Hot Schedules, Fourth Merge

HotSchedules, provider of workforce and inventory management solutions for the restaurant industry, and Fourth, provider of integrated hospitality workforce management and cost-control operations platform, today announced they merged business operations in an agreement backed by Marlin Equity Partners and Insight Partners.

Together the merged company is a large provider of end-to-end restaurant and hospitality management solutions for restaurants and hotels of all sizes. The combined company’s complete software-as-service (SaaS) solution suite including: scheduling, time & attendance, applicant tracking, training, inventory management / procurement, HR / benefits and payroll services now serves customers in 120,000 locations worldwide and is supported by a dedicated, unified team across offices in the US, UK, Bulgaria, China, Australia and UAE.

Robust Products

HotSchedules’ core workforce management, employee engagement and back-of-house solutions combined with Fourth’s workforce management and cost-control operations platform offers customers a complete back-of-house hospitality management solution. Customers now have access to:

• An operations platform that seamlessly integrates with nearly every major POS system, finance platform and many industry-specific third-party applications
• Single sign-on, integrated workforce management and inventory management/ procurement software
• Robust compliance functionality to ensure enforcement of directives for labor management, safety, food and cash handling
• Full-service, hospitality-specific payroll, benefits and HR services
• Real-time operational insights, cost-control management and analytics dashboards
• Dynamic, advanced demand forecasting via the Company’s robust, predictive algorithms

Existing HotSchedules and Fourth customers will benefit from the combined capabilities and experience of the two companies, advancing the delivery of innovative solutions across both customer bases. 

“Our staff and managers enjoy using HotSchedules' powerful and intuitive scheduling app on a daily basis," said Anne Ansley, CFO of PDQ restaurants. "From an operational perspective, HotSchedules has really helped us drive greater efficiency across our entire brand. Combined with the great human resources, payroll and benefits services that Fourth continues to provide us, along with the addition of their advanced analytics and demand forecasting capabilities, this is a game-changer. The combined solutions will significantly benefit the industry, and we’re excited to be at the forefront of this technology.”

HotSchedules and Fourth will unite under the leadership of Ben Hood, CEO of Fourth, and an executive team comprised of HotSchedules and Fourth team members. The combined entity will continue to support solutions across their respective platforms. The business will be headquartered in Austin, Texas, and London.