoteliers can enhance guest satisfaction by presenting guest details and preferences directly on Zennio's smart control interface, allowing for customized room settings and amenities throughout their stay.

Efficient Check-Ins: RoomRaccoon's property management system seamlessly syncs with Zennio's smart locks, providing guests with a hassle-free check-in experience.

Enhanced Eco-Friendly Reputation: Hotels leveraging this integration can bolster their reputation as eco-conscious establishments, appealing to environmentally-conscious travelers and gaining a competitive edge in the market.

The RoomRaccoon and Zennio integration is available to hoteliers worldwide.