HT - April/May

#hospitalitySTRONG

PLUS: New Hotel Career Resources MURTEC 2020 Insights & Takeaways Top 10 Women in Restaurant Tech

TRAVEL

COVID-19

HEALTH

PAYMENT

HEALTH POS RESTAURANTS HOTELS FURLOUGH HOSPITALITY

WORK FROM HOME

DELIVERY

PAYMENT

MOBILE ORDERING

NAVIGATING THE NEW NORMAL:

WE’RE WITH YOU FOOD SAFETY SOCIAL DISTANCING

TRACEABILITY

LABOR

CONTACTLESS PAYMENT

POS

CONTACTLESS

LABOR

OCCUPANCY

SOCIAL DISTANCING

SOCIAL DISTANCING

SOCIAL DISTANCING

GIG ECONOMY

TO-GOLAYOFFS

TRAVEL LABOR

SAFETY THIRD-PARTY

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YOU ARE ESSENTIAL. People have always been at the heart of our industry—strong, resilient, talented people with a passion for hospitality. That’s why we’ve created the HTNG CAREER CENTER, to connect people like you with the organizations that need your unique talents and skills to put them ahead of the curve in rebuilding and strengthening the hotel market in the years ahead. This premier, industry-exclusive portal is designed to connect qualified professionals with potential hospitality employers and career resources to help ensure a better tomorrow for the industry today.

With the HTNG Career Center, you can easily find and apply for positions that match your experience and expertise, and gain access to a range of useful tools to position you for success. Visit www.careers.htng.org today to post your resume or search for your next opportunity.

EMPLOYERS, ENJOY A SPECIAL INTRODUCTORY OFFER OF A 30-DAY JOB POSTING FOR $99 (Offer valid for a limited time. HTNG Membership NOT required)

HTNG CAREER CENTER Connecting Hospitality Talent with Opportunity.

www.careers.htng.org www

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CONTENT This month on www.hospitalitytech.com

Uncharted Territory

TRAVEL

COVID-19

HEALTH

PAYMENT

HEALTH POS RESTAURANTS HOTELS FURLOUGH HOSPITALITY

As hospitality brands navigate the pandemic-induced economic crisis, we take a look at rapidly evolving best practices for point of sale, health & safety, and restaurant pickup & delivery. Plus: A new action plan for IT professionals.

WORK FROM HOME

DELIVERY

PAYMENT

MOBILE ORDERING

NAVIGATING THE NEW NORMAL:

WE’RE WITH YOU FOOD SAFETY SOCIAL DISTANCING

TRACEABILITY

LABOR

CONTACTLESS PAYMENT

POS

CONTACTLESS

LABOR

SOCIAL DISTANCING

SOCIAL DISTANCING

GIG ECONOMY

TO-GOLAYOFFS

• Restaurant Business Model

Changes in a Post COVID-19 World

• Can AI Help Hospitality Brands

See the Future in Turbulent Times?

•

How Cousins Subs Rolled Out Curbside Pickup in 2 Days

• 4 Detailed Steps Hotels Can Take Now

OCCUPANCY

SOCIAL DISTANCING

FEATURES & CASE STUDIES

TRAVEL

to Regain Guest Trust

LABOR

SAFETY THIRD-PARTY

• QR Codes: One Solution to the

C O V E R S T O R Y PAG E 6

Post-COVID-19 Dine-In Problem

• RTN Launches Restaurant Technology Career Center

• Hospitality: Now Is the Time to Strike

DEPARTMENTS: 4 EDITOR’S NOTE 5 HTNG

Back Against the Phantom Menace

12 LODGING TECH STUDY

What 10 Years of Data Tells Us About the Future

EXCLUSIV E RESEA RCH

From IT budgets to customer satisfaction to predictive analytics, these key takeaways from HT’s Lodging Technology Study illuminate top priorities.

16 MURTEC INNOVATION REPORT

MURTEC: Restaurant Innovation Heatmap The 25th anniversary of MURTEC featured dozens of educational sessions and plenty of networking. The consumer experience, third-party delivery and data management were major themes.

21 New Restaurant Tech The latest tools deliver an array of support from POS to ordering to delivery options.

24

Top 10 Women in Restaurant Technology

26

MURTEC’s Start-Up Alley Takes Flight

This year’s group of honorees include leaders from White Castle, Taco Bell and Revel Systems.

A new breed of tech talent addresses restaurants’ most urgent needs.

2020 Lodging Technology Study Hotels share what is driving the need to increase IT spending in 2020 and where they’re going to spend it. This study recaps 2019 spending and identifies what’s earmarked for the year ahead.

Download at https://hospitalitytech.com/lodging-tech-study-2020 2020 Restaurant Technology Study For this 22nd annual study, HT has compiled data from 25,000+ restaurant locations across a broad variety of topics including strategic business objectives, top investment areas, planned software and hardware changes and more. Download at https://hospitalitytech.com/ restaurant-technology-study2020-delivering-expectations2

E-N E WS L E TTE R

27 RTN TABLESIDE

RTN Unites the Restaurant Industry The Restaurant Technology Network provides a platform for crowdsourcing tech talent to offer critical support for restaurants.

W W W.T W I T T E R .C O M / H T M A G A Z I N E

The HT Alert is delivered every Tuesday and Thursday to your inbox, making it the most reliable source for IT news and trends.

Manage your subscriptions at www.hospitalitytech.com

W W W. L I N K E D I N .C O M / I N / H O S P I TA L I T Y T E C H N O LO G Y

W W W. FA C E B O O K .C O M / H O S P I TA L I T Y T E C H N O LO G Y

YO U T U B E .C O M / H O S P I TA L I T Y T E C H M A G

HOSPITALITY TECHNOLOGY (USPS 0016-745, ISSN 1520-491X) is published seven times per year Feb, Mar, May, Jun, Aug, Oct, Dec by EnsembleIQ, 8550 W. Bryn Mawr Ave., Ste. 200, Chicago, IL 60631; (973) 607-1300. Periodicals postage paid at Chicago, Illinois and additional entries. Subscription rates: $89.00 per year in the United States; $99.00 per year in Canada. All other countries: $109.00. Single copies (pre-paid only): $20 in the U.S.; $22 in Canada; elsewhere, $25; add $5.00 for shipping and handling per order. Copyright © 2020 by EnsembleIQ. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or information storage and retrieval system, without express written permission from the publisher. Reprints, permissions and licensing, please contact Wright’s Media at ensembleiq@ wrightsmedia.com or (877) 652-5295. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to HOSPITALITY TECHNOLOGY, P.O. BOX 1842, LOWELL, MA 01853-1842. PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.

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Our Shared Values Everything has changed, right?

Whether you’re reading this from a makeshift home office or the front lines of your brand’s reinvented customer service, the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the hospitality industry in ways we are still learning and assessing.

But some things — the most important things — remain the same.

Just like you, we at Hospitality Technology are still putting the needs of our customers — their well-being, their satisfaction — at the center of everything we do. Like you, we value the health and safety of our employees and their families. And we believe more than ever in the potential for our industry to point the way forward.

I’ve joined HT as editor-in-chief at a time when the phrase “innovative solutions” is more than just a bullet point or industry jargon — it’s essential to our collective survival and growth. I have a deep background in travel and food media, and I’m proud to work with the team at HT and the Restaurant Technology Network to bring you those innovative solutions in the pages of Hospitality Technology, at hospitalitytech.com, at annual events like HT-NEXT, MURTEC, and MURTEC Executive Summit, and across our social media and audio & video platforms.

In this issue, we take an in-depth look at hospitality’s “new normal,” focusing on how lodging and food technology and point-of-sale practices are rapidly evolving to meet unprecedented health & safety needs. We honor the top 10 women in restaurant tech, including rising stars, innovators and veterans. We bring you the most actionable takeaways from MURTEC 2020, and much more.

My digital door is always open (rfirpo-cappiello@ensembleiq.com), and I welcome your thoughts and insights about how HT can work with you to deliver the solutions your customers and employees need.

Robert Firpo-Cappiello EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD

RESEARCH ADVISORY BOARD

Steve Brooks Dir., Purchasing & IT, Tumbleweed Restaurants

Mike Blake CEO, HTNG

Mike Dickersbach Hotel Technology Executive, Industry CIO Simon Eng VP of IT, CTF Development Nelson Garrido Senior VP Information Technology, Thayer Lodging, Brookfield Hotel Properties Michael Hassel Dir. IT, Momofuko Holdings Ted Hopcroft Vice President of Technology and Professional Services, Americas iT, Marriott

Corey Kline VP IT, Noodles & Company Rocky Lucia Dir. IT, Fireman Hospitality Group Brian Pearson CIO, Stacked R. P. Rama VP Technology, JHM Hotels Joe Tenczar VP, Information & Technology/CIO, Sonny’s BBQ Marcus Wasdin CIO, Atlanta Hawks & State Farm Arena

Natasa Christodoulidou Professor California State University Cihan Cobanoglu, PhD School of Hotel & Restaurant Management University of South Florida Daniel J. Connolly Ph.D. Professor of Business Administration Drake University Russell Dazzio Chairman, R&R Hospitality

