News Briefs

Pittsburgh-based restaurant, Primanti Bros.  has partnered with  Instant Financial, to provide employees with real-time, instant access to wages and tips, immediately following their shifts.

As the restaurant industry continues to evolve amid today's uncertain economic and labor landscape, many organizations are adopting new technologies to address changing employee expectations, with enhanced benefit offerings playing a central role.

• Retention: Give Employees Multiple Reasons to Stay

With no fees incurred by Primanti's employees, the Instant Pay and Instant Tips solutions will give workers more control over how and when they receive their earned wages.

Providing early access to earned wages is one way that many hotels and restaurants are helping smooth out cash flow issues that employees may face. With Instant Pay and Tips, Primanti Bros. is answering employee demand for optionality in how they get paid.

"We're always looking for ways to enhance the benefits we offer current employees, while also making ourselves an employer of choice for job seekers," said Will Bowker, Chief Restaurant Officer at Primanti's. "Instant Financial is the ideal earned wage access and electronic tips provider for us, because their flexible fee-free model is the best solution for our employees, which in turn helps with hiring and retention."

This new partnership comes at a time when economic challenges have employers across the country looking for ways to help their workers bridge the gap between paydays.  A 2022 study from Instant Financial found that 79% of working Americans would be interested in applying for a job that pays them the same day they work, a 30% increase compared to 2018.

Domino's Pizza Inc. introduces its new and improved loyalty program. 

Domino's Rewards offers loyalty members even more opportunities to earn and redeem points across its corporate and franchise store locations. Domino's enhanced rewards program allows customers to:

• Earn points for less
  • Loyalty members will now earn 10 points on every order of $5 or more
• Redeem points for even more menu items – and earn free Domino's after just two orders
  • Members can redeem a variety of points for more menu items:
    • 20 points: A free dipping cup, a 16-piece order of Parmesan Bread Bites or a 20 oz. drink
    • 40 points: An order of Bread Twists or Stuffed Cheesy Bread
    • 60 points: A medium, two-topping pizza; pasta; Oven-Baked Sandwich; or a 3-piece order of Chocolate Lava Crunch Cakes
• Earn more rewards
  • Loyalty perks are now even better, as members will have exclusive access to member-only deals, special discounts and opportunities to earn bonus points!

"We are thrilled to give the brand's loyal customers additional ways to earn free Domino's items more often," said Mark Messing, Domino's vice president of digital experience and loyalty. "At a time when most brands are scaling back their loyalty programs and making it more difficult to earn and redeem points, Domino's is doing the opposite. We want to make it easier to reward our customers and give them more options so they can get rewarded faster."

Marketing a LTO 

From now until Oct. 22, 2023, rewards members can take advantage of a limited time offer to redeem 20 points for a free order of Domino's new Pepperoni Stuffed Cheesy Bread, which is normally a 40-point redemption, in celebration of the product's recent launch. 

Chipotle Mexican Grill is testing an automated digital makeline in collaboration with Hyphen, a foodservice platform designed to help restaurant owners, operators, and budding chefs move their business forward by automating kitchen operations. Bowls and salads are created by an automated system that moves the entrées through the bottom makeline where ingredients for the order are dispensed automatically. In tandem, a Chipotle team member can leverage the top makeline to create burritos, tacos, quesadillas, and kid's meals for the same digital order.

How It Works

1. Digital orders would be placed via the Chipotle app, Chipotle.com, or third-party platforms.  
2. If the order included a bowl or salad, those entrées would be routed to Hyphen's automated system. The bowl traverses along the bottom makeline and positions itself under the specified ingredient container. The intelligent dispensers dynamically portion each ingredient into the bowl. If the order included burritos, tacos, quesadillas, or kid's meals, a Chipotle team member would use the top of the same makeline to create those entrées.
3. The completed bowl or salad would be raised from the bottom makeline and revealed at the end of the makeline through an opening in the countertop. A Chipotle team member would place a lid on the entrée and add any final items such as chips, side salsas, or guacamole to the order.
4. Completed orders would be placed in their designated pick-up area: in-restaurant pickup shelves, walk-up window, or Chipotlane.

Employee & Guest Experience

Approximately 65% of all Chipotle digital orders are bowls or salads, so the cobotic digital makeline has the potential to free up more time for employees to service the front makeline and deliver exceptional hospitality, while simultaneously increasing capacity for digital orders during peak periods.

The new digital makeline could also help enhance digital order accuracy, improving the guest experience.

• 71% say the ability to integrate with other systems is driving their POS purchase decisions, according to HT’s2 2023 POS Software Trends Report.

"Chipotle's new digital makeline built by Hyphen embodies our commitment to leveraging robotics to unlock the human potential of our workforce, ensuring an elevated dining experience for our guests," said Curt Garner, Chief Customer and Technology Officer. "Our goal is to have the automated digital makeline be the centerpiece of all our restaurants' digital kitchens." 

