Resy Acquires Reserve and Poutine Pop-Up

This edition of MRM's News Bites features Resy and Reserve, Accenture and Intrigo Systems,  US Foods, Priority Commercial Payments and Restaurant365, The Sani Awards, Air Canada and CuriosityStream.

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

Resy Acquires Reserve

Resy acquired Reserve, solidifiying the platform as the largest private restaurant reservation service in the U.S., now connecting consumers to 4,000 restaurants across the country.  The Reserve acquisition is the latest acquisition  engineered  by Resy co-founder and CEO, Ben Leventhal and his team. propelling the technology company to the top of a once monopolized industry. Resy’s strong year-over-year growth since its 2014 start has cemented its position in the U.S. hospitality market and contributed to ground-breaking software and tools created to help restaurants thrive and empower them to deliver superior experiences and elevated customer service.

The Reserve acquisition expands Resy’s stronghold in top dining markets – such as New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles – to include cities like Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C. where Reserve has won partnerships with some prominent players in today’s restaurant  industry, including Blue Hill at Stone Barns, Major Food Group, Rick Bayless Group, and Link Restaurant Group. 

“The Resy team is excited to be partnering with Reserve and its community of amazing restaurants for this next step in our company’s evolution,” said Leventhal. “Like Resy, the Reserve team has engaged with an impressive roster of restaurants in the name of progress. Resy will continue to build a platform that empowers good restaurants to be great and great restaurants to be amazing. By systematically dismantling the stale, inadequate, overpriced hospitality technology stack of the past, we are carving out a bright future for the industry.” 

“Since we started selling Reserve table management in 2015, we’ve demonstrated strong growth by expanding our product offering and geographic footprint to provide an alternative system that’s actually aligned with the needs of restaurants,” said Reserve CEO Greg Hong. “Resy is highly complementary to our existing footprint and enhances our ability to focus on the needs of our restaurants and build solutions to support them. Right now our priority is establishing a plan to combine the best of both of our products, and we'll be working closely with our restaurant partners and their guests to ensure that it is a smooth and positive experience. We’re thrilled to join the Resy team.”

As part of the acquisition, the vast majority of Reserve’s employees will be joining Resy, including CEO Greg Hong, who will stay on during the transition period. 

Top photo of Ben Leventhal and Greg Hong by Teddy Wolff

Accenture Acquires Intrigo

Accenture acquired US-based Intrigo Systems. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded in 2009, Intrigo Systems brings to Accenture new resources in key SAP supply chain areas such as SAP® Integrated Business Planning and SAP® Ariba® Supply Chain Collaboration. This enhances Accenture’s capabilities to help clients build digital supply chains that better address cross-functional business decisions, collaborate with suppliers in real-time and simplify compliance.

More than 70 percent of Chief Supply Chain Officers and supply chain leadership executives surveyed in a recent report from Accenture believe by 2020, the supply chain function will drive better customer service for their organizations.

“We are in the era of the intelligent supply chain, where technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), automation and analytics allow the supply chain to serve as a growth engine as it connects to all elements seamlessly, with a focus on delivering value,” said Bhaskar Ghosh, group chief executive, Accenture Technology Services. “Bringing Intrigo Systems onto our team will provide Accenture with more resources in innovation, development and delivery to help our clients turn their supply chain into a competitive, growth-driving differentiator that shapes a digital, intelligent enterprise.”

“We’re excited to be joining Accenture to help clients use cutting-edge technology to transform their supply chains,” said Padman Ramankutty, CEO, Intrigo Systems. “Our team is known for developing innovative supply chain solutions. As an SAP alliance partner, we have worked closely together to co-innovate and co-develop SAP Integrated Business Planning and the SAP Advanced Planning and Optimization solutions. We also co-innovated with SAP and Microsoft to build and deploy the SAP Ariba Supply Chain Collaboration solution. Working with Accenture, we will continue to implement digital supply chains for clients that enable real-time data analysis for smarter, agile decision making and proactive risk mitigation.”

