News Briefs

Wahooz Family Fun Zone and Roaring Springs Waterpark are leveraging UKG technology — including the UKG Talk  communications platform — to create a more productive workplace culture to help drive business success.

Motivating Gen Z

Both Wahooz and Roaring Springs employ predominantly Gen Z workers, with teenagers comprising 90% of the frontline staff. One of the biggest challenges for park management was finding a way to communicate instantly and effectively with employees who are spread out across the parks, especially during the busy summer season. The park’s operators say the UKG Talk platform has been instrumental in allowing them to easily connect with staff — and allowing staff to interact with each other — right from their phones.

“Teenagers appreciate the convenience of being connected to their devices, so UKG Talk was a perfect fit to help us meet them where they already are,” said Kristina Christensen, CFO at Wahooz Family Fun Zone and Roaring Springs Waterpark. “We can communicate important information such as park or slides closures or weather delays to all staff, and we can also create individual groups in UKG Talk specific to lifeguards, food and beverage employees, and gift shop staff so they can interact within their teams and build camaraderie.”

Another way Wahooz and Roaring Springs are meeting employees where they already are is in their desire for schedule flexibility. According to a global UKG study of nearly 13,000 frontline workers worldwide, 59% of respondents said it’s important that employers offer flexible work hours, while a third (33%) said a lack of flexibility is one of the top reasons they’d quit their job. One of the biggest benefits of UKG Talk is the way it empowers the parks’ workers to shift swap amongst each other to strike a better work-life balance.

“If any member of our staff can't work a scheduled shift, they can go into UKG Talk and transfer shifts within their individual groups. They can also inquire about other shifts and pick those up in their free time,” said Christensen. “Our managers can additionally be part of the conversation, and the transparency and flexibility of this process is helping us achieve better attendance.”

Wahooz and Roaring Springs rely on having a full roster of employees to meet customer demand. However, depending on the time of day, weather conditions, or park attendance, both parks use UKG to make real-time staffing decisions, including moving staff from one area of the park to another to ensure operations run smoothly and efficiently.

“For example, we can move staff between our restaurants depending upon how busy each restaurant is,” said Christensen. “If one restaurant is closed due to weather or low attendance, we can shift staff around the park through job transfer sets, which not only automates the change in our UKG solution, but also tells the employee where he or she should go to clock in based on the location where they’ll be working.”

The UKG Talk platform has become critical in elevating the employee experience and boosting employee morale, allowing managers to send trainings to employees and educate them on a variety of topics, ranging from uniform rules to new safety protocols. Additionally, both parks also use UKG Talk to recognize employee anniversaries, birthdays, and spectacular work as well as coordinate special employee events.

The UKG Pro  suite, with UKG Talk now included, is a cornerstone of Wahooz’s and Roaring Springs’ operations, simplifying complex processes, automating tasks, and empowering staff to focus on driving business success.

“The highest value that UKG delivers is how it eliminates tactical work, so we can focus on strategic initiatives,” said Christensen. “I previously oversaw the onboarding process, which took three weeks to complete. Now, with UKG, that’s done within 24 hours. It’s also so much easier to hire and rehire workers year-after-year and season-after-season, so we can focus on optimizing park operations and providing the stellar experience our guests have come to expect.”

“Our research from Great Place To Work  has consistently shown that being a great workplace leads to greater business outcomes, and at the center of that is creating moments of connection that drive meaningful workplace experiences,” said Rachel Barger, president, go-to-market at UKG. “The UKG Pro suite, bolstered by UKG Talk, empowers organizations to automate repetitive tasks, offer greater flexibility to employees, and make real-time, data-driven decisions — a formula for success in today’s rapidly evolving world.”

Zaxbys, a Southeastern QSR chicken chain with more than 970 locations in the U.S., has selected Berry AI's Camera Timers to modernize its drive-thru operations across its entire brand.

Reducing Bottlenecks

"As our drive-thru operations evolve and we look to the future for our brand, we are excited to leverage AI with camera timers in partnership with Berry AI," said Sharlene Smith, COO of Zaxbys. "This state of the art technology will help us better understand and improve the drive-thru experience for our customers in a way traditional loop timers have been limited."

The AI technology leverages cameras to measure operational metrics like speed of service and line abandonment while preserving privacy for guests, only capturing anonymous operational data. Restaurants can use this data to identify bottlenecks and improve real-time decisions.

"Restaurant team members have embraced the tech as it suggests actions based on real-time bottlenecks, allowing team members to focus on higher priority tasks," said Eric Lam, CEO at Berry AI.

"At Zaxbys, we're always looking ahead, using the latest technology to make every experience better—whether you're a guest enjoying your meal or a team member preparing it.", Smith said. "This deployment lays the foundation for AI cameras to assist our team members in more visual tasks, so they can focus on providing a better experience for our customers".

 Zaxbys has over 970 locations in 17 states.

Darden Restaurants, Inc. and Uber Technologies, Inc. announced that Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen is the next Darden brand to pilot on-demand delivery.

Cheddar's is currently conducting the pilot in 10 restaurants, enabling guests to order delivery directly through the Cheddar's website and app, while Uber Direct will handle deliveries through Uber's national delivery network. Following the completion of a successful pilot, Cheddar's plans to deploy it more broadly across their system.

"We have developed a strong partnership with the Uber Direct team," said Chris Chang, Chief Information Officer at Darden. "We learned a lot from the initial pilot at Olive Garden, and that, combined with the success of the full rollout, gave us confidence to quickly move to piloting delivery at Cheddar's."

"The needs of restaurants are evolving more quickly than ever, and we're focused on providing world-class solutions to meet those needs," said Sarfraz Maredia, Vice President of Delivery, Head of Americas at Uber Eats. "We've heard excellent feedback from Olive Garden operators on the benefits and ease of integrating Uber Direct into their operations, and are confident our teams can deliver the same benefits for Cheddar's operators, their team members, and guests."

Darden is a restaurant company featuring a portfolio of differentiated brands that include Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Yard House, Ruth's Chris Steak House, Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen, The Capital Grille, Chuy's, Seasons 52, Eddie V's and Bahama Breeze. 

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.”  

Paytronix has launched its partnership with multi-unit guest feedback and guest experience platform, Ovation. Together the two platforms aim to provide brands with deeper analysis and insight from customer feedback.

Jake Levine, VP of Partnerships at Ovation expressed how the integration benefits restaurants: “At Ovation we always say, ‘The value is in the volume’. You need to hear from a good amount of your guests to truly get a clear understanding of what’s happening in your stores. Our partnership with Paytronix aims to provide restaurants with another avenue for seamless guest feedback.”

The partnership will prove to be particularly valuable for Paytronix customers with loyalty integrations and strong mobile presences. By capturing in-store and online orders, brands with both solutions enabled will be able to automatically send customized surveys to customers thirty minutes after a transaction.

Through text, guests are directed to a brief survey about their experience. Happy guests are prompted to engage further with the brand, while unhappy guests are asked to provide additional insights. These insights are sent directly to the company, allowing them to respond and win the guests back in real time. From there, an AI-driven categorization algorithm turns the feedback into exactly what operators need to know: data on what’s going well and what needs work.

“At the heart of integrations like this is the desire to go beyond the initial interaction”, said Kalani Stephens, Director of Strategic Partnerships at Paytronix. “The ability to immediately increase the volume of feedback, is extremely valuable. With Ovation, we aim to help brands learn from the data, improve their relationships with the guests and reward loyal, positive behavior with unique opportunities.”