VICE PRESIDENT & PUBLISHER Abigail A. Lorden alorden@ensembleiq.com EDITORIAL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Robert Firpo-Cappiello, rfirpo-cappiello@ensembleiq.com SENIOR EDITOR, RESTAURANTS Anna Wolfe, awolfe@ensembleiq.com SENIOR EDITOR, HOTELS Michal Christine Escobar, mescobar@ensembleiq.com SALES SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Leah Segarra, lsegarra@ensembleiq.com SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Katherine Ware, kware@ensembleiq.com ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Noell Dimmig, ndimmig@ensembleiq.com EVENTS EVP, EVENTS & CONFERENCES Ed Several, eseveral@ensembleiq.com EVENTS DIRECTOR Karen Mahoney, kmahoney@ensembleiq.com MARKETING VICE PRESIDENT, MARKETING & BRAND ENGAGEMENT Darren Ursino, dursino@ensembleiq.com MARKETING MANAGER Stacey Bobby, sbobby@ensembleiq.com ONLINE MEDIA VICE PRESIDENT, DIGITAL PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT & AUDIENCE Jason Ward, jward@ensembleiq.com ART & PRODUCTION VICE PRESIDENT, PRODUCTION Derek Estey, destey@ensembleiq.com DIRECTOR, DIGITAL OPERATIONS Whitney Gregson, wgregson@ensembleiq.com CREATIVE DIRECTOR Colette Magliaro, cmagliaro@ensembleiq.com ART DIRECTOR Lauren DiMeo, ldimeo@ensembleiq.com DIGITAL OPERATIONS MANAGER Bayode Olorundare, bolorundare@ensembleiq.com SENIOR PRODUCTION MANAGER Pat Wisser, pwisser@ensembleiq.com SUBCRIPTIONS 978-671-0449, ensembleiq@e-circ.net

Mehmet Erdem Assistant Professor, UNLV Hotel College Lee Holman Lead Retail Analyst, IHL Consulting Jungsun (Sunny) Kim, PhD Assistant Professor, William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration, UNLV Fred LeFranc President & CEO, Results thru Strategy Barry N. Shufeld Interim CIO, Briar Group Rohit Verma Professor, Cornell University

8550 W. BRYN MAWR AVE. STE. 200 CHICAGO, IL 60631 PHONE: +1 773-992-4450 FAX: +1 773-992-4455

CORPORATE OFFICERS CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Jennifer Litterick CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Dan McCarthy CHIEF INNOVATION OFFICER Tanner Van Dusen CHIEF HUMAN RESOURCES OFFICER Ann Jadown EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, EVENTS & CONFERENCES Ed Several SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, CONTENT Joe Territo

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How Can We Help?

HTNG Career Center is an industry-exclusive job portal that also provides career and recruiting resources to the industry.

It is devastating that everyone in the world has somehow been affected by the current Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and it’s evident that each of us in the hospitality industry has had our own unique set of circumstances to face every day. Similar to our members, HTNG’s day-to-day actions have shifted to ensure that we continue to benefit those in our network, as we construct new resources and provide focused guidance. This column focuses on our most recent initiative, the launch of the new HTNG Career Center, and follows with a few additional efforts we have introduced to do our part in helping the industry during this time.

HTNG Career Center Hospitality Technology Next Generation (HTNG www.htng.org) and Hospitality Upgrade (www. hospitalityupgrade.com) recently launched the HTNG Career Center, a premier, industry-exclusive job portal designed to connect qualified hospitality professionals with potential employers, and provide a wide range of helpful career and recruiting resources to the hospitality market.

The HTNG Career Center launched at a critical point in the history of hospitality, as the industry reacts to dramatic new market conditions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic that has produced widespread employee layoffs, furloughs and other unprecedented changes in the hospitality employment sector.

“The hotel industry has been severely disrupted by recent events, and HTNG wants to do our part to help ensure a rapid recovery and future success for both our member companies and the people who serve this dynamic global market sector,” said David Sjolander, Chief Operating Officer of HTNG. “The association has always played an informal role in the recruiting and job-seeking process through referrals and networking, so now we are taking that a step further by teaming up with Hospitality Upgrade in the launch of the HTNG Career Center.”

In addition to meeting a long-term need for hospitality specific career resources, the portal will also serve the vital role of connecting displaced hospitality professionals with potential employers

who need their specific experience and expertise.

The new HTNG Career Center provides a searchable database for potential employers and both active and passive jobseekers, as well as access to an array of helpful resources, such as free resume review, interview tips, advice on networking opportunities and career advancement. Employers can post open positions on the site and search the resume bank for available qualified candidates.

At no cost, hospitality professionals can upload their resumes anonymously as well as search and apply for open positions through the HTNG Career Center. In addition, they can respond to employers who inquire on their resume and are interested in interviewing them. The HTNG Career Center can be found at: https://careers.htng.org.

Additional COVID-19 Efforts • Hospitality COVID-19 Resources: HTNG is collecting resources relevant to our members and the industry overall on the current state of COVID-19 at www.htng.org/page/COVID-19. We are asking if anyone has an additional industry resource to please submit it to this webpage.

• Retainment of Active HTNG Membership: HTNG is aware that some companies are in the unfortunate position of furloughing or laying off employees. If you, colleagues, or other HTNG members you know are in this situation, active membership status with HTNG will not change.

Please contact membership@htng.org if you do not have access to your work email associated with your HTNG account.

• Virtual TechOvation Event: Historically held at HT-NEXT, the final round of the TechOvation Award will be held in partnership with UgoVirtual (www.ugovirtual.com) as our firstever, virtual event. On May 21, 2020, we will be providing networking interactions, access to attend educational, innovative pitches, sponsorship opportunities and more. To find out more information, visit: www.htng.org/techovation.

While we continue to try to develop the services our industry needs, if HTNG can do anything further to assist your company, please contact us at membership@htng.org and let us know. HT

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COVER STORY

BY ROBERT FIRPO-CAPPIELLO, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF; MICHAL CHRISTINE ESCOBAR, SENIOR EDITOR - HOTELS; A N D A N N A W O L F E , S E N I O R E D I T O R - R E S TA U R A N T S

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As hospitality brands navigate the pandemicinduced economic crisis, we take a look at rapidly evolving best practices for point of sale, health & safety, and restaurant pickup & delivery. Plus: A new action plan for IT professionals.

RRITORY

As the hospitality industry approaches the close of Q2 2020, the only thing we’re absolutely certain of is that we can’t be certain of anything.

We’ve seen hotel vacancy rates at 80%. Restaurants shuttered. Unemployment levels not seen since the Great Depression. And a pandemic that continues to take lives and disrupt communities across the U.S. But there have been signs of hope.

Starting in early spring, forward-thinking hotels, restaurants and technology companies began to take steps toward a new equilibrium, a path forward that leverages existing tools and know-how and fast-tracks the most relevant, emerging technology.

Here HT provides a snapshot of what the new normal may look like.

CONTACTLESS PAYMENTS: THE TIME HAS COME According to an IDC survey of 1,500+ U.S. consumers, 10% of respondents acknowledge transitioning to contactless payments during the coronavirus outbreak motivated by “concerns over contamination from handing a card to another person or a dirty device,” says Dorothy Creamer, Senior Research Analyst, Hospitality & Travel Digital Transformation Strategies, IDC. This percentage increases to 18% for younger consumers (18-24).

“Restaurant operators and consumers now have an entirely new level of concern about touching unsanitary pin pads, which can be extremely unhealthy in light of the recent contagion,” says Alex Barrotti, TouchBistro (www. touchbistro.com) CEO and founder. “This drives up the necessity for businesses to install contactless payment terminals to keep their customers feeling safe and coming back.”

Contactless payment technology is nothing new, in fact other countries have even had it in place for decades. But because American consumers have been content with swiping and dipping, hotels and restaurants have not felt a sense of urgency in updating their terminal hardware.

However, in a post-pandemic world, where social distancing and fear of contaminated surfaces could become the norm, hotels and restaurants really need to consider implementing contactless payment tech.

Contactless doesn’t have to be just about convenient payment options. It can also improve loyalty. For example, Paytronix (www.paytronix.com) offers Loyalty ID technology that integrates with NFC mobile wallets. When guests

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COVER STORY

tap their phones to pay they’re also able to see and redeem rewards on their phone. And when non-members tap to pay, they’re prompted to sign up for the loyalty program.

For those who want to offer contactless payment options, but don’t want to upgrade their hardware just yet – there is another solution: QR codes. Touchpoint.io (https:// www.touchpoint.io) announced a solution which moves bill presentation and payment entirely onto a customer’s mobile phone. After ordering at a restaurant, guests use their phone to scan a QR code that is generated on an iPad and is unique to their order. Their bill appears along with the option to tip their server. The guest then pays via the mobile payment method they have installed on their phone. If taking orders over the phone, merchants enter the customer’s mobile number and a secure pay link is automatically sent to the customer via SMS. OneDine (http://onedine.com), Ready to Pay (https://readytopay.com), Eigen xDine (www. eigenpayments.com), Up n’Go (www.upngo.com), Bbot (bbot.menu), Rooam (www.rooam.com) and PARk It by Par Technology (www.partech.com/park-it) also are offering QR code-based ordering and payment options.

For hotels that don’t want to implement QR codes, Eazy O (https://eazyoapp.com) offers a new technology called Pearl. Using a mobile app on their phone, Pearl allows guests to order from any hotel restaurant to anywhere on property with no change in workflow to the hotel restaurant because it syncs with on property POS systems. Orders can be picked up by guests or delivered on a no-contact basis. It also allows charges to either the guest room folio or a credit card as well as dynamic visual menus with embedded pictures and multi-language support.

And for the most forward-thinking of brands, “face pay”

could be the future of contactless payment.

“In some areas of Asia, facial recognition payments tied to guest wallets are making inroads to take contactless payments and speedy check-out one step further,” says Rohith Kori, Senior Director of Corporate & Product Strategy at Agilysys (www.agilysys.com). “While privacy concerns still need to be addressed for North America and Europe, it would serve our markets well to stay ahead of the technological trends that are being piloted in Asia for potential crossover to other markets around the world.”

