News Briefs

Church’s Texas Chicken has named Roland Gonzalez as its new Chief Executive Officer. With a wealth of experience in the global quick-service restaurant industry, Gonzalez will lead the legendary brand’s next phase of global growth and evolution, having played a key role in its transformation over the last two years as Chief Operations Officer. He succeeds Joe Guith, who was named to the post in 2022.

A highly respected executive with a passion for building and motivating cross-functional teams, Gonzalez brings an extensive track record of driving operational excellence through global business strategies and process improvement, strengthening franchisee partnerships, enhancing guest experiences and expanding brand reach in highly competitive categories and geographic markets. Prior to joining Church’s Texas Chicken®, he held senior leadership roles at major quick-service restaurant brands, including Burger King, Tim Hortons and Popeyes, where he implemented successful global growth strategies and delivered high-impact results across RBI’s portfolio of 20,000+ restaurants.

“Church’s Texas Chicken has made significant strides toward revitalizing its legendary brand by focusing on delivering outstanding, bold-flavored chicken, enhancing service and value to customers and staying true to our community-oriented roots. We thank Joe for being an important part of the first major phase of our transformation as he moves on to his next chapter,” said High Bluff Capital Partners founder Anand Gowda. “Our priority now is to build on this progress and significantly accelerate our momentum and expansion as we strive to reach $2 billion in system sales within the next few years while maximizing franchisee profitability.

“To that end, we are thrilled to welcome Roland Gonzalez as our new CEO – a visionary leader who already has had a tremendous impact on Church’s transformation as COO,” he continued. “His deep understanding of the QSR industry, commitment to growth-focused operational excellence and dedication to driving franchisee profitability make him the ideal leader to guide Church’s through its next major evolution.”

Gonzalez previously held numerous executive positions and key business operations roles including Executive Vice President for Operations at Virtual Dining Concepts and Head of Global Operations Standards and Strategy at Restaurant Brands International.

Shift4 has acquired a majority stake in Vectron Systems AG, a European suppliers of point-of-sale (POS) systems to the restaurant and hospitality verticals. 

Based in Germany, Vectron has 65,000 POS locations across Europe, representing. Shift4 is expected to acquire additional ownership of Vectron through a public tender offer that is expected to conclude within the next month, with a de-listing and formal integration process to occur shortly thereafter.

The acquisition is expected to provide Shift4 with an expansive customer footprint across Europe as well as a distribution network of ~300 POS resellers. As a result of the acquisition, Shift4 believes it will be able to add its integrated payment services to current Vectron customers and products, while also empowering the sales force with a compelling all-in-one POS and payments solution unrivaled in Europe.

“Shift4 was at the forefront of the convergence between software and payments in the restaurant and hospitality verticals in the US. We see an incredible amount of demand for a similar all-in-one solution across Europe,” states Shift4 CEO Jared Isaacman. “With our integrated payments and SkyTab offering, we believe we have the best solution at the right price point. Vectron will provide valuable local expertise, infrastructure, and the distribution necessary to meet the demand. This acquisition is right out of the Shift4 playbook – enabling us to unlock synergies, expand our distribution, and monetize payments for a large existing install base.”

Completes Revel Systems Acquistion

In addition to the acquisition of Vectron, Shift4 has also completed its previously announced acquisition of Revel Systems. Revel has over 18,000 merchant locations across the United States and internationally which Shift4 estimates represents a $17B+ payment opportunity. Revel also has a direct sales and dealer distribution network which Shift4 believes can be leveraged to accelerate SkyTab distribution both domestically and abroad. 

Shift4 has signed a definitive arrangement agreement to acquire Givex Corp., a global provider of gift cards, loyalty programs and point-of-sale solutions. 

The Arrangement Agreement is subject to customary closing conditions and the transaction is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of this year. 

With across more than 100 countries, Givex serves a wide range of businesses in various industries, including 7-Eleven, Wendy’s, Best Western, Texas Roadhouse. 

