— By Bob Lester — Tips to ensure outdoor spaces are structurally safe for al fresco dining and more. Enjoying a delicious meal in the sunshine and warm breeze is one of the most pleasant experiences to come out of the pandemic. Dining patrons are requesting to skip the indoor spaces in lieu of fresh air — initially due to COVID-19 safety — but research is showing this trend may continue long past the pandemic. In spring 2021, only 26% of people say they feel comfortable dining indoors, and …
— By Steve Smith — Managing shopping center roofing issues with a post-pandemic budget. As the retail industry begins to fully reopen and emerge from the pandemic, shopping center owners are busy getting their operations back in full gear. This means bringing back staff, supporting retail tenants, reopening food courts, planning on-site marketing efforts and, most importantly, ensuring all the infrastructure is running properly and in good shape. This will no doubt create costs for shopping center owners and operators — and at a time when budgets are tight …
Richardson, Texas — ENTOUCH, an IoT-based Energy Management Solutions (EMS) leader, has released its most comprehensive suite of convenience store solutions to date. The Octane series offers convenience stores a preconfigured yet fully customizable suite of EMS tools designed to drive the most return from energy management and operational efficiency for multisite convenience store operators. In developing the OCTANE series, the ENTOUCH team focused on five critical areas required by best-in-class convenience store operators: Providing insight into existing equipment. Predictive reporting to identify when issues should be addressed before failure. …
Oak Brook, Ill. — Let’s Pave, a leading national provider of specialized paving services and solutions, has developed and released a lifecycle cost calculator for asphalt parking lots. The tool was generated to help facility managers secure proper funding for proactive parking lot maintenance. Calculations are based on a net present value financial analysis of a typical parking lot. The calculator enables facility managers and CFOs to run a similar analysis using actual data from their company for any asphalt parking lot. “It is common for businesses with multiple asphalt …
— By Chris Murphy — Planning your successful painting program. As we begin the next season of reimage, repainting and rebranding, many facility managers will be using all their creativity to find the “magic” to maximizing budgets and facilities’ upkeep. That’s no easy task, and the answer isn’t as simple as deferring more maintenance or finding cheaper pricing. But there are tools that can minimize the challenges and ensure that your desired painting programs can move forward without breaking the bank. Utilizing a contractor who is already familiar and …
Louisville, Ky., and Perth, Australia — Yum! Brands, Inc. and Dragontail Systems Limited, an innovative provider of technology solutions for the food industry, have entered into a binding agreement under which Yum! Brands would acquire Dragontail for A$93.5 million in cash. The proposed acquisition is expected to close by the end of third quarter 2021. If successfully implemented, the addition of Dragontail to Yum! Brands’ growing technology portfolio is intended to give Yum! Brands the ability to scale Dragontail’s artificial intelligence (AI) kitchen order management and delivery technology globally. Australia-based …
Crowley, Texas — Powerhouse, a national construction, facilities maintenance and rollout service provider, has acquired DENTCO®, a national exterior services provider headquartered in DeWitt, Mich. The 44-year-old company offers a complete suite of all-season property management solutions addressing exterior services issues for active as well as idle facilities. This deal is Powerhouse’s second major transaction, resulting in it becoming one of the four largest national managed services companies in the exterior space. As a result of the partnership, all Powerhouse Exterior Services Management (ESM) programs will be powered by DENTCO, …
Dallas — Tango, the leader in Store Lifecycle Management (SLM) and Integrated Workplace Management System (IWMS) software solutions, has extended its partnership with Big Lots for 3 additional years. Big Lots, a national neighborhood discount retailer with 1,414 stores, is now a full lifecycle customer, utilizing all products in the Tango Retail suite including Predictive Analytics, Real Estate, Projects, Lease and Maintenance. “With the adoption of Tango Predictive Analytics, we now have a complete end-to-end solution to support our location and development strategy,” says Shannon Letts, senior vice president, real …
Chicago — 86 Repairs, an innovative platform that automates equipment repair and maintenance for restaurants, has named Sean Ramsey as its new head of revenue. Previously, Ramsey served as vice president of revenue at document drafting lifecycle tech company Litera. During his tenure at Litera, Ramsey was involved in seeing the company grow from 50 employees to over 400. He helped lead the company through multiple major acquisitions and two separate successful private equity exits. The company increased its annual growth rate from 5% to 30%, as well as annual …
Itasca, Ill. — Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, a dine-in cinema with movies, beer, food and events, has partnered with Fellowes and its air purifiers with patented technology. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, Alamo asked Fellowes to assess its facilities in an effort to keep guests and staff in a clean and healthy environment they can trust and feel safe in. “Before we put AeraMax Pros in there, I was getting calls left and right about odor issues — but since then I haven’t had any of those same complaints,” says …