This technology is not limited to Asia. In late March, Caliburger restaurants (https://caliburger.com) said it would no longer accept credit or cash payments during the duration of the COVID-19 outbreak. Instead, guests who want to pay on site can register for PopPay, a face pay service, at popid.com. New payment terminals are being installed so that guests can use PopPay without any contact with a touch panel. Guests can also order and pay using PopPay on the CaliBurger website.

WHAT DOES “CLEAN” MEAN NOW? With no disrespect intended toward housekeeping and wait staff across the country, the days of wiping down countertops and tables with a damp towel or sponge are over.

In response to the novel coronavirus — and also acknowledging that the rate and severity of other viruses, such as SARS, Zika, influenza and Ebola, have increased in recent decades, hotels and restaurants have rapidly redefined what it means to be “clean.”

An array of solutions, from tech-supported protocols and checklists to ultraviolet disinfecting to good old-fashioned Lysol, are being adopted to ensure that high-touch surfaces remain virus-free.

Hospitality COVID-19 Timeline JAN. 7

A NEW VIRUS Officials announce the discovery of a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) in Wuhan, China. Despite quarantine measures, the virus will spread globally, sickening millions and killing the most vulnerable, especially those over age 60 and those with compromised immune systems.

JAN. 21

FEB. 6

VIRUS HITS THE U.S.A. The first case of the coronavirus in the U.S. is reported in Washington state.

RESTAURANTS IN CHINA AFFECTED Yum! Brands, parent of Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and KFC, says sales in China are down 40-50% after closing more than 30% of its China locations in late January.

FEB. 11

A NEW DISEASE The World Health Organization announces that SARS-CoV-2 causes a respiratory disease labeled COVID-19.

FEB. 10-26

HOTELS IN CHINA AFFECTED Major hotel brands report property closures in China, including Hilton (150 hotels), Wyndham (1,000), IHG (160), and Marriott (90).

MARCH 11

W.H.O. DECLARES PANDEMIC The rapidly spreading coronavirus outbreak is officially labeled a pandemic by the World Health Organization.

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The antivirus sanitation solution with the greatest success rate is ultraviolet light — the same type of rays that give sunlight its disinfecting power (and its ability to cause sunburn and skin cancer). UV-C light is employed by some hospitals to disinfect high-touch surfaces and medical equipment, often administered by robotic devices. Proximity Systems has developed a system called UV-CLEAN, which automatically disinfects surfaces — such as kiosks, POS, payment devices and other places where viruses and bacteria may be passed along — when people are not using them. Independent testing suggests that UV-CLEAN is 99.9% effective in eliminating dangerous pathogens.

The promise of ultraviolet technology must be weighed against the considerable cost of its implementation, and hospitality professionals will look to establish best practices.

Restaurants and hotels are also moving toward a standardization of cleanliness, developing sanitation checklists and protocols, often available to staff via app or online. A collaboration among Hilton Hotels, Mayo Clinic’s Infection Protection and Control team, and RB, the maker of Lysol, has the potential to influence practices across the industry due to its scale (including 6,100 properties). A Hilton CleanStay Room Seal is placed on a guest’s door to indicate that they are the first to enter their room after a cleaning that addresses all high-touch surfaces (including remotes and thermostats) using hospital-grade products. Hil-

MARCH 11

EUROPE-TOU.S.TRAVEL BANNED Sweeping travel restrictions announced in a bid to combat the virus’s spread.

MARCH 11

Restaurant Action Plan FIGHTING FOR THE SURVIVAL OF THEIR BUSINESSES, RESTAURANTS ARE INNOVATING AT BREAKNECK SPEED − PIVOTING OPERATIONS TO OFFPREMISES, ROLLING OUT CURBSIDE, AND SELLING GROCERIES AND MEAL KITS. DEMAND FOR DRIVE-THRU Drive-thru has emerged as the most popular way to get food from restaurants, with 67.4% of consumers across all age groups saying it’s their preferred service channel, according to Service Management Group (SMG) research.

Savvy restaurants that don’t have drive-thrus are creating make-shift ones.

Famous Dave’s (www.famousdaves.com) has added a “gritty drive-thru,” a makeshift drive-thru staked out with parking cones. Before COVID-19, Famous Dave’s was already offering third-party delivery and curbside pickup through its online ordering platform with Olo (www.olo.com). And for those who want to pay at pickup, some locations are using handheld wireless-enabled Skytab device that enables customers to tap to pay.

CURBSIDE PICKUP Chicken Salad Chick (www.chickensaladchick.com) has used some creativity to roll out new concepts including popup locations, curbside pickup and local delivery. Chicken Salad Chick was able to mobilize an off-premises model quickly, thanks to its integrated digital ordering and delivery platform with Olo. Thanks to some swift IT and operational changes facilitated by Microsoft Teams, Cousins Subs (www.cousisinsubs.com) added curbside pickup to all 100 of its stores.

Consumers too are keeping their social distance and are embracing online ordering and delivery. With consumers concerned about health, a contactless customer experience is on track to become the new normal. Dickey’s Barbecue Pit, Domino’s, Pizza Nova, Pizza Hut, Yum! Brands are among the brands offering contactless delivery.

THE RISE OF GROCERANTS To help their guests in their communities get the staples they need, restaurants across the country are adding groceries to their online menus, including Dickey’s Barbecue, Panera Bread, Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe and select Subway restaurants, to name a few. Just Salad launched Just Grocery, a new delivery service with food and pantry staples, along with meal kits for some of its popular menu items.

MARCH 15

AHLA CALLS FOR INDUSTRY STIMULUS American Hotel & Lodging Association executives brief the industry on meetings with U.S. government officials, in which they requested “immediate steps to help small business owners and their employees by ensuring access to capital, liquidity and increased credit markets,” AHLA EVP of government affairs Brian Crawford says.

U.S. BARS & RESTAURANTS BEGIN TO CLOSE Ohio Governor Mike DeWine is the first to order the closure of all bars and restaurants — except for pickup and delivery operations — to help slow the spread of the virus.

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MID-MARCH

RESTAURANTS ACROSS THE U.S. ADAPT From independent eateries to major chains, restaurants close their dining rooms. Over the next month, some will successfully pivot to delivery- and pickuponly, while others close temporarily or permanently.

MID-MARCH

HOTELS ACROSS THE U.S. LOOK FOR A NEW MODEL With 80% vacancy rates, the hotel industry furloughs workers and begins looking for innovative solutions and new best practices in the face of this novel coronavirus.

MID-MARCH

MILLIONS “SHELTER IN PLACE” Governors and mayors in the hardest-hit areas of the U.S. order nonessential workers to stay home, ushering in an unprecedented shutdown across the country. New York City will become the epicenter of the pandemic, with hospitals pushed past their capacity.

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IT Action Plan IN A POST-COVID-19 WORLD, COMPANIES WILL NEED TO BE PREPARED TO TURN THEIR PHYSICAL WORKFORCE INTO A REMOTE ONE AT A MOMENT’S NOTICE. IT DEPARTMENTS MUST BEGIN NOW TO THINK DIFFERENTLY ABOUT THE TYPE OF HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE THEY PURCHASE, THE TRAINING THEY PROVIDE TO EMPLOYEES, AND THE DEFENSES THEY SET UP TO PROTECT COMPANY DATA. HERE ARE A FEW KEY STEPS TO TAKE NOW: INVEST IN EQUIPMENT Purchase mobile workstations (laptops, smartphones and tablets) and then commit to ensuring that they are properly monitored and secured, says A.N. Ananth, chief strategy officer at Netsurion (www. netsurion.com) so that employees won’t need to use unsecured, personal devices to conduct business. This means they must come within the scope of Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) deployment and/or be protected with endpoint threat detection and response (EDR) sensors that are able to sync up to a SIEM monitored by a Security Operations Center (SOC).

CREATE A WFH POLICY Standardize remote work policies as part of future employee onboarding, says Heather Paunet, vice president of product management at Untangle (www.untangle.com). Even employees who are signing up to regularly work within an office will still need to be given training on software, connectivity, credentials and VPN security in anticipation that ongoing training will be easier to maintain than an immediate crash course during a crisis.

REQUIRE CYBERSECURITY TRAINING Insist that employees are regularly trained on cybersecurity, says Rocco Grillo, managing director with Alvarez & Marsal’s Disputes and Investigations Global Cyber Risk Services practice (www.alvarezandmarsal.com). Companies should: conduct phishing and social engineering exercises to test the effectiveness of their training programs. Get in the habit of issuing ongoing notifications to employees of known attacks taking place in the industry; and implementing protocols for

employees to escalate should they become the victim of phishing or social engineering attempt or attack.

MAKE DATA ACCESS DIFFICULT Keep data safe in the future by enabling secure VPN logins and two-factor authentication for remote staff. Forcing every device to connect via a designated VPN to access any company resource will help reduce manin-the-middle attacks, says Harrison Van Riper, threat research, team lead at Digital Shadows (www.digitalshadows. com), while multi-factor authentication will help mitigate the impact of lost or stolen credentials. Some companies might find that VPNs are not the best choice for every employee.

As an alternative consider Citrix or another remote desktop service solution, says Mark McCreary, CIPP/US, partner and co-chair of the Privacy and Data Security Practice at Fox Rothschild (www.foxrothschild.com).

SHORE UP INTERNAL DEFENSES Implement a strong monitoring capability that will provide alerts of an intrusion, says Michael Bruemmer, vice president of data breach resolution and consumer protection at Experian (www.experian.com).

