News Briefs

Restaurant Brands International Inc.  has struck a $1 billion deal to acquire 

Restaurant Brands International and Carrols Restaurant Group, Inc.  announced that they have reached an agreement for RBI to acquire all of Carrols issued and outstanding shares that are not already held by RBI or its affiliates in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $1.0 billion. RBI and its affiliates currently hold approximately 15% of Carrols outstanding equity.

Carrols is the largest Burger King  franchisee in the United States today, operating 1,022 Burger King restaurants in 23 states that generated approximately $1.8 billion of system sales during the 12-months ended September 30, 2023. Carrols also owns and operates 60 Popeyes  restaurants in six states.

Josh Kobza, CEO of RBI said, "This is a terrific example of our commitment to put our capital to work to accelerate growth and support (Carrols') team in their broader efforts to have a more competitive Burger King restaurant base. The strategic merits of this acquisition are very compelling and consistent with our objective to invest our capital in long-term, high-return opportunities."  

600-Store Remodel

The transaction is part of Burger King's Reclaim the Flame plan to accelerate sales growth and drive franchisee profitability. The transaction follows the brand's initial $400 million investment announced in September 2022 to drive high quality remodels, improve operations, enhance marketing and support ongoing technology and digital priorities.

Burger King expects to significantly accelerate Carrols' current rate of remodels to bring the acquired portfolio to modern image over the next five years. To accomplish this, the team plans to invest approximately $500 million of capital, funded by Carrols' operating cash flow, to remodel approximately 600 acquired restaurants that are not currently considered modern image.

In the next five to seven years, Burger King ultimately plans to refranchise the vast majority of the portfolio to new or existing smaller franchise operators who live in their local communities.   Burger King will maintain a company restaurant portfolio of a couple of hundred restaurants for strategic innovation, training, and operator development purposes.

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. 

Tock, the reservation, experiences, and events platform for the hospitality industry, announced its latest innovation today, Multi-Experience Tables, to help restaurants drive greater profitability across the dining room. This new feature allows Tock customers the option to offer guests a unique experience, while simultaneously marketing the same table for a different experience or standard reservation.

"Today's guests are more intentional in seeking out unique and personalized experiences when dining out," said Matthew Tucker, Head of Tock. "Our restaurant partners are very creative in the experiences they offer on Tock, and have learned to turn every square foot of their dining room into a monetizable experience. With Multi-Experience Tables, restaurants now have even more ways to experiment with what appeals most to their guests. This is something our partners have been asking for and we are proud to be the first to bring this to the industry."

Nearly a decade ago, Tock revolutionized the hospitality industry by introducing prepaid experiences. Today, Tock has generated over $2.25B in total revenue for its partners through experiences. The introduction of Multi-Experience Tables now makes it even easier to assign various experience options to a single table, allowing a restaurant to maximize what sells best.

Among Tock's many restaurant partners using experiences is Ella Elli, a California-meets-Mediterranean restaurant in Chicago that offers highly sought-after wine experiences. "Our experiential offering has grown into an integral part of our brand, allowing us to extend our reach beyond the traditional dining experience and offer new ways to drive consistent sales during a time and day when our restaurant was not even open otherwise," said Dan Harris, Vice President of Food and Beverage at Ella Elli.

Riana Mondavi of Charles Krug Winery, another Tock partner, touts the benefits of Multi-Experience Tables: "The addition of Multi-Experience Tables creates a platform that allows us to stay creative. We can offer a range of experiences from the everyday wine tastings to specialized food and wine pairings, allowing us to stay top of mind with our guests. Now, we get to see what appeals to our guests at any given time and learn more about what works best, without taking away things we know they love. It's the best of both worlds."

Little Caesars  has selected Deliverect to help integrate and scale its global third-party delivery operations. The international, family-owned pizza chain, with stores in 28 countries and territories, will bolster its delivery services across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico and enhance operations across additional international markets.

As the world's third-largest pizza company, Little Caesars is known for the convenience it offers its guests, from carry out to its Pizza Portal  self-service mobile order pick-up stations, to delivery. To better meet the needs of and serve a broader customer base, the company continues to innovate by expanding its digital presence and use of third-party delivery partners. As a result of these efforts, consumers can now easily order Little Caesars through the company's website, mobile app, and third-party delivery channels, bringing them value, quality, and convenience. 

"As we continue to grow our presence around the globe, the ability to provide our customers with greater delivery options and to help our locations more efficiently offer delivery services, like we're doing together with Deliverect, is paramount," said Keith Faigin, Global Vice President, E-commerce & Data Analytics at Little Caesars.

Through Deliverect's reliable and secure technology, Little Caesars locations globally can now easily connect all of their third-party delivery channels to their point-of-sale (POS) system through a single integration. Deliverect's APIs allow brands to manage direct integrations more easily, shorten the time-to-market, and reduce costs when scaling their online delivery.

Locations also benefit from additional streamlined processes. They can eliminate the need for multiple tablets to manage order injections across all ordering channels, which ultimately drives efficiencies and better positions staff to focus on food preparation and customer service. Additionally, Little Caesars can now easily manage its menus and pricing across its stores anywhere in the world while allowing locations to customize their menus effortlessly for their markets as needed.

Additional benefits of the collaboration for the pizza chain include higher customer satisfaction, higher volume of delivery orders, and increased order accuracy.

ParTech, Inc. (PAR), a global restaurant technology company and provider of unified commerce solutions for enterprise restaurants, today announced that Bob Evans, the iconic family-style restaurant chain with 437 locations in the U.S., has selected PAR's loyalty and offer solution PAR Punchh . This choice reflects Bob Evans' commitment to enhancing and personalizing customer experiences, creating stronger connections with their guests.

Known for its farm-fresh cuisine and warm hospitality, this collaboration represents a significant step towards enhancing the dining experience and creating deeper guest connections. PAR Punchh will provide customers with personalized offers and rewards through the Bob Evans app, including family deals, value offers, and convenient online takeout options. 

“At Bob Evans, we extend our hospitality well beyond the delicious dishes we serve. We want every guest to come into our restaurant and feel right at home, knowing we’ve considered their individual tastes and preferences,” said Bob Holtcamp, President and CMO of Bob Evans. “With Punchh, we’ll achieve a new level of guest engagement and loyalty to enhance the overall dining experience whether in our dining room or theirs, all while doing what we do best: serving farm-fresh goodness to every table.

Leveraging PAR Punchh's AI-driven loyalty platform, integrations and services, the restaurant aims to improve customer lifetime value through personalized marketing campaigns and offers.