News Briefs

Pita Pit, a Mediterranean fast-casual brand specializing in made-to-order pita sandwiches, promoted Meghan Haugen to the position of Chief Operating Officer. In her new role, Meghan will be responsible for overseeing the Operations, Marketing, and Franchising departments, and helping to drive the strategic direction and growth of the company.

With nearly two decades of experience in the restaurant and hospitality industry, Meghan brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to her new role. She has been an integral part of Pita Pit's success, demonstrating exceptional leadership and a relentless commitment to operational excellence.

"I am honored and excited to take on this new role as Chief Operating Officer," said Meghan Haugen. "I look forward to working with our talented team to continue building on our success, driving innovation, and delivering more value to our customers and franchisees."

Since joining Pita Pit, Meghan has held various leadership roles, where she has consistently delivered impressive results. Her deep understanding of the brand, coupled with her ability to foster strong relationships with franchisees, vendors, and partners, has positioned her as a key leader within the organization.

"Meghan's promotion is a testament to her hard work, dedication, and outstanding contributions to Pita Pit," said Peter Riggs, CEO of Pita Pit. "Her strategic vision and operational expertise will be instrumental in pushing our growth and ensuring that we continue to deliver a better experience to our customers and franchisees."

In her new role, Meghan will focus on enhancing operational efficiencies, driving continuous improvement initiatives, and supporting the growth and success of Pita Pit's franchise network. She will work closely with the executive team to develop and execute the company's strategic plan, ensuring alignment with the company's vision and goals. 

Pictured:  Meghan Haugen, Chief Operating Officer of Pita Pit USA

PopID and Steak n Shake announced today that all Steak n Shake locations in the United States now accept PopID Check In (to review favorite orders and loyalty points) and PopPay for checkout. With more than 300 locations, Steak n Shake is the first national restaurant brand in the United States to adopt biometric check-in and checkout nationwide. PopID’s biometric check-in feature makes kiosk ordering faster, easier, and more personalized.

The implementation of PopID in every Steak n Shake location was accomplished rapidly and at low cost through a partnership between PopID and ACRELEC, a leading supplier of kiosk-ordering hardware and drive-through products. Cameras were shipped to every restaurant for attachment to the existing ACRELEC kiosks. “As explained in our recent publication, ACRELEC believes that our integrated biometric solution provides various benefits to restaurant operators related to throughput, ticket size, and loyalty engagement,” says Bruno Lo-Re, President of ACRELEC America.

“We are thrilled about our partnership with PopID and to be on the edge of biometric technology for the benefit of our customers. Our guests now have the option to use biometrics for a faster and more seamless experience,” says Sardar Biglari, Chairman of Biglari Holdings, the parent company of Steak n Shake.

Now that biometrics are enabled for all ordering and payment inside Steak n Shake restaurants, PopID and Steak n Shake will begin implementing biometric check-in and checkout at the restaurant’s drive-through units. “Similar to the kiosks, biometric check in can increase loyalty participation and revenue at the drive thru while also reducing payment processing costs,” says John Miller, CEO of PopID and Chairman of Cali Group. “Additionally, biometric payment at the order confirmation screen enables staff members to work on tasks other than taking payments by card and phone at the order pick-up window.”

Denny’s Inc. announced the appointment of two new executive leaders: Monigo G. Saygbay-Hallie, Ph.D. joins as executive vice president, chief people officer for Denny’s Corp. effective August 5, and Patty Trevino joins as Denny’s senior vice president, chief brand officer, effective August 12.  

Celebrated human resources, talent manager and culture leader Monigo G. Saygbay-Hallie will serve as executive vice president, chief people officer for Denny’s at the enterprise level, leading people initiatives across Denny’s and Keke’s Breakfast Café. Saygbay-Hallie brings more than 20 years of restaurant and retail experience in leading teams and developing talent. She joins Denny’s, having most recently served as chief people officer at Checkers & Rally’s Drive-In restaurants. Before Checkers, she served in HR leadership roles at Sysco Corporation, and YUM! Brands. 