“Intrigo Systems brings exceptional supply chain talent and experience to Accenture that will benefit our clients in North America and around the world,” said Annette Rippert, senior managing director for Accenture Technology in North America. “By combining their skills with Accenture’s leading capabilities in SAP solutions, we will help our clients leverage innovative technologies including AI and analytics to transform their digital supply chains and improve business performance.”

New Distribution Center for US Foods

US Foods Holding Corp. plans to build a 355,000-square-foot distribution center in McClellan, California. The facility will house thousands of foodservice products as well as a meat cutting facility and fleet maintenance operations. The $71.6 million investment will allow US Foods to more efficiently service the company’s independent restaurant customers across Northern California. Construction of the LEED-certified facility is expected to start mid-2019 and open at the end of 2020.

“The expansion of the US Foods footprint into Sacramento is an important investment as we continue to serve independent restaurant operators across the region,” said Bernie Orsini, area president for Northern California, US Foods. “We look forward to the increased capabilities the location will offer as we continue to execute on our ‘Great Food. Made Easy.’ strategy.”

“The California Competes Tax Credit helped support the multi-million dollar investment by US Foods in California,” said Panorea Avdis, director of the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development. “GO-Biz is proud to work with US Foods, and businesses like it, to ensure investment in our state and regional economy and support growth in our state’s workforce.”

“Sacramento County’s dynamic economy continues to foster many growth and expansion opportunities for businesses, and we are honored to welcome US Foods’ new distribution center to McClellan Park,” said County Supervisor Phil Serna. “I am proud that companies like US Foods choose to invest here and offer jobs for the community. I am excited about this partnership and the positive impact it will have for Sacramento County.”

Barry Broome, president and CEO of the Greater Sacramento Economic Council, said, "The US Foods expansion is a big win for the entire region. The new facility is projected to drive more than $59 million in direct and indirect economic impact from the job growth alone."

AP Automation Integration

Priority Commercial Payments formed a strategic partnership with Restaurant365 that will enable Restaurant365 to offer AP (Accounts Payable) Automation solutions to its client base; streamlining approximately $6 billion in annual transaction volumes and enhancing restaurants’ business relationships with their Vendors. In addition to automating vendor-side payments, Priority will enable Restaurant365 to offer other value-adds, such as corporate purchasing cards for non-AP expenses and prepaid cards for payment of employee gratuities.

“This is a great example how an agile payments technology company creates game-changing results,” said Cindy O’Neill, President of Priority Commercial Payments. “We couldn’t be more excited to begin this partnership with Restaurant365, as the efficiencies we create for restaurant operators will allow them to focus on what they do best: entertaining and serving their guests.”

“Restaurant365 continues to transform the industry by leading the way with innovative solutions. This new venture is an exciting example of our continued commitment to provide restaurants with the best productivity solutions possible, and we’re confident in this partnership with Priority Commercial Payments because they are committed to the same,” said Tony Smith, Co-founder and CEO.

Sani Awards Nominations

Sani Professional, the food safety division of Professional Disposables International (PDI®), and the Sani Professional Food Safety Advisory Council (SPFSAC) are calling for nominations to The 2019 Sani Awards™.    Now in its fifth year, The Sani Awards™ celebrates innovation, excellence and best practices in food safety within the foodservice industry.  The areas of focus are:

• Education/Training 
• Employee/Customer Programs 
• Guest Experience 
• Leadership

The nomination period is through February 28, 2019.  Winners will be announced in April, 2019 and the awards ceremony will be held at the Food Safety Summit Town Hall in Rosemont, Illinois in May, 2019.

The Sani Awards™ includes three categories and a Special Award has been added to celebrate this year's fifth anniversary:

Category A:  Outstanding food safety program innovation

Category B: Exceptional food safety education and/or training program implementation

Category C:  Leadership in Food Safety

Category D: Special Award:  Food Safety Champion
This award will honor and recognize the recipient's outstanding commitment to food safety and their significant body of work that has had a lasting influence, and major impact on food safety in the foodservice/food processing industries.  

