News Briefs

SPB Hospitality, an operator and franchisor of full-service dining restaurants, recently announced the promotion of Kristen Hohl to Vice President of Marketing. Hohl previously served as Senior Director of Marketing for the organization. She is a career restaurant professional with extensive experience in marketing and operations.

“Kristen has been vital in our growth over the past five years, and we are proud to have her take on this new leadership role to further expand the presence and relevance of our brands,” said Josh Kern, CEO of SPB Hospitality. “She consistently demonstrates exceptional leadership, strategic thinking, and a deep understanding of our industry. Her dedication and expertise make her the ideal candidate to lead our marketing efforts as we move forward.”

Kristen Hohl joined Logan’s Roadhouse in 2018 as Marketing Manager and in 2020 continued with SPB Hospitality as Marketing Director. She was promoted to Senior Director of Marketing in 2022 before taking on her current role as Vice President of Marketing. In this capacity, she will oversee all aspects of marketing strategies and initiatives to ensure marketing efforts align with the company’s long-term objectives and provide support to franchise partners. Hohl will be responsible for the marketing and brand development of the diverse portfolio of SPB Hospitality including J. Alexander’s Stoney River Steakhouse, Logan’s Roadhouse, Krystal Restaurants, Old Chicago Pizza & Taproom, Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery, Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant, ChopHouse & Brewery, Big River Grille & Brewing Works, AIA Ale Works Restaurant & Taproom, Ragtime Tavern Seafood & Grill, and Seven Bridges Grille & Brewery.

A graduate of Ohio State University, Hohl has dedicated her career to restaurants.  Having previously served as Marketing Manager for O’Charley’s Restaurant & Bar, and Local Store Marketing for Claim Jumper Restaurants, Kristen has gained a reputation for bridging the gap between operations and marketing.

Hohl launched her career in restaurant operations in 2002 when she joined Thomas and King (Applebee’s) as a Corporate Trainer. It was here that she gained an understanding of every role in the restaurant and how to develop strong teams for the organization. She also served as Kitchen Manager for Thomas and King, where she continued to train staff while also successfully managing budgets and food costs.

“I am incredibly honored to step into this new role with SPB Hospitality,” said Kristen Hohl, Vice President of Marketing for SPB Hospitality. “These are very exciting times for our exceptional brands and our team is poised to enter this new era of marketing and support the growth of our restaurants.”

For more information about SPB Hospitality, visit SPBhospitality.com.

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 announced it is investing in Greenfield Robotics, a company founded with the vision of making regenerative farming more efficient, cost-effective, and sustainable by leveraging the latest advances in AI, robotics, and sensing technologies, and Nitricity, a company seeking to tackle greenhouse gas emissions by creating fertilizer products that are better for fields, farmers, and the environment. These minority investments are being made through Chipotle's $50 million Cultivate Next venture fund.

Cultivate Next makes early-stage investments into strategically aligned companies that further Chipotle's mission to Cultivate a Better World and help accelerate the company's aggressive growth plans. As a people-first company, Chipotle is seeking opportunities that will elevate the human experience for its restaurant teams and suppliers as well as increase access and convenience for its guests.

Robots for Regenerative Agriculture 

Conventional farming destroys weeds with chemicals and soil tillage, resulting in escalating costs, soil erosion and degradation of soil, resistant weeds, and health risks for both wildlife and humans. Greenfield Robotics provides regenerative agriculture solutions without chemicals. Their fleets of autonomous robots are lightweight and cut weeds between rows of broadacre crops, day or night, reducing dependence on herbicides while supporting regenerative farming practices and reducing risk for farmers.

With its Cultivate Next investment, Greenfield Robotics will continue its efforts to build out its fleet of autonomous agricultural robots and develop additional capabilities for forthcoming iterations of its robots, including micro-spraying, cover crop planting, and soil testing.

"The work of Greenfield Robotics to build out a tech forward alternative to herbicides plays an important role in ensuring a more sustainable future for the agricultural industry," said Curt Garner, Chief Customer and Technology Officer, Chipotle. "We will help Greenfield Robotics scale their robotic offerings and explore how their robots can be deployed on farms within our supply chain."

"Like Chipotle's commitment to Food with Integrity, we believe in the future of real, responsibly and sustainably raised food," said Clint Brauer, founder of Greenfield Robotics. "In partnership with Chipotle, we can continue to explore creative solutions to some of the biggest challenges facing farmers across the United States."