Create more hurdles for criminals to overcome once they “get inside.” Sophisticated IT departments may even try out “deception grids” which are tools that set up fake systems, Bruemmer says. If a criminal is able to make it past the perimeter defenses, it offers them multiple systems to have to navigate without the criminal being able to tell which are real and which are fake. And if a company is alerted to an intrusion in the fake system, they’ll gain a better understanding of how to manage the incident and how to safeguard real data from being exposed or stolen.

Hospitality COVID-19 Timeline MARCH 17

MASSIVE SPENDING BILL SIGNED President Trump signs $2.2 trillion coronavirus spending bill which includes roughly $500B in aid for corporations such as airlines, hotels and restaurants and $350B in aid for small businesses.

EARLY APRIL

WORKERS’ VITALS TESTED Amazon and Walmart start taking the temperature of all employees when they report to work.

EARLY APRIL

UNPRECEDENTED UNEMPLOYMENT HITS THE U.S. First-time unemployment claims surge, reaching levels not seen since the Great Depression.

APRIL 10

TECH GIANTS EXPLORE CONTACTTRACING Apple & Google announce partnership to develop contacttracing technology via smartphone

APRIL 13

APRIL 16

ECONOMIC STIMULUS PAYMENTS BEGIN Individuals who qualify begin to receive $1,200 checks (plus $500 per child under 18).

PPP LOANS RUN OUT The Small Business Administration announces that it has run out of cash for Paycheck Protection Program loans.

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COVER STORY

ton is also expanding its contactless check-in program, allowing guests to check-in, enter their rooms and check-out using mobile devices. Marriott, Hyatt and Accor have announced similar cleanliness initiatives with other major hotel brands expected to follow suit.

PREVENTING THE NEXT OUTBREAK One of the COVID-19 pandemic’s biggest sources of anxiety for the hospitality industry — both personal and economic — has been uncertainty about the health status of employees, partners, and guests. We’re seeing innovative technology and protocols that help address this concern by gauging key health indicators in an effort to prevent further spread of the novel coronavirus and to detect and mitigate future pathogens that may arise.

As hotels and restaurants seek solutions for keeping staff and guests healthy, some consensus is forming around the need to screen people for potential illness indicators, such as body temperature, heart rate and respiratory rate. Restaurants have scrambled not only to pivot to pick-up and delivery but have also moved quickly to establish employee health-check platforms that allow employers to track staff’s vital signs before they begin their shifts and collect that data on mobile health apps.

Elenium Automation, (www.elenium.com) for example, has developed contactless technology, debuting at Etihad Airlines’s hub at Abu Dhabi International Airport, that can detect at-risk airline travelers. When integrated into voice-

Innovative technology and protocols can helptrack the health status of employees and guests. activated self-service check-in and bag-drop, the technology automatically scans a passenger’s temperature, heart rate and respiratory rate. If the passenger is determined to be at-risk, the check-in process automatically stops. Widespread adoption of such a platform in hotels and restaurants could potentially deliver a measure of security, but adoption in many regions, such as North America and Europe, will require evaluations of privacy and civil liberties concerns.

In addition to tracking individuals’ health, “asset-tracking” technology can literally track people and items such as baggage via integrated systems of sensors, tags, interactive maps and APIs such as those offered by the data intelligence company Inpixon (www.inpixon.com). Sophisticated asset-tracking can work in tandem with temperature scanners to trace the whereabouts of people who are at risk and, just as importantly, the locations in which they may have had close contact with others. HT

For ongoing coverage of the hospitality industry, check out hospitalitytech.com and sign up for HT’s twice weekly e-newsletter: HT Alert.

APRIL 20

APRIL 20

APRIL 22

APRIL 23

APRIL 23

TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS EXTENDED The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announces that travel restrictions with Canada and Mexico will be extended another 30 days.

SOME U.S. STATES ANNOUNCE PLANS TO REOPEN Governors of several southern states declare their intention to reopen before the end of April.

MEAT PRODUCTION IN QUESTION A major Tyson plant in Iowa joins the list of meat processing plants that have closed due to coronavirus, one of many signs that U.S. meat production and supply chain may be at risk.

ADDITIONAL AID FOR SMALL BUSINESS The U.S. House of Representatives passes an additional $500B in aid for small businesses.

REOPENING GUIDANCE National Restaurant Association releases COVID-19-specific guidance for reopening.

LATE APRIL

WORLDWIDE EVENTS CANCELED By the end of April, major events such as the Summer Olympics, Tour de France, Cannes Film Festival, ComicCon, NYC Pride Parade, and Germany’s Oktoberfest have all been canceled.

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LODGING TECH STUDY

BY MEHMET ERDEM PH.D., CHTP MICHAL C. ESCOBAR AND ROBERT FIRPO-CAPPIELLO

What YEARS

of Data Tells Us About the

Future

From IT budgets to customer satisfaction to predictive analytics, these key takeaways from HT’s Lodging Technology Study illuminate top priorities.

More than 2,000 years ago, Confucius said, “Study the past if you would divine the future.”

Centuries of technological progress — including cycles of feast, famine, crisis and opportunity — have proved him right.

Ten years ago, Hospitality Technology and and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas debuted the Lodging Technology Study, the first-ever benchmark report of the lodging technology landscape based on a nationwide survey of hotel executives. Between 2011 and 2020, in any given year, the respondents represented more than 20,000 hotel properties on average.

What can the recent past teach us about our current, unprecedented crisis? Significantly, the decade of data produced by the study is bookended by major economic downturns: The initial annual study was conducted when the hospitality industry was emerging from the Great Recession. Our most recent study was published a few weeks prior to the outbreak of COVID-19 in China, which we now know has sent the U.S. on another bleak economic path.

A review of a decade’s worth of data can help us ascertain specific trends that could become incredibly important in the near future.

Never Enough IT Budget What can we learn from hotel executives’ perceived challenges and sentiments over the past decade?

Each year, hotel executives have been asked to rank the top challenges that hinder their respective organizations’ technology strategies and initiatives. The undisputed “winner” has been the “lack of sufficient IT budget to make the necessary improvements.” Out of the 10 annual studies to date, not having a sufficient IT budget was ranked six times as the top challenge and was always included in the top three issues impeding technology plans and programs across the entire decade.

Do Guests Expect Too Much?

During the latter part of the decade, hotels’ IT budgets were on an upswing. However, guest demands for better and more costly technologies — and the associated infrastructure — could be why executives continued to report that IT budgets were insufficient.

“Guests expecting greater technology than can be delivered” was one of the top concerns, and earned the number-one spot three times in the first half of the decade

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LODGING TECHNOLOGY STUDY

Artificial Intelligence (AI) ranks

among transformative technologies to watch for.

(2013-2015). This particular challenge was ranked as one of the top three concerns six times within the past 10 years but, somehow, no longer registered as a top three challenge after 2017, the same year when “lack of sufficient IT budget to make the necessary improvements” claimed back the top spot among reported challenges.

We expect a similar trend to occur once again, post COVID-19, as guests expect hotels to install technologies that not only improve their experience but also help to keep them safe. However, with budgets possibly taking years to recover from this pandemic’s fallout, guests could once again have higher expectations for technology than what hotels can initially deliver.

of hotel executives feel they are behind their competition in analytics.

Analytics Help Hotels Meet Guests’ Needs Since 2017, we have been asking hotel executives about their perceived competitive advantage across key tech pillars, including overall technology innovation and analytics. Initially, the results were disheartening.

Only 11% of the 2017 respondents believed that they had a competitive advantage over others in terms of analytics. This has pleasantly risen to 41% in the 2020 study, but these results still demonstrate that a majority of hotel executives (59%) feel that they are behind the competition when it comes to analytics maturity.

It is nearly impossible for a problem to be proactively addressed if it is not identified in a timely fashion via a variety of data points. Staying ahead of guests’ expectations, of course, requires robust predictive analytics.

Over the past four years, the portion of hotel executives who believe having a competitive advantage over others in terms of overall technology innovation has improved from 21% to 50%.

How to “Future-Proof” Hotels Since 2016, we have been asking our respondents to rank the top transformative technologies for the lodging industry. Voice-enabled AI and AI-supported services have been on the radar of our respondents for a long time, and since 2018, they have been consistently ranked at the top of our ‘transformative technologies to watch for’ list.

Post COVID-19, we should expect to see technologies that enable no contact service interactions — without sacrificing the high-touch nature of services — being quickly embraced. Prime examples of this include technologies that are already being used by a segment of the lodging industry, such as voiceenabled AI technologies, virtual assistants or mobileapps with built-in chatbots. These technologies reduce guests’ contact with surfaces in the rooms that would normally be considered high-touch (such as remotes, shades and light-switches). Additionally, technologies that could be used to alleviate long waiting lines at the front desk or cash registers at hotel food outlets (restaurants, cafes or markets) will no longer be viewed as solely improving guest convenience but will instead become a matter of guest safety. Likewise, properties that cater to conventions or integrated resorts that experience overcrowding in the elevators may consider investing in access control technologies to minimize the number of guests per elevator car.

In the near term, hoteliers may even have to employ intrusive technologies, such as body-temperature scanning cameras at the entrances as part of their security protocol. Guestroom attendants (GRAs) will have to be equipped with technology (i.e. UV light radiation) that offers protection for themselves as well as the guests. In the long term, we may even see wide-scale adoption of robotics technologies to assist GRA’s with housekeeping chores as well as for providing roomservice (i.e. robot-butlers).

