News Briefs

Lunchbox, the enterprise online ordering system, rolls out Lunchbox Catering 2.1, a reimagined management suite with enhanced backend features that streamlines the guest catering experience.

With 73% of remote companies expecting to return-to-office this year, the demand for workplace catering has increased, promoting 50% faster growth in the catering sector than the overall restaurant industry. With the management suite, restaurants are able to streamline an otherwise segmented ordering platform, allowing loyalty and operations to work cross-functionally.

Features include:

• Order Level Upsells
• Single Site Ordering
• House Accounts: Turn one-time guests into repeat catering clients with options to send instant invoices through the House Account feature.
• Call Center Tool sends quotes, process digital payments, edit orders, access guest order history, update billing, and more.
• Custom Operations: Have full control over catering operations, with access to customize holiday-specific menus, prep/lead-time, payment options, and more.

"Restaurants often use one partner for catering and another for their online ordering solution — this results in a siloed solution where the two systems are unable to communicate seamlessly and share data," says CTO of Lunchbox, George Istfan. "Lunchbox is eliminating that silo by building an end-to-end platform that encompasses all of an operator's menus and creates a frictionless guest ordering experience for each channel."

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. 

 

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.

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, a hotel franchisor with approximately 9,100 hotels spanning more than 95 countries, announced a new agreement with Groups360 to bring instant online multi-room bookings to Wyndham hotels in 2023.

Powered by GroupSync™, a direct booking solution, Wyndham hotels will have the opportunity to seamlessly integrate the platform with their hotel reservation systems, providing travel planners—from groups and events to those managing infrastructure, logistics and corporate accounts—the ability to view best available rates and availability as well instantly book rooms online.

"Over the last three years, Wyndham has invested over $100 million in major technology initiatives, giving our franchisees access to best-in-class offerings that unlock new efficiencies while helping to grow their bottom line," said Lisa Checchio, chief marketing officer, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts. "Bringing franchisees access to GroupSync is just the latest example and one we believe offers incredible opportunity for franchisees, particularly those in the economy segment, where such technology is an industry first."

Hotel companies that publish live inventory and rates within the GroupSync Marketplace save travel planners valuable time by allowing them to search, shop and book blocks of rooms. Whether it's short one-to-two-night group events like youth sports, weddings and family reunions or multi-week infrastructure or logistics project like commercial construction, bridge repair or highway expansion, GroupSync empowers planners to quickly and easily book their preferred hotel instantly online or through a Smart RFP.

"Wyndham is a major player in the hospitality industry with offerings that span every segment of the industry," said Tim Flors, chief customer officer, Groups360. "Travel planners increasingly expect their hotel purchase experience to be seamless, instantaneous, and online. Wyndham's deployment on GroupSync Marketplace does just that, all while saving hotels time and helping them better serve their guests."

Planners can already book guest rooms and meeting spaces using Wyndham's global properties via GroupSync's Smart RFP and group guest rooms are expected to start being available in GroupSync for instant, online booking later this year. All are a part of Wyndham's innovative Wyndham Business program, which through a suite of tools and resources, aims to simplify business travel bookings. To learn more about Groups360 and GroupSync Marketplace, visit www.groups360.com. To learn more about Wyndham Business, visit www.wyndhambusiness.com.