News Briefs

InnSpire, a provider of a comprehensive technology suite that helps drive a seamless, world-class guest experience for some of the world’s most iconic hotels and brands, announced the expansion of its 5-year strategic partnership with Techlive International, a global provider of comprehensive content portfolio and global TV services to the hotel and healthcare sectors. The new agreement has been extended to include Airtime, the world’s first hospitality cloud-based movie and content streaming service that eliminates the need for on-site servers or other additional hardware.

Techlive’s new Airtime solution is compatible with leading smart TV providers, such as Samsung, LG and Philips Android, and is available in 188 countries. Its flexible commercial models (including a zero OPEX option) enable hotel properties to offer outstanding entertainment options to their guests, including early-release blockbuster Hollywood movies in up to a dozen languages, along with award-winning TV features and international channels. Because Airtime is cloud-based, it eliminates the need for additional hardware, reducing costs and expediting deployment, while simplifying system management for the property.

“Historically, hotel TV content has been delivered via on-premise servers, which require additional time and costs for installation,” said Reece Aherne, Business Development Manager with Techlive International. “Through our partnership with InnSpire, all that is needed to access Airtime’s plethora of cloud-based content is a compatible commercial TV and an internet connection.”

The early release movies are automatically added to the system as soon as they are released in each specific country, ensuring maximum exposure to the guests. Techlive offers a wide umbrella of studio content like Disney, Pixar and Universal, along with a full spectrum of lifestyle content, such as fitness & wellness, luxury fashion, and a variety of live international TV channels. Currently, there are over 200 movies on Airtime, which typically refresh with four to five new titles each month.

The Airtime cloud-based service enhances InnSpire’s IPTV solutions by offering yet another entertainment option for guests of its client properties. Unlike casting and streaming from their own mobile devices, Airtime is accessible directly from the TV and does not require a separate login or subscription. Guests simply pay for what they watch via a secure payment gateway. Alternatively, hotels may opt to pay a fixed fee and offer the content free to the guest as an added-value service.

“We have partnered with Techlive since 2018 to bring the most robust and desirable IPTV content to the guests of our clients’ properties around the globe,” said Martin Chevalley, InnSpire CEO. “We look forward to deploying Airtime to make it even easier and more cost effective for our clients to enhance their guests’ stays with the latest in in-room entertainment.”

In addition to its comprehensive IPTV platform, InnSpire’s award-winning digital solutions work collaboratively to allow for guest control over their entire travel experience, from guestroom access to temperature and lighting. The company’s full-featured Guest Journey App, its InnCable and InnSmart in-room TV solutions, iOT-based room controls and the innovative “F&B Anywhere” solution all work in concert via the property’s Wi-Fi network to provide travelers and hotel operators with seamless and highly personalized command over the guest experience.

Domino's Pizza Inc. introduces its new and improved loyalty program. 

Domino's Rewards offers loyalty members even more opportunities to earn and redeem points across its corporate and franchise store locations. Domino's enhanced rewards program allows customers to:

• Earn points for less
  • Loyalty members will now earn 10 points on every order of $5 or more
• Redeem points for even more menu items – and earn free Domino's after just two orders
  • Members can redeem a variety of points for more menu items:
    • 20 points: A free dipping cup, a 16-piece order of Parmesan Bread Bites or a 20 oz. drink
    • 40 points: An order of Bread Twists or Stuffed Cheesy Bread
    • 60 points: A medium, two-topping pizza; pasta; Oven-Baked Sandwich; or a 3-piece order of Chocolate Lava Crunch Cakes
• Earn more rewards
  • Loyalty perks are now even better, as members will have exclusive access to member-only deals, special discounts and opportunities to earn bonus points!

"We are thrilled to give the brand's loyal customers additional ways to earn free Domino's items more often," said Mark Messing, Domino's vice president of digital experience and loyalty. "At a time when most brands are scaling back their loyalty programs and making it more difficult to earn and redeem points, Domino's is doing the opposite. We want to make it easier to reward our customers and give them more options so they can get rewarded faster."

Marketing a LTO 

From now until Oct. 22, 2023, rewards members can take advantage of a limited time offer to redeem 20 points for a free order of Domino's new Pepperoni Stuffed Cheesy Bread, which is normally a 40-point redemption, in celebration of the product's recent launch. 

Weldon Spangler, a longtime TGI Fridays board member and highly experienced restaurant executive, has been appointed CEO of TGI Fridays, effective immediately. He succeeds Brandon Coleman, who has resigned for personal reasons.

Spangler will lead implementation of the growth plan to revitalize the brand on a global scale. There are currently 700 TGI Fridays restaurants in 51 countries offering high quality American food and drinks. 

Spangler brings extensive background in the restaurant industry and his impressive career spans over 30 years of experience, during which he has built a reputation for his unwavering focus on customer experience, store operations, and marketing with successful tenures at Subway, Papa Murphy's, Dunkin' Brands, and Starbucks.

Rohit Manocha, Co-Founder of TriArtisan Capital, a New York-based private equity firm and the controlling shareholder of TGI Fridays with extensive experience in the restaurant sector, will continue to collaborate closely with Mr. Spangler and the dedicated team at TGI Fridays in his role as the active Chairman of the company.

Lunchbox  recently announced its partnership with DeliverThat, gaining access to a network of nearly 20,000 active delivery drivers.