The silver lining for emerging technology vendors is that if they can survive the economic downturn of the pandemic’s aftermath, their innovative solutions will have a wider application and likely acceptance in the lodging industry. HT

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INNOVATION REPORT CONSUMER EXPERIENCE, THIRD-PARTY DELIVERY AND DATA MANAGEMENT CONTINUE TO HEAT UP RESTAURANTS’ TECH INITIATIVES

Now more than ever, restaurants continue to innovate.

The industry’s premier networking and educational conference, Multi-Unit Restaurant Technology and Educational Conference (MURTEC, www.murtec.com) wrapped up its 25th anniversary edition at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas on March 11 shortly before the nationwide closure of dining rooms due to COVID-19. The agenda was packed with dozens of on-trend seminars led by subject matter experts, hands-on workshops and group discussions, including a COVID-19 pop-up workshop. Plus, there was golf, peer-to-peer sharing, networking and a show floor packed with 75+ of the hottest restaurant technologies empowering frictionless customer experience, delivery, personalization, payments, networks and much more.

Digital Content Recap Visit hospitalitytech.com for MURTEC’s digital content library featuring videos of these not-tobe missed sessions and on-the-floor interviews with vendors and their newest tech solutions.

IT Leadership Panel: Tech Leaders Tell All MURTEC featured a panel of restaurant tech experts covering a myriad restaurant technology hot-button issues, including COVID-19 response, loyalty programs, machine learning and more.

On concerns and tips for making data actionable, Brian Pearson, CIO, Stacked Restaurants (www.stacked.com) and Marugame Udon (marugameudon.com), pointed to tools for predictive analytics that capture transaction-level detail, for example. “The big takeaway that I would have for all of the restauranteurs in the room is you have to have someone who owns the data,” advises Pearson.

Susan Carroll-Boser, Vice President of Technology, White Castle (www.whitecastle.com), shared her team’s formula for data analytics: report, analyze, predict and prescript. “We have a business intelligence group that does analysis on our data,” she said. Predict phase not only includes sales but also outcomes for products, speed vs. labor, and other KPIs. Marcus Wasdin, Chief Information Officer, for State

Farm Arena and Atlanta Hawks, agreed adding, “We’re really focused on the compliance aspect or the risk management aspect of data, and all the alphabet soup of privacy things (CCPA, GDPR).”

Panelists also shared their initiatives around workforce. “I can’t get away from labor being our numberone thing, all the different aspects of it,” said CarrollBoser. “Attraction, retention. We’re competing on wages.

We have a lot of limitations … Just a lot of things to think about that didn’t exist before.”

Employee Experience Making employees feel connected is a challenge. State Farm Arena recently wrapped up a $200 million renovation including $25 million in new technology, explains Wasdin. “Every piece of technology in that building was changed and we did a great job of selecting great platforms and systems and architecting those things, but what we lost sight of in the rush of getting those things deployed

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HT EVENTS

was that we created a choppy experience for those employees.”

“It’s tough for them to remember the login ID for Workday and the login ID for Kronos and the login ID for the intranet that they need to get to and all these other things. While we’re doing a good job taking care of our guests, if our employees are frustrated because of those things, that frustration can rub off on the guests. And so we want to remove that friction,” Wasdin said, adding that his team is working on an internally developed and deployed app, “where they can get everything they need. And it’ll also be the communication mechanism.”

White Castle has an employee app up and running, and a 96% opt-in rate by employees. “We give them a lot of value,” Carroll-Boser explains. “It’s not just about scheduling, it’s about everything that they need. It’s a way for them to communicate. It’s a way for them to get communications. We have to be really careful; they’re hourly employees. We can’t talk to them about work things off the clock.”

Mapping Hot Tech in FullService This interactive roundtable, moderated by Bruce Nelson, CFO, Nova Restaurant Group (novarestaurantgroup.com) and Brent Gardner, IT Director, Hideaway Pizza (www.hideawaypizza.com), featured two rounds of lively discussions. Topics included handheld point-of-sale, non-traditional payment, and tabletop ordering.

When planning for handhelds, most operators are concerned about Wi-Fi coverage, but also need to solve for capacity and how many devices are connecting and roaming.

With non-traditional payment (Google Pay, Apple Pay, Venmo and PayPal, NFC cards, biometrics, etc.) there’s no clear path to follow. Payment tablets and payment apps show promise too. “None of them have really taken track, but what they need is integration, something that can take Bitcoin, something that can take Ethereum, something that can take Venmo. ... It’s just tough because you want to bet on a horse, but there isn’t a horse to bet on,” said one attendee.

Tabletop ordering shows some promise as some customers like to be empowered to place orders and pay for their meal and leave. Not having to wait for the server to bring the check and being able to add items mid-meal were other benefits.

Cons include concerns about cleanliness and touching screens, and a perceived decline in customer service.

Getting ROI from ERP Systems Tara Townsley, Vice President of Information Technology at Bar Louie (www.barlouie.com), stresses two points: 1. Let computers do what they do best so that managers can do what they do best. 2. Never underestimate the effort it takes to change human behavior.

Townsley shared three areas where ERP can help teams be more efficient.

The Value of Change Management Strategies “Change is very hard, and every hour you spend working through change management will pay off many times over for any initiative that you’re trying to put into your restaurants,” she says.

The goal is to leverage the learnings from other industries and apply them to hospitality to make managers’ jobs easier. Townsley asked attendees, “How many orders of product do you think a Walmart places weekly? None … They get replenished. The system knows what they’ve received, it knows what they’ve sold, it deduces what they have on hand, it projects what the sales are going to be next week, and it sends them what they need, automatically, without a manager ever placing an order.”

This is a stark contrast to most restaurants, where hours are spent every week on ordering.

Oftentimes enough product is not ordered or food is wasted because of over ordering. “…When restaurant technology catches up with retail technology, and our managers never have to place another order, then we will be optimizing our restaurants’ profitability and freeing our managers up to do what they do best, work with our customers and our guests,” Townsley explains.

ERP can help create more accurate schedules that can save time and money. “Currently within Bar Louie, we’re scheduling the correct labor for the sales around 62% of the time. … If we could shift from 62% to 63% correct, it would mean over a half a million dollars annually to our bottom line, and that’s with 72 restaurants,” Townsley says.

Bar Louie’s goal is to get to 75% correct labor. “That would be a game-changer,” Townsley says. “Think of the money that we could invest in other initiatives.”

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INNOVATION REPORT

Integration Battlefield: Managing Your Tech Stack This interactive session, led by Josh Thurmer, Director of IT, Cousins Subs (www.cousinssubs.com), gave attendees advice on how to navigate legacy systems and create a path forward.

Step 1: What’s in the Tech Stack Include everything − POS, back-office analytics, credit card processing, security and “the big one,” thirdparty delivery vendors. “If those aren’t integrated correctly, your operations will be crippled with tablets behind the counters,” Thurmer warns.

Security should be at the top of the list. “Without security, any sort of DDoS attacks can cripple your business within minutes,” he adds.

The Birth of the Restaurant Technology Stack Architect (RTSA) The RTSA should hold the blueprint, and create and control the processes of whether a technology is eliminated from or added to the stack, what APIs are used, whether there are two-way communications within integrations. “Someone needs to have the big picture in mind …

You need to be able to push back on the organization, and say, ‘Yes, this may be a good technology for your needs,’ but it is not good for the tech stack and here’s why,” he explains. “Make sure that you’re really controlling what’s coming in.”

Step 2: Identify Connection Points Where are the connection points in the tech stack? “If you’re missing things, if things aren’t connected to other things, you need to evaluate if that’s useful within your organization, because if it’s not connected to anything, chances are that it’s really hard to support and that it’s probably not as useful from an analytics side as it could be,” Thurmer says. “The goal is to get that down to one single source of truth. And think about whether you think it’s important to have two-way communication within this API or if a single stream of data going one way is sufficient.”

During this process you might need to have a difficult discussion about replacing tech with something better. “It’s a hard conversation to have.

But those are the conversations that you need to start planting the seeds and say, ‘I know you love it. But let’s find something that you’re going to love more,’” advises Thurmer.

“There’s no right or wrong answers, but there is a best answer. And we’re not always going to get that best answer the first time. We have to step back and make adjustments as we go, but this is our goal all the time, to make sure that we have, through this moment, the best tech stack that we can have in our environment,” Thurmer says.

Are You Ready for CCPA? Odia Kagan, Partner, Chair of GDPR Compliance and International Privacy, Fox Rothschild LLP (www.foxrothschild.com), shared with attendees what they need to know about the California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA), which went into effect January 1.

“Remember CCPA applies to any information that identifies people,” Kagan says.

“It is super-broad. It’s basically anything that could relate to a person … email address, IP address, browsing history, shopping history, and the last one, which is particularly important to those of you that do the marketing and the AI folks, is inferences derived from all of the information that you’re collecting. Profiles and consumer profiles, and inferences that you are making for the purpose of marketing and retargeting, and behavioral advertising, that’s all now included in CCPA.” CCPA does not extend these rights to employees, Kagan explains. “If you have California employees, then you don’t need to give them all of these rights, but you do need to give them their own privacy notice about how you process their information.”

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Seen and Heard Kim Freudenberger, Franchise Owner, Original Pancake House, Las Vegas “I like to see what’s going on in the industry, and what the bigger franchises are doing and see what might fit for my business. … I am looking at solutions (credit card payments, waitlist management) website design and online ordering, which I don’t have right now. We don’t do a lot in takeout out, but I have realized that it is a big part of the market, and I need to figure out how best to implement that in my restaurant.”

