PLUS: Cruise technology charts a new course Supercharge your recovery! Supporting LGBTQ+ colleagues
Key takeaways from our 2021 conference How Edge, IoT, and e-commerce can transform the industry Tech Awards: Top Women & Industry Heroes
SUMMER 2021 VOL. 25.2 WWW.HOSPITALITYTECH.COM
INDUSTRY CHAMPIONS
RTN’s Key Contributor Badges honor those who dedicate time, tech talent and overall outstanding contributions to RTN technical resources via workgroups. Congratulations to the following RTN Key Contributors!
Menu Synchronization Standard
TOM FOX
Chief Business Officer Omnivore
LUCY LOGAN
GEORGE HUTTO
PARIJAT JAUHARI
Sr. BI Developer MOD
VP, Product Management Qu
CEO FoodCalc
Sr. VP of Technology Copper’s Hawk
SUSAN LUCAS
ROHINEE MOHINDROO
STUART PRILLMAN
CHRISTOPHER SEBES
SHAWN SHANKEL
Principal Architect Appetize
Partner RTS
Founder Dyjit
CEO Fresh Technology (ToGo Tech)
DAVID JONES
SKIP KIMPEL
VP, Major Accounts & Channels HungerRush
CIO 4 Rivers Restaurants Group
JOSHUA NORD
ROBERT PETERSON
CHRISTY TRINKLER
BRIAN WHITNEY
VP, Software Development QSR Automations
Sr. Dir., Product Marketing & Strategic Partnerships Trabon
Area VP, New Business North America Oracle
VP of Sales Appetize
Security Best Practices
MARK CLINE
Senior VP Sales Netsurion
DAN EDWARDS
Director, IT Purchasing QSCC/Wendy’s
ROBERT GIBSON
TIM GUERRIERO
Chief Revenue Officer Jolt
Information Security Program Manager P.F. Chang’s
COURTNEY RADKE CISO Fortinet
TIM TANG
Director, Enterprise Solutions Hughes
Off-Prem Playbook
ALEX BELTRANI
MARK CLINE
CEO/Founder Tattle
Senior VP Sales Netsurion
RYAN PERSHAD
ROBERT PETERSON
Global Operations Manger GetSwift
Area VP, New Business North America Oracle
TCO Calculator
ZACK OATES
CIO 4 Rivers Restaurant Group
Founder & CEO Ovation
RYAN PERSHAD
CHRISTOPHER SEBES
Global Operations Manager Get Swift
ERIC SOLL
CEO Soulman Marketing
ROBERT GIBSON
RAKESH PATEL
Chief Revenue Officer Jolt
Executive Director, Product Management NCR
CHRISTY TRINKLER
BRIAN WHITNEY
Sr. Dir., Product Marketing & Strategic Partnerships Trabon
VP of Sales Appetize
Buyer’s Guide & RFP: POS
Native Delivery:
SKIP KIMPEL
DAN DILLION
VP of US Operations Yumpingo
CHRIS HEARD
CEO & Co-Founder Olive
NIKO PAPADEMETRIOU
VP, Major Accounts & Business Developement Qu
JOE TENCZAR
Co-Founder Restaurant CIOs
Partner RTS
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SUMMER 20 21 Vo l . 1 5 . 2
CONTENT This month on www.hospitalitytech.com
• Watch: Strategic Insights
From HT’s 2021 Restaurant Technology Study
• When Does the Guest
Experience Begin? Sooner Than You Think
• Chipotle Breaks Its Digital Records
• Thinking of Mandating
the COVID-19 Vaccine for Your Hospitality Employees?
• Loyalty Program Pays Off for Starbucks
EXCLUSIV E RESEA RCH
2021 Lodging Technology Study: Reimagining Hospitality
C O V E R S T O R Y PAG E 12 By Anna Wolfe, Senior Editor - Restaurants
E VE N TS :
MURTEC: THE BIG SHIFT Online everywhere April 13 and 14, MURTEC was loaded with success stories, best practices and lessons learned.
This study reflects adversity — most notably, the impact of COVID-19 and flat or shrinking IT budgets — but also opportunities to embrace emerging solutions. https://hospitalitytech.com/ lodging-technology-study-2021
Restaurant Technology Study 2021: Building the Next Normal
DEPARTMENTS: 5 EDITOR’S NOTE 6 HTNG CHECKS-IN 7 NEW HORIZONS 26 RTN TABLESIDE
According to HT’s exclusive research, restaurant IT budgets remain tight while strategic goals and investments acknowledge the need for innovation and meeting new customer expectations. https://hospitalitytech.com/ restaurant-technology-study-2021
E-N E WS L E TTE R
15 AWARDS
17 AWARDS
20 SPECIAL REPORT
2021 Top Women in Restaurant Technology Awards
Industry Heroes
Carnival’s Ocean Medallion Tech: The Wave of the Future
Now in their fifth year, the awards recognize women who are making their mark in a male-dominated industry.
Out-of-the-box thinking, clever and quick pivots and valuable community assistance are hallmarks of these eight winners.
