software/technology

— By Savneet Singh — How cutting-edge tech helped Hooters of America upgrade its dining experience. Americans love experiences, with the majority (61%) of Gen Z and Millenials choosing to invest in them, according to Experian, over retirement savings. And with all the money they’re spending, they anticipate outstanding outcomes — especially when it comes to dining. Competition in this sector is fierce, with seemingly endless options for the 9 in 10 customers who enjoy going out to eat, per a February 2024 report by the National Restaurant Association. The …

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Shelton, Conn. — Budderfly, a preferred sustainability partner for commercial businesses with repeatable footprints, has acquired a grid-edge distributed energy resource management system (DERMS) from Sunverge Energy. Former Sunverge employees with decades of DERMS and energy market experience will join Budderfly’s growing team of almost 400 employees. Using Sunverge’s technology, Budderfly can aggregate distributed energy resources (DERS) across its sites, positioning it to create virtual power plants (VPPs) capable of providing flexibility to the grid, increasing resiliency for customers and growing new revenue streams. With greater control over its energy …

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— By Lindsey Walker — Why asset tracking software is good for your restaurant business. Operating a foodservice or restaurant business involves managing various appliances, each essential for daily tasks like cooking and refrigeration. Integrating these appliances into a system that gathers data for decision-making can be time-consuming. The Internet of Things (IoT) offers a solution by utilizing appliance data to optimize property management and enhance business performance with real-time insights. From ensuring customer satisfaction to maintaining quality standards, running a restaurant or café requires careful attention to detail to …

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— By Andy Anderson — The business case for prioritizing environmental responsibility. While the retail industry plays an indispensable role in our society, bringing valuable — and often essential — products and services to consumers, and serving as a major source of employment and economic growth, it also takes a significant toll on the environment. In fact, the industry accounts for roughly 25% of global emissions, with much of these emissions occurring in the retail value chain. From the energy-intensive demands of brick-and-mortar stores to the packaging and transportation waste …

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New Hartford, N.Y. — Yumpingo®, a leader in customer experience services for restaurants, has forged a partnership with ParTech, Inc. and PAR’s leading loyalty solution, PAR Punchh®. Together, they aim to transform customer experiences, enhance loyalty and drive growth through innovative platform integration. By combining Punchh’s loyalty solutions with Yumpingo’s customer experience management, restaurant brands gain powerful tools to engage guests and deliver exceptional service. “By merging our loyalty solutions with Yumpingo’s real-time guest feedback, we empower brands to deliver deeply personalized and impactful experiences that not only enhance customer …

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San Francisco — Chargebee, a leading subscription and revenue growth management platform, has named Brian Clark as president of go-to-market and Andrew Sherwood as senior vice president of global sales. Clark and Sherwood will accelerate Chargebee’s go-to-market focus on helping companies capture the opportunity in the evolving market with Chargebee’s uniquely flexible and robust revenue growth management platform. Clark brings 20+ years of experience in executive leadership roles at industry-defining companies. Most recently, he served as chief revenue officer (CRO) at Vista-backed Work Management Software company Wrike. Sherwood will lead …

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Minneapolis — Target Corporation plans to roll out a new generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tool to team members at all of its nearly 2,000 stores by August, becoming the first major retailer to share that it is bringing this technology to its store team members across the U.S. The tool, called Store Companion, is a GenAI-powered chatbot designed by Target that can answer on-the-job process questions, coach new team members, support store operations management and more. “We know technology will continue to play an outsized role in the future of …

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— By Jay Fiske — IoT & S3: How connected equipment improves restaurant safety, service and sustainability. Every restaurant facility manager is acutely aware of how critical their back-of-house equipment (cooking, refrigeration, HVAC, etc.) is as the lifeline of their operations. When these machines go down, or an issue arises, the result is often costly health or safety concerns that can force facility closures, negatively impact customer satisfaction, and harm brand perception. In addition, back-of-house equipment also drives the bulk of the very heavy energy use in restaurants — driving …

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— By Les Tomlin — How automated vending machines are churning out QSR solutions. Quick-service restaurants (QSRs) are embracing artificial intelligence platforms to boost productivity, increase security and make operations more user-friendly. On paper, things should be getting easier for restaurant owners; however, in the face of rampant labor shortages, skyrocketing minimum wage laws and exorbitant real estate costs, restaurant owners and managers have an uphill battle to face in getting a new business off the ground. Since the nineteenth century, vending machines have provided an autonomous alternative to full-service …

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Lincolnshire, Ill. — Zebra Technologies Corporation, a leading digital solution provider enabling businesses to intelligently connect data, assets and people, has been chosen by the Walgreens Boots Alliance to optimize its operations with Zebra Workcloud Actionable Intelligence software, in order to save millions of dollars by enhancing operational compliance and the company’s ability to identify and combat shrink. Walgreens, a Chicago-based international pharmacy retailer, selected Zebra’s Modern Store framework to improve asset protection, better equip employees with technology, and optimize operational visibility in its network of 8,000 locations across 50 …

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