New Age Fertilizer 

Inspired by the natural occurrence of lightning breaking down nitrogen in the air and rainwater bringing it to the soil as nitrate to create natural fertilizer, Nitricity has pioneered a practice of creating artificial lightning. The company leverages air, water, and renewable energy from the artificial lightning to produce a cleaner, more sustainable, and cost-efficient fertilizer. The current process of producing, distributing, and using nitrogen fertilizer by way of the Haber-Bosch method requires a large amount of fossil fuels and emits significant amounts of carbon dioxide, contributing to 5-7% of total global GHG (greenhouse gases). Nitricity's nitrogen fertilizer has 5 to 10 times less GHG emissions due to its electrified production and field application process. Nitricity is building its production model of fertilizer on or near its end customers to limit the emissions from fertilizer distribution and application. Currently, up to 20% of fertilizer in the U.S. is imported through an expensive and complex supply chain.

Nitricity has started field trials for their fertilizer product with Salinas Valley farmers, including Chipotle suppliers in the region. Funding from Cultivate Next will be used to scale up Nitricity's production of nitrogen, build out the company's infrastructure, and support the launch of its first commercial product within the next two years.

"We're proud to support Nitricity's pursuit of a product innovation whose environmental benefits are complimentary to Chipotle's approach to Food With Integrity," said Jack Hartung, Chief Financial and Administrative Officer, Chipotle. He added, "Fertilizers have experienced steep price increases in recent years due to supply chain issues, fossil fuel price volatility, and rising distribution costs. Nitricity's fertilizer offering not only has the potential to reduce the carbon footprint of the fertilizer industry, but it can be a cost-effective solution for growers in our supply chain."

"Nitricity is committed to producing fertilizer that is optimized for farmers, not factory production or freight distribution," said Nico Pinkowski, co-founder and CEO of Nitricity. "Partnering with Chipotle will unquestionably accelerate our path toward disrupting the industry with climate-smart technology."

Tim McAfee, a Cultivate Next Venture Collaborator and current Chipotle produce supplier noted: "I have visited the facilities of both Nitricity and Greenfield Robotics and am optimistic and enthusiastic about the impact these innovations could have on the growing community."

What's Next for Cultivate Next? 
Chipotle will continue to provide more updates on the Cultivate Next venture fund in 2024 and beyond. Companies interested in collaborating with Chipotle through the Cultivate Next venture fund can apply by emailing [email protected].  

Hotelbeds, part of HBX Group, has unveiled its latest contractual collaboration, joining forces with Bahia Principe Hotels & Resorts. The agreement expands the Bahia Principe brand’s presence in the Caribbean and Spain, thanks to Hotelbeds’ distribution reach in more than 170 markets, serving over 71,000 travel buyers.

Adding 24 Bahia Principe hotels in four countries (Mexico, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, and Spain) to Hotelbeds’ preferred portfolio, travel agents will enjoy access to a wide range of accommodation options, including beach getaways and all-inclusive resorts.

Carlos Muñoz, Chief Commercial Officer of HBX Group, said: “Bahia Principe shares our commitment to innovation, sustainability and offering travelers unparalleled choices and experiences. This partnership enriches our extensive portfolio of hotels, allowing us to offer customers an even wider range of choices. We look forward to the positive impact this collaboration will have on our companies.”

Lluisa Salord, SVP Global Sales, Contracting and Distribution Grupo at Bahia Principe, said: “This consolidation of our existing agreements between both companies will allow us to raise the strength and growth achieved through our joint continuous effort.”

Bahia Principe Hotels & Resorts, known for its commitment to innovation and sustainable growth, has embarked on a five-year strategic plan, emphasizing continual asset renewal and technological advancements. As part of this initiative, the company is investing in comprehensive renovations, including the remarkable 30-million-euro refurbishment of the Bahia Principe Luxury Esmeralda, set to open this month.

WorldVue, a trusted provider of video, advanced connectivity and professional services to guest-centric properties worldwide, announces its partnership with ProSafe to provide a more secure environment for hotel employees at properties throughout the world. This partnership expands the safety capabilities of WorldVue’s hospitality customers with the utilization of ProSafe’s patented smartphone-based security applications.