Brian Shank, Director of National Accounts, Kelly Restaurant Group, San Diego “This year we came to look at POS systems. We found a lot. We are re-evaluating which one we want. We’re going to make a move pretty quickly. We’ve talked to everybody previously but wanted to see everything in action. So that’s why we just had to come out. The session (Mapping Hot Tech in QSR & Fast Casual) was beneficial. I learned from some of the mistakes that other people had made or issues that they didn’t previously know about, and that will really help us.”

Consumer Rights What CCPA does is it gives consumers (1) The right to ask for all the information a company has on them. “You need to have a process also for responding to them within 10 days saying, ‘Hey, we got your information. We’re giving you an answer,’ and giving the actual information in a form that’s easy to understand by the person within 45 days,” Kagan explains. (2) The right to delete: “People can make a request for you to delete all of the information that you have about them. In order to do that… you need to know where your information is,” Kagan explains. (3) The right to opt out of a sale of their information. “CCPA defines ‘sale’ in a way that is very counterintuitive,” Kagan warns. “‘Sale’ is sharing information, personal information with a third party, where the third party is non-service provider, either for money, or for any other valuable consideration.”

Hospitality companies should start by identifying what consumer information they collect. Think websites, clicking and browsing history, newsletters, pixels, loyalty programs, mobile apps, etc. “Any information that you’re collecting about people, you need to know what it is because you have to tell people what it is, and you have to organize your other obligations,” Kagan says.

David Dooman, CFO, Spangles Inc., Wichita, Kansas “We’ve been coming for about nine years, basically to stay up-to-speed on new technology and improvements and things that have been made. I’m not always looking for anything, but this year I’m looking to switch loyalty programs from one we have that didn’t work out well. So I’ve visited with two or three of the people here that do that.”

Marina O’ Rourke, Restaurant Technology Executive “I loved the COVID-19 pop-up session. I think it was great Hospitality Technology just pivoted and had that pop-up. There were some great learnings there.

One of the pizza guys was talking about the fact that they have tamper-proof packaging, which I think is good. People are talking about third-party delivery and how it’s going to pick up, and what are the different policies that people are putting in place in terms of sick time.”

Kathy Alcaras, Director, Information Technology, Eureka Restaurant Group, Hawthorne, Calif.

“I’ve been coming every year for about 10 years now.

I like networking with peers and seeing new vendors is also a plus. I appreciate the fact that you guys also honor women in technology. We are also doing a sponsorship with women in our restaurants too. We’re trying to help them build themselves to be future leaders. They were excited about me going to MURTEC, not only just for technology but also to support the women in technology because there’s a lack of women here.”

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INNOVATION REPORT

Digital Deployments Made Simple: Unlock a New Profit Center through PCI Compliance This panel discussion with Dickey’s Barbecue Pit (www. dickeys.com), Porto’s Bakery (www.portosbakery.com), Seasoned Brands (www.seasoned.co) and NuArx (www. nuarxinc.com) answered the age-old question, how do you move to a platform that’s able to handle these sexy new applications that everybody wants?

• You have to have visibility; work through what your infrastructure looks like and Identify who has au-

thority to make changes.

• Make sure things are consistent across locations • Always have a test environment and roll it out from there • The bottom-line is you have to know your customer.

You have to know your demographic, and knowing what they expect to experience should be the basis for rolling out digital deployments.

Channel Management Across Online and In-Store

Hospitality’s Guide to Hot Tech at CES 2020

Brian Anderson, Director of Technology of Modern Restaurant Concepts, shared the recipe for success behind two distinct healthy fast casual concepts, Modern Market (www.modernmarket.com) and Lemonade Restaurant Group (www.lemonadela.com). Channels include web, mobile web, app, catering, and delivery and recently added Google food ordering, an integration that Google built with Olo, and is in the process of adding a cloud kitchen.

The biggest lesson learned: “Get a centralized and standardized management solution and tech stack in place to make it easy to troubleshoot the system if you run into issues,” Anderson explains.

Modern Market’s standardized network includes robust WiFi and firewalls. Primary internet connections are a minimum 300 megabit per location with auto-fail over to backup. “We really beefed up the pipes coming into the store to support all that above store traffic,” he explains. “It created better visibility into what’s happening in the firewalls with like real-time alerting, auto failover and failback.”

“The number two item lesson learned was integrate your tablets as soon as you can. We rolled out with every service imaginable initially with tablets non-integrated into our POS,” Anderson says. “… When we were able to make the decisions to start integrating those orders directly into the POS, we started seeing the benefits immediately.”

Modern Market uses Olo as its aggregator and Grubhub direct to POS. Lemonade, which merged with Modern Market in February 2019, is using an aggregator that pulls in all the orders and then injects them into the POS, but all the orders are coming through the same aggregation platform.

“So no winner on that yet, they both seem to have their pluses and minuses,” Anderson says. “Maybe next year I can come back and talk about if we’ve gone all-in on one of those solutions.”

While many of the new products at Consumer Electronics Show (CES) “won’t make it to prime time” there’s still value for a restauranteur to attend the show, says Joe Tenczar, Co-Founder, Restaurant CIOs (www.restaurantcios.com), who has been attending the show for 10 years. “It gets you thinking about how these new innovations, and how they could potentially change the restaurant industry.”

Here are some of the new technologies that made their CES debut: Shipping containers: for growing crops in a very controlled environment Reusable shipping box: “This is something we’ll see probably sooner than later. The use of cardboard boxes today and the lack trackability … is phenomenal. It’s off the charts and getting worse all the time,” Tenczar says.

Drones: “The longevity of the batteries are getting higher. The payload is getting higher. So they’re getting to be real,” he says.

Last-Mile Delivery: Small electric vehicles that deliver food effectively.

Electronic Personal Stamp. “Instead of people putting in their phone numbers, are they going to put their digital stamp when they sign in at the host desk? Who knows where this is going to go,” Tenczar says.

Parallel reality: Multiple travelers could be looking at digital signage and that digital signage is customized to their individual itinerary and language preference. Delta Airlines is planning to test this in Detroit.

Robots: Lots of robots that are designed and could be used in restaurants, but currently the cost is prohibitive for most operators, Tenczar notes. HT

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HT EVENTS

New Restaurant Tech THE LATEST TOOLS DELIVER AN ARRAY OF SUPPORT FROM POS TO ORDERING TO DELIVERY OPTIONS

Our MURTEC 2020 sponsors are rolling out new solutions to help restaurants power their operations now and in the future. Here’s a recap of the hot solutions found on the MURTEC show floor.

Altametrics’s Zip Schedules is a multiplatform application that allows managers to create schedules quickly by using templates or copying previous weeks. Zip Schedules also tracks labor budgets and is fully integrated with the forecasting module. (www.altametrics.com)

Appetize POS has upgraded its menu and data management, allowing operators to manage menus across units and easily execute price changes; it supports contactless guest experiences via mobile devices, virtual kiosks and drive-thru. (appetize.com)

CFO2 has added new features including sales analytics and invoice process automation software, essentially delivering 24/7 analysis that can provide insights in generating revenue and reducing expenses. (cfo2.ca)

Chowly’s MenuMatch technology allows restaurants to synchronize menus across all of their brands and locations in one place and sends menu changes to every third-party platform simultaneously. Chowly offers integration for more than 25 POS systems, including a variety of off-premise technologies like catering interfaces, loyalty solutions, and delivery dispatch. (chowly.com)

CrossCom’s CrossInform is upgrading its user dashboard (including its mobile application), which aggregates real-time data on inventory, service technicians and call data, equipment repairs, performance metrics and more. (crosscom.com)

The CyberaVUE Management Portal provides insight into distributed networks serving multiple restaurant locations.

This cloud-based portal features tools to reduce IT management complexity and cost. It provides a comprehensive, realtime view of all network operations from a central site — streamlining, troubleshooting and minimizing the impact on restaurant operations. (cybera.com)

DiscoverLink Talent LMS added a mobile app, IP authentication, geofencing security, Tin Can support, location Knowledge Score, significantly enhanced messaging and resources, plus a dozen additional enhancements. (www.discoverlink.com/product) Elo’s new products include the Windowsbased EloPOS Pack compute platform and two additional display options for EloPOS systems. These additions provide Windows/Intel customers the same flexibility to configure a right-sized solution as Elo’s Android-powered POS and self-service portfolio. (elotouch.com)

Glympse has introduced QuickCollect, a curbside pickup solution that leverages location-sharing technology to ensure safe and secure customer communications, including accurate ETAs and a user-friendly chat component. (glympse.com) HP’s cloud-based Engage Console delivers application distribution and management for POS devices and apps, ideal for small and medium-size hospitality operators who may not have onsite IT. Engage Catalog facilitates the search for retail applications and services. (hp.com)

HungerRush Digital Ordering customers can now offer guests the ability to order ahead via their restaurant’s website for curbside pickup, delivery, enroll in loyalty and rewards, and pay online. Recent additions include third-party delivery service integration options, “no-contact” POS messaging, and enhanced curbside and tablet checkout features. (hungerrush.com)

Interface Security Systems is offering a number of services and solutions in 2020 to help streamline operations, improve security, reduce IT costs, and enhance customers’ experience. Interface’s world-class network and security monitoring centers, operated by a team of experts across the nation, are helping safeguard customers’ businesses 24/7 even when their premises are unstaffed. (interfacesystems.com)

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INNOVATION REPORT

Koala is expanding its ordering channels to include curbside pickup and additional loyalty programs, and is piloting an AI-powered program to create personalized recommendations. (koala.io)

MaxStick Products offer a reliable label platform to increase efficiency and accuracy — and help prevent tampering — in food pickup and delivery. The system is compatible with a range of printers, and boasts recyclable, environmentally friendly materials. (maxstick.com)

NCR is launching a new set of managed services and order- and pay-atthe table functionality for its NCR Aloha brand integrated with NCR Payment Processing. (ncr.com)

NovaDine’s Contactless Curbside Check-in provides the functionality of a cubby/locker system (customers are assigned pickup slots), is POS-integrated, and available for restaurants to use immediately. Other features added to facilitate to-go and delivery operations for restaurants include no-transactionfee Delivery As A Service integration with DoorDash and Postmates. Menus are kept up to date in real-time on all marketplaces, including 86’d items, and orders flow directly to the POS. (novadine.com)

One Source is offering a free cost-reduction analysis for brands seeking to fund transformative digital initiatives, often resulting in self-funding or greatly reduced costs. (onesource.net)

PARk it is a digital contactless ordering solution for restaurants that use QR codes to turn a consumer’s smartphone into a virtual drive-thru, kiosk, or an online ordering hub. Scanning takes customers to an platform to place their order and pay right from their device, then pick up their order. (partech.com)

PDQ’s Self-Serve Kiosk now has AI technology that offers tailored experiences and targeted loyalty, plus a trove of tangible ordering data, segmented by desired demographics.

