News Briefs

Almost all -- 97%  of restaurant operators surveyed expect their revenue from catering to grow in 2024 compared to 2023, and 74% anticipate over 20% growth, according to ezCater's  second annual “Feeding the Workplace” report.

Grounded in ezCater order data and survey insights from over 2,800 different food for work stakeholders, the report looks at the state of food in the workplace and how restaurant operators can capitalize on this growing opportunity.

ezCater revealed findings during its Catering Growth Forum at the 2024 Food On Demand Conference. 

• With office orders in mind, bartaco revamps catering 

Today, food for work is expanding beyond traditional business catering, and more companies are using restaurants as a cafeteria alternative. In fact, the number of survey respondents reporting they order for daily and weekly recurring meals has increased 32% year-over-year. They also reported interest in additional workplace offerings such as restaurant pop-ups, food trucks, grab-and-go, and special events.

"The food for work opportunity is much bigger than just business catering. While organizations continue to feed their meetings and celebrations, they are also increasingly using restaurant food to feed their people on a regular basis,” said David Meiselman, Chief Marketing Officer, ezCater. "With ezCater, restaurants can tap into the expanding food for work category and benefit from large, incremental orders from all types of workplaces nationwide."

Additional key takeaways from this year's report include:

• Food for work is a lucrative marketing channel: Nearly half (47%) of employees surveyed have ordered from or visited a restaurant after first trying it through an employer-provided meal. The average ezCater order serves 23 people and provides restaurants with valuable brand exposure.
• Delivery tracking and mobile ordering are a growing priority for orderers: 90% of orderers are more likely to order from a restaurant that offers delivery tracking updates. Compared to a year ago, 67% more orderers are using mobile devices to place orders.
• Choice is paramount for employees: 71% of employees surveyed prefer to select meals themselves when their employer provides food for work, and 64% prefer individually packaged meals.
• Sustainable packaging is a differentiator: 43% of orderers prefer sustainable food packaging. What’s more, 37% of workplaces have made sustainable packaging a company requirement. Similarly, 28% of companies have requirements around food waste reduction.

More broadly, catering is a strong revenue driver for restaurants. According to the operators surveyed, 97% expect their revenue from catering to grow in 2024 compared to 2023, and 74% anticipate over 20% growth. To learn more about the ezCater Catering Growth Platform, visit www.ezcater.com/grow.

Methodology

From January 22, 2024, to February 2, 2024, ezCater surveyed more than 2,800 restaurant operators, corporate catering orderers, and employees, on the state of food for work. Proprietary ezCater data was also gathered over 17 years from millions of transactions across more than 100,000 restaurants and caterers.

ezCater is at the National Restaurant Association Show Booth 7064.

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.”

Hi Auto, a provider of drive-thru voice AI technology, released the Voice AI Marketer Toolkit, a comprehensive set of tools for quick service restaurants (QSRs) looking to capitalize on customer conversations to increase engagement and loyalty. These marketing tools include menu optimization, A/B or multivariate testing, and customized natural voices to help brands unlock the superpower of direct conversation with their customers.

Traditional marketing campaigns are limited to one-way communications across multiple platforms, such as digital advertising, social media, events, and visual promotions at brick-and-mortar locations. Due to the high staff turnover rate at QSRs, employees often work under intense pressure, making it difficult to promote the brand's values consistently. As a result, millions of drive-thru customers interact with random employees and experience inconsistent levels of service. This can be true for both regular and first-time customers.

Recognizing that voice AI automation can shift the current paradigm; Hi Auto developed a new marketing channel that allows restaurants to design and optimize customer conversations while highlighting brand value, promotions, events, special menu offerings, and more. The toolkit drives marketing and sales goals while building brand affinity and creating an elevated, consistent customer experience.

Key features of Hi Auto's “Voice AI Marketer Toolkit” include:

Dynamic Upsell Customization: Hi Auto's platform customizes product suggestions considering multiple factors influencing customer experiences, such as time, location, weather, script, language, and voice.

Multivariate Experimentation: The toolkit allows marketers to test a small control group of stores with similar performance by changing the conversation parameters, such as the number of upsells during a specific daypart. Based on the results, marketing teams can adjust the script to be deployed across all chains.

Natural and Cloned Voices: Hi Auto's voice AI enables QSRs to incorporate natural and even customized voice options into their drive-thru experience, providing customers with a more personalized and differentiated ordering experience. This ultimately enhances customer engagement and helps build brand affinity.

