Resy Integrates with Upserve and Roy Rogers Celebrates 50th

This edition of MRM’s Daily Bite includes news from Upserve and Resy, xtraCHEF, Apptizer and Clover, Yeoman’s Cask & Lion, ChefTec, L’Ecole Culinaire and Wounded Warrior Project,  Soundmachine and Napster, Grab and Uber Southeast Asia and Roy Rogers.

Send news items to Barbara Castiglia at bcastiglia@modernrestaurantmanagement.com.

Resy and Upserve Integrate

Unifying restaurant reservation and POS systems to help front of house staff operate in as much harmony as possible in a hectic restaurant environment, Upserve and Resy, the cutting-edge restaurant reservation software and app, have integrated their technologies. Restaurants using Breadcrumb Point of Sale by Upserve and Resy’s reservations service will now have greater insights to make every guest feel like a regular, while speeding table turns to boost revenue. 

This partnership adds to the phenomenal growth of Upserve Marketplace, the largest marketplace of integrations for any cloud-based restaurant point-of-sale system, with partners across multiple categories including online ordering, reservations, inventory management, invoice management and workforce solutions.

“Too often, great hospitality dies on the pass from host to waiter, because legacy restaurant point of sale and reservations systems don’t integrate,” said Angus Davis, CEO and founder of Upserve. “Resy and Upserve go together like peanut butter and chocolate to help restaurateurs gain insight into guest preferences before they ever walk in the door, allowing a better experience tailored to each guest, and a seamless front of house operation.”

The integration between Breadcrumb POS by Upserve and Resy allows restaurateurs to receive a detailed “shift prep” report hours ahead of each night’s scheduled service. This report provides accurate cover count predictions powered by machine learning, enabling smarter staff forecasting. It also includes insights on reserved guests, including:

• Their favorite dishes and drinks
• Who was their server on the last visit
• How much they typically spend
• How long they typically use the table
• How frequently they book a table
• Who do they typically dine with

The integration also sends real-time table status from Breadcrumb Point of Sale back to Resy, showing hosts the progress of tables in their meals, so hosts can set more accurate guest expectations on wait times and eliminate the need to roam the floor, checking which tables are wrapping up their meals and will become available.

“We’re thrilled to work with Upserve to give restaurants a deeper level of understanding and control of their hospitality operations, both in the planning and active phases of a shift,” said Resy CEO and co-founder Ben Leventhal. “Partnerships like this one propel the industry into the future, which is looking increasingly bright.”

xtraCHEF Secures Funding

Apptizer on Clover App

Apptizer Inc.’s app-building platform is available for download from First Data’s Clover App Market for self-service mobile and kiosk implementations. Compatible with all Clover devices, including the new Clover Station 2018, Apptizer empowers mom-and-pop retailers, restaurants, and other small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to leverage mobile and kiosk order-ahead channels to drive more sales, enhance the customer experience, increase loyalty, attract new patrons, speed up service and cut down on errors. With Apptizer, these businesses can rapidly create and deploy professional iOS and Android apps customized for their establishments without being tech-savvy coding gurus. Set up assistance is available for business owners who prefer immediate, ready-to-deploy implementations.

“We are excited to bring order-ahead capabilities to the Clover App Market across the full line of Clover devices, including Clover Station 2018,” said Dinesh Saparamadu, Apptizer CEO and founder. “Apptizer’s mobile and kiosk implementations give business owners the means to quickly and cost-effectively deploy in-demand, mobile, and kiosk order-ahead channels so they can effectively compete with big-box retailers and restaurant chains,” added Saparamadu.

Apptizer makes Clover mobile and kiosk order-ahead app creation easy. A rich feature-set includes instant notifications, order status tracking, customized and targeted promotions, logo and color scheme branding, real-time menu or product catalog updates, and more. Easy API integration with point-of-sale equipment resellers, payment gateways and e-commerce platforms makes order-ahead storefront functionality readily available to a wide range of SMB retailers, restaurants and other establishments.

Yeoman’s Cask & Lion Comes to Hamlin

Yeoman’s Cask & Lion, a British-style restaurant and pub, plans to open in Central Florida’s Hamlin Town Center in late 2018. Yeoman’s will be the third restaurant from Tampa-based 23 Restaurant Services opening in Hamlin, along with Ford’s Garage and Capone’s Coal Fired Pizza.

