News Briefs

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. 

 

Chowly, a restaurant technology company that integrates third-party delivery marketplaces with point-of-sale (POS) systems, introduces its Restaurant Control Center. This new tool serves as a centralized hub for integrations and empowers restaurants with consolidated data, business insights, and greater control to boost revenue and long-term growth.

“Chowly’s new Restaurant Control Center provides the features we need to improve our revenue and customer experience,” said Domenick Montanile, Owner/Operator at Venezias Pizzeria. “Managing multiple restaurants and delivery platforms can be chaotic, but Chowly brings us the control and insights we need. Out of the box, we were able to improve our third-party vendors reconciliation process with our POS.”

Integrating with third-party delivery systems is impacting POS purchase decisions for 29% of restaurants

Chowly’s Restaurant Control Center's key capabilities include:

• Access to consolidated order data across locations and delivery platforms, allowing restaurateurs to make both real-time tactical and long-term strategic business decisions. 
• Insights to optimize sales and boost revenue and growth, allowing restaurateurs to strategically adjust what is offered, to whom, and through which platform. This includes sales trends reports, insight into which ordering platforms and restaurants are performing best, and identification of top-selling items. It also gives control for setting up-charge percentages by location or ordering platform.
• Advanced features to fine-tune restaurant operations, putting restaurateurs in control of delivery orders. This includes pausing and unpausing third-party platforms to manage volume during peak business hours, updating and syncing the POS menu with delivery channels on demand, and setting pick-up and delivery prep times for locations and online digital ordering platforms.

This launch follows Chowly's recent acquisition of the digital guest experience platform Koala. The combined business now represents more than 3,000 restaurant brands and 16,000 locations, integrating over 350,000 orders per day across the US.

Tripadvisor announced the appointment of two veteran technology and business leaders to key roles within its Tripadvisor Core business: Sanjay Raman to Chief Product Officer and Kristen Dalton to Chief Operating Officer.

As the Chief Product Officer for the Tripadvisor Core business, Sanjay Raman will drive innovation, development and iterative improvements within Tripadvisor's suite of products and services focused on serving travelers, diners and partners, including accommodation providers, restaurants and advertisers. Raman joined Tripadvisor in January 2023 after having served in key product roles, most recently at Airbnb and Houzz.  While at Greylock, he worked with and led investments in several early-stage consumer marketplaces. Raman started his product career at Google where he led teams on the Google Video and Google Apps products.

Kristen Dalton was appointed in January 2023 to serve as the Chief Operating Officer for the Tripadvisor Core business, responsible for strategy development and operational planning and execution. Dalton, who joined Tripadvisor in 2019, previously served as the Vice President of Financial Planning & Analysis and served as the interim leader of the Tripadvisor B2C organization. Dalton's previous experience includes strategy and finance leadership roles at Vistaprint, Chubb, and AXA Equitable. She started her career at Ernst & Young.

"Placing the traveler and our partners at the heart of everything we do, is a key component of our strategy. I'm excited to announce the appointments of these two executives, whose deep leadership experience building consumer internet businesses and scaling digital media and marketplace products will help us deliver on our strategy," said Matt Goldberg, CEO, Tripadvisor Group. "With the addition of a product visionary like Sanjay and a strategic operator like Kristen, we believe we are well positioned to execute on our strategic vision for Tripadvisor."

"I join this company with a passion for innovation and a dedication to ensuring the travelers and partners we serve always have a positive experience when using our travel tools, engaging with our community and leveraging our numerous services to ensure we live up to our potential as the most trusted, most important travel guidance platform in the world," said Sanjay Raman, Chief Product Officer, Tripadvisor. "I'm excited about the opportunity to help Tripadvisor reinforce its leadership in our sector."

"Tripadvisor is such an important brand to travelers around the world, and we have an incredible legacy as a company. Our work has an impact on how people experience the world and the businesses that make meaningful travel possible," said Kristen Dalton, Chief Operating Officer, Tripadvisor. "We are bringing together the best people and strategy to deliver on our next chapter of growth. I am incredibly proud to partner with our leadership team to deliver on our brand promise and provide value to our partners."

Caribe Royale Orlando Resort, a AAA Four Diamond all-suite meetings resort in Orlando, announces the debut of Caribe Royale Orlando Digital Guest Experience, its first-ever mobile app.  

The app, which soft-launched in January, connects Caribe Royale Orlando’s guests to a wealth of property information and services, all conveniently centralized on their mobile devices. Through the app, guests can begin the check-in process prior to their arrival, communicate directly with the Front Desk via chat within the app, and access the shuttle schedule for visits to the Walt Disney World® Theme Parks and Disney Springs®. Guests are also able to view menus from the hotel’s restaurants and seamlessly book reservations for The Venetian Chop House through a direct link. 

“We designed the Caribe Royale Orlando Digital Guest Experience app to further inspire guests to embody our motto of ‘Live Royale,’” says Amaury Piedra, Managing Director of Caribe Royale Orlando Resort. “Each in-app feature, from access to Walt Disney World tickets and shuttle schedules to our Quick Connect with Staff Chat option, provides our guests with the power to customize their stay in real time, whether they’re on property, or off-site enjoying the nearby theme parks.”  

Additional in-app features include MyStay, which allows guests to request housekeeping and in-room amenities, set up “Do Not Disturb” hours, request valet services and more. The Things to Do feature provides travelers with a list of Disney shopping, attractions, and entertainment, and Chat is an in-app chat function that puts guests directly in touch with front office staff. The app also benefits meetings attendees, allowing them greater simplicity in organizing their stay so they can focus more fully on business.  

The Caribe Royale Orlando Digital Guest Experience app is the most recent addition the resort has made to its robust list of on-site amenities and enhanced offerings. In 2021, Caribe Royale Orlando completed an extensive $140 million property renovation, inclusive of its 1,337 guestroom suites (120 of which are two-bedroom villas), public areas, dining outlets, and a significant expansion to meetings and event spaces.  

“The launch of our proprietary app was a natural next step in our reimagination,” Piedra continues. “We’re looking forward to communicating with our loyal guests through this platform and eventually launching even more perks for our mobile app users, including exclusive offers and a loyalty program.”  

The Caribe Royale Orlando Digital Guest Experience app was developed in partnership with Runtriz, the leading provider of contactless mobile guest engagement solutions for the hospitality industry. Runtriz is part of Radius Networks, which powers the Flybuy Platform.  

“Communication, efficiency, and convenience all impact where guests decide to stay,” says Alonso Vargas, SVP of Product at Radius Networks. “Caribe Royale Orlando is now able to offer a cutting-edge mobile solution that provides a high level of service, all powered by their guests’ personal devices.” 

The Caribe Royale Orlando Digital Guest Experience app is available to download on iOS and Android platforms via the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. For guests staying at Caribe Royale Orlando’s neighboring property, Buena Vista Suites®, a similar app called Buena Vista Suites® Digital Guest Experience is also available for download.