Combined with PDQ’s Customer Data Management reporting suite, operators will have access to actionable insights. (pdqpos.com)

Posiflex’s Apex Series Kiosk is compact, modular free-standing or countertop kiosk that can be configured in multiple ways to suit an operator’s needs. Its display is available in standard or widescreen sizes, and it can be positioned either in landscape or portrait orientation. (posiflex.com)

The Presto Kiosk solution enables self-ordering, self check-out, and personalizes the guest experience. It supports the latest EMV and mobile payment technologies, enables guests to sign in and claim rewards, and view personalized recommendations.

A Drive-Thru Kiosk can be placed at drive-thru windows to enable guests to order and pay without the need for human contact. (presto.com)

QSR Automations’s ConnectSmart Go (CSGo) is a front-of-house app that simplifies off-premise dining and delivery, acting as a hub for communication with both the back-of-house and customers picking up orders for takeout, delivery or curbside. (qsrautomations.com)

OrderUP, Qu’s new digital online ordering product, requires no hardware, and restaurants can get up and running with an online menu in as little as 72 hours. Innovative features include email orders for curbside pickup and direct integrations with UberEats and DoorDash. (qubeyond.com)

Quinyx, a workforce management platform is providing open access to its communication app for any organization to support communication with deskless workers. This support is available free, and the process is very easy to set up and install. (quinyx.com/ free-communication-app)

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HT EVENTS

Rakuten Ready SaaS solutions make it easy to offer order for pickup and in-store experiences. ARRIVE, an enterprise-level solution, allows brands to offer a mobile order for pickup solution using predictive arrival technology and is optimized for contactless ordering. (rakutenready.com/)

Ready to Pay’s Connected Dining is a cloud-based, fully integrated system that allows guests to order from their devices for to-go, or from the table with options like pay-per-item, split check, time-based menus, and ordering ahead.

A new “virtual drive-thru” option facilitates delivery to cars. (readytopay.com)

Reliant Solutions provides edge computing for large-scale hospitality enterprises and is designed to provide a centralized and vendor-agnostic approach. (reliantsolutions.com)

Restaurant Magic has completed an integration with SICOM POS and has enhanced its data warehouse. The Scan Assist module expedites the input of data for increased visibility of expenses. Restaurant Magic’s OCR and intelligent capture technology digitizes paper invoices, eliminating the manual entry. (restaurantmagic.com)

Restaurant365 added Smart Labor to help restaurant managers create optimized schedules and improve their performance. The system combines daily sales forecast and hourly sales trends with a restaurant’s custom labor model to create an optimized labor guide for each hour of the day. (restaurant365.com)

Managed services firm SageNet has witnessed heightened interest in its SageVIEW.dtx for its ability to reduce order times, increase order value and maximize ROI. Digital menu boards allow QSRs to display multimedia content and change the content according to time of day, inventory, promotions and other criteria. (sagenet.com)

SecurityMetrics FastPass allows franchisors to create custom scoping and PCI Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) flows to make PCI compliance easier. These custom flows increase accuracy, reduce complexity, and help franchisees avoid irrelevant information. (securitymetrics.com)

Shift4 Payments’s SkyTab Solo is a standalone version of its mobile ordering and pay-at-the-table solution, ideal for curbside pickup or delivery. Shift4 has a completely free, turnkey online ordering solution called SkyTab Takeout. (skytab.com)

KitchIntel from Smartbridge debuted in 2019 across 130 QSR locations. By using historic sales and real-time sales data and AI, KitchIntel instructs kitchen staff when to cook food, hold, and waste it via a tablet screen by the cooking area. (getkitchintel.com)

In 2019, Squirrel Systems unveiled new enhancements to Squirrel Professional, its flagship POS system, to increase speed of service, protect revenue, and handle the large, complex venues with confidence; it also unveiled a new line of sleek new, hospitality-grade POS terminals. (squirrelsystems.com)

Star Micronics’s SteadyLAN provides a solution to businesses grappling with spotty Wi-Fi for iPad POS, combining the security of a cabled LAN connection with the convenience of iPad transactions. (starmicronics.com)

Stratix now offers a simpler way to manage complex mobile technology spending, management and support.

With Mobile Device as a Service, restaurants benefit from having their mobile hardware, software and services rolled into a convenient monthly per-device fee. (stratixcorp.com)

SynergySuite, a back-of-house restaurant platform, is partnering with Tableau (www.tableau.com) to add its custom reporting tool to its 200+ pre-built reports. Coming in 2020: a separate clocking app for the labor module. (synergysuite.com)

Verifone’s K250 is an ultra-slim countertop mounted self-order kiosk solution perfect for creating flexible customerready interfaces. Engage customers in a whole new way with large brilliant PCAP screens and rich graphics that make your brand stand out. (verifone.com)

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INNOVATION REPORT

Top 10 Women in Restaurant Technology THIS YEAR’S GROUP OF HONOREES INCLUDE LEADERS FROM WHITE CASTLE, TACO BELL AND REVEL SYSTEMS

A billion-dollar digital channel, the most successful limited-time offer in a brand’s history, and a platform that empowers restaurants to take charge of their businesses online: These are just three noteworthy accomplishments from the winners of Hospitality Technology’s 2020 Top Women in Restaurant Technology Awards.

Sponsored by Tillster (www.tillster.com), the awards were presented at MURTEC in Las Vegas on March 10, and recognize women who are making their mark in a male-dominated industry. In the coming weeks we will be profiling each of the 10 honorees in-depth on hospitalitytech.com.

Here is a preview of this year’s class of honorees.

Lifetime Achievement

Nicole West BUILDING BRIDGES DIGITALLY As Vice President, Digital Strategy and Product at Chipotle Mexican Grill (www.chipotle.com), Nicole West has driven some of the company’s most innovative initiatives including Chipotle’s award-winning app and website, and the addition of digital make lines at most restaurants. By providing a dedicated make line for digital orders, Chipotle has increased order accuracy, efficiency and speed. Digital make lines have also increased the employee experience by making it easier and more enjoyable to fulfill digital orders. Her dedication to creating a seamless customer experience has helped Chipotle win in the digital space, which was a $1.4 billion business in 2019.

Susan Carroll-Boser DEVELOPING TECHNOLOGY & PEOPLE Susan Carroll-Boser started her career with White Castle (www.whitecastle.com) in 1994 as a systems administrator. Now, as the vice president of technology, she’s responsible for the company’s technology strategy, leading the tech shared services, IT and information services departments.With a constant drive to find solutions, she has led the development of internal and external apps, and introduced AI into White Castle’s

technology infrastructure. Developing the technologies and the people to support them are at the heart of her role at White Castle. “As a 99-year old family-owned business,” she says, “the one constant in all our progress remains taking something complex and getting it to elegant — easy to use, easy to understand and representative of our vision, to feed the souls of craver generations everywhere.”

Rising Stars

Malia Alley DELIVERING ON COMPLEX INITIATIVES From 2017-2019, Malia Alley, Senior Manager — Digital, Taco Bell (www.tacobell.com), successfully led the national rollout of upgraded network infrastructure to more than 6,500 U.S. Taco Bell locations. Network upgrades have stabilized restaurant systems, provided faster bandwidth for in-restaurant applications, accelerated use of customer Wi-Fi and helped grow digital sales of off-premise mobile and delivery orders, as well as growing in-store digital sales from kiosks. Alley now leads the technology teams that will support the brand’s one-on-one customer marketing platforms and is leading the launch of loyalty.

Richelle Anderson CREATING WINS FOR OPERATORS Richelle Anderson, OneDine’s (www.onedine.com) Chief Operating Officer, has cut customer onboarding from as long as eight weeks to as short as two weeks, improving customer satisfaction and company growth.

Anderson says she is most interested in how operators are using data to evaluate and respond to customer habits for the purpose of improving the guest experience. “The combination of gathering and acting on data to better serve customers while giving them more control in ordering and payment processing is the technology I am most excited about because it creates a win for operators, servers and guests,” she says.

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HT EVENTS

Innovators

Sharon Evans MANAGING DISRUPTIVE TECH WITH FINESSE As an executive program manager at Dine Brands Global (www.dinebrands.com), Sharon Evans manages the execution of Dine Brands’ most innovative and disruptive programs related to cloud integrations, microservices and restaurant technology transformation.

