News Briefs

Presto Phoenix Inc., a provider of AI-driven solutions for the quick-service restaurant (QSR) industry, announced an expanded partnership with Galardi Group, the parent company of Wienerschnitzel, to deploy its cutting-edge Voice AI ordering technology across the quick-service restaurant chain's drive-thru locations.

The Galardi Group now has 35 locations operating with Presto’s Voice AI in the drive-thru. The company has already enrolled over 50 locations, with rapid 2025 expansion plans for Wienerschnitzel's nationwide network of over 350 corporate and franchise drive-thru locations.

“We're thrilled to expand our partnership with the Galardi Group and bring Presto Voice™ to Wienerschnitzel locations across the country,” said Gee Lefevre, CEO of Presto. “Our AI-driven solution has significantly improved upsell and labor optimization while helping the staff focus on providing exceptional service and food quality.”

“We are delighted to be an early adopter of AI with Presto and have conviction in the ROI we see across upsell revenue, labor cost, and the consistency of the customer experience,” said Rusty Bills, Chief Operating Officer of Galardi Group. “It is time to scale our partnership toward a fully AI-enabled system, which we believe will greatly contribute to the success of our franchisees. The QSR space is rapidly moving in the technology space, and we are happy to partner with Presto to help us navigate this current way of doing business.”

Presto Voice is an industry-leading Voice AI product that automates drive-thru order-taking, in the process becoming a virtual employee, helping staff avoid excessive multi-tasking and driving higher order accuracy and superior customer service. A Presto Voice upsell test with Wienerschnitzel’s all-beef hotdog yielded a 5% average increase in total sales when Presto Voice consistently upsold the all-beef hotdog.

“Ours is a story of great American entrepreneurship and growth that started with a single hot dog stand in 1961. As we expand our business over the next decade, we believe our early adoption of AI will help enable this same culture of being forward-thinking and results-oriented,” said JR Galardi, CEO of Galardi Group.

Presto pioneered LLM-driven drive-thru Voice AI, which gets increasingly intelligent every day. With over 15 years of enterprise restaurant experience to scale rollouts nationwide and a customer-centric model that emphasizes corporate and franchisee relationships, Presto has become the best-positioned Voice AI partner for the drive-thru QSR industry.

To learn more about Presto, please visit presto.com.

CardFree, the all-in-one platform empowering merchants with customized order, pay, and loyalty solutions, is pleased to announce the launch of a new, class-leading, end-to-end AI ordering and payment solution in collaboration with SoundHound AI.

The new feature streamlines phone-in takeout orders by integrating SoundHound’s industry-leading AI-powered voice technology with CardFree’s world-class ordering and checkout flows, utilizing its Text-to-Pay platform. This solution reduces staff workloads and mitigates fraud by eliminating the need to take orders or credit card credentials over the phone, while improving the guest experience with features like loyalty integration, rewards redemption, and seamless payment options like Apple Pay, Google Pay, and gift cards.

“Our team has always taken pride in bringing new and innovative products to market that drive incremental revenue, streamline operations, and improve the guest experience. When we launch a solution that checks each of these boxes, it’s a huge win for our brands and their customers. We’re excited this joint solution with Soundhound is already live with a mutual client, Torchy’s Tacos, which has one of the most passionate customer bases around. Making it easier to get ‘Damn Good tacos’ is a win for everybody,” said Jon Squire, Founder & CEO at CardFree.

“We’re excited to work with CardFree to offer innovative voice ordering technology that enhances the guest experience and streamlines operations, making it easier than ever for restaurants to serve their customers," said James Hom, Chief Product Officer of SoundHound AI.

AI Voice Order & Pay is another example of CardFree applying practical and immediately actionable applications of the latest technology, similar to the recent release of its Smart AI Upsell feature. CardFree continues to work hand in hand with our partner brands to bring new technologies to market that streamline the dining experience.

BeCause, the Danish start-up breaking down barriers in sustainability data management for the global hospitality and tourism sectors, has introduced Certification Co-Pilot, a new tool designed to streamline the eco-certification process for hotels and certifiers. It allows stakeholders to manage certification applications through a single, automated workflow, reducing manual effort and improving efficiency.  