W W W.T W I T T E R .C O M / H T M A G A Z I N E
Before wearable tech was a thing and IoT devices existed, one man had a vision to improve the guest experience; 10 years later he accomplished it.
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 4x frequency per year March, June, September and December 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 rate in the United States: $50 one year; $92 two year; $14 single issue copy; Canada and Mexico: $60 one year; $106 two year; $16 single issue copy; Foreign: $62 one year; $118 two year; $16 single issue copy; ©2021 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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Summer Inspiration Welcome to HT’s summer issue — and what a summer we have planned for you! As travelers return to hotels and restaurants across the U.S., we’re not not only packing this issue with important start-today thought leadership for IT professionals, but we’re also gearing up for a unique digital summer series — Hospitality Rising — featuring actionable insights for hospitality professionals, innovative solutions from top suppliers, and monthly workshops that will combine education with brainstorming and networking. (To learn more about our Hospitality Rising series, turn to page 10.) Restaurant operators and other tech leaders involved in F&B will want to dive into our MURTEC: The Big Shift feature (page 12), which shines a spotlight on some of the highlights of the virtual conference we held this spring, from educational sessions to entertaining and inspiring product demonstrations and more. (And when you put down this issue, visit HospitalityTech.com for our MURTEC Highlight Hub’s videos and Solution Center.) Hotel operators and suppliers will be dazzled by the extraordinary tech powering Carnival’s cruise fleet — from contactless solutions to AI-assisted services — that may point the way forward for hospitality brands welcoming summer travelers back (page 20). We’re celebrating Pride Month with “Supporting LGBTQ+ Colleagues” (page 7), which offers important tips for creating the most productive office environment for everyone on your staff. The Restaurant Technology Network (RTN) hosted a POS Security Best Practices web seminar on May 25, and we’re delivering a recap on page 26. (Plus, you can still watch it on demand at RestaurantTechnologyNetwork.com). And we’ve got the latest on HTNG’s acquisition by AHLA and all the exciting opportunities that powerhouse partnership presents (page 6). Visit HospitalityTech.com for our latest trend reports, “Contactless Transactions One Year Later” and “Attribute-Based Selling for Hotels,” industry news and thought leadership, HT’s 2021 Restaurant and Lodging technology studies, and the latest updates from RTN. As always, my digital door is always open. Let me know what you think. (rfirpo-cappiello@ensembleiq.com). Robert Firpo-Cappiello EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD
RESEARCH ADVISORY BOARD
Steve Brooks Director of Purchasing & IT
Corey Kline EVP of Technology, Noodles & Company
Mike Blake CEO, HTNG
Simon Eng VP of IT, CTF Development
Rocky Lucia Dir. IT, Fireman Hospitality Group
Nelson Garrido Senior VP Information Technology, Thayer Lodging, Brookfield Hotel Properties
Brian Pearson CIO, Mendocino Farms Sandwich Market
Michael Hassel Dir. IT, Momofuko Holdings Ted Hopcroft Vice President of Technology and Professional Services, Americas iT, Marriott
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
Mehmet Erdem Assistant Professor, UNLV Hotel College
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 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 AND MEMBERSHIP MANAGER Kirsten Phillips, kphillips@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 AUDIENCE LIST RENTAL MeritDirect Marie Briganti 914-309-3378 SUBSCRIBER SERVICES/CUSTOMER CARE TOLL-FREE: 1-877-687-7321 FAX: 1-888-520-3608 contact@hospitalitytech.com
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 Senior Managing Director – BNS Associates, LLC
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CORPORATE OFFICERS CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Jennifer Litterick CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Jane Volland 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
By Emily Wilson, Marketing Manager, AHLA
AHLA Integrates HTNG, Strengthening Technology Expertise, Advocacy Focus Recently, the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) and Hospitality Technology Next Generation (HTNG) announced that the two organizations have signed an agreement for HTNG to formally become part of AHLA to better serve and support the evolving needs of the global hospitality industry as it looks toward recovery. This synergistic alignment, which has been unanimously approved by the boards of both AHLA and HTNG, provides significant benefits to both organizations and their members. AHLA will gain additional expertise in technology, which continues to be a critical aspect of both hotel operations and advocacy. HTNG will continue its expansion and impact globally through greater resources and access to C-suite level decision makers. “AHLA and HTNG have developed a close partnership and have collaborated to champion evolving technologies that provide guests and operators with the best possible solutions and experience. This focus is more important than ever with the rapid transformation of technology and the rise in technology-related public policies we’ve seen in the last year alone, which reinforced our desire to bring them under the AHLA umbrella to better serve our respective members and support the industry as it looks toward recovery,” said Chip Rogers, president and CEO of AHLA. “By aligning ourselves with the HTNG community and their invaluable knowledge, we deepen our technology expertise and advance our strategic direction.” “While HTNG has been at the forefront of technology’s growth in the hospitality industry throughout the years, combining forces with AHLA will truly serve as a positive stride in the natural evolution of our organization,” said Michael Blake, CEO of HTNG. “This shift will allow us to leverage AHLA’s membership and advocacy platforms, and I couldn’t think of better individuals to advance our mission with.” How did the idea come about to combine the two organizations? AHLA and HTNG have developed a close part-