“It is a tremendous opportunity to join a legacy brand like Denny’s and Keke’s as a growing brand. I’m most looking forward to helping to expand and elevate the culture and benefit the brand’s people,” said Saygbay-Hallie.  

New Brand Leader

The company also welcomes accomplished marketing and brand leader Patty Trevino as Denny’s senior vice president, chief brand officer. Trevino brings two decades of experience in the restaurant industry and most recently served as executive vice president, chief marketing officer at Red Lobster. She has also held marketing leadership roles at Carl’s, Jr., Bloomin’ Brands and Burger King. Trevino’s position focuses on Denny’s restaurants, overseeing all facets of branding including strategy, public relations, social and digital marketing, consumer experience and product innovation.  

“Denny’s is THE iconic American restaurant brand. They are America’s diner. Being part of this stellar team, strengthening our guests' value proposition, delivering craveable food, and enhancing brand love and affinity will be a true honor,” said Trevino.  

Both roles will report to Kelli Valade, Denny’s Inc. president and CEO. “Monigo and Patty are proven leaders who will contribute immediately to our company and brand strategies,” said Valade. “They both have invaluable experience that will provide a positive impact on our teams, franchisees and guests. We are giving them a warm welcome to the Denny’s family.”  

Commonwealth Hotels, a Covington, Kentucky-based hotel management company, is pleased to announce the appointment of Jon Gustin as vice president of operations. In his new role, Jon will oversee the operational excellence and strategic growth initiatives of Commonwealth Hotels, bringing with him a wealth of experience and a proven track record in the hospitality industry.

Jon Gustin joins Commonwealth Hotels with a distinguished career spanning over 15 years in various senior leadership positions. Most recently, Jon served as the senior director of operations for Placemakr, where he was instrumental in driving operational efficiencies and growing the company from a start-up. Prior to that, he held key roles including director of hotel division for Blue Water Development, regional director for Dimension Development, and area general manager for TPG Hotels and Resorts. Jon has also held various leadership positions with White Lodging, contributing significantly to their operational success.

"We are thrilled to welcome Jon Gustin to the Commonwealth Hotels family," said Jennifer Porter, president of Commonwealth Hotels. "His extensive background in hotel operations, coupled with his strategic vision and leadership skills, make him an ideal fit for this pivotal role. We are confident that Jon will play a key role in driving our continued growth and delivering exceptional experiences for our guests."

Jon Gustin holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Hospitality Business from Michigan State University and a Juris Doctorate from Texas Southern University. His unique blend of hospitality expertise and legal acumen will further strengthen Commonwealth Hotels' commitment to operation excellence and guest satisfaction.

"I'm excited to join Commonwealth Hotels and work alongside such a talented team," said Jon Gustin. "I look forward to leveraging my experience to drive operations efficiencies, enhance guest experiences, and contribute to the overall success and growth of the organization."

Guestline, part of Access Group, has introduced a host of self-service options to its GuestStay offering, incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) to further reduce pressure on hotel staff while empowering guests.

The self-service portal from Guestline, part of the GuestStay product, enables guests to manage their hotel reservation with options to modify or update dates, rate plan or room type, and to pre-order additional products and services like breakfast or parking in advance of their stay. With greater automation embedded, AI identifies, categorises, and creates actionable requests in the Property Management System (PMS), saving valuable time administering each booking and ensuring guests’ needs are recognised and fulfilled more efficiently.

In addition to managing their stay, guests can secure a restaurant booking through ResDiary, a leading provider of bookings and table management software to clients in the hospitality sector and also part of Access Group, which is now fully integrated with the portal to offer a seamless experience for table reservations. 