Chipotle's Investment in Hyphen

Chipotle invested in Hyphen as part of Cultivate Next, the company's $50 million venture fund that intends to make early-stage investments into strategically aligned companies that further its mission to Cultivate a Better World and help accelerate its aggressive growth plans. As a people-first company, Chipotle is seeking opportunities that will elevate the human experience for its teams as well as increase access and convenience for its guests. Investments may include innovations in farming and supply chain, advanced robotics, alternative proteins, and more.

Through Cultivate Next, Chipotle also invested in Vebu, a product development company that works with food industry leaders to co-create intelligent automation and technology solutions. Earlier this year, Chipotle and Vebu unveiled the Autocado, an avocado processing cobotic prototype that cuts, cores, and peels avocados before they are hand mashed to create the restaurant's famous guacamole. 

image courtesy of Chipotle

HotelREZ®, a hotel distribution and representation company, has been selected to power the newly launched Elegant Hotel Collection®, a global soft brand targeting the luxury sector.

Launched last week with a curated founding member portfolio of 25 hotels, Elegant Hotel Collection® is on course to grow to 50 hand-selected properties by summer 2024. From the partnership, the new luxury hotel brand will benefit from HotelREZ’s worldwide distribution network, hotel representation services, GDS channel delivery and specialist sales and marketing support utilising the best in class technology for independent hotels.

Mark Lewis, CEO and Founder, HotelREZ®, said: “Elegant Hotel Collection® has a distinct and fresh take on the luxury hotel sector. Hotels with generic GDS chain codes or tied to traditional legacy brands have been left behind questioning the value and returns from their distribution providers. Elegant provides a differentiation that will grow market share and drive incremental business at a realistic price point.

“As a partner, we are thrilled Elegant will leverage our best in class distribution, technology and representation to support this group of aspirational and authentic hotels as it becomes a unique voice to thrive in the luxury soft brand sector.”

Vice President Brand Development at the Elegant Hotel Collection, Catt McLeod added, “Elegant Hotel Collection will offer global representation and full channel distribution, supported by dedicated sales, marketing, account management and distribution strategies to drive incremental trade and consumer sales and revenue growth. Our members will be able to make the most of HotelREZ’s global reach, exceptional quality, commitment to excellence and incredible range of global luxury partnerships, while remaining a highly-individual group, guaranteeing the best of both worlds.”

Olivia Byrne, Company Director, Eccleston Square Hotel, said, “The prestigious, and historically grade II listed Eccleston Square Hotel - previous home of the Prince of Battenberg, has worked closely with the HotelREZ technology platform and is now delighted to be part of Elegant Hotel Collection which will maximise its rich historic brand positioning with additional marketing exposure and additional revenue from the high-end leisure and corporate business channels. We are very proud to be part of the founding 25 prestigious hotels.”

Membership to Elegant Hotel Collection is by invitation only, ensuring the flag’s commitment to feature only the finest hotels worldwide. Each property is selected for embodying the five core values of the Elegant brand: Hospitality, Authenticity, Inclusivity, Innovation, and Sustainability. Properties are handpicked and chosen to meet the desires of today's discerning, high-end traveller.

The launch comes shortly after Lewis was voted CEO of the year in the hotel sector for ‘Outstanding Leadership for Hotel Services Company of the Year’ by CEO Today.

CellPoint Digital, a payment solutions provider, announced a new partnership with Sabre, a software and technology provider powering the global travel industry. Under the agreement, Sabre customers will now have access to CellPoint Digital's suite of payment services, allowing them to gain more control and efficiency in their payment ecosystems globally.

CellPoint Digital's widely adopted payment solutions are a natural complement to Sabre's technology solutions. Travel companies can easily implement the leading payment orchestration platform and immediately benefit from access to integrated payment processing, routing and settlement.

Direct connection and seamless integration

By integrating with Sabre's technology solutions, CellPoint Digital's payment services will be directly connected and pre-configured for all current and prospective travel companies.

"Our new partnership with Sabre is a significant milestone in our mission to enhance connectivity and support the travel industry," said Kristian Gjerding, CellPoint Digital's Chief Executive Officer. "By joining forces with one of the most recognizable brands in travel, we can help more airlines and travel merchants regain control of their payment processes and full financial supply chain, as well as expand the reach of Payment Orchestration in the travel sector."

Combining industry-leading strengths

CellPoint Digital's Velocity platform allows airlines and travel merchants to dynamically route transactions to preferred acquirers, quickly add new acquirers and streamline cross-border payments, all of which help to mitigate costs, diversify risk and ultimately increase conversions. CellPoint Digital also allows airlines and travel merchants to roll out more payment options to passengers and travellers, creating a more positive booking experience, minimizing abandoned transactions and growing revenue. Sabre provides its customers with the next-generation solutions they need to unlock more revenue streams, improve efficiencies and enhance the customer experience.

"We are thrilled to partner with CellPoint Digital and make it easier for our customers to access their Payment Orchestration solutions," says Becky French, vice president of Product Management, Sabre Travel Solutions. "This partnership marks a significant step forward in supporting our customers with improved capabilities in the ever-changing, fast-growing and dynamic payment space."