nership over several years and have collaborated to champion evolving technologies that provide guests and operators with the best possible solutions and experience, including aspects of AHLA’s 5 Star Promise and Safe Stay campaigns. Why does this transition into AHLA make sense to HTNG? Technology plays a critical role in hotel operations and the guest experience. Being part of AHLA gives technology a seat at the CEO table. HTNG will be represented on the AHLA senior executive staff as well as the board of directors and nominations committee. In addition, HTNG will have greater resources being part of a larger association. Will HTNG’s name and brand change? No, the industry and our community know us as HTNG, so our name will stay the same. We see this as an expansion of our brand with the greater resources and reach provided by AHLA. HTNG’s mission and global focus will remain the same as we continue to move hospitality forward together. Will there be any immediate changes to HTNG and/or it’s operations due to the merger? No, HTNG staff will remain the same and can still be contacted through their HTNG email addresses and phone numbers. HTNG members can still login to the HTNG website and access all resources, including workgroup participation and webinar registration. Eventually, some systems and processes will migrate, but members will be notified when any changes do occur. What will be some of the biggest benefits that come with the merger for both organizations? Working under AHLA, HTNG will become part of a larger community and will gain greater reach and more visibility to the broader hotel industry outside of the technology sector. With the power of HTNG, AHLA will now be able to leverage deep technology expertise at a time when we continue to see an elevated level of public policy focus on technologyrelated issues. HT
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Supporting LGBTQ+ Colleagues Organizations need to prove they are worthy of their LGBTQ+ employees’ trust. That starts at the top.
The Network of Executive Women (NEW) was established in 2001, and over that time, most would say that workplace environments have gotten better for LGBTQ+ people. Yet, at many organizations, there is still a major disconnect between stated progress and the day-to-day experience of being an LGBTQ+ person at work. The Human Rights Campaign found in its 2018 study A Workplace Divided that one in 10 employees had heard a supervisor make negative comments about LGBTQ+ people. “LGBTQ workers lack faith in accountability systems, sometimes with good reason,” the study says. They found that workers primarily don’t report hearing their coworkers speak negatively about LGTBQ+ people because they simply don’t think anything will be done to stop it and fear harming their relationships with coworkers.
Zero Tolerance for Intolerance Intolerance leads to employees who feel excluded from company culture, 31% of whom reported that they feel depressed at work — that should prompt employers to take swift and decisive action. Allyship can only begin when accountability has been established. LGTBQ+ employees need to hear clearly stated policies that ban discriminatory language from the workplace and encourage those that hear it to report it via an unbiased accountability system.
Allyship: Words Matter Allyship begins with robust education for employees on unconscious bias. For example, more than half (53%) of LGBTQ+ people reported hearing jokes about their community at work, while only 37% of non-LGBTQ+ employees reported hearing them. This gap demonstrates unconscious bias that can only change with education. Respecting pronoun use is another way to show
your allyship — it is a sign of respect that can have a significant impact on the well-being of those around you. A resource created by the NYC Department of Social Services (nyc.gov) does a good job of educating employees about the importance of pronoun use. Other resources for educating yourself and your employees about LGBTQ+ allyship include the Human Rights Campaign (hrc.org) and the University of California San Francisco’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Resource Center (lgbt.ucsf.edu).
Stand by Your Team Allies need to be willing to speak up at work when they hear a co-worker, fellow supervisor, or a fellow board member denigrating LGBTQ+ people. “It’s just a joke” is never an excuse for making colleagues feel they don’t belong in your workplace. The strong evidence that diverse workplaces lead to better business outcomes — not to mention the cost of replacing employees lost to prejudice — should motivate businesses to educate and take action. HT
Sarah Alter is president and CEO of the Network of Executive Women, a nonprofit learning, leadership and gender equality advocacy organization of 13,500 members (representing nearly 900 organizations), 300+ national and regional corporate partners, and 22 regional groups in the United States and Canada. NEW advances gender equality and diversity in the retail, consumer goods, financial services and technology industries.
