News Briefs

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. 

 

Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux is making its largest technological investment in brand history.

Walk-On’s is implementing a systemwide aggregator to consolidate third party orders, partnering with Lunchbox to upgrade its online ordering platform and guest loyalty program, and introducing a partnership with Toast to level up its POS management system.

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

Walk-On’s new loyalty program and app, designed by Lunchbox, are scheduled to launch in the first half of 2023 with an improved interface and back-end integration that will create a more seamless user experience for guests and operators alike. 

Continuing with marked enhancements to the guest experience, Walk-On’s is also partnering with BOWEN to modernize the brand’s website presence and streamline the online ordering experience. 

In addition to the upgraded Toast POS system, Walk-On’s is installing Toast Kitchen Display System, and rolling out Toast Go 2 mobile handheld POS devices for tableside and curbside use at current and future locations. 

Walk-On’s will implement a phased rollout across all current locations throughout 2023 and begin immediate implementation at all new restaurants in their development pipeline. 

Hospitality Ventures Management Group (HVMG), an Atlanta-based, private hotel investment, ownership and management company, announced that Cory Chambers has been promoted to the newly created role of chief commercial officer and senior vice president, business intelligence. In his new position, Chambers will be responsible for leading the HVMG Revenue Excellence team in maximizing market share growth and bottom-line profitability. Central to the new role will be driving HVMG’s business intelligence strategic initiative of creating forward-looking, predictive analytics. Over the past eighteen months, comprehensive data warehousing and visualization platforms have been built to enhance real time decision making for company leaders and results for investors.

“Since joining HVMG nearly a decade ago, Cory has proven his ability to develop and deploy tools, processes and strategies that drive excellent revenue results,” said Robert S. Cole, president and chief executive officer, HVMG. “During his tenure, HVMG has experienced five consecutive years of same-store portfolio wide year over year market share growth, including a 7.6% increase in 2022, our best year yet. Cory has attracted and developed some of the best revenue talent in our industry, earned the trust and respect of our owners & brand partners, and has been a contributor, mentor and leader throughout our organization. I am incredibly appreciative of his can-do attitude, his tenacity and how he has made us a better company.”

A 20-plus year hospitality veteran, Chambers previously was vice president of revenue generation at White Lodging where he oversaw sales, revenue management, eCommerce and communications for the company’s full-service portfolio. His previous roles with White Lodging include corporate director of sales and marketing and pre-opening director of sales and marketing at the JW Marriott Indianapolis. Chambers began his career with Marriott International where he held several sales and marketing leadership positions throughout the United States at hotels ranging in size from 300 to 1,300 rooms. Chambers graduated from James Madison University and received his MBA from Babson College in Boston, Mass.

“I’m passionate about driving results, helping others use data to make great decisions and growing HVMG’s brand in the eye’s investors, brands and most importantly, our associates,” Chambers said. “This is my dream job, and I look forward to growing with HVMG as the company pursues its own expansion efforts.”

myDigitalOffice (MDO), a hotel data platform, has added InTouch Data (InTouch) to its suite of data and business intelligence solutions. Acquiring InTouch, an Australian-based decision intelligence solution, paves the way for stronger relationships with hotel operators and integration partners globally. 

The acquisition of InTouch, an Australian company specializing in decision intelligence for hotels, enables MDO to:

●      Strengthen its certified APIs, integrations, and relationships with key solutions providers, including Amadeus, Oracle, Infor, and several others.

●      Grow its hospitality intelligence portfolio to include global luxury brands like Accor, Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, and Jumeirah Hotels & Resorts.

●      Accelerate expansion in the Middle East and Asia Pacific global markets.

InTouch, founded in 2001, has developed a user-friendly and accurate platform that captures all of a hotel's revenue streams in one place and helps owners and operators make profitable decisions. "Making business decisions has become much more efficient. And because we now have a greater breadth of data, we’re able to discover new insights and findings, plus look at our business more holistically. All of which help us to reinforce a culture of informed decision-making based on data and insights. Put another way, we now make decisions with confidence." Alex Lee Chief Commercial Officer with the Jumeirah Hotels & Resorts Group.

“Now more than ever, hotel owners and operators are laser-focused on insights that help them drive more to the bottom line,” says MDO CEO Ali Moloo. "Both MDO and InTouch share a common goal of empowering hoteliers with centralized, high-quality, accurate data to make more confident real-time business decisions.”

“InTouch has been connecting siloed data to thousands of hoteliers for more than 20 years,” says Ryan Smith, CEO at InTouch. “We live and breathe hotel data and decision intelligence, and we’re excited about this opportunity to scale by joining the industry’s fastest-growing hotel data platform.”

