News Briefs

Cvent Holding Corp. (“Cvent”), an industry-leading meetings, events and hospitality technology provider, announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by an affiliate of private equity funds managed by Blackstone (“Blackstone”) in a transaction valued at an enterprise value of approximately $4.6 billion.

Under the terms of the agreement, Cvent stockholders will receive $8.50 per share in cash, representing a premium of 52 percent to the volume weighted average share price over the 90 days prior to January 30, 2023 – the day before media reports of a potential transaction were published. A wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) will be a significant minority investor alongside Blackstone as part of the transaction.

Cvent’s comprehensive suite of technology solutions powers the entire event management process to maximize the impact of events. Cvent has approximately 22,000 customers globally in the corporate, non-profit, higher education and hospitality sectors as of December 31, 2022. Since its founding in 1999, Cvent has helped manage more than 5 million events, and lists over 302,000 hotels and venues as of December 31, 2022 on the Cvent Supplier Network, an online platform with tools to search, negotiate and contract with hotels and venues for event space.

“We are excited to share this announcement and look forward to our next chapter alongside the Blackstone team,” said Reggie Aggarwal, founder and CEO of Cvent. “As one of the world’s largest private equity firms, Blackstone brings deep expertise in the event and hospitality industry, and with their backing, we plan to continue to invest in our business and deliver the innovative solutions that meet our customers’ needs and power the meetings and events ecosystem.”

David Schwartz, a Senior Managing Director at Blackstone, said: “The continued events and travel recovery is one of Blackstone’s highest-conviction investment themes. Given our extensive experience in the hospitality, events and real estate sectors, we believe Blackstone is well positioned as a growth partner for this exceptional business.”

Martin Brand, Head of North America Private Equity and Global Co-Head of Technology Investing at Blackstone, added: “Cvent is an industry leader and we are excited to partner with their management team to continue the firm’s innovation and deliver world-class technology solutions to customers in the event and hospitality space.”

In connection with the transaction, Vista Equity Partners (“Vista”), a leading global investment firm focused exclusively on enterprise software, data and technology-enabled businesses, and majority stockholder of Cvent, has agreed to invest a portion of its proceeds as non-convertible preferred stock in financing for the transaction.

“Since Vista first invested, Cvent has undertaken considerable business transformation and has been a testament to how we partner with founders like Reggie to help their businesses scale and thrive,” said Monti Saroya, Chairman of the Cvent Board of Directors, Co-Head of the Vista Flagship Fund and Senior Managing Director. “The newly digitized events landscape, coupled with Cvent’s strong existing customer base and commitment to innovation, has provided a new growth vector in a post-COVID world. We look forward to seeing the company continue to execute on the opportunities ahead of it.”

Certain Terms, Approvals and Timing

Following the recommendation of a special committee composed entirely of independent and disinterested directors, the Cvent Board of Directors unanimously approved the merger agreement. The transaction is expected to close mid-year 2023, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including receipt of approval by Cvent’s stockholders and required regulatory approvals. Upon completion of the transaction, Cvent’s common stock will no longer be publicly listed, and Cvent will become a privately held company.

Blackstone has received a fully committed $1.0 billion credit facility as part of the financing of this transaction.

 

Advisors

Qatalyst Partners is acting as financial advisor to Cvent, and Kirkland & Ellis LLP is acting as legal counsel to Cvent.

J.P. Morgan Securities LLC is acting as financial advisor to the Special Committee, and Goodwin Procter LLP is acting as legal counsel to the Special Committee.

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP is acting as legal counsel to Blackstone, and Evercore, Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC and UBS are acting as financial advisors to Blackstone.

Up and coming QSR  Salad and Go  is expanding in Texas with three new locations opening in February in the Houston markets of Katy, Richmond and League City.

The Katy store located opened February 1, the Richmond location at  is set to open February 17, and the League City store plans to open its doors on February 22. These new locations will mark the start of rapid brand expansion across the Greater Houston area.

These suburbs were strategically selected as ideal markets for Salad and Go as some of the fastest growing communities in the region. Conveniently located in some of Houston's most popular suburbs, the new locations will provide fresh, high-quality meals with quick and easy convenience at an affordable price.

As Salad and Go continues growing its national presence with a strong focus on Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, and Nevada, the brand's expansive growth has it on a positive trajectory to provide fresh and affordable food to communities in more than 125 locations by the end of 2023. Houston is the next step in the brand's expansion across Texas with plans to open additional stores in the market throughout the new year.

Salad and Go's chef-curated menu provides guests with food for any time of the day by offering a variety of delicious and healthy items including salads, wraps, breakfast burritos and soup as well as beverages including hand-crafted lemonades, teas and cold brew coffees.

Salad and Go ensures each meal contains fresh, quality ingredients while keeping prices low by vertically integrating operations and distribution, and sourcing ingredients directly from high-quality local farmers and suppliers whenever possible. The brand's mission to make fresh, nutritious food convenient and affordable for ALL extends beyond its stores and is demonstrated in the work the brand does to donate 4,000 meals every week to those in need, as well as in partnerships with nonprofits to support and fundraise for various worthy causes.

Focus Brands says dual branding is the future of QSR, and the parent company of Auntie Anne’s®, Carvel, Cinnabon, Jamba, McAlister’s Deli, Moe’s Southwest Grill, and Schlotzsky’s, is leading the charge. Today, the Focus Brands portfolio boasts 175-plus open dual branded units with at least 65 more in various stages of development across the country. 

Drive-Thru Convenience

The Focus Brands portfolio brands have signed agreements to open more than 50 dual and tri-brand locations in the coming year, many of which include drive-thrus for added convenience as interest in dual branded franchise opportunities continues to surge.