The Yeoman’s in Hamlin Town Center will be the restaurant’s first location in Central Florida. The pub’s is in downtown Tampa. Yeoman’s is also opening its second location, in St. Petersburg, in the spring.

This is the first time that 23 Restaurant Services will have three of its restaurants in one location, and all three are scheduled to open within a week of each other in fall 2018.

The 5,000-square-foot, highly detailed interior feels like stepping onto the streets in England with brick and wood textural elements, bold blue and red colors, and two Royal Guard mannequins at the entrance. The pub is adorned with the Union Jack, the national flag of the United Kingdom.

The restaurant offers traditional British pub menu items, like bangers and mash, fish and chips and Shepherd’s pie, and also caters to all-American appetites with Philly cheese steak, a variety of mac and cheese dishes and healthy salads.  

The pub experience features two full liquor bars, one inside the restaurant and another on the 3,500-square-foot patio. Both bars will also feature craft beers and cask ales, and Yeoman’s will bring entertainment to Hamlin with live music each week.

“We’re trying something new by opening three of our concepts in one location,” said Marc Brown, President of 23 Restaurant Services, which operates Yeoman’s, and a number of other restaurant concepts including Ford’s Garage and Capone’s Coal Fired Pizza. “We want to make a grand entrance into Orlando, and Hamlin is a great location that will bring the community together for unique dining experiences.”

23 Restaurant Services recently announced that Ford’s Garage and Capone’s Coal Fired Pizza will open in Hamlin Town Center later this year. Ford’s Garage is a group of restaurants with a Henry Ford-inspired theme known for prime burgers and a wide selection of craft beers. Capone’s Coal Fired Pizza, a restaurant inspired by the story of notorious gangster Al Capone, will serve Italian-American cuisine and “pizza so good it should be illegal” baked in 800-degree coal-fired ovens.

“We are always looking for fresh, new concepts and we’re excited to add Yeoman’s to the Hamlin community,” said Scott Boyd, President of Boyd Development Corporation, the developer of Hamlin. “Each of the three restaurant concepts will offer a different experience.”

New Recipe Module

A Recipe Module (REC) has been added to the ChefTec Mobile Solutions platform to provide CorTec and ChefTec users with additional, time-saving mobile technology. Hand-held technology, connected to a customer’s desktop or cloud service data, helps reduce errors and time spent doing data entry. 

The ChefTec Mobile Solutions Recipe Module allows operators to display and print their recipes from the Mobile Solutions hand-held device. Its widest use is in kitchens and production areas where up-to-date current recipes need be viewed or printed for prep work. This functionality eliminates out-of-date recipe books along with recipe books “destroyed” by use in the kitchen. For an environmentally-friendly approach operators can install a Mobile Solutions device and wireless monitor in the production area so that recipes can be “called up” and read directly from the monitor. As changes are made in the desktop or cloud service ChefTec software, recipes are automatically updated on the Mobile Solutions tablet.

“The number of people wanting and needing mobile solutions is indicative of our times,” said Bryan Counts, Operations Manager.  “The addition of the Recipe module to the Mobile Solutions platform increases our customers’ productivity and ensures they always have an accurate display of their up-to-date recipes.”

The new Recipe Module will be available April 3. In addition to the new Recipe (REC) module, Mobile Solutions provides fully integrated modules Physical Inventory Taking (PIT), Ordering (ORD), and Receiving (RCV), all of which may be purchased à la carte.

Learning about Healthy Eating

Injured veterans learned how to create breakfast meals with a healthy twist from culinary experts during a recent cooking class  with Wounded Warrior Project^® (WWP).

Experienced chefs at L’Ecole Culinaire guided warriors through the process of preparing healthy morning meals that satisfy the body and mind. Studies indicate people who eat a healthy breakfast do better in school or at work and eat healthier throughout the day.

“Since joining Wounded Warrior Project, sometimes the only thing I have to look forward to is having their program events on my calendar,” said Coast Guard veteran Aaron Bean. “Opportunities like this cooking class are huge motivators for me and help me engage with other veterans.”