“We are proud to partner with ProSafe to support the industrywide roll-out of an innovative and valuable smartphone application that benefits hotel owners by providing a safer and more transparent working environment for their associates.” says Robert Grosz, President and Chief Operating Officer at WorldVue. “Recruiting and retaining employees is one of the most complex problems discussed with our guest-centric clients. The ProSafe smartphone application and underlying platform provide a platform for associate safety which can be deployed in hours, not days. Most importantly, the platform does not depend upon property owner provided proprietary networks which makes it highly reliable and affordable.”

Founded to increase workplace safety in the hospitality industry, ProSafe is the only room/area level accurate, geo-location and evidence gathering panic button platform currently available to hotels. The application’s safety first interface is intended to be simple and easy to understand, while helping deliver better associate communication and rapid response, all while decreasing operational costs, and boosting brand reputation. Some notable platform features include:

• Geo-Location – Notification of exactly where an associate’s panic button is pressed

• Multiple Activation Methods – Options for associate to activate alert silently or audibly

• Audio and Visual Evidence Gathering – Assurance of accurate incident details

• QR-RFID Location Reporting – Extra layer of security using NFC-RFID technology

• Incident Reporting – Comprehensive feature including all relevant data

• Push to Talk – Communication channel for general broadcasts or direct contact

• Real Time Translation – Assistance with language barrier via voice message or chat

• Security Checklists – Components designed for security personnel to secure grounds

“The mission behind WorldVue naturally aligns with our values at ProSafe. We are looking forward to supporting the addition of our platform into their customers’ daily operations and safety measures,” adds Yazan Barqawi, Cofounder of ProSafe. “The goal of our founders was to create the most advanced panic button platform for hotels and their associates, so to continue sharing their dedication with new hotels is fulfilling.”

WorldVue’s partnership with ProSafe further solidifies its investment in exceptional hospitality service. The safety and security of hotels is of the utmost importance to owners and decision makers, to ensure the wellbeing of all who step onto each property. To learn more about WorldVue, visit www.worldvue.com. To learn more about ProSafe and each of the features on its patented platform, visit www.prosafehotels.com.

Maestro PMS has partnered with Hotel Mogel Consulting Ltd. to externally evaluate hotel operations and ensure that owners are getting the most out of their technologies to maximize team productivity. As part of its core commitment to customer service and helping its clients succeed on all fronts, this partnership represents yet another way that Maestro continues to be a leader in hotel technology.

[To watch a video with the leaders of Maestro PMS and Hotel Mogel Consulting, click here.]

“Hotels are facing an existential dilemma,” said Adam Mogelonsky, partner at Hotel Mogel. “There’s so much that technologies can do to augment the guest experience and activate additional revenues along the customer journey. But the enormity of choice can hinder innovation. Hotels can be lost in the integrations, in meetings to decide on what technology to deploy next, and in what’s now known as ‘dashboard fatigue’ where there are simply too many systems that an employee must use.”

Hotel Mogel’s core offering is its Tech and Technology Evaluation service, or TNT, which works to examine the current state of a hotel enterprise’s systems and workflows, then devises a critical path for the implementation of new technologies that will have the greatest impact on net-operating income as well as process innovations that will help a team work more efficiently.

“Process innovation is not just about technology improvement, but also about how teams communicate, compartmentalize tasks, and make decisions,” Mogelonsky said. “Finetuning in these areas can lead to immense time savings in the long run while also ensuring that opportunities are capitalized upon quicker to ensure that guest revenues aren’t left on the table and that costs are curtailed as soon as possible.”

Employee Satisfaction + Technology = Success

Warren Dehan, Maestro President, said today’s hoteliers are doing everything possible to ensure that guest satisfaction is at an all-time high, although not at the expense of staff. He said employee satisfaction must trump guest satisfaction at all costs, and that cannot be done effectively if independent of technology.

“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way," Dehan said. “This famed quote by American Author John C. Maxwell is a true representation of Hotel Mogel. The company has helped countless hotel owners and tech vendors achieve financial success over the past 40-plus years. Today we are thrilled to add the TNT Hotel Evaluation Program to Maestro’s services offering. Now Maestro customers looking for technological implementation as a way to improve on labor costs, grow revenues (both rooms revenues and ancillary spend), increase team productivity, and fight against the hotel industry’s unprecedented rates of turnover, have access to professional consultants who can evaluate their tech stack on request and formulate a plan for success.”

The TNT Hotel Evaluation Program is designed to bring the right combination of technology and teams to drive profitability. With the dawn of artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT, there are numerous ways to speed up how hotel teams can use technology to innovate their workflows and increase their productivity so that hotels can do drastically more with less.