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summer series
By Robert Firpo-Cappiello
HT’s Immersive Summer Series Will Supercharge Your Recovery! THIS MONTH we are debuting a unique digital summer series — Hospitality Rising — that will deliver actionable insights for hospitality professionals, innovative solutions from top suppliers, and monthly workshops that combine education with brainstorming and networking. Sure, the word summer may conjure images of beaches, mountain hikes and great food — and those experiences are all made possible by a thriving hospitality industry. We are devoting a portion of our summer to helping bold hotel and restaurant leaders to supercharge their recovery via cross-industry perspectives, inspiring thought leadership and new solutions. We hope you will join us. Throughout June, July and August, hospitalitytech.com will host immersive digital hospitality environments packed with insights and solutions that touch on new guest expectations, new tech, and new business models and ways of thinking — best-in-class content that cannot be found anywhere else. And because we all miss in-person networking and problem-solving, Hospitality Rising will also include three unique live workshops via Shindig. Here, professionals from restaurant and hotel technology and innovative solution providers will come together to tackle some of the most pressing challenges facing our industry. There will be shareworthy panel discussions, live Q&A in an interactive working session, and breakout discussions with industry leaders. Each workshop attendee will leave with a to-do list relevant to their own professional needs. Take a look at the schedule of Hospitality Rising workshops: Overdelivering on Guest Expectations (June 24th at 2pm ET). Hear actionable insights from top restaurant and hotel operators, innovative solutions providers, and HT’s editors as we brainstorm the challenges — and opportunities! — posed by new guest expectations around personalization, convenience, health and safety, and much more.
Hot Technology for Hotels and Restaurants Today (July 28th at 2pm ET). Learn about start-today solutions from top restaurant and hotel operators, innovative solutions providers, and HT’s editors as we brainstorm the rapidly evolving ecosystem of new tech solutions that deliver hyper-personalization, multichannel integration, and much more. Promising New Initiatives for the Future (August 25th at 2pm ET). Open your minds to promising new business models from top restaurant and hotel operators, innovative solutions providers, and HT’s editors as we brainstorm the opportunities presented by e-commerce, virtual brands, smart retailing, and much more. HT
Learn more about Hospitality Rising at HospitalityTech.com.
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THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS PL ATI N U M SPO N SO RS
GO L D SPO N SO RS
PARTN ERS
COVER STORY
BY ANNA WOLFE
MURTEC was online everywhere April 13 and 14 and featured innovative tech solutions, networking and group problem solving. In the wake of rapid digital transformation, leading brands including Taco Bell, HOA Brands, Another Broken Egg, Spyce, McAlister’s Deli and more shared their Big Shift − how they adapted and what’s next. All of the stellar 18 educational sessions are now streaming in the MURTEC content hub at HospitalityTech.com.Here are some of the conference’s key takeaways:
The Connected Restaurant: How Edge, IoT and E-commerce Can Transform the Industry From edge computing to the connected restaurant, native e-commerce and IoT, MURTEC attendees got the scoop on what’s happening now and what’s on the horizon in this thought-provoking keynote by Vadim Parizher, VP of Technology, En-
gineering & Analytics at Taco Bell. Parizher shared the QSR’s approach to edge computing and what the connected restaurant means for Taco Bell. “What a year it has been for technology,” Parizher said. “This intermediate period has launched so many conversations around technology. Our business, which has been straightforward for the past decade − customers come in or through the drive-thru ... that model has been replaced by multiple channels. And the data is hitting the restaurant all at the same time, because customers are now ordering online, through delivery aggregators, drive-thru and walk-ins at kiosks.” Connected Restaurant Defined All the technology inside the restaurant needs to work together. “Just like a team of football players, there are different positions. But at the end of the day, you got to move the ball to the finish line. Our equivalent of the ball, there’s an order and we have to execute that order,” explained Parizher. “And everything in the restaurant, all the equipment is all working together. Hence the term connected restaurant.” How Taco Bell Leverages Edge Computing “The term edge computing is still making its way through several industries including ours, and we’re all trying to adapt it to our operations,” explained Parizher. “For us − we are 100% in the cloud when it comes to above-restaurant processing. We try to process as much data as possible in the cloud. You, of course, can’t process everything in the cloud;
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sometimes it is latency, sometimes it is the availability of the network. That pushes part of processing on-premise and when it is on-premise we call it edge.” Edge should be self-sufficient in case of power or internet outage, so the edge and cloud can get back in sync, he advised. Native E-Commerce Once and for all, “let’s get away from the term ‘ecommerce’ because it pigeonholes you into a very specific web-based transaction. That’s not how our customers interact with us,” explained Parizher. “For them a purchase is an order. We started thinking where is the commerce platform? Where does it reside? How does it process? “There are multiple channels and our computer systems will be plugging into that.” An omnichannel experience that is the same regardless of where the order is placed (internet website, delivery channels, drive-thru, kiosks and at the traditional POS, etc.) should be the end goal. Looking to the future, “Our journey is going to be a lot faster but the end result is the same — this omnichannel customer experience,” said Parizher. “Technology needs to be integrated so that you don’t have a disjointed experience.”
Trend Talk: Tech Transforming Restaurants Now and in the Future In this Day 2 keynote, Phil Crawford, CTO of CKE Restaurants, known for its Carl’s Jr., Hardee’s, Green Burrito and Red Burrito brands, shared his thoughts on the technology transforming restaurants now and in the future. Crawford said he sees drive-thrus as “truly an avenue for growth,” for not only QSRs, but also fast casual and other restaurant formats. He also shared a real-world approach to artificial intelligence: “If you can leverage AI ... to inject orders automatically, it becomes a leverage point moving forward.” His bottom line? “If you can make it one frictionless environment, from ordering to payment to food, you are going to win.”