Criteria for nominations include:

• Five-unit chain (or larger) 
• Programs that are six months post implementation 
• Measurable results/improvements 
• Nominee may be an individual or group 
• Self-nominations are welcome

For nomination forms and full details, click here.

Poutinerie by Air Canada

Air Canadawill open Poutinerie by Air Canada pop-up on Friday, November 9 to entice travelers from the Washington D.C area to explore the world through Air Canada's global network.

The #AirCanadaFliesThere integrated marketing campaign spans out-of-home advertising, radio and pre-roll video, and, most exciting, a unique pop-up Poutinerie by Air Canada restaurant at 1351 Connecticut Ave NW in Washington DC. 

To give visitors a taste of the Canadian, European, Asian, Middle Eastern and South American destinations conveniently accessible from area airports via Air Canada's Toronto and Montreal hubs, Poutinerie by Air Canada offers global twists on the iconic Canadian dish – poutine. Proceeds from the Pop-Up will be donated to a local Washington charity. 

In addition to classic poutine (French fries, cheese curds, gravy), the Air Canada pop-up Poutinerie will showcase ten unique poutine dishes inspired by destinations across Air Canada's growing global network. These include London's Corner Pub Fish & Chips, malt vinegar dusted chips, crispy fried cod, dill & caper tartar gravy; and Sao Paulo's Sweet Chimi-Churrasco combining sweet potato fries, grilled carne asada, green chimchurri and queso blanco. Each poutine dish costs $5 with drinks priced at $4. Poutinerie proceeds will proudly go to a local nonprofit, Martha's Table, working to increase access to quality education programs, healthy food, and family support.  

"We are grateful for Air Canada's partnership. Funds raised through Poutinerie by Air Canada will support our food and education programs, including our network of 48 monthly pop-up Joyful Food Markets in elementary schools throughout Wards 7 and 8 in DC Joyful Food Markets are no-cost pop-up farmer's markets that extend healthy food access to 15,000 children and families," said Caron Gremont, Senior Director of Healthy Eating, Martha's Table.

After savoring the poutine, visitors to the Poutinerie by Air Canada can "take off" on an Air Canada flight through a virtual reality, on-board experience and enter an Instagram and Twitter competition to win two tickets on Air Canada from DCA, IAD or BWI to any one of Air Canada's over 200 destinations around the globe. Winners will be drawn daily for seven days.

Poutinerie by Air Canada is open to the public starting Friday, November 9, through Thursday, November 15.

The History of Food

CuriosityStream answers the age-old question, "what's for dinner?" once and for all with its new five-part original docuseries, The History of Food.  Premiering November 15, the series offers a deep-dive into the science, history and cultural impact of food throughout time.

The viewers' tour guides for this gastronomical journey are a diverse group of engaging experts including renowned chef Joseph "JJ" Johnson (James Beard Nominee, Between Harlem & Heaven, Henry at Life Hotel), primatologist Richard Wrangham (Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human), Sandor Katz (Food Writer, The Art of Fermentation), ecologist Dr. Robb Dunn (The Wild Life of Our Bodies), and other leading chefs & food visionaries.

"Quite simply, food is the fuel of life – and humans share a very intense and multi-dimensional relationship with what they eat," said Clint Stinchcomb, President and CEO of CuriosityStream. "The History of Food combines breathtaking visuals with today's top experts and tastemakers sharing mind-blowing insights – but delivers it with entertaining storytelling that makes it perfect for CuriosityStream and our viewers."

The series takes audiences on a mouth-watering, two-million-year evolutionary journey beginning with our primordial ancestors, and closely examines the changing roles that diet has played over time. In each episode, viewers will explore a different monumental shift in how and what humans have eaten, the varying effects of those diets, and how the way we eat will continue to change.