News Briefs

Shiji, a global hospitality technology innovator, has partnered with IPORT, an award-winning manufacturer known for enhancing the usability of iPads and iPhones, to introduce an all-in-one software solution for hotel restaurants. This collaboration will provide hoteliers with a seamless combination of a tablet and payment device to maximize their F&B operations.

The integrated iOS and payment device solution simplifies guest service for hotel restaurant servers, providing them with an effortless tool to cater to their guests' needs. As a certified Apple partner, Shiji and IPORT guarantee exceptional performance and reliability. Hoteliers can choose from multiple device options, including iPad Pro, iPad Mini, and iPhone, ensuring flexibility and compatibility with their operations.

“IPORT products are built around modularity and flexibility that empower our hospitality customers to do more with the iOS platform. We are thrilled to partner with a leading iPad and iPhone cloud PMS and POS platform provider like Shiji,” said Chris Lawson, Head of Partnerships, IPORT. “We look forward to innovating with Shiji in disrupting legacy, monolithic providers who have limited the industry from harnessing the power of iOS and mobility. The future is bright, and the possibilities are endless with IPORT, iOS, and Shiji.”

"The partnership with IPORT is a significant milestone for Shiji in our commitment to provide innovative technology solutions for the hospitality industry," said Ryan King, Senior Vice President of Shiji in the Americas. "By combining our expertise with IPORT’s hardware solutions, we empower hoteliers to streamline restaurant operations and deliver exceptional guest experiences. This collaboration represents another step forward in our dedication to driving success in the Americas, and globally."

The tablet and payment device solution seamlessly integrates with multiple payment gateways, allowing hoteliers to choose the system that best suits their needs. By simplifying the payment process, it reduces operational complexities, minimizes errors, and saves valuable time and resources for hoteliers.

TGI Fridays said that Brandon Coleman III has been named Chief Executive Officer after an extensive search among internal and external candidates.

Coleman joined the company in October 2022 where he led the domestic corporate and franchise stores as well as the TGI Fridays brand as US President and Chief Marketing Officer. Previously, Coleman had a highly successful career in the restaurant industry, serving as Senior Vice President and CMO of Dave & Busters, various leadership roles at Del Frisco's Restaurant Group, and as Chief Marketing Officer of Romano's Macaroni Grill as well as serving as CEO and Management Consultant for Brava Partners, a consulting group focused on branding and business strategy. In 2013, he was named one of Ad Age's 40 Under 40.

Coleman will lead TGI Fridays into a transformative next phase revitalizing the brand to position it as a growing market leader in the rapidly evolving food and hospitality industry. This entails accelerating the company's evolution as an experiential hospitality and entertainment destination by offering bold new offerings across key dayparts as well as an expansion of restaurant locations, domestically and internationally.

Leaning Into Creative Offerings

TGI Fridays and  Coleman launched, in restaurant and off premise, Krispy Rice, a sushi offering, developed in partnership with food technology company C3.He also recently led the brand through its biggest menu change since the 1990's with the launch of its Grilled & Sauced platform.

Most recently, under his  leadership, TGI Fridays expanded its presence at the Dallas Fort Worth International Airport with a location that is on track to have an annual revenue of $14MM.
TGI Fridays operates and franchises over 650 restaurants across 52 countries. 

ConverseNow, a voice AI technology platform for restaurants, announced a groundbreaking release of its newest generation of virtual ordering assistants, set to impact millions of guests and thousands of restaurant owners and staff. Refined using generative AI from both OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Bard, the latest version of ConverseNow's own proprietary software takes conversational AI to unprecedented levels in the restaurant world with more natural, free-flowing conversations and exemplary order accuracy.

By integrating generative AI with its own technology, ConverseNow has equipped its AI engineers with valuable tools to supercharge its patented and award-winning software. ChatGPT and Bard's enhancements allow ConverseNow's voice AI to self-learn at even faster rates, as well as predict limitless conversation flows with guests using deep learning techniques and massive data sets. This process allows ConverseNow's virtual assistants to 'think like a person' when anticipating how to respond to guest dialogue. The technology can now easily handle complex conversational elements that people typically take for granted when talking to each other but were previously challenging to program into AI.

"This is the future of restaurants. In this union of hospitality and technology, we've leveraged generative AI to create the ideal virtual assistant. (S)he recognizes and fixes problems before they take place, personalizes the guest experience, supports store staff, and drives order counts to unprecedented levels," said Vinay Shukla, ConverseNow Co-Founder, and CEO. "We're already processing more information than any restaurant voice AI platform out there, and our newest generation of virtual assistants has further widened the performance gap by evolving at breakneck speed."

The powerful upgrade solidifies ConverseNow as the frontrunner of voice automation within the restaurant industry. Natural, consistent communication and precise order-taking are top priorities for both guests and restaurant operators. ConverseNow's new generation of ordering assistants addresses these requirements head-on, further enabling restaurant guests and operators alike to adopt voice AI as the default method for drive-thru and phone order-taking.

Generative AI has made an impact on many industries already, but the integration of generative AI into restaurants is set to be one of the largest use cases for this technology in consumers' daily lives. Virtual ordering assistants are serving millions of customers, supporting hundreds of thousands of staff, and reshaping operations for owners across the country.