See You at MURTEC Executive Summit & Showcase! Our upcoming MURTEC Executive Summit & Showcase (October 13-15 at Rosen Shingle Creek, Orlando, Fla.) sits at the intersection of business and technology. It’s where restaurant leaders (including C-suite, CIOs, eCommerce & CX execs, and more) unite to see their future through the lens of strategic technology. It’s where we’ll reimagine restaurants — together. What you’ll experience: Vision: We’re binging on bold industry thinkers and exclusive new consumer research to supercharge your growth plans. Come envision your organization’s future powered by technology. Because your agenda is our agenda. Must-See Tech: We’re curating the hottest technologies for restaurant business leaders, and putting them on display in the new Innovation Showcase. Because there’s no substitute for firsthand experience. Networking with Outcomes: With gamification, ice breakers, and fun off-site networking activities, MURTEC Executive Summit will help you make meaningful connections, safely and serendipitously. Because it’s not just a network — it’s your network. Learn more at MurtecSummit.com
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COVER STORY
Crawford is a “big fan” of ghost kitchens and multi-brand ghost kitchens saying they are here to stay. “Ghost kitchens are continuing to evolve in metropolitan areas, and there are a lot of efficiencies that can be gained by large brands,” he said. Also, “Virtual brands are speeding up.” Pointing to the prevalence of smart devices, Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri, voice ordering “like AI, is here to stay and grow too,” Crawford said. Bottlenecks to date include “user adoption and the software needs to be more fluid for our industry. But it will get there.” Robotics too show promise. Certain repeatable tasks can be automated, but robots are currently cost prohibitive. “It will take time and some iterations,” Crawford noted. When it comes to drone delivery, Crawford is not as optimistic. “It’s a complete fad. I don’t think I’ll see a drone delivery dropping a burger and fries in my backyard,” he said. “Maybe a package.”
Firechat with HOA Brands: Connected Curbside Marc Butler, SVP, Strategic Planning/Off Premise, HOA Brands, shared recent tech initiatives that have made a difference at Hooters and its fastcasual concept Hoots Wings and its virtual brands. Butler shared how Hooters was able to pivot to 100% off-premise dining and the lessons learned along the way. “You don’t understand how broken something is until you start pushing a little volume through it,” said Butler about the brand’s digital channels. When Hoots Wings made its debut about four years ago in 2017, the brand experienced “some difficult times, and we reworked what we had already built. On the bright side, when dining rooms were closed, it was a pretty simple transition (to off prem).”
Now Hoots Wings is “a big growth opportunity in 2021,” said Butler. “It fits perfectly with what we’ve seen over the past year. More shifting and migrating to off-premise business … We anticipate 60% or more of that business being to-go, and a high percentage of orders being placed through digital channels.” Curbside was added as a “necessity” during the COVID-19 lockdown, but Hooters’ consumer research indicates sustained demand for the service for the foreseeable future. “It was a pretty important addition to our operations,” Butler said. “We knew there was a lot of interest, but we knew we could not do it in the format we had been doing it (as dining rooms were reopening) ... We need those eyes on the parking lot to help with the handoff to the customer.” So, HOA Brands selected Radius Network’s FlyBuy solution to provide seamless curbside and in-store pickup experience for all stores. It gave “complete coverage” from the point the customer placed the order, to clicking “I’m on my way,” to arriving in the parking lot, explained Butler. This year the company is focusing “on getting better at what we do.” HOA Brands is currently testing smart lockers with delivery service providers for both Hooters and Hoots locations to reduce friction for drivers and the customer. HT
Hot New Tech Showcase In the wake of rapid digital transformation, MURTEC helps restaurants fully embrace the potential of new technologies. In this 15-minute video presentation, discover drivethru next-gen tech showcasing voice bots, AI-powered personalization and optimization and self-serve kiosks and QR-code contactless payments. Find out how you can use a sleek guest feedback platform to respond to customers within seconds and fix any problem before they become negative reviews. See how parking lots converted to pickup areas and how restaurants are easing into opening with smarter ordering and payment. And who doesn’t want to win customers back from third-party delivery companies? Watch this video on demand featuring Xenial, OneDine, Ovation and Lunchbox. Plus, check out the Solution Center for more technologies you can use now and in the future.
