News Briefs

DoorDash announced a suite of AI-powered tools designed to help merchants optimize their online menus, enhance the customer experience, and boost sales.  

The tools are available on both DoorDash Marketplace and first-party products, such as Online Ordering, and include:

• Item description generator – Instantly create enticing menu descriptions with one-click using AI;
• AI-powered Camera – Enables restaurants to capture professional-quality food photos by optimizing lighting and backgrounds, without altering the appearance of the food itself.
• Instant Photo Approvals – Menu photos will be automatically approved with AI-driven moderation for instant upload;
• Background Enhanced Menu Photos – Without altering or editing the food itself, the new enhancement feature helps transform casual consumer photos into clean, professional menu photos.

Create instant menu descriptions with AI

Leveraging the power of AI, item description generator uses inputs, such as item names and existing photos, to craft compelling and mouth-watering menu descriptions in seconds. Merchants can access the item description generator through the Business Manager App or through the Merchant Portal.

Effortless food photography with AI-powered Camera
Restaurants have seen a 44% increase in monthly sales for menus with item photos. The AI-powered camera, available in the Business Manager App, uses AI computer vision and helps merchants take stunning food photos in seconds, ensuring the food's authentic appearance is preserved. With real-time feedback on framing, smart lighting, background enhancements, and intuitive cropping tools, taking professional-quality photos has never been easier.

ServiceChannel, a platform for the procurement and delivery of facilities services, has introduced a new online ecosystem that offers multi-site customers and service providers access to a dynamic network of facilities management tools, services, and solution providers.

The ServiceChannel Partner Ecosystem contains a vetted directory of the company’s strategic partners and their offerings. Current members of the ecosystem include partners in key areas such as remote monitoring (IoT), field service management, asset collection, facilities management consulting, payment solutions, and technology implementation.

“We're deeply committed to investing in partnerships and believe in the power of collaboration to create compounded value for our subscribers, service providers, and partners,” said Craig Moriarty, President of ServiceChannel. “Integrating a diverse range of innovative tools, services, and solutions drives innovation, enhances efficiency, and delivers a comprehensive platform to meet the evolving needs of the industry.”

The ServiceChannel Partner Ecosystem helps business operators to:

• Find the right partner
  Users can explore a curated directory of technologies and solutions, find the best match to meet a specific facilities management need based on information in their profile, and start working directly with a chosen partner.
• Solve facilities management challenges
  Visitors can find help to navigate a wide range of complex business challenges, optimize workflows, and enhance operational efficiency with tailored solutions, then expand their customer base by integrating new technologies for sustainable success.
• Grow the business
  Business operators can focus on growing their businesses by finding trusted partners who provide operational expertise and resources to enhance their services, boost customer satisfaction with innovative tools, and open new market opportunities by helping them scale more effectively.

In addition to the open-access directory of partners, the company also rolled out the first ServiceChannel Partner Portal, a dedicated site for strategic partners to access exclusive content, resources, and tools to manage joint customer opportunities.

“A significant part of our success has been our ability to partner with other platforms and solution providers,” said Sid Shetty, Chief Business Development Officer at ServiceChannel. “I'm really excited to launch the new Partner Ecosystem, where customers and partners can now easily connect and build stronger relationships to drive mutual value and growth across the board.”

“We look for best-in-class technology providers to help us on our mission to accelerate digital payment activation," said Jordan Novak, Chief Sales Officer of Viewpost. "With ServiceChannel’s new embedded EasyPay product offering, we can expand our reach and mutually deliver leading payment capabilities with an unmatched level of service.”

“Keeping facilities running smoothly and efficiently starts with having skilled, well-trained teams," said Doug Donovan, CEO and Founder of Interplay Learning. "Through our partnership with ServiceChannel, we're making it easier for companies to access high-quality, online training with hands-on simulations, VR, and AI so they can upskill their teams faster, improve performance, and deliver better outcomes."

Visit the ServiceChannel Partner Ecosystem to explore a vetted directory of partners and their groundbreaking facilities management technologies, specialized services, and custom solutions.

The ServiceChannel Platform is used by many of the world’s largest retail, restaurant, grocery store, healthcare, and convenience store chains. For more information about ServiceChannel or to request a free demonstration of the ServiceChannel facilities management platform, visit servicechannel.com/request-a-demo.

Anacove, a developer of AI-enabled, cloud connected energy management solutions for the global hotel industry, announced that it has been selected by IHG Hotels & Resorts to serve as a Preferred Vendor of connected thermostats.