"With our platform serving more than one million guests every month, ConverseNow has the unique advantage of possessing domain-specific and up-to-date proprietary data. The access to this data allows us to continuously augment and improve these proprietary LLMs [large language models] and deliver an even stronger guest experience, thereby creating an upward spiral of continuous improvement," said Rahul Aggarwal, ConverseNow Co-Founder, COO and Chief Product Officer.

The latest version of voice AI is now rolling out across the country to nearly 2,000 stores across 46 states.

Hostaway, the vacation rental property management software (PMS), revealed it has developed its own smart lock integration and management feature, removing the need for third-party software. 

Property management customers can add and manage their smart locks from within the Hostaway platform, linking them effortlessly to their property listings. 

Smart locks save property managers valuable time by allowing them to remotely lock and unlock doors, as well as grant time-restricted access codes to specific guests, cleaners and maintenance staff. Hostaway users will be able to do all this through automated guest messaging and the Hostway Guest Portal.

Codes can be manually adjusted within a reservation, offering an added layer of security and customization. The integration allows hosts and vacation rental managers the freedom to map multiple locks to a single listing or allocate one lock to multiple listings, depending on their business needs. 

The innovation, which can link to hundreds of the most popular smart locks on the market, also offers real-time insights into the battery status of the locks, eliminating any guesswork and ensuring that guests are not inconvenienced by unexpected lockouts.

Maria Lopez, Vice President of Product for Hostaway, said: “Check-ins have always been one of the most time-consuming processes in our industry and, recently, smart locks have become something of an industry standard, offering a better check-in experience for both hosts and guests.

“Our direct integration solution comes packed with everything needed to effectively control and automate your smart locks, whilst also reducing the need for additional third party software. In addition it will help property managers provide a seamless check-in experience, saving them time and efficiency, all while allowing their guests an effortless customer journey that makes staying in a vacation rental even more desirable.”

To learn more about how Hostaway’s solutions help forward-thinking property managers drive efficiencies, generate more revenue, and ultimately grow their businesses, visit hostaway.com. 

Workstream, an HR platform for the hourly workforce, launched a new suite of team management products to support growing businesses in the quick-service restaurant industry and other hourly industries as they scale operations, helping to provide more efficient and engaging workplace environments. 

Building on Workstream's successful recruiting technology, the new products will improve operational efficiency for QSR franchisees, restaurants, and other businesses that historically need more resources to implement technology solutions. Most solutions today cater to enterprise businesses and offer a complicated suite of products at a high price point. However, the Workstream products will lower barriers to building an HR tech stack by offering growing businesses affordable, easy-to-use, customizable solutions that work within any budget. 

The new products automate and digitize critical back-office operations, enabling employers to securely store worker data, stay compliant with HR processes and documentation, and streamline worker communication. Starting today, employers can add the following products to their HR tech stack:

• Digital Onboarding: Streamline onboarding with mobile-friendly digital paperwork and e-signatures designed to improve the worker experience and decrease premature turnover in the first 90 days. 
• Worker Records: Easily manage and share employee data between your HR tools with Workstream's compliant and secure record management.  
• Document and Signature Management: From onboarding paperwork to recurring document updates, make it easy to deliver and collect forms and signatures via mobile and store them securely.
• Chat: Improve communication between managers and workers to increase team efficiency and output with one organized chat experience.
• Engagement Surveys: Check in on worker sentiment, boost employee engagement, and address problems before they begin impacting retention.  

In addition to the products above, Workstream will add a new Payroll product to its HR management platform toward the end of this year. Workstream Payroll's automatic calculations and white-glove support will eliminate complexities and headaches in managing payroll for growing QSR and franchise businesses.  

"The ability to automate operational tasks is a game-changer for QSR franchisees. Instead of getting bogged down by complicated processes as their business grows, employers can streamline how they tackle these tasks and devote the time they save to helping workers thrive in their roles. This increased efficiency and worker engagement can save businesses countless hours every week and positively influence their bottom line," said Desmond Lim, CEO and co-founder of Workstream. 

To learn more about Workstream and its new HR management products, please visit workstream.us.

RoomRaccoon, a hotel management system for independent hotels, has partnered with Akia, a guest engagement solution that provides guest messaging software for hotels. The partnership aims to remove any friction in the guest journey while giving hoteliers a single platform to manage all points of contact.

This is the first integration available to RoomRaccoon users that harnesses the power of text messaging to enhance the guest experience. Guests are no longer burdened with the need to download an app or set up logins, streamlining the entire experience and allowing them to easily engage with their accommodation provider.

"Empowering RoomRaccoon's global users with the new integration with Akia ushers in an era of unrivaled guest communication and management, setting a new standard for seamless and personalized hospitality,” says Ryan Kanoknukulchai, COO at Akia.

“This is a valuable new addition to the RoomRaccoon Marketplace,” says Steven Reffin, Head of Partnerships at RoomRaccoon. “The new integration ensures that guest communication is synchronized with RoomRaccoon’s reservation data in real-time so that hotels can engage with guests in a personalized and timely way. What’s more, by centralizing guest communication and reservation management, hotel staff can reduce manual tasks and benefit from optimized operations, elevating the overall guest experience.”

RoomRaccoon’s integration with Akia is now available to hoteliers worldwide.