Networking Platform for Foodservice Workers and East Coast Wings + Grill 2.0

“There is tremendous potential in helping restaurants solve the number one issue that determines their success or failure–reducing the cost and dramatically increasing the success of recruiting and retaining quality employees,” said Kevin Costello, Chairman of HotSchedules. “This investment of $20 million from TPG Growth in Seasoned is a tremendous vote of confidence in our ability to create a professional network that will help those in the industry  create better teams, help workers really thrive and ultimately build better lives,” said Andrew Wait, Executive Chairman. 

“At TPG Growth, we’ve identified companies that bring highly impactful, innovative solutions to businesses and consumers and are led by visionary management teams like Andrew and Madhav.  We look forward to scaling this business and see tremendous potential for it to revolutionize the foodservice industry,” said Bill McGlashan, Founding Partner of TPG Growth.

Seasoned will be led by Executive Chairman, Andrew Wait and President, Madhav Mehra. Most recently, Andrew was President of Lynda.com and was a key contributor to its sale to LinkedIn and its subsequent integration. Mehra has spent his career building and launching consumer products and services that enhance people’s lives—learning, photography, art, books, and health and wellness. Madhav has held senior executive positions at Lynda.com, CellScope, Alibris, Art.com, and Kodak.

Revel Systems Plans Revelry Conference and Restaurant Showdown

Revel Systems’ Restaurant Showdown is taking submissions. Revel’s Restaurant Showdown is a multipart competition with the grand prize winner taking home $10,000 and a year’s subscription to a full suite of Revel technology to help get them up and running.

The competition encourages restaurants and aspiring restaurateurs to submit an online pitch outlining how $10,000 could be used to launch or improve their restaurant. Selected finalists will have the opportunity to present their pitch in front of a panel of judges and a live audience at Revelry 2017, Revel’s annual business conference, October 12 and 13th.

“We are thrilled to offer this prize to a deserving entrepreneur. While Revel’s mission is to provide businesses of every size the tools necessary to thrive, small businesses and entrepreneurs have been such a huge part of Revel’s trajectory; it’s exciting to be able to help a new concept come to life,” said Jennifer Levanduski, Director of Marketing.

Submissions are being accepted at revelsystems.com/restaurant-showdown now through the October 5th deadline. The panel of judges includes Revel Systems executives and prominent Revel clients.

Revel Systems’ organized a two-day conference bringing together business owners and operators, industry thought leaders, and technology experts to discuss strategies for business success along with technology and industry trends.

Revel’s two-day conference will be held at the San Francisco Hyatt Regency, featuring speakers, panels, and roundtables highlighting Revel clients, leadership, and industry thought leaders along with ample opportunities for networking. The event concludes at the San Francisco City Hall with Revel’s seventh anniversary celebration, the conference’s namesake Revelry celebration.

About the event, Revel COO Bobby Marhamat said, “This annual event was born out of the commitment to our amazing customers. Our mission is to offer presentations and panels that cover everything our customers care about, and create a space for merchants and thought leaders dedicated to revolutionizing commerce to collaborate, discuss, and share ideas.”

Revel will welcome a variety of industry speakers including Joe Waller, President and CEO of Pacific Gateway, an organization that’s revolutionizing airport commerce, Mike Chissler, COO of Holler and Dash, a “quirky, millennial focused chain that serves up delicious southern fare in a pleasing, Instagram-worthy aesthetic,” and Doug Collister, CMO of San Francisco’s own exciting hybrid concept, China Live.

The conference will be held October 12 and October 13 in San Francisco. Click here to register.

East Coast Wings + Grill 2.0

East Coast Wings + Grill unveiled its complete brand overhaul. Dubbed East Coast Wings + Grill 2.0, the refresh is designed to elevate all platforms of the brand for an enhanced dining experience featuring a new logo, revamped interior, new menu items and a focus on craft beer.

The brand conducted extensive research and focus groups to narrow down three immediate priorities to create East Coast Wings + Grill 2.0:

1. Redesign the interior and exterior for cost effective development and to cater to consumer desires in a dining environment. This resulted in a new rustic and industrial-styled space with a smaller footprint that reduced development cost by 20+/- percent.
2. Invest in the right suppliers and vendors to assure all units have every tool necessary to continue maintaining positive same store sales growth. Examples include partnering with FreedomPay to provide a pay-at-the-table option for more secure transactions and decreased liability for franchise partners, and the addition of Buxton, a consumer and site predictive analytics tool providing measurable analytics for the marketing department.
3. Adjust menu offerings to not only appease the market trends, but add cost value engineering into offerings for sustaining high-quality and increasing gross menu item profits. The food enhancement began with the 2016 fall menu debut and will conclude with the 2018 spring menu. Further, the brand now offers more than 65 craft-style beer options from local, regional and national breweries.

“Since the beginning, our team has worked to assure our franchise model has the necessary foundation on driving unit-level performance,” stated CEO Sam Ballas. “We’ve strategically planned initiatives to not only elevate the consumer dining experience, but enhance our offerings for franchise partners and the brand’s ability to perform. Since the implementation of East Coast Wings + Grill 2.0, I am beyond ecstatic with the results.”

With 35 units currently operating nationwide, the refresh is the next step to driving the brand toward the 100+-unit mark. To be implemented in all locations moving forward, the new in-store experience has already been executed in the Burlington and Harrisburg, NC locations. All existing locations will eventually convert to adopt the new look.

With more than 60 locations operating or in various stages of development, East Coast Wings + Grill plans to open two additional locations by year-end and more than 10 throughout 2018. Offering an attractive investment opportunity centered upon unit-level economics to support both operations and expansion. The franchise looks to partner with both local entrepreneurs and multi-unit operators to expand its national footprint across Florida, Georgia,Kentucky, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, among more.

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