WWP program gatherings offer settings that provide opportunities for injured veterans to form bonds with one another, their families, and their communities. WWP also serves warriors by focusing on mental and physical health and wellness, financial wellness, independence, government relations, and community relations and partnerships.

“Honestly, cutting up the chickens was challenging, but once we had all the parts separated, planning the rest of the meal was exciting, and we were really involved,” Aaron said. “Of course, eating the unique creations each chef made while we were working side-by-side with them was great!

“In my opinion, Wounded Warrior Project is the only group in America that acknowledges my sacrifice and honors my service,” Aaron said. “I haven’t had support from anyone like the support they provide.”

Activities like cooking and socializing with other veterans can help injured warriors cope with stress and emotional concerns. In a WWP survey of the injured warriors it serves, more than half of survey respondents (51.6 percent) expressed they talk with fellow veterans to address their mental health issues.

SoundMachine Teams with Napster

SoundMachine has partnered with Napster to create a new premium music subscription designed to provide a seamless, engaging, and on-brand music experience for large and small retailers, restaurants, spas, or any other company looking to enhance their physical space. Titled Business Premium powered by Napster, the new service blends SoundMachine’s robust scheduling and management features with Napster’s powerful music programming technology and catalog. The service is available now in the U.S., Canada, and Spain, and will roll out in additional territories in the coming months.

Business Premium will enhance SoundMachine’s in-store music platform with access to hundreds of AI-generated and human-curated stations, as well as the ability to create a custom station starting from an artist or song using Napster’s catalog of millions of songs. These benefits will be coupled with SoundMachine’s existing features, including full licensing for Public Performance within a client’s business environment in the U.S. (via ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, and SoundExchange) and Canada (via SOCAN and RE:SOUND); the ability to upload and schedule promotional messages to play along with the music; program different types of music to play during different parts of the day; mix complementary genre stations to create the perfect in-store audio backdrop; and control music in multiple locations from a central account. For those who just want to hit play, SoundMachine can also create custom playlists designed specifically for individual companies.

“With Business Premium powered by Napster, SoundMachine is bringing the richer consumer experience that clients are used to in their personal lives into a business context,” said Matteo Luppi, Co-Founder and CEO of SoundMachine. “From the huge amount of content we make available to the flexibility and customization features we offer, Business Premium makes it easy for any client to jump in and create the perfect soundtrack for their business. Napster’s capabilities perfectly complement our own, and they have been a fantastic partner throughout the development process. We look forward to many more great things in the years ahead.”

“We’re excited to partner with SoundMachine to provide its customers with enhanced experiences leveraging Napster’s world-class programming, editorial and delivery platform,” said Bill Patrizio, President and CEO of Napster. “Music is a powerful force that can form an unbreakable bond between a listener and a moment, mood, or location. With Business Premium, we are putting that power to work on behalf of businesses and customers around the world.”

“Before we switched to SoundMachine, we were stuck with broad, mostly mainstream stations that didn’t capture the vibe and vision of our café, not to mention there was no customization at all,” said Joel Moses, Director of Operations at Coffee Connection. “Now, we have amazing stations from SoundMachine that are tweaked to fit the time of day, and we are able to play our own promotional messages that we can easily record with just an iPhone. I’m always proud of the music in our location.”

Grab Acquires Uber’s Southeast Asia Operations

Grab acquired Uber’s Southeast Asia operations, marking the largest-ever deal of its kind in Southeast Asia. Grab will integrate Uber’s ridesharing and food delivery business in the region into Grab’s existing multi-modal transportation and fintech platform. With the combined business, Grab will drive towards becoming the #1 online-to-offline (O2O) mobile platform in Southeast Asia and a major player in food delivery.

Grab provides the fundamental services Southeast Asia consumers care the most about: safe and affordable transport, food and package delivery, mobile payments and financial services.

Grab will extend its leadership as the most cost efficient Southeast Asian platform, as it takes over Uber’s operations and assets in Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. As part of the acquisition, Uber will take a 27.5 percent stake in Grab and Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi will join Grab’s board.