The company offers robust gift card and e-gift solutions as well as customizable loyalty programs, and a point-of-sale (POS) system for various business types, among other value-added services.

 “Givex has a considerable footprint around the world which will dramatically increase Shift4’s overall customer base,” states Shift4 President Taylor Lauber. “At the same time, their gift card and loyalty solutions are second to none and will add significant value for our current customers, creating stickier relationships andh 130,000+ active locations enhancing our overall value proposition. Similar to other deals we have recently completed, this acquisition aligns perfectly with how we like to deploy capital – adding blue-chip merchants at a low customer acquisition cost while delivering additional benefits to our customer base.” 

“The Givex team looks forward to joining the Shift4 family and bring our enterprise gift card capabilities and loyalty programs to hundreds of thousands of new customers,” says Don Gray, CEO of Givex. “By combining Shift4’s end-to-end payment solution with our value-added engagement services, we can deliver an unparalleled package to both of our customer bases.”  

Just Salad, the fast-casual restaurant chain with a mission to make everyday health and sustainability possible, announced it has raised $200M in capital from an investor group led by Wellington Management, alongside D1 Capital Partners, Neuberger Berman, and Stripes. The capital raise values the company at approximately $1 billion. Proceeds of the transaction will be used to support new unit growth as well as continued investment in menu innovation, advanced technology initiatives and customer experience.

“The quick-service food industry is in the early days of disruption, and the average consumer desperately wants healthy, craveable, convenient and accessible options; no one does that better than Just Salad,” said Nick Kenner, Founder & CEO of Just Salad. “We are proud to partner with world-class investors like Wellington, D1, Neuberger Berman, and Stripes to propel our next phase of growth. We have a tremendous runway to build Just Salad into a leading national restaurant brand, and this investment demonstrates the confidence in that opportunity and our team’s ability to achieve that goal.”

Just Salad opened in New York City in 2006 to meet the demand for those in Midtown wanting fast, healthy, and sustainable offerings. Since then, Just Salad has successfully expanded its menu to include salads, wraps, warm bowls, soups and smoothies, all prepared with homemade dressings, prepped-daily produce, from-scratch recipes and fresh, flavorful ingredients. Proteins are marinated overnight and cooked fresh in the restaurant throughout the entire day.

Just Salad operates nearly 100 locations across urban and residential markets in New York, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania. Just Salad’s intense focus on the customer experience and disciplined real estate selection process have driven best-in-class unit economics and industry-leading same store sales growth supported by increased traffic, all leading to dramatic revenue growth and strong profitability at both the store and enterprise-level.

Sustainability Matters

Just Salad is a Certified B Corporation, committed to meeting high standards for social and environmental performance. As the home to the longest-running reusable bowl program in the U.S. restaurant industry, Just Salad prevents approximately 43,000 pounds of single-use packaging waste each year. Since 2021, the company has saved over 160,000 meals from landfills and avoided more than 430,000 kg of CO₂e through its partnership with Too Good to Go. See Just Salad’s Impact Report for more details on the company’s sustainability initiatives.

Hotels’ efforts including higher pay and a broadening range of benefits have improved staffing levels over the past year, but nearly two-thirds (65%) of surveyed hotels continue to report shortages, according to a recent survey conducted by the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) and AHLA Gold Partner Hireology.

“While American hotels have largely recovered from the pandemic, hotel employment is still nearly 10% below pre-pandemic staffing levels,” said AHLA President & CEO Rosanna Maietta. “The hospitality sector is committed to attracting and retaining talent, investing in workforce development, and creating good jobs for millions of Americans, and we are working hard in Washington to ensure we have a policy environment that supports these efforts.”

Hotels have focused on rebuilding the hospitality workforce since the pandemic. Incentives such as higher pay, flexible working hours and providing hotel discounts, along with participating in job fairs and advertising, lowered the percentage of hotels reporting staffing shortages from 76% in May 2024 to 65% at year-end. Among the hotels surveyed, 9% described themselves as “severely understaffed,” down from 13% in May 2024. 