"Hi Auto's voice AI allows us to humanize the customer experience by customizing the drive-thru voice with our dialect and incorporating common phrases and slang that our customers can appreciate," said Leann Smith, Head of Marketing at Burger King New Zealand. "This collaboration enhanced labor efficiency and significantly improved order consistency and upselling conversions."

"While the operational benefits of voice AI justify the system's adoption, there is so much more value to unlock for sales and marketing teams," said Roy Baharav, CEO of Hi Auto. "That's why we are investing in the “Voice AI Marketer Toolkit” to provide organizations with the tools they need to realize the full potential of their drive-thru sales channel. Being the only company to date deploying drive-thru voice AI at scale allows us to identify the opportunities and develop the right capabilities for our customers to maximize their ROI.”

These capabilities are currently deployed in hundreds of drive-thru locations globally. For more information about Hi Auto and its drive-thru tailored voice AI platform, please visit Hi Auto.

FutureLog, the leading provider of innovative cloud-based procure-to-pay solutions for the hospitality industry, unveiled its latest innovation last month: a trailblazing smart Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) Management solution. The intuitive platform streamlines the process of managing, tracking, approving, and analysing CAPEX investments across hospitality enterprises.

"We are very proud of this latest addition to FutureLog’s market-leading suite of procure-to-pay solutions," says Frank Dierberger, FutureLog CEO. “Efficiently managing CAPEX is the backbone of any thriving hospitality organisation. It's more than budget allocation or tracking investments; it's a continuous process that requires informed consideration of many factors, including guest expectations, brand standards, industry trends, and competitive market pressures. With our latest solution, companies can easily optimise their processes, improve financial stability, and drive growth."

FutureLog's CAPEX solution is built to aid precise planning for any project size or scope by offering holistic visibility, real-time collaboration, and improved operational excellence. It allows for quickly creating detailed proposals, centralised document storage, and managing multiple currencies. It also provides a complete budget status overview and supports vendor selection by managing team feedback and supplier quotations for each project.  

One key benefit of the product is its transparency. The system leverages advanced technologies to accurately check expected and actual spend based on assigned invoices and specifies planned (budgeted) or spontaneous (unbudgeted) expenses for the organisation. The tool also enhances communication needed for smooth approval workflows through an integrated messaging function, keeping all decision-makers informed throughout the project. Time-stamped activity logs and comprehensive overviews ensure everyone is updated on the latest actions.  

To make resource management more efficient, projects can be flexibly searched and sorted by status, name, supplier, or approval stage. This simplifies project overviews and enables managers to set spending limits, assign invoices, and see all supplier contracts at a glance. 

The flexible cloud-based solution is customisable to fit each organisation's unique needs, regardless of size. It seamlessly integrates with existing financial systems and provides a modern interface that simplifies the capex management process. With this solution, companies can confidently allocate resources, mitigate risks, and achieve their financial goals.

To learn more about FutureLog's smart CAPEX Management Solution and how it can benefit your hospitality business, please visit futurelog.com/en/our-solutions/capex-management.

Square unveils Square Kiosk, a fully integrated software, hardware, and payments solution that enables self-serve ordering for quick-service restaurants. Designed with fast-moving and fast-growing restaurants in mind, Square Kiosk empowers guests to customize and place orders through its sleek and intuitive design, an easy-to-use interface, and embedded contactless and chip payment technology. It also untethers restaurant staff from the counter, freeing them to focus on other tasks. Square Kiosk is the latest technology from Square as it continues to invest in its hardware and software portfolio and expand its food and beverage offerings.

Square Kiosk works seamlessly with Square for Restaurants and Square’s broader ecosystem of banking, customer engagement, and business insights tools. It’s easy for restaurants to set up, saves precious counter space, and can be placed anywhere – from the wall to flat on the counter to mounted on a stand or swing-arm. Square Kiosk tracks sales data and instantly syncs menu updates, ensuring that customers have real-time visibility into what’s currently available – and nothing that’s been 86’ed. Through this fully integrated solution, and like all Square products, all payments on Square Kiosk are instantly accessible via Square Checking,¹ offering greater liquidity and convenience for restaurateurs in an industry where cash flow is often tight.

For diners, using Square Kiosk is a sleek and simple experience that lets them bypass lines and easily customize their orders. According to the 2024 Future of Commerce report, 78% of customers prefer to place orders through self-serve kiosks or online, and Square Kiosk’s intuitive UI and built-in payments lets diners quickly and easily order their food. Guests are able to select exactly what they want, with customization options being sent directly to the kitchen, and restaurants can grow their check sizes by offering upgrades and add-ons on every order without any awkward exchanges.

