News Briefs

Panera Bread plans to rollout of Amazon One as a loyalty identification for MyPanera, its loyalty program with 52+ million members, and a contactless payment method.

The technology is deployed at select bakery-cafes in Panera’s hometown of St. Louis with plans to expand to additional locations in the coming months. Panera is the first national restaurant company to use Amazon One as both a way for guests to pay and access their loyalty account with their palm.

Panera guests who link their MyPanera account to Amazon One will enjoy the convenience of fast payments, as well as tailored meal recommendations from Panera associates based on their preferences and previous orders. After a simple scan of the palm, Panera associates will be able to greet guests by name, communicate their available rewards, reorder their favorite menu items, or take another order of their choice, extending the guest experience into a true and meaningful relationship. When they are done ordering, guests can simply scan their palm again to pay.

One and Done

First-time Amazon One users can pre-enroll online or sign up when placing their Panera order in the bakery-cafe. It takes a minute for a Panera guest to link their credit card and MyPanera account to their Amazon One ID. If a Panera guest has previously enrolled in Amazon One at Amazon Go, Amazon Fresh, Whole Foods Market, or other locations such as airports and stadiums, they will not need to re-enroll at Panera – they can simply link their MyPanera account to their Amazon One ID online or in store. Enrollment in Amazon One is voluntary and includes opt-in consent, and guests can choose to use Amazon One for loyalty linking, payment or both.

“Collaborating with Amazon Web Services to bring this service into our bakery-cafes is a natural extension of the tech-forward, guest-centric digital thinking that Panera is known for,” said Niren Chaudhary, CEO of Panera Bread and Panera Brands. “Our philosophy has been centered around leveraging best-in-class technology to create a better Panera experience and using that to deepen our relationship with our loyal guests. Introducing Amazon One, as a frictionless, personalized, and convenient service, is another way we’re redefining the loyalty experience.”

Panera Bread is committed to providing innovative tech-driven solutions for its guests. Guest participation is opt-in only and Panera does not store personal palm data.

Any private and personal data shared via  Amazon One is securely stored and protected by multiple security controls, and palm images are never stored on the Amazon One device. All images are encrypted and sent to a highly secure area custom-built for Amazon One in the cloud where palm signatures are created. Amazon One is an optional service. 

Up and coming QSR  Salad and Go  is expanding in Texas with three new locations opening in February in the Houston markets of Katy, Richmond and League City.

The Katy store located opened February 1, the Richmond location at  is set to open February 17, and the League City store plans to open its doors on February 22. These new locations will mark the start of rapid brand expansion across the Greater Houston area.

These suburbs were strategically selected as ideal markets for Salad and Go as some of the fastest growing communities in the region. Conveniently located in some of Houston's most popular suburbs, the new locations will provide fresh, high-quality meals with quick and easy convenience at an affordable price.

As Salad and Go continues growing its national presence with a strong focus on Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, and Nevada, the brand's expansive growth has it on a positive trajectory to provide fresh and affordable food to communities in more than 125 locations by the end of 2023. Houston is the next step in the brand's expansion across Texas with plans to open additional stores in the market throughout the new year.

Salad and Go's chef-curated menu provides guests with food for any time of the day by offering a variety of delicious and healthy items including salads, wraps, breakfast burritos and soup as well as beverages including hand-crafted lemonades, teas and cold brew coffees.

Salad and Go ensures each meal contains fresh, quality ingredients while keeping prices low by vertically integrating operations and distribution, and sourcing ingredients directly from high-quality local farmers and suppliers whenever possible. The brand's mission to make fresh, nutritious food convenient and affordable for ALL extends beyond its stores and is demonstrated in the work the brand does to donate 4,000 meals every week to those in need, as well as in partnerships with nonprofits to support and fundraise for various worthy causes.