Evans is driving Dine Brands to think “smarter” about program implementation. She’s a key part of ushering in Dine Brand’s next generational technology programs. And h covering point of sale, cloud integrations, and guest data activation. Her programs have stayed under-budget and on-schedule.

Krystle Mobayeni SOLVING PROBLEMS THROUGH DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY Krystle Mobayeni spent 12 years working as a digital designer at some of New York’s top agencies. She noticed that existing technology fell short of restaurant needs. Oftentimes, technology drove a wedge between the restaurant and the guest − and nobody was looking out for the best interest of the restaurant. She changed all of that when she launched BentoBox (www.bentobox.com) in 2013. With her rad skills in design and technology, she created a hub for restaurants to engage with the customers through a singular place: their website. BentoBox is used by more than 5,000 restaurants worldwide.

Sarah Kabakoff DEFINING DATA STRATEGIES As Director of Enterprise Solutions at Toast (pos.toasttab.com), Sarah Kabakoff has established herself as an expert in digital strategies, customer data analytics, restaurant operations, and point of sale. For the past three years, she has been designing tech-driven solutions to support the restaurant enterprise and assisting customers.

Kabakoff has played a significant role in closing thousands of deals. She’s helped operators solve challenges with their digital experience, helped engineer restaurant menus to provide speed, and helped to enable a cashless model.

Leslie Leaf IDENTIFYING THE RIGHT PEOPLE, PROCESSES AND TECHNOLOGIES As Chief Customer Officer at Revel Systems (www.revelsystems.com), Leslie Leaf drives client and partner success. By identifying the right people, processes and technologies, Leaf has helped Revel see real benefits by reducing the company’s call volume. Prior to bringing Revel’s customer support in-house, Revel had more than 300 outsourced agents who received 8 calls per day, but only resolved 3 tickets. Fast-forward 24 months, Revel is at 77 agents who answer 20 calls and resolve 15 tickets per day. As a result, Revel has achieved 750% improvement on ticket KPIs and 150% improvement on call volume KPIs, all with 25% of the headcount.

Catherine Tabor POWERING DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION STRATEGIES Catherine Tabor is the Founder and CEO of Sparkfly (www.sparkfly.com), an offer management platform that helps restaurant marketers improve customer acquisition and loyalty programs by connecting real-time consumer behavior with online and in-store sales. She has worked with more than 65 retail and QSR brands, powering more than 10,000 locations with more than 100 million transactions. Tabor believes she’s solved how restaurants can transform their legacy POS systems and investments into an asset that powers digital and in-store marketing programs

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Felicia White

NEW LMS + LTO = BIG WIN Felicia White, Senior Director of Training and Development at Church’s Chicken (www.churchs.com), led the most successful limited-time offer rollout in years, resulting in double-digit increases in sales and transactions. Church’s Chicken was able to achieve a 90% increase in training completions at the unit level, while closing a persistent knowledge gap between corporate stores and franchise locations.

Church’s Chicken improved communication with team members and doubled engagement with their restaurant app. The program was so successful, Church’s Chicken is planning to launch it again.

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INNOVATION REPORT

MURTEC’s Start-Up Alley Takes Flight A NEW BREED OF TECH TALENT ADDRESSES RESTAURANTS’ MOST URGENT NEEDS

Restaurant technology start-up companies got their chance to shine at MURTEC’s first-ever Start-Up Alley, executed by the Restaurant Technology Network (RTN, www.restauranttechnologynetwork.com) and sponsored by Comcast Business (https://business.comcast.com).

RTN’s Start-Up Alley Lineup (www.murtec.com/2020/startup) consisted of 15 fierce competitors and covered restaurant tech topics like smart ordering, AIenabled loyalty, voice and predictive analytics, private event engagement, guest and chat platforms, smart tech procurement, tip distribution, TV commercial interruption and replacement, hand hygiene and consumer digital engagement.

How Start-Up Alley Works Our panel of judges included Astrid Isaacs, VP of Technology, Bloomin’ Brands; Susan Lucas, SVP of Technology, Cooper’s Hawk Winery & Restaurants; and John Robinson, Director of Retail Technology, Sonic Drive-In. The contestants were judged on Level of Innovation, Practical Application, Ease of Implementation, Lifecycle and Wildcard (judges’ discretionary points). The judges narrowed the field to the top three, who then pitched live on stage where real-time audience votes determined the winner.

Joining me on stage to introduce the live pitch session were Madura Wijewardena, Managing Director, Comcast Ventures and Ray Hatch, VP and Business Enterprise Solutions, Comcast Business. “We are always looking at the disruption going on in the restaurant space,” commented Wijewardena. “First, these start-ups look at what restaurants need, but in a new way. The entrepreneurs themselves are filled with optimism and a can-do spirit. That was really striking, and these are the two things we look for when investing.”

And The Winner Is...

After hearing all three pitches, the audience voted, and the winner was PathSpot, a real-time hand hygiene management solution. Co-Founder & CEO Christine Schindler was very impressive, and the hand hygiene solution could not have been more timely. “As more customers and employees have learned how illnesses, such as coronavirus, are transmitted, it’s inspiring to see restaurants

step-up and emphasize their commitment to safety,” commented Schindler. According to PathSpot, there are 48 million cases of foodborne illness each year, and 97% of Americans do not wash their hands properly. Installed in restaurants, packaging facilities, farms and cafeterias, PathSpot is helping companies implement safety protocols to ensure frequent and effective handwashing. The company is tapping data from scanning millions of hands to build infographics on handwashing practices.

Impressive Runners-Up Start-Up Alley runner-up Voltonix (https://voltonix.com) is an AIbased predictive analytics platform that helps track utilization of critical assets. Its primary market is the clinical diagnostic space, and its solution is deployed in some of the biggest diagnostic labs in the country.

“COVID-19 changed the landscape for so many industries, almost overnight,” commented Ken O’Connell, VP of Business Development, Voltonix. “We’re working hard to help clinical diagnostic manufacturers and labs keep critical assets online and performing tests.”

Start-Up Alley runner-up Bbot (bbot.menu) is a smart ordering platform allowing customers to order and pay on their own devices. CEO Steven Simoni told us they’re offering two months free direct delivery through its partner SevenRooms.

“We believe restaurants are going to bounce back and be more innovative than ever,” Simoni said. HT Photo (left to right): Steven Simoni, CEO, Bbot; Ray Hatch, VP and Business Enterprise Solutions; Christine Schindler, Co-Founder & CEO, PathSpot; Ken O’Connell, VP of Business Development, Voltonix; Madura Wijewardena, Managing Director, Comcast Ventures

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RTN Unites the Restaurant Industry The Restaurant Technology Network provides a platform for crowdsourcing tech talent to offer critical support for restaurants Photo Gallery: COVID-19 RTN is crowdsourcing photos of creative solutions for inspiration. Flip through photos, updated frequently. (https://restauranttechnologynetwork. com/page/covid-19-gallery)

The Restaurant Technology Network (RTN) restauranttechnologynetwork.com) is about bringing restaurant operators and technology suppliers together to tackle industry challenges. Before the COVID-19 crisis hit, those challenges were open APIs, RFP best practices, security & compliance and third-party delivery. Now, restaurants have only one concern: staying open for business, however that looks today.

The following list details how RTN is uniting the industry and the assets emerging from community collaboration.

COVID-19 Off-Prem Playbook Coming in May The COVID-19 Off-Prem Playbook brings together ideas from key tech contributors around topics like communications & signage, curbside & pickup, delivery, payments, alcohol sales, the “grocerant” concept, bulk meals, safety and more. These resources are tailored to restaurants looking to pivot to an off-premises business model, with the ultimate goal of keeping restaurants open for business during this crisis and beyond.

COVID-19 Restaurant-Only Workgroup Thursdays at 11 am CT, weekly Managing customer and employee safety and expectations is not just a competitive advantage, it is an industry imperative. This restaurant-only group meets weekly to share ideas around what’s working right now. Participants speak freely about ways they’ve pivoted to stay relevant and operationally sound during this industry crisis.

From RTN’s Inpiration Gallery: Chili’s Margaritas To-Go, Taco Bell’s safe hand-off, Red Lobster promotion, Free Range Easter decorating kits, Bloomin’ Brands creative pairings and California Pizza Kitchen’s CPK market.

COVID-19 Restaurant Industry Resource Page This industry-crowdsourced reference page provides quick tips for restaurant survival, organized by topic. (https://restauranttechnologynetwork. com/page/covid-19-restaurant-industry-resources) COVID-19-Specific Industry Consulting The following RTN member consultants are helping restaurants survive by offering COVID19-specific guidance. (RTN Consultant Directory: https://restauranttechnologynetwork.com/ page/consultant-directory) Restaurant CIOs: Provides free consultation to restaurant companies during the crisis.

Restaurant Playbooks: Offers free online training resources and customizable checklists.

Results Thru Strategy: Offers a variety of services including digital channel engagement, concept evolution, lease remediation and more.

Return on Information: Offers a Franchise Organizations Specialty (IT-as-a-Service). Tamy Duplantis and her team are highly skilled at streamlining and building viable systems, fast. HT

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THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS EXPERIENCE SPONSORS TOP WOMEN IN RESTAURANT TECHNOLOGY

START-UP ALLEY

GAME ZONE

INNOVATOR LOUNGE

PLATINUM SPONSORS

GOLD SPONSORS

SILVER SPONSORS

WORKSHOP SPONSORS

RESTAURANT TECHNOLOGY STUDY SPONSORS TITLE

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