According to Anacove CEO Ian Lerner, the selection by IHG Hotels & Resorts as a Preferred Vendor is based on the results of independent IHG testing that proved Anacove Connected Thermostats outperformed all competitors in three critical areas:

• The only thermostat vendor that saves energy when the guestroom is occupied
• The most efficient connected thermostat that IHG has tested
• The only connected thermostat that provides consistent energy consumption reduction, which no other vendor has been able to achieve

“We are honored to be named a Preferred Vendor by IHG, one of the world’s leading hotel companies with 19 hotel brands, over 6,600 hotels and 987,000 rooms across the globe,” Lerner said today. “Their rigorous testing proved that Anacove Connected Thermostats provide a cost effective solution to the IHG Green Engage™ system requirements, while helping hotel owners and operators cope with annual electricity price increases by significantly reducing energy consumption.”

To conduct its testing, IHG commissioned Allumia, a market leader in commercial Energy as a Service (EaaS) solutions. Alumina ran the smart thermostat study using revenue-grade meters to determine both baseline and Anacove Connected Thermostat performance at IHG Hotels and Resorts properties in three metropolitan areas: Atlanta, Georgia; Orange Beach, Alabama; and Fort Walton, Florida.

The study began by first measuring the baseline performance of guestrooms containing existing thermostats without networked or smart capabilities or additional sensors. Once baseline measurements were recorded, an Anacove Connected Thermostat, fully integrated with the IHG Edge dashboard and IHG Connect Wi-Fi service was installed in each room. The Anacove Connected Thermostat leveraged its integrated occupancy sensing and IHG Edge to know when a room was occupied, unoccupied, or unrented to adjust settings to maximize savings.

The study also confirmed that the Anacove Connected Thermostat – the first cloud-based energy management system – saves energy at all times: When rooms are rented and occupied as well as when rooms are not rented. The typical payback period has been calculated to be less than 12 months, and even less in regions with high energy costs.

The Anacove Connected Thermostat connects directly to IHG Connect and IHG Edge, with no additional central gateways, while remaining connected to IHG and Anacove clouds, ensuring both ease of installation and operation as well as high reliability.

Google Cloud has expanded its multi-year partnership with Papa Johns to revolutionize the pizza maker's ordering and delivery experience using the power of artificial intelligence (AI). Through the partnership Papa Johns has created an innovation team, named PJX, that will leverage Google Cloud's AI, data analytics and machine learning (ML) capabilities to provide a more frictionless and consistent experience for customers both inside its restaurants and throughout its digital channels.

Through its partnership with Google Cloud, Papa Johns expects to drive success through increased order frequency, higher-value orders, reduced customer service costs, improved customer satisfaction (via a chatbot powered by Google Cloud's technology) – and ultimately, more joyful pizza experiences.

 "Our partnership with Google Cloud will enable us to take personalization to the next level. We're not just reacting to orders – we're anticipating our customers' needs and proactively providing tailored recommendations and offers. This isn't just about convenience; it's about creating a truly joyful and personalized pizza experience that builds lasting loyalty," said Todd Penegor, President and CEO, Papa Johns.

PJX will focus on using Google Cloud's AI to improve customer support, drive advanced personalization and build proactive experiences "from click to crust." Key projects for the team include:

• Anticipation of customer needs: Using Google BigQuery, Vertex AI, and Gemini, Papa Johns will proactively suggest orders through push notifications or email, based on learned customer preferences and anticipated needs for upcoming occasions like birthdays or sporting events.
• Hyper-personalized loyalty experiences: By applying Google's generative AI (gen AI) models against its data, Papa Johns can help optimize loyalty program rewards and benefits. In addition, the pizza maker will be equipped with real-time personalization that dynamically adjusts the website and app experience for users, such as presenting unique discount codes or advertisements based on previous orders, customer preferences, location, and more.
• Predictive ordering and personalized marketing: Using Google Cloud's AI, Papa Johns will be able to predict customer ordering patterns to provide relevant promotions and ordering shortcuts. This also includes AI-driven marketing campaigns that can deliver personalized offers, content, and timing based on preferences.
• AI-powered customer interactions: Papa Johns plans to build an AI-powered chatbot that can handle common customer inquiries, seamlessly escalating complex issues to live agents. The pizza maker will also incorporate AI-powered voice ordering via the app to further enhance convenience.
• Optimized restaurant operations: Papa Johns will transition to a Google Cloud-based point-of-sale (POS) system that lays the foundation for AI-driven dispatching, route optimization, and intelligent automation of key restaurant processes.

"Throughout its history, Papa Johns has been at the forefront of technology innovation – and its innovation team understands that AI has the power to transform the customer experience into something truly special," said Matt Renner, President, Global Revenue, Google Cloud. "Google Cloud's portfolio of data, analytics, and AI capabilities is helping Papa Johns deliver proactive, hyper-personalized service that goes above and beyond for its customers, building relationships that will keep customers coming back for more."