With Lunchbox's enterprise catering order management solutions, restaurants have a tremendous opportunity to break into the booming Food at Work catering segment. The DeliverThat and Lunchbox partnership will provide a comprehensive catering delivery service, allowing Lunchbox Delivery Dispatch users to tap into DeliverThat's vast fleet of 20,000 active drivers, coverage across all 50 states, and 98.7% fulfillment rate.

• 71% of restaurants offer catering, 8% plan to add it this year, according to HT’s 2023 Restaurant Technology Study

"Catering will grow over 10% in the next 7 years, and it's our job to enable our enterprise restaurants to tap into that revenue," said Nabeel Alamgir, CEO and Co-Founder of Lunchbox. "We're delivering a best-in-class off-premise ordering solution and we're now building on top of that, partnering with DeliverThat to provide an end-to-end catering delivery experience for our clients."

The collaboration between Lunchbox and DeliverThat is expected to elevate the customer experience, allowing restaurants to manage their entire catering delivery process — from order placement to delivery, with greater efficiency and precision.

To learn more about Lunchbox Catering, visit lunchbox.io/catering.

eTip, a digital tipping and financial benefits platform tailored to service sector businesses,  announces its latest innovation – instant cashless tip payouts for restaurant workers. With this new feature, eTip empowers food service establishments to provide real-time, cashless tip payouts directly to their employees' existing bank accounts. This capability not only enhances employee satisfaction and retention but also streamlines payroll administration.

Americans are carrying less cash, and that presents a dilemma for restaurants and food service businesses. While credit card transactions are more convenient for customers, with 75% of American diners preferring to pay by card, tips made on credit cards are often a hassle to reconcile in internal accounting systems.

• 71% say the ability to integrate with other systems is driving their POS purchase decisions, according to HT’s2 2023 POS Software Trends Report.

 Worse yet, the service workers receiving tips, often motivated to join the industry with the promise of same-day pay, find themselves waiting hours or even days after their shift to receive the same funds to which they once had immediate access. With one out of four restaurant workers expecting to leave the industry within the next year, such a system that increases employee frustration is untenable.

Responding to these market shifts, eTip, the platform already modernizing tipping for some of the world’s largest hotel brands and third-party franchisees, is expanding its platform to power same-day cashless tip payouts via Visa Direct to food and beverage workers in restaurants, bars, QSRs (quick-service restaurants), and other foodservice establishments. Its connected API integrates seamlessly with a restaurant’s accounting system, making reconciling credit card transactions and tips frictionless and secure.

Major benefits of the eTip Restaurant Tip Payout Platform include:

• Improved Employee Retention and Satisfaction: By facilitating swift, same-day tip payouts, eTip empowers restaurants to enhance their employees' financial well-being, positioning them competitively in a tight labor market. In fact, 82% of hospitality workers choose instant tip payouts when presented with them as an option.
• Cost-Effective Operations: eTip simplifies and optimizes financial operations by seamlessly integrating with accounting systems, reducing administrative costs and errors.
• Reduced Administrative Burden: The platform automates tip distribution, saving time and effort while minimizing errors, allowing businesses to focus on core operations.
• Enhanced Security: Eliminating the need for cash, eTip provides a safer way to deliver tips. Additionally, eTip prioritizes data security, safeguarding financial transactions and personal information, and protecting against data breaches and fraud.

For hotel businesses that want to add eTip’s new functionality to the restaurant on their location, the benefits are greater still. Hospitality businesses can seamlessly add eTip’s cashless tipping for hotel staff and instant tip payouts for restaurant workers, effortlessly tracking and managing the funds of all the critical workers on their teams who rely daily on tipped wages.

To learn more, visit https://etip.io/tip-payouts/

Square will be powering quick-service restaurant JARS, a fast-growing franchise concept from celebrity chef Fabio Viviani. JARS currently has locations in Illinois, Texas, and California with more than 100 additional locations set to open across the country.

JARS is the latest culinary concept by celebrity chef Fabio Viviani, who has more than 30 years of experience in the hospitality industry and more than 32 different restaurant businesses under his belt. Viviani developed this new dessert franchise as a high-volume concept that leverages the latest technology and labor-saving cooking techniques to produce high-quality desserts, shakes, and coffee drinks that drive viral food content through its creative and “Instagrammable” presentation.

With Square, JARS will be able to easily manage their operations all in one place with streamlined payment processing, inventory and menu management, real-time visibility into business performance, and more. 

• 71% say the ability to integrate with other systems is driving their POS purchase decisions, according to HT’s2 2023 POS Software Trends Report.

JARS will also be able to efficiently manage all their locations using the Square for Franchises dashboard, which provides comprehensive and real-time insights into store performance and precise control over franchise-specific menu management, as well as gift card and loyalty program orchestration.

“I’ve spent over 30 years in the business as a chef and restaurateur, and as JARS began rapidly expanding, I knew we needed a technology solution that would create a seamless experience for guests, workers, and franchisees alike,” said Chef Fabio Viviani. “With Square, we’re able to easily manage operations across all of our locations and keep orders flowing efficiently as we grow.”

“Square is built to help restaurants of all sizes run and streamline their businesses, whether you’re a small local diner or a rapidly growing chain,” said Ming-Tai Huh, General Manager of Square for Restaurants. “We’ve been invigorated by JARS’ tech-forward approach and quick expansion and look forward to continuing our work together as JARS spreads nationwide.”

To get connected with a sales representative and learn more about Square’s offerings for franchise businesses, visit  here.