Chris Jones, Senior Product Manager at Guestline, said: “By empowering the guest to manage their own stay, our hotel partners are not only liberated from administrative tasks, they also benefit from faster access to more accurate first-party data, which can drive better efficiency and personalisation. With AI we can provide even further automation to support hotel teams. This means staff can focus on what’s most important - providing guests with a memorable, engaging experience. In trials, the self-service has proven particularly popular with corporate travellers who appreciate the ability to make amendments in a few clicks and to make specific requests ahead of their arrival.”

Through the guest self-service portal, hotels are able to surface more of their F&B offering and wider ancillary products and services throughout the digital guest journey to secure demand and drive increased TRevPAR while delivering an enhanced guest experience. This is especially relevant for online travel agent (OTA) bookings, where bookings are often room only.

Jones said: “As well as happier guests and refocused staff, hotels using the guest portal see increases in restaurant bookings thanks to the integration with ResDiary. We are already seeing properties with around 25% of their table bookings now coming via the GuestStay portal, with even more upsell options to the portal to drive additional revenue already in development.  At a time when room-only margins are tight, every little uplift on guest spend counts - and with staffing issues still prevailing in hospitality, reducing ‘zombie jobs’ and creating more autonomy for guests is a vital part of our vision for GuestStay and the portal.”  

As well as guest self-service, the portal enables hoteliers to prompt guests to complete admin processes from their own devices in their own time, such as pre-arrival digital registration, checking their spend during stay, and settling their bill and checking out on the day of departure.   

Hundreds of Guestline customers are already benefiting from these tools, with the company continuing to innovate and invest in improving guest communications. With digital registration completion averaging 31%, staff and guests alike enjoy much faster check-ins. By collecting up to 100% more real guest email addresses, hotels are also driving more repeat business through their direct channels rather than via online travel agencies (OTAs).  

Additional functionality and features are planned for later in 2024, enabling hoteliers to further improve the visibility of its wider ancillary services and F&B offering and grow revenues through automating upsells and upgrades.

Bottle Rocket has a new strategic partnership with Olo. This collaboration aims to redefine the digital guest experience by combining Bottle Rocket's application design and development solutions with Olo's robust digital ordering platform trusted by over 700 restaurant brands.

Bottle Rocket has created impressive business-changing outcomes and results for Chick-fil-A, Southwest Airlines, Starwood Hotels & Resorts (since acquired by Marriott), Albertsons, MoneyGram, Dave & Busters, Inspire Brands, McKesson, Bloomin' Brands, and Verizon, among others. 

The company has launched its latest innovation in the form of a digital accelerator for restaurant brands called Ignite. Ignite is a custom digital platform designed to enhance digital growth, loyalty, and retention for restaurants. Based on a comparison of thousands of customer engagements, Ignite allows restaurant brands to create a fully custom mobile and/or web solution in up to 40% less time and with less investment. Ignite was created with a pre-built Olo integration and is purposefully designed to support various restaurant brands. Bottle Rocket's Ignite and Olo provide a flexible foundation to build differentiated, custom experiences across iOS, Android, and web, unlocking valuable KPIs and scalable innovation.

• 83% say using data to understand guest preferences and behavior is impacting POS upgrade decisions in 2024, according to HT’s 2024 POS Software Trends Survey

"A culmination of over a decade of work in the industry, Ignite is an innovative solution that allows restaurant brands an attainable way to create a differentiated brand experience with the added flexibility and scalability that white-label solutions cannot provide," says Andrew Sevin, Bottle Rocket's President. "Through Ignite and our strategic partnership with Olo, we are able to help restaurant brands better serve their customers through a fully tailored brand experience that is unique to every brand."

Bottle Rocket's depth of experience in the restaurant space, coupled with the creation of the Ignite digital accelerator platform and the integration with Olo, is perfectly suited for restaurant brands wanting to create a new digital ordering experience designed for greater scalability, flexibility, and continued growth.

To learn more about this partnership or to contact Bottle Rocket for more info, please visit: https://partners.olo.com/partners/bottle-rocket