Finally, amid growing labor costs, Square Kiosk gives operators the ability to staff up other areas of their businesses while still taking orders. By deploying self-serve kiosks, restaurants can bust lines and cut down on wait time for customers while freeing up their staff to focus on other tasks.

“Before, we were using QR code ordering and wanted to reduce the time it took to place an order. People struggle to type credit card numbers on their phones and prefer tap-to-pay; today, it’s a lot easier for guests to order with Square Kiosk,” said Erik Göranson, CEO of Recess, a multi-location quick-service restaurant in Atlanta, GA. “Our guests can modify multiple items and complete their checkout in under 60 seconds. We plan to add more Square Kiosks in 2024.”

Beyond Square Kiosk, today Square introduced a number of additional new features that will further help restaurants streamline and grow their businesses.

• With a redesigned Square Restaurants POS, restaurants can spend less time inputting orders and more time interacting with guests. Navigation is faster and menu grids and layouts are now fully customizable, allowing for quick ordering and checkout.
• Guests can now pay for their meals more quickly with Scan to Pay – by scanning a QR code on their receipt, customers can settle up on their phones and businesses can turn over more tables.
• With an updated Orders tab, dine-in, to go, and delivery orders all live in a single dashboard, regardless of whether they’re placed in-person or online, with clear organization. Servers can easily understand the current state of orders with just a quick glance, allowing restaurants to keep better track of orders – and keep customers happy – amid the daily bustle.
• Release Manager allows operators to choose when to enable software updates, with enterprise-level functionality that gives more flexibility and time to train up staff on any POS changes.

“Two of the biggest challenges for restaurants right now are maximizing orders while also balancing increasingly expensive labor costs,” said Ming-Tai Huh, Head of Food and Beverage at Square. “With razor-thin margins, restaurants need to find efficiencies through technology like kiosks – and at Square, we’re laser-focused on bringing restaurateurs the tools they need to succeed.”

Square Kiosk will be available to all Square for Restaurants sellers this summer. To try Square Kiosk in-person and learn how Square can power your food and beverage business, visit our booth (#5821) at the National Restaurant Association show in Chicago from May 18 to May 22, 2024.

¹Square Checking is provided by Sutton Bank, Member FDIC. Square Debit Card is issued by Sutton Bank, Member FDIC, pursuant to a license from Mastercard. Square Debit Card may be used wherever Mastercard is accepted. Accounts are FDIC-insured up to $250,000.

Funds generated through Square’s payment processing services are generally available in the Square checking account balance immediately after a payment is processed. Fund availability times may vary due to technical issues.

RMS North America and Solonis, providers of cloud-based reservation and property management systems to the hospitality industry, announced this week their latest product enhancements designed to boost the guest experience and streamline day-to-day operations for property partners.

“At RMS North America and Solonis, we're always listening to our clients so we can create the enhancements they need,” said Frederic Dominioni, Chief Revenue Officer, RMS North America and Solonis. “Our latest updates were designed to set up our property partners to thrive in 2024 by providing their guests with an exceptional experience while creating more controls and automation in their RMS and Solonis databases.”

RMS and Solonis’ recent improvements include more guest experience options and smarter tools to simplify daily tasks. Below are just some of the latest enhancements from this release.

A New Guest Loyalty Option

With the new Loyalty by Nights module, guests earn rewards for each night they stay at a property. This adds another way for a property to offer rewards along with the successful Loyalty by Points module that offers features like sign-up credits, expiration rules, and birthday rewards.

Smarter Room Assignments

Properties can streamline their reservation allocation strategy with enhanced controls, including bulk room-number assignments, prioritization capabilities, and the exclusion of room numbers and categories from auto-assignments.

Guest Management in the Guest Portal

Guests can conveniently add another person to an existing reservation independently in the Guest Portal, still enforcing a property’s maximum guest rule, recalculating the balance if additional charges are required, and notifying of changes in the Message Center.

Cancellation Policies with Fees

Properties can now create fees in their cancellation policies with detailed rules, including what percentage fee is charged based on days’ notice given, or if a flat cancellation fee applies.

RMS North America and Solonis continue to dedicate themselves to helping their users reach new business milestones with smart business solutions.

• To learn more about RMS product enhancements or schedule a demo for your outdoor property, please visit americas.rmscloud.com/products/product-updates.
• For more about Solonis product enhancements or to schedule a demo for your hotel or resort property, please visit solonis.com/products/updates.