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COVER STORY
MURTEC
2021 Top Women in Restaurant Technology Awards
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MASTERMINDS BEHIND THE BIGGEST AND MOST SUCCESSFUL RESTAURANT TECHNOLOGY ADDITIONS AT FAZOLI’S, JERSEY MIKE’S AND QDOBA ARE AMONG THE FIFTH ANNUAL CLASS OF AWARD HONOREES. BY A N N A WO L F E Hospitality Technology’s Top Women in Restaurant Technology Awards, now in its fifth year, 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/topwomen21. Here is a preview of this year’s class of honorees, which include women from both restaurant brands and technology solution providers. L I F ET I ME AC H I EV EMEN T
Johanna Miner IT Manager for Fazoli’s System Management In 2020, Johanna Miner was instrumental in Fazoli’s strategic shift to drive-thru. In less than seven days, she implemented drivethru tablets and launched curbside. After utilizing drive-thru timers and adjusting oven temps and airflow, all without compromising on quality, the brand saw record low drive-thru service times. Miner also managed and led the launch of Fazoli’s virtual brands. All these initiatives allowed the brand to continue providing outstanding customer service and added to the brand’s overall success. L I F ET I ME AC H I EV EMEN T
Jerilyn Quintanilla Director Restaurant Systems at Qdoba Restaurants 2020 was a huge year for Qdoba. Quintanilla and her team implemented an entirely new website and mobile app. This was critical to complete integration with third-party delivery partners and to launch curbside chainwide. Qdoba also rolled out EMV, which was planned in 2020 but accelerated due to COVID-19. This rollout provided not only a touchless experience, but also increased security and reduced PCI scope. Quintanilla and her team also completed the successful rollout of a POS upgrade and kitchen display systems. I N N OVATOR
Kathy Alcaras Director of IT, Eureka Restaurant Group “2020 was definitely the year of
transformation, innovation, and creativity for the restaurant industry,” says Kathy Alacaras, who joined Eureka as Director of IT in early 2020. She spearheaded the launch of the restaurant’s first online ordering platform and a new contactless ordering service model. Safety and necessity drove consumers to embrace online ordering, but consumer demand for convenience will make online ordering part of everyday life. I N N OVATO R
Tana Davila Chief Marketing Officer for P.F. Chang’s Chief Marketing Officer Tana Davila continues to lead and refine the strategic roadmap for off-premises dining that she started seven years ago. Off-premises has grown during her tenure by +$220M. Davila says she’s most proud of the digital technology investment choices she has made at P.F. Chang’s. “Thanks to our consumer insights, we recognized where the marketplace was headed earlier than many of our peers. We’ve built a datadriven digital ecosystem and online ordering engine that has propelled growth for our business and created a positive experience for our guests,” she explains. I N N OVATO R
Robyn Kesler Sr. Director of IT at Tupelo Honey Café At Tupelo Honey Café, Robyn Kessler has orchestrated several impactful objectives in 2020 including a 2-week pivot to launch takeout and curbside.
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“We have since realized that as opposed to the 3% takeout business that we generated preCOVID, we have the capacity to earn 30% in the post-COVID environment,” Kessler explains. In addition to takeout/curbside, Kessler changed Tupelo Honey Café’s payment platform to offer contactless payment. Originally a safety measure, it now improves turn times by 10%. Plus, she led an entire back-office system replacement that improved cost of goods by nearly 2%. I N N OVATOR
Sakshi Tulsian Co-Founder, POSist Technologies Sakshi Tulsian oversees the revenue growth and leads all the global goto-market efforts for this cloud-based POS software company. She also has been a key contributor in building the technology roadmap. In the past year, POSist launched three key solutions to assist restaurants: a QR code ordering solution, online ordering for restaurants and cloud kitchens to enable the direct-to-consumer channel, and the POSist Marketplace, which offers 150+ integrations with a single-click activation. In the future, Tulsian expects to see more cloud kitchens as restaurants continue to launch virtual, delivery-only brands. Direct-to-consumer channels including websites, social media and messaging platforms that allow restaurants to set up their own digital storefront will become more mainstream; these allow restaurants more control over the guest experience and open new revenue streams. I N N OVATOR
Mingming Zhang Head of data science at Wisely Mingming Zhang is responsible for Wisely’s suite of algorithms that accurately predict the wait times at thousands of restaurants and for its proprietary Natural Language Processing (NLP) software that annotates the sentiment of aggregated online customer reviews for Wisely’s restaurant partners. Zhang is passionate about NLP technology and sees it as the future in not only retail but also in restaurants. For example, Amazon is “able to extract information from interactions with you and help you find what you’ll like,” says Zhang. “The future will be about personalized guest experience to make life more tailored to your unique preferences — such a system truly makes everyone’s life better, for the customer and the business.”
