Los Angeles — sweetgreen has opened its first restaurant powered by automation, accelerating the industry’s adoption of advanced technology and taking steps toward the future of dining. The pilot store, located in Naperville, Ill., debuts new technology called the sweetgreen Infinite Kitchen, designed to enhance the customer experience and food quality, with a focus on fresh ingredients, fast service and friendly hospitality. With the advancement of automation playing a large role across industries today, sweetgreen is eager and excited to be an early adopter in the space, opening the first …
software/technology
Atlanta — PizzaForno, North America’s first automated pizzeria that bakes artisan pizza in less than 3 minutes, 24 hours a day, is officially expanding into Georgia. The first of three new locations will open on May 6 in Atlanta’s Buckhead neighborhood, with two additional locations to open around metro Atlanta later in May. The three entrepreneurs responsible for this expansion are business partners Tyler Young, Paul Nair and Mick Patel. Young has always had a passion for the restaurant industry, and started running restaurants when he was in college. Nair …
San Carlos, Calif. — Presto Automation Inc., one of the largest drive-thru automation technology providers in the hospitality industry, has expanded its partnership with CKE Restaurants Holdings, Inc., the parent company of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s. Presto will be rolling out its artificial intelligence (AI) powered solution, Presto Voice™, to automate voice ordering at participating drive-thru locations nationwide. The voice automation technology, which has already been implemented at select Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s drive-thru locations within the United States, increases revenue, improves labor productivity and enhances the guest and staff …
Shelton, Conn. — Budderfly, a premier sustainability partner for businesses with repeatable footprints, has added energy services leader Scott Avirett as its new chief operating officer (COO). Avirett will lead the development and implementation of an integrated customer experience and delivery strategy to ensure operational excellence and meet rapidly growing demand for Budderfly’s sustainability services across North America. Avirett brings two decades of global experience in sustainable energy & infrastructure operations and general management to Budderfly. He previously built and led high-performance teams at Johnson Controls and Energy Systems Group …
— By John Moezzi — What to expect in 2023 digital signage for retail and restaurants. Another year has passed — since the pandemic started — and we continue to see an uptick in consumers in stores and restaurants. However, even for decades before the pandemic, there were debates between online and brick-and-mortar, where some think one abolishes the other, while others think they play well together. Perhaps, it’s important to know what they can do for each other. Let’s explore the trends for 2023 and how online and …
San Carlos, Calif. — Presto Automation Inc., one of the largest drive-thru automation technology providers in the hospitality industry, has promoted Dan Mosher to president and Xavier Casanova to chief operating officer, effective immediately. “Dan and Xavier have been key leaders at Presto and were instrumental in successfully developing and implementing Presto Voice, the industry’s most advanced drive-thru AI voice ordering platform,” says Presto’s chairman and interim CEO, Krishna Gupta. “I am delighted to partner with these two and the rest of our exceptional management team as we continue to …
Jersey City, N.J. — Imperial Dade, a leading distributor of foodservice packaging and janitorial supplies, has hired Devashish Saxena as its first chief digital officer. He will be focused on identifying how the organization can use the latest digital technologies to create a world-class omnichannel customer experience powered by data science. For over 20 years, Devashish Saxena has built digital organizations and guided them in making data-driven decisions to deliver business impact. Most recently Devashish led digital transformation as vice president, chief digital officer at PPG, a Pittsburgh-based coatings manufacturer. …
San Carlos, Calif. — Presto Automation Inc., the largest drive-thru automation technology provider in the hospitality industry, has formed a collaboration with OpenAI, an AI research and deployment company, to drive greater innovation around its drive-thru AI voice assistant. OpenAI’s ChatGPT API will be used to expand the feature set of the Presto’s drive-thru AI voice assistant (Presto Voice™), resulting in interactions that are more natural and human-like. Presto Voice uses advanced AI techniques including large language models (LLM) and generative AI to understand natural human language and offer logical …
— By Zayn King-Dollie — Utilizing mobile ordering and building design to capitalize on takeout trends. Last year, The National Restaurant Association estimated that 2022 would have record-breaking sales revenue of $898 billion, a 12.4% increase from 2021 and 3.9% above pre-pandemic sales. The predictions signaled an optimistic future, but instead, many businesses now are facing additional hardships brought on by inflation. Even with higher sales, the industry profit margins are 11.5% lower than in 2019. A third of all restaurant operators expect sales revenue outcomes to …
Aurora, Ill. — Palmer Digital Group, a full-service supplier and installer of custom indoor and outdoor digital kiosks, display enclosures and drive-thru digital menu boards, has been selected by The Patio, a high-end QSR specializing in barbeque, sandwiches and salads, to digitize interior and exterior menu board systems at its six Chicago-area locations. PDG’s menu board solutions will completely modernize the in-store and drive-thru customer experience while accelerating the appearance of price adjustments, new menu additions, limited time offers and more across storewide menu board systems. PDG’s solution for The …