Anthony Tan, Group CEO and Co-founder, Grab said, “We are humbled that a company born in SEA has built one of the largest platforms that millions of consumers use daily and provides income opportunities to over five million people. Today’s acquisition marks the beginning of a new era. The combined business is the leader in platform and cost efficiency in the region. Together with Uber, we are now in an even better position to fulfil our promise to outserve our customers. Their trust in us as a transport brand allows us to look towards the next step as a company: improving people’s lives through food, payments and financial services.”

Tan Hooi Ling, Co-founder, Grab added, “We will rapidly and efficiently expand GrabFood into all major SEA countries in the next quarter. We’re going to create more value for our growing ecosystem of consumers, drivers, agents – and now merchants and delivery partners. GrabFood will also be another great use case to drive the continued adoption of GrabPay mobile wallet and support our growing financial services platform.”

“This deal is a testament to Uber’s exceptional growth across Southeast Asia over the last five years. It will help us double down on our plans for growth as we invest heavily in our products and technology to create the best customer experience on the planet. We’re excited to take this step with Anthony and his entire team at Grab, and look forward to Grab’s future in Southeast Asia,” said Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber.

Grab’s new era of growth: Building SEA’s leading O2O mobile platform

• Food delivery: Grab will rapidly expand its existing GrabFood businesses in Indonesia and Thailand to two more countries – Singapore and Malaysia – following the integration of the Uber Eats business. GrabFood will be available across all major Southeast Asian countries in the first half of 2018.
• Transportation: Grab will grow its core transport offering to include more localised transport services and new mobility solutions, in partnership with other transport providers and automakers. Grab will also collaborate with governments and public transport operators to link public transport services and create seamless and integrated multi-modal commuter experiences. The recently announced GrabCycle marketplace for shared bicycles and personal mobility devices, and GrabShuttle Plus for on-demand bus routes are pilots toward this vision.
• Payments and financial services: Grab will continue to enhance and expand its suite of offerings under Grab Financial, including mobile payments, micro-financing, insurance and other financial services for millions of underserved and unbanked consumers, micro-entrepreneurs and small businesses in the region. GrabPay as a mobile wallet will be available across all major Southeast Asian countries by the end of the year.

To minimise disruption, Grab and Uber are working together to  migrate Uber drivers and riders, Uber Eats customers, merchant partners and delivery partners to the Grab platform. The Uber app will continue to operate for two weeks to ensure stability for Uber drivers. Uber Eats will run until the end of May, after which Uber delivery and restaurant partners will move to the GrabFood platform.

Roy Rogers Celebrates 50th with Cal Ripken Team

Roy Rogers® Restaurants today announced a partnership with Baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken, Jr. and the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation, to celebrate the restaurant’s 50^th anniversary. The first Roy Rogers® Restaurants location opened on April 6, 1968 in Falls Church, VA. There are now 54 Roy Rogers® Restaurants locations throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. 

“We are ecstatic to partner with Cal Ripken, Jr. and the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation to help celebrate our monumental 50^th anniversary,” said Jim Plamondon, Co-President of Roy Rogers® Restaurants. “The legacy of Cal Ripken, Jr. and his streak align with our core values at Roy Rogers® Restaurants. We are committed to working together to help support our local communities.”

“Roy Rogers is a brand I have known and enjoyed since I was a kid and I am thrilled to partner with them in their 50^th year,” said Cal Ripken, Jr.

Known as baseball’s “Iron Man” for playing in a world record 2,632 consecutive games, Ripken spent 21 seasons in the major leagues, all with his hometown Baltimore Orioles. Inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007, Ripken’s name has become synonymous with strength, character, perseverance and integrity. Since his retirement, Ripken continues to share these values through Ripken Baseball and its Ripken Experience youth complexes.

In 2001, Cal and the Ripken family founded the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation in honor of their patriarch. The national foundation improves the lives of underserved youth through effective programs and the building of Youth Development Parks.  In 2017, the Ripken Foundation impacted over 1.4 million kids nationwide through its Youth Development Parks and mentor programs.

To help celebrate the 50^th anniversary, Roy Rogers® Restaurants will offer customers various new initiatives throughout the year including rollback prices, prizes through various contests, and a roundup campaign and commemorative cup benefiting the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation and the communities in which Roy Rogers® Restaurants are located.