R I S I N G S TA R
Brandy Anderson Vice President of Operations, Valyant AI At Valyant AI, a company that allows drive-thrus to take orders using only artificial intelligence, Brandy Anderson manages Valyant AI’s platform for transcribing audio to train its speech-to-text models. Improving the platform’s capabilities allows Valyant AI to achieve high accuracy − even in a noisy drivethru environment. Anderson is passionate about using technology to help people. “I love working in a field that’s endlessly interesting and challenging and has the potential for creating widespread and positive impacts,” Anderson says. “Especially in the restaurant industry, I think there is a lot we can do to make things better for employees and for customers.” RISING STAR
Sheryl Hoskins GM of Global Hospitality, LightspeedPOS During 2020, Sheryl Hoskins was able to quickly pivot the company with new technology innovations, maintain employee morale, and then lead Upserve through an acquisition by LightspeedPOS. Hoskins, who is now the GM of Global Hospitality of LightspeedPOS, started her career in technology, software technology that is, at General Electric. “I have always had a passion for helping communities through technology, particularly small businesses,” Hoskins says. RISING STAR
Victoria McCormick Database Administrator at Jersey Mike’s Subs Vikki McCormick’s coworkers say she touches every aspect of the company including the loyalty program, POS, mobile app and even fundraising. Plus, she is credited with building the database architecture that is the backbone of Jersey Mike’s. From a very early age, McCormick had an interest in as well as role models in technology. “My mom used to build mainframes and was the first woman in tech that I admired,” she says. “I enjoy solving problems by building high-tech solutions.” HT
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Working Together to Rise Above Challenges
COVER STORY
MURTEC AWA R D S 2 0 2 1
INDUSTRY HERO R E C O G N I Z I N G
R E S T A U R A N T
I N N O V A T I O N
OUT-OF-THE- BOX THINKING, CLEVER AND QUICK PIVOTS AND VALUABLE COMMUNITY ASSISTANCE ARE HALLMARKS OF THESE EIGHT WINNERS. BY A N N A WO L F E After a year like no other, Hospitality Technology presented the Industry Heroes awards to recognize both restaurant operators and technology solution providers for their out-of-the box thinking, quick and clever pivots, and assistance to their communities. This group of eight winners are awe-inspiring for their accomplishments. For inspiration, read on.
CMX: Repurposing a Restaurant Favorite CMX launched its COVID-19 Response, Reopening & Recovery Kit, providing fast-casual and quickserve restaurants with out-of-the-box templates for Employee Wellness Checks, Health and Sanitation Shift Logs, COVID-19 Related Incident Reporting, and Reopening Checklists. The action plan centered around a product already in their toolkits: ActivityStudio. Restaurants use ActivityStudio to digitize operating procedures in order to measure performance and compliance against KPIs. Restaurants could leverage these templates as-is or modify them to their specific needs. Leading brands including Arby’s, Buffalo Wild Wings, Firehouse Subs, Checkers and Rally’s, Taco Bell, Sizzling Platter, and more have used ActivityStudio daily to support their operations during the pandemic.
Concept Entertainment Group’s Creative Food Hall Concept The saying, ‘when the going gets tough, the tough get going,” definitely applies to the team behind Concept Entertainment Group. When Concept Entertainment Group halted dine-in service at its Thirsty Lion locations due to the pandemic, it pivoted to create an online food hall concept called Central Kitchen Online Food Hall to house different dining concepts integrated within Thirsty Lion’s kitchens — allowing customers to pick and choose from a variety of cuisines in one order, for delivery or at some locations for curbside pickup. Concept Entertainment Group embraced technology and new ways to improve operations, speed
of service and guest satisfaction. Thirsty Lion locations reopened with contactless menus, available via QR code on tables and signage. Guests now pay at the table and are able to order from their mobile phones in designated areas.
Dickey’s Barbecue Pit Tech Overhaul At the beginning of the pandemic, Dickey’s Barbecue Pit completely redesigned its e-commerce site to optimize functionality for mobile users. Spearheading the tech overhaul: CIO Carissa De Santis, HT’s 2019 Top Women in Restaurant Technology award winner. The upgraded website features enhanced speed and performance, an elevated user experience with fewer clicks and and better website navigation, all of which contributed to a 42% increase in Dickey’s digital sales and 122% increase in site traffic. Dickey’s also integrated Chowly, a third-party delivery consolidation platform, into its online ordering system. After onboarding the new service, average sales across all locations increased 133.8%, with one Dickey’s franchisee seeing an on-premise sales growth of more than 400%. Two of Dickey’s franchisee-facing resources, an intranet portal and Dickey’s proprietary reporting system were also restructured, giving franchisees mobile access. Franchisees embraced the improvements and Dickey’s saw a 50% decrease in reporting and resource issues.
Fazoli’s Off-Prem Pivot Fazoli’s saw record-breaking sales − and traffic − in 2020, thanks to a streamlined pivot to drive-thru, curbside and to contactless payments. The entire team, from operations to marketing and IT, including Top Women in Restaurant
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COVER STORY
MURTEC AWA R D S 2 0 2 1
Technology Lifetime Achievement winner Johanna Miner, collaborated cross-functionally to develop a plan and launch initiatives. Fazoli’s placed team members in the drive-thru with tablets, making it quick and easy for people to order, and launched curbside pickup in less than one week. Fazoli’s leaned in on their established digital presence to deliver on CX. Fazoli’s leveraged its partnership with Olo, expanded its capabilities, streamlined mobile ordering. The brand also capitalized on insights to create more intentional experiences and offers to the 800,000+ members of Fazoli’s rewards program. Fazoli’s initiatives paid off in 2020 and beyond. In April 2021, the brand reported a 60% sales and 56% traffic increase compared to the year prior.