‍Launched today at ITB Berlin, the tool is currently being piloted by customers in several markets and will be fully available at the end of Q2 2025.  

‍Certification Co-Pilot works by connecting hotels directly to certifiers via the BeCause sustainability hub. Applicants simply need to fill in their application on the platform and transmit it to auditors for evaluation. Feedback is managed within the platform as well, while built-in intelligent prompts help identify potential issues and information gaps before transmission, enabling quicker resolutions and significantly reducing certification timelines.

“By removing these barriers, we are confident that hotels will be incentivized to apply for, and obtain, a greater number of eco-certifications — the key criteria consumers and booking platforms use to evaluate a brand’s sustainability credentials,” says BeCause CEO Frederik Rubens Steensgaard.

Hotels can leverage existing sustainability data across frameworks, calculators and within hotel groups using BeCause’s mapping capabilities. For example, figures used to comply with the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive or carbon emission metrics calculated through HCMI are automatically mapped to the chosen certification and can be applied to the application. This process minimizes duplicate data entries, greatly reducing data collection costs and enabling brands to pursue more ambitious sustainability goals with fewer resources.  

“We are excited to be one of the first certifications available through Because’s Certification Co-Pilot and are proud to advance the digitalization of the certification process, especially helping hotels to a very accessible, fast and smooth process leading to certification,” says Julian Reingraber, Strategic Development Manager at GreenSign, who introduced the tool alongside BeCause during a panel discussion at ITB.  

“By automating key steps, it provides a reliable and efficient path towards hotels realizing their sustainability goals, while also increasing consumer trust and transparency,” he adds.

A Game-Changer for the World of Certifications

‍Without BeCause and Certification Co-Pilot, sustainability data collection is often labor-intensive, limiting access to third-party verified eco-certifications. Through the sustainability data hub, hotels can efficiently collect, validate, and share their data, ensuring compliance and credibility.  

Corporate hotel headquarters can pre-populate preferred certifications for specific regions or business units within Co-Pilot, providing relevant data and monitoring progress in real time via an intuitive dashboard, improving investor and stakeholder accountability.  

“Consumers increasingly want to travel more sustainably but often question the validity of green claims. With Certification Co-Pilot, hotels and travel companies have fewer barriers to securing third-party eco-certifications and meeting the growing demand for more sustainable travel options,” says Rubens Steensgaard.  

BeCause also updates a hotel or tourism company’s certification status in real time, ensuring booking engines have immediate access to the most up-to-date sustainability credentials. This seamless integration eliminates the need for manual updates, giving travellers confidence in their booking choices.

PPDS, the exclusive global provider of Philips Professional Displays and complementary solutions, is delighted to announce that its groundbreaking, ultra low power, 50” Philips Signage 3650 EcoDesign has become the first digital signage display to be awarded EPEAT Climate+ Gold designation, with more models set to follow.

The acclaimed Philips Signage 3000 Series EcoDesign, an ideal solution for hospitality environments – from hotel lobbies to bars, restaurants, cafes, gift shops and more – is PPDS’ debut digital signage offering designed with the company’s evolutionary EcoDesign methodology. This sees the implementation of new manufacturing processes, physical features, materials, packaging, and built in software that are kinder to the environment and deliver better energy efficiency.

Delivering uncompromised high impact 4K performance while consuming 50 per cent less* energy versus comparable premium digital signage models, the Philips Signage 3000 Series EcoDesign has already received among the industry's lowest energy label ratings (E on the 50" model, D on the 55" and C on the 65" models) and was initially awarded an EPEAT Climate+ Silver designation.

EPEAT is the world’s premier eco label for electronics, measuring the social and environmental impacts of products from extraction to end-of-life, while also certifying they have met 100 per cent of the Climate Criteria plus at least 50 per cent of the existing optional criteria. These include:

• Climate: Reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the manufacturing supply chain and product use.
• Circularity: How products are designed for reuse and recycling, and which ones responsibly address packaging, water, and waste.
• Chemicals of concern: Eliminating the use of toxic chemicals that are hazardous to human health and the environment.
• Responsible supply chains: The responsible sourcing of materials, fair labour practices, and worker health and safety in the electronics supply chain.