Flexible Store Formats

Focus Brands is among the brands introducing new store formats, including Krystal, Jack-in-the-Box and Panera Bread, which opened its Panera To Go, solely offering Rapid Pick-Up and Delivery shelves where guests and delivery drivers can easily pick up orders.  

Focus Brands has long pioneered the concept of dual branding, predominately in malls and non-traditional locations with Auntie Anne’s and Cinnabon. Now, the company’s portfolio brands have found new opportunities with streetside dual branded units, which is paving the way for immense franchise growth. 

“Dual branding is the future of our brands, especially on the specialty side of the business,” said Brian Krause, Chief Development Officer at Focus Brands. “There will always be a place in malls, but there is an immense amount of growth opportunity in streetside venues, and, by dual branding, there is more opportunity for enhanced revenue.”

The company invested heavily in consumer research to identify how to create combinations of its iconic brands to resonate with consumers and meet them where they want to be met.

Focus Brands has identified four dual-brand concepts:

• Auntie Anne’s/Cinnabon
• Auntie Anne’s/Cinnabon/Carvel
• Auntie Anne’s/Jamba
• Cinnabon/Carvel – Cinnabon Swirl. 

While key consumer benefits vary by dual-brand combination, one consistent benefit has been convenience. Having these brands together in one location makes them far more accessible than they are individually. This convenience also creates opportunity for franchisees, as co-branding leads to an expansive menu that drives enhanced unit-level volume. 

 

Dynamic Yield, a Mastercard company, unveiled Element, a suite of Mastercard applications and extensions integrated into Dynamic Yield’s Experience OS.

As consumer demand for personalization continues to grow, brands must differentiate their approach to providing relevant experiences at scale. Mastercard’s proprietary prediction models and aggregated consumer spend insights will allow customers across verticals – from retailers to brands  and beyond – to deliver greater personalization on any digital channel.

According to McKinsey research, 71% of consumers expect companies to deliver personalized interactions, and 76% get frustrated when those demands aren’t met¹. And companies are noticing – 98% of organizations believe in the benefits of personalization and plan to invest further².

Element directly links select Mastercard services within Experience OS, the company’s operating system that organizes applications in an open, modular, and fully customizable core framework. 

Within Element, subscribed customers will be able to:

• Reach new audiences using actionable, geographic spend insights based on aggregated and anonymized transaction data.
• Apply Mastercard’s propensity modeling techniques to help issuers dynamically curate relevant offers, products, and content for existing cardholders within their personal banking platform.
• Use Mastercard SpendingPulse to uncover regional spending trends and identify macroeconomic indicators of retail sales to power personalization at the local level³.
• Identify relationships between products, locations, and product attributes with Market Basket Analyzer and use these insights to drive smarter personalization decisions.

“...Companies can now hyper-personalize the consumer experience in entirely new ways,” said Ori Bauer, CEO of Dynamic Yield. “For example, by looking at consumer spending in one category, you can now analyze how it will drive usage in another, and then deliver tailored offers online or in an app based on those unique insights.”

Mastercard acquired Dynamic Yield in 2022 from McDonald's to strengthen its suite of consumer engagement and loyalty services, helping brands deliver more effective and trusted experiences across channels.

 

Women in restaurants, hospitality and technology are joining together to create a professional women's organization aimed at mentorship, support, and empowerment. Women of Restaurants, Technology and Hospitality (WORTH) launched March 7, 2023, at the Multi-Unit Restaurant Technology Conference (MURTEC).

Founded by Brittany Amerson (Farmers Restaurant Group), Cristal Ghitman (SynergySuite), Deena McKinley (Papa Gino’s), Kim DeCarolis (Fat Brands), Lauren Selman (IFBTA), Suzanne Stopp (IPConfigure), and Tammy K Billings (Aben), WORTH aims to provide a safe space for women to ask questions, share and gain insight into personal and professional challenges in these industries.

"We recognized the conversations we often have between women about our experiences in this industry should have a larger platform, to leverage our commonalities and provide representation, visibility and safety for both industry veterans and women just entering hospitality," said Ghitman, WORTH cofounder and Director of Strategic Partnerships at SynergySuite. "WORTH is a decentralized group that aims to connect and support women in all areas, from mentorship to advocacy to friendship."

WORTH has launched an online community through LinkedIn and plans to organize meetups, webinars, conference events, and other opportunities for engagement soon. To get involved in WORTH, please contact the group through their LinkedIn page.

Think Simplicity, a cloud communication technology provider of all-inclusive voice and chat solutions for the hospitality industry, announced today a program designed to help both hoteliers that are switching from analog wiring to ethernet cable or new build hotels. The plan provides no-cost phone system equipment for “Pure IP” hoteliers that meet certain conditions.

The bulk of existing hotels today have analog wiring throughout the building and therefore use analog telephones in guest rooms. These legacy systems are dependent on old copper wiring, but many will be tasked with replacing this wiring with ethernet cabling in the near future.

New build hotels that are running ethernet cabling to guest rooms for telephone connections and utilizing IP telephones in those rooms will need a reliable vendor to take advantage of today’s cloud communication innovations. Regardless of the scenario, beginning April 1, 2023, hotels with a Pure IP setup can take advantage of Think Simplicity’s No Cost Phone System, for a limited time. 

Joseph De Ciantis, co-founder of Think Simplicity, said: “As the sunsetting of traditional copper-based landlines begins to impact older properties there will be a larger need to migrate to a digital system. Our goal is to help older hotels that are updating their wiring to IP/Ethernet or newer hotels that have a pure IP setup make the transition to cloud communications systems quickly, easily, and affordably.”

 

This offer is based on certain configurations and specific conditions must be met. Phones and onsite installation are not included.