Focus Brands says dual branding is the future of QSR, and the parent company of Auntie Anne’s®, Carvel, Cinnabon, Jamba, McAlister’s Deli, Moe’s Southwest Grill, and Schlotzsky’s, is leading the charge. Today, the Focus Brands portfolio boasts 175-plus open dual branded units with at least 65 more in various stages of development across the country. 

Drive-Thru Convenience

The Focus Brands portfolio brands have signed agreements to open more than 50 dual and tri-brand locations in the coming year, many of which include drive-thrus for added convenience as interest in dual branded franchise opportunities continues to surge.

Flexible Store Formats

Focus Brands is among the brands introducing new store formats, including Krystal, Jack-in-the-Box and Panera Bread, which opened its Panera To Go, solely offering Rapid Pick-Up and Delivery shelves where guests and delivery drivers can easily pick up orders.  

Focus Brands has long pioneered the concept of dual branding, predominately in malls and non-traditional locations with Auntie Anne’s and Cinnabon. Now, the company’s portfolio brands have found new opportunities with streetside dual branded units, which is paving the way for immense franchise growth. 

“Dual branding is the future of our brands, especially on the specialty side of the business,” said Brian Krause, Chief Development Officer at Focus Brands. “There will always be a place in malls, but there is an immense amount of growth opportunity in streetside venues, and, by dual branding, there is more opportunity for enhanced revenue.”

The company invested heavily in consumer research to identify how to create combinations of its iconic brands to resonate with consumers and meet them where they want to be met.

Focus Brands has identified four dual-brand concepts:

• Auntie Anne’s/Cinnabon
• Auntie Anne’s/Cinnabon/Carvel
• Auntie Anne’s/Jamba
• Cinnabon/Carvel – Cinnabon Swirl. 

While key consumer benefits vary by dual-brand combination, one consistent benefit has been convenience. Having these brands together in one location makes them far more accessible than they are individually. This convenience also creates opportunity for franchisees, as co-branding leads to an expansive menu that drives enhanced unit-level volume. 

INTELITY®, a guest experience and staff management platform, announced The Little Nell in Aspen, Colorado, has implemented the INTELITY platform, via smart-room tablets, which provide the property’s guests with a more digital, upscale experience, as well as GEMS®, INTELITY’s collection of staff-facing tools.

Located at the base of Aspen Mountain, The Little Nell is Aspen's only five-star, five-diamond, ski-in/ski-out hotel. The property boasts luxurious amenities, personalized service, beautiful mountain views, renowned restaurants, and spacious accommodations, including 92 guest rooms and suites. 

Each of the rooms and suites now features INTELITY’s robust guest experience platform delivered on a Bluetooth-enabled smart-room tablet that acts as a digital compendium to provide guests with detailed information regarding all aspects of the property, including, services, amenities, menus for on-site restaurants, a list of events, and more. With a tap of a finger, guests can request services and amenities, while staff can easily track and manage these requests via the INTELITY back-end platform and its integration with the property’s internal communications system, ALICE. The Little Nell's team can manage all content of the smart-room tablets from the INTELITY platform’s backend, including real-time updates to their digital compendiums, food and beverage menus, and digital storefront items. Additionally, the INTELITY-powered smart-room tablets provide guests with access to news and media sites, as well as allow them to check their flight status. 

“The INTELITY platform provides us with endless application options to best inform our guests and offer conveniences for them, and the digital aspect of delivery over tablets supports our environmental and sustainability efforts by reducing the amount of paper collateral needed in a guest room, which has long been one of our objectives,” said Henning Rahm, The Little Nell’s General Manager. “We are excited to have partnered with INTELITY on this initiative.”

Additional benefits for The Little Nell are the advertising capabilities that INTELITY’s platform provides by allowing the property to promote its activities, adventures, and on-site events directly to guests. From the menu item tabs to the ad banner, guests can easily navigate through the list of free and for-purchase events and activities to enhance their stay in Aspen. The home screen configuration acts as a smart display with features, such as reservation details, date, time, and weather, plus the ability to set up alarm clocks. Guests can also check on and keep track of their requests and any accrued charges to their room during their stay.