EPEAT helps to support and promote more informed, sustainable-driven buying decisions, providing access to a free online Registry, identifying and detailing products from the broadest range of manufacturers across the globe.

The Gold standard

As a globally recognised leader and advocate for innovating sustainability driven AV hardware and software solutions – including implementing the latest packaging designs and technological breakthroughs into existing products for advanced performance and energy efficiencies – the 50” Philips Signage 3000 EcoDesign meets the most demanding set of criteria for sustainability leadership in electronics, with the 55” and 65” set to follow.

Bart Wouters, International Product Manager at PPDS, commented: “At PPDS, the environment and sustainability are at the core for our product development, from the initial designs, right the way through to manufacturing, delivery, and post installation. With the Philips Signage 3000 EcoDesign Series, we achieved a major industry milestone in gaining EPEAT Climate+ Silver. As with all our products, we continued in our pursuit for more. And now this groundbreaking product achieved even better, with EPEAT Climate+ Gold.”

The best got better

Continuing to innovate, and to overcome the challenges customers are facing in the marketplace, the Philips Signage 3000 Series EcoDesign benefits significantly from PPDS’ ongoing strategy to reduce wastage – including plastic – from its packaging, delivered in 90% recycled and 100% recyclable materials, with the removal of paper-based manuals and instructions.

In addition, all plastic bags have been removed, while the use of polystyrene has been replaced with innovative cushioning made using 100 per cent recycled carton, maintaining the same high levels of safety and protection of the product.

Furthermore, the Philips 3000 Series EcoDesign – part of PPDS’ growing Android SoC family – can be managed either manually, or entirely remotely, using third party software or PPDS’ range of in-house solutions, including the Philips Wave remote device management ecosystem. 

Just getting started

Andrea Barbuti, Global Product Management Lead for EMEA at PPDS, added: “The scrutiny of our products for their sustainability features doesn’t end when we launch a new display. That is still very much the beginning. Tracking the performance of a range, checking the product life cycle, and working for better and more. It is all very much on our radar. With Android SoC, we strive to update and enhance at every opportunity and, as we unearth innovations and methodologies to help enhance performance and energy efficiencies, we work to include these in our existing models, as well as our brand new ones. 

“We are immensely proud the 50” Philips Signage 3650 EcoDesign has been recognised with EPEAT Climate+ Gold certification. My thanks and congratulations go to our full team for the continued hard work in setting new standards and striving for a brighter and more sustainable future in AV.”

Soundtrack Technologies (Soundtrack), the leading music streaming provider for business, today announced a preferred supplier agreement with Accor, a global hospitality group with a portfolio of more than 5,700 hotels and 10,000 restaurants and bars in 110 countries.

The new partnership gives Accor access to Soundtrack’s unmatched catalog of more than 100 million songs and ready-made playlists cleared for commercial use, streamlining the deployment of curated music and ensuring immersive guest experiences across its brands worldwide.

“Our venues are vibrant social hubs that go beyond just providing a place to stay or eat,” said Thomas Lehuede, FF&E and GT Global Category Manager at Accor. “Music plays a crucial role in this experience, and it must evolve with us as we grow. With Soundtrack, we’ve found a partner that gives our hoteliers and restaurateurs the flexibility to create bespoke atmospheres, allowing them to truly express their unique identity.”

Soundtrack’s full suite of made-for-business features includes remote access, multi-zone control, In-store audio messaging, explicit lyrics filters and its AI Playlist Creator.

“This partnership with Accor is a significant milestone for Soundtrack, reinforcing our position as the premier music provider for the hospitality industry,” said Ola Sars, CEO of Soundtrack. “Music is a powerful tool for shaping guest experiences, and with our seamless, fully licensed solution, Accor properties can craft distinctive atmospheres that inspire long-term loyalty.”

For more information about Soundtrack, visit soundtrack.io.