“The hospitality industry faces a dual challenge: staffing shortages, particularly in key roles like housekeeping and front desk, coupled with the need to retain existing talent,” said Adam Robinson, Hireology Co-Founder & CEO. “While wage increases and other efforts by hoteliers are positive steps, we must prioritize career mobility and create clear paths for advancement to truly attract and retain the workforce we need."

More than seven in 10 of the hotels surveyed (71%) said they had job openings they were unable to fill despite active searches. On average, hotels are trying to fill six to seven open positions per property.

The most mentioned shortages were in housekeeping (38%), followed by front desk roles (26%). Hotels also reported having difficulty finding workers for culinary positions (14%) and maintenance roles (13%). 

Hotels’ most frequently reported strategy for attracting and retaining workers was offering higher wages (47%). Approximately one-fifth of the surveyed hotels (20%) said they were offering flexible working hours, while 13% reported providing hotel discounts, and 9% participate in job fairs and advertising.

Career opportunities as strong or better than ever, say most hoteliers

A strong majority of those surveyed (72%) said they believe that career opportunities in hospitality are better than ever or at the same levels since the pandemic.

AHLA continues to advocate for policies and legislative changes that expand opportunities for the workforce. Additionally, the AHLA Foundation administers workforce development initiatives to help hotels fill open jobs and raise awareness of the industry’s 200+ career pathways. These include the Hospitality Sector Registered Apprenticeship program, a partnership with the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation funded by the U.S. Department of Labor, and the Empowering Youth Program, which recruits young adults for entry-level hotel positions and works with community-based organizations to empower them with training, tools, and support that will lead to permanent careers in hospitality.

Methodology: AHLA’s Front Desk Feedback survey of 282 hoteliers was conducted in partnership with AHLA Gold Partner Hireology between December 6, 2024 and January 3, 2025.

Based in London, the roomangel Foundation is a newly established non-profit organization on a mission to transform hotel distribution. Structured as a Company Limited by Guarantee (CLG), the Foundation invites hospitality stakeholders to join.

This groundbreaking initiative unites booking engine providers and lodging establishments for the first time, creating a fairer market by restoring distribution power to the industry and booking power to travelers.

In addition to providing consumer regulatory oversight, the Foundation will serve the industry with a suite of cutting-edge technology solutions, including:

• A trusted stamp for hotel websites, boosting direct bookings and consumer confidence
• A revolutionary new hotel search and booking platform.
• A powerful data ecosystem to drive better decisions and optimize demand.

These innovations are designed to disintermediate hotel distribution, protect consumers, and elevate the search and booking experience.

Travelers rely on centralized search to compare accommodation options, which has historically given Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) a competitive edge. While hotels prefer direct bookings, they have struggled to compete with OTAs’ convenience, marketing budgets, and loyalty programs.

The roomangel Foundation seeks to address this longstanding challenge by providing a platform that offers centralized hotel search designed for the customer while delivering reservations via the hotel’s direct channel, eliminating the need for third-party agents.

“This is the first global initiative in our industry’s history to present a viable solution to a decades-old problem,” says Brian Reeves, founding member of the Foundation. “roomangel aggregates inventory intelligently in one place, removes the influence of commissions and persuasion, and instead ranks results by best value for travelers’ convenience. It also provides a reliable verification system, including an independent value-for-money calculation, reinforcing trust in direct hotel bookings.”

To achieve this, the Foundation is launching a new hotel search and booking platform that will be directly connected to its hotel partners’ booking engines. This pioneering partnership with industry-leading direct distribution providers was introduced during the inaugural Booking Engine Summit, held in Dubai in October 2024. At the event, a select group of industry leaders hailed the initiative as “the biggest change in the history of our industry.”

‍The roomangel Foundation is inviting hospitality stakeholders to join this movement and reshape the future of hotel booking. Learn more at roomangel.org/join

Learn more about The roomangel Foundation.