Thanks to the INTELITY platform’s integration capabilities, the smart-room tablets are also integrated with The Little Nell’s internal service request system, which allows guests the convenience of submitting a variety of requests — from fresh towels to ice buckets to dog bowls. 

“We are delighted to have added The Little Nell to the INTELITY family of properties,” said Robert Stevenson, INTELITY’s CEO. “INTELITY’s platform will create a more seamless and memorable journey for guests at one of the best ski destinations on the planet while easing the back-of-house operations for The Little Nell's staff."

ShiftPixy, Inc., a Miami-based national staffing enterprise which designs, manages, and sells access to a disruptive, revolutionary platform that facilitates employment in the rapidly growing Gig Economy, announced the successful beta implementation of its AI-powered recruitment system, leveraging ChatGPT’s open API, designed to address the growing gap in opportunity matching and recruitment efficiency.

For an overview of ShiftPixy’s AI recruiting engagement, please view this video.

Current statistics reveal a significant gap in the recruitment industry, with recruiters receiving an average of 250 resumes for each open position, but only 12% of applicants meeting job requirements. With more than 27 million workers seeking opportunities in the US alone according to Harvard Business School, the need for a more efficient recruitment process is paramount.

ShiftPixy's AI recruiting system tackles this challenge head-on by meeting workers where they are, capturing and aligning the best candidates for each opportunity, and actively guiding workers through the hiring process to start their gig. The platform's sophisticated automation effectively streamlines capturing, qualifying, screening, and deployment in the recruitment process. By continuously tracking and analyzing activity and data, ShiftPixy's AI-driven recruiting platform is constantly learning and adapting to improve its effectiveness, leading to a more dynamic and efficient recruitment process for both job seekers and employers.

“There’s plenty of talk about how AI might do for business. We are focused on what we can do today with a high value application for AI in our business flow and it is only getting better” said Scott Absher, Co-Founder and CEO of ShiftPixy. “Our R&D has been to apply AI to human friction points in our human capital workflows. Where people lack speed or attention to the detail, our machine process is highly personal, results focused and always reliable.”

Watch Scott Absher’s recent interview with Market Scale about how AI technology can boost efficiency in recruitment here.

Uniguest, a provider of digital engagement technology to multiple end markets, announced enhancements to its Hotel TV guest room entertainment offering with the launch of a new SaaS cloud solution. 

The release leverages cutting-edge guest room entertainment technology from Otrum, a hospitality platform acquired by Uniguest in 2022 with a proven track record in providing engagement technology having deployed to over two hundred thousand rooms. 

The integration of Otrum technology into the Uniguest Hotel TV offering means that all aspects of creating and managing in-room entertainment is cloud-based. The solution is accessed via an intuitive browser-based portal enabling hotels and brands to access, manage and monitor guest room entertainment services from anywhere.  

Enhancing the Uniguest Digital Engagement Platform with fully-cloud Hotel TV, backed up by the solution’s proven track record, ensure that best in class uptime and redundancy can be offered, with the additional scalability and benefits that a SaaS deployment brings.   

Uniguest’s new Hotel TV platform also provides hotels and brands with: 

• Intuitive drag and drop content editor 

• Flexible customization tools 

• Casting support for guest devices using apps such as Netflix or Hulu 

• System on chip support removing the requirement for additional set top box hardware.  

• Integrations with other platforms, including leading property management systems.  

Price Barnes, Uniguest VP of Product Management, said, "We are pleased to bring Otrum's powerful cloud-based guest room entertainment solution to the US market as part of the Uniguest platform. This solution solidifies our company's aim to deliver cutting-edge, flexible, and easy to use technology. We see these enhancements as the first step in revolutionising our Digital Engagement Platform, which is already well established within many hotels and hospitality brands.  

“As we drive towards our goal of connected content, deployed everywhere, creating engaged audiences this is a huge next step.”