Focus on Integrated BI Platform 

The acquisition of InTouch follows MDO's strategic investment from Cove Hill Partners in January 2022 and following that, the acquisitions of Focal Revenue, a hospitality revenue intelligence software company, and Datavision, a leader in hotel data analytics and business intelligence for luxury resorts. In the past 18 months, MDO has significantly scaled its team of employees worldwide and has made key leadership appointments with a strong emphasis on establishing itself as a trusted partner to hotel groups of all sizes. These successes were recognized when MDO was again named to Inc 5000’s Fastest Growing Private Companies in America, where they ranked #608 overall and #6 in the Travel & Hospitality vertical. In December, CEO Ali Moloo was named a 2022 LODGING Luminary by LODGING Magazine.

"We are proud of the progress we have made and are committed to continuing to evolve and improve our offerings to meet the changing needs of our customers," says Scott Ryan, President of MDO. "We look forward to serving our current and future customers by making data work for hospitality, not hospitality work for data."

Shiji announced that its product, Concept, has been selected to offer the spa, golf, and resort activities management platform as a preferred provider to its member properties.

Curator currently includes 97 independent boutique and lifestyle hotels and resorts across the U.S. After an extensive competitive process, Curator selected Shiji’s Concept as a preferred solution given its’ track record in the hospitality space. Some of the key benefits are the sophisticated back-end resource management platform, open-API environment, capability to be an all-in-one management platform across on-property activities, including spa and golf, and commitment to continuous improvement of the platform.

"Shiji is an ideal preferred partner because of their proven commitment to service quality and incredible reputation as a leading golf, spa, and activities technology provider in the upscale and luxury hotel market," said Austin Segal, Vice President at Curator Hotel & Resort Collection. "Through this partnership, we are proud to offer Shiji’s Concept Spa and Golf to our member properties as a robust solution that, with its scalable and module-based solution, can drive both operational efficiencies and increased guest satisfaction for properties of every size."

With more than 20 years in the industry, Concept, a Shiji product, is an industry leading Golf, Spa and Leisure technology solution provider for hotels and resorts in over 70 countries around the world. The solution also boasts open API integration capability allowing hotels to choose from dozens of existing integrations or develop custom ones to connect guest fulfillment solutions across payments, inventory management, loyalty, and more. It is known as the most complete Spa, Golf and Activities solution for hospitality, with a world class local support infrastructure.

“We are excited to partner with Curator’s independent member hotels and offer Concept spa, golf and activities management solutions that empower them with innovative technology, to deliver an enhanced guest experience, and a measurable ROI. At Shiji we look forward to working with property managers to take their technology stack into the future and help manage guests and data efficiently, and reduce operational costs,” said Dan Bell, Senior Vice President of Shiji Americas.

Akia, a customer experience automation platform, announced a $6 million Series A funding round. California-based venture capital firm Altos Ventures led the financing with additional participation from GSR Ventures, who led the previous seed round.

Since launching in 2019, Akia has consistently achieved 3x year-over-year growth, operating primarily in hospitality. The current market conditions, ongoing labor shortage, and post-pandemic impact have increased demand for Akia's automated customer engagement framework. Akia has helped thousands of businesses eliminate monotonous paperwork, automate processes and drive engagement to better serve consumers and increase efficiency.

In an app-fatigued world, where over 75% of app downloads are not used more than once, Akia’s Mini Apps are mobile experiences that don’t require download or login. From the business perspective, where native apps fall short - costs, maintenance, and engagement challenges - Mini Apps fill these gaps with better accessibility and usability. Companies using Akia’s platform produce more results by leveraging Mini Apps to automate and expedite day-to-day processes like identity verification, security deposit collection, or even contactless hotel check-in.

”Securing this new round of funding from Altos is really a validation of our vision,” said Evan Chen, CEO of Akia. “Consumers are tired of poorly made chatbots, waiting on hold for call centers, or downloading apps for single use. We are committed to developing innovative products and services that help businesses respond more effectively and quickly to the changing needs of their customers.”

The shift towards a contactless first approach and the ongoing staff shortages have created a prime opportunity for Akia to make a splash in the market. Akia is well-positioned to take advantage of these favorable conditions and will continue to expand its reach and impact.

"Akia is paving the path for the next generation of tech-enabled services,” said Jim Dai, Partner at Altos Ventures. “The hospitality sector has faced numerous challenges in recent years and will need a system like Akia to delight customers while improving efficiency. We are thrilled with Akia's momentum and have complete confidence in its leadership and long-term vision."