Jersey Mike’s Big Online Ordering Pays Off Jersey Mike’s robust e-commerce platform allowed it to accommodate increased online orders and third-party and native delivery. And even more impressive: Jersey Mike’s donated more than $4.5 million to Feeding America in 2020. In February 2020, Jersey Mike’s introduced White Label Delivery so customers could order delivery directly through the Jersey Mike’s app. When lockdowns rolled out across the U.S. in March 2020, Jersey Mike’s worked with franchise partners to address operational challenges needed to limit person-to-person contact. Jersey Mike’s also teamed up with Feeding America, donating 20% of sales during two weekends to help their network of 200 food banks. Jersey Mike’s raised more than $4.5 million for Feeding America, helping to provide 45 million meals. These were some of the busiest days in Jersey Mike’s history, and technology ensured seamless ordering despite the increased volume.
OneDine’s Contactless Tools OneDine offered its Park – Order – Pay product to thousands of restaurants, no matter the size, location, or menu, at no cost and no obligation, enabling restaurants to turn their parking spaces into revenue-generating real estate via large QR codes printed on freestanding signs. In most cases locations were completely onboarded in less than 72 hours. As dining rooms reopened, restaurants were seeking contactless solutions to help with social distancing, order flow and labor issues. Eureka! Restaurant Group was among the hundreds of
restaurants that added OneDine’s web-based ordering system that is accessible to guests by either scanning a QR code or tapping an NFC sensor.
Punchh’s Marketing Automation At the onset of COVID-19, Punchh felt a responsibility to help its customers navigate through the most challenging of times by delivering enhanced marketing automation technology and new data services to help clients not only recover from the pandemic, but in many cases, achieve doubledigit growth. During 2020, Punchh’s customers, including Papa John’s, Yum! Brands, and Casey’s, were able to leverage Punchh to manage loyalty and marketing to quickly adapt to the changing needs of their customers and generate record sales. With access to a growing suite of marketing automation technology, brands used Punchh to help launch or enhance existing solutions including mobile ordering and contactless pickup/delivery, allowing them to operate efficiently while prioritizing safety for employees as well as guests. In 2020, Punchh delayed billing and waived fees in some cases to help brands stay profitable while adjusting their services to the changing times — without sacrificing quality or customer relationships.
Revel Systems’ Flexible Online Ordering Revel System’s product team reimagined the company’s entire product roadmap to accommodate the evolving needs of restaurants. Among the list of robust features and products added in 2020: delivery management, SMS order updates and contactless payments. Revel debuted a new standalone online ordering solution, Revel Go, that could be added to a business’s operations — regardless of their POS solution, and also created the Revel Relief Program, allocating $1 million in relief funding for clients experiencing excessive hardship due to COVID-19. Last year more than 4,000 clients added Revel’s native online ordering solution as safety precautions and lockdowns forced businesses to rethink the way they reached customers. As a corporate sponsor of the Giving Kitchen, Revel helps back a critical outlet for the food service industry. Revel also promoted the Step Up to the Table movement, a challenge designed to promote the purchase of gift cards to support local restaurants. HT
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OCTOBER 13 - 15, 2021 ROSEN SHINGLE CREEK • ORLANDO, FLORIDA
W H AT YOU WILL EX P E RI E NC E MURTEC Executive Summit sits at the intersection of business and technology. This is where restaurant leaders from across the organization unite to see their future through the lens of strategic technology. Technology enabled every transaction for restaurants. It kept the doors open and drove the business, and it’s not going back. Where can the possibilities take you?
Restaurant leaders in technical and non-technical roles attend MURTEC Executive Summit to:
• See technology first-hand through the lens of the business leader
• Partner with their IT leadership to explore specific solutions
• Explore new revenue streams that never existed before
• Map their budgets, resources and buying decisions to these opportunities
Complimentary pass for restaurant operators! Qualified restaurant operators, don’t miss your chance for a complimentary pass! Register by July 18th to claim your pass - a $595 value!. USE CODE: HTPT06
LEARN MORE AT WWW.MURTECSUMMIT.COM
PRESENTED BY
SPECIAL REPORT
Before wearable tech was a thing and IoT devices existed, one man had a vision to improve the guest experience; 10 years later he accomplished it. JOHN PADGETT, Chief Experience and Innovation Officer at Carnival Corp., started working on the technology that would ultimately inspire the OceanMedallion while he was employed at another company famous for its ability to give consumers worldclass experiences: Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. “Magic Kingdom is one of the best experiences in the world, but it’s a commodity experience. Everyone who pays to go there gets the same experience,” Padgett says. “And there was a tremendous amount of complication. Guests needed tickets, fast pass tickets, meal coupons, vouchers, etc.” So, Padgett set out to offer guests a truly personalized experience that would also eliminate some of that friction. That’s when Padgett and a highly focused team created the MagicBand. “When I envisioned the MagicBand, the wearable category didn’t even exist yet and the iPhone 1 was just being released. It ultimately solved half of the original problem — it eliminated friction and simplified the experience, which made it incredibly popular with guests, but it did not achieve the original vision of creating a unique experience for every single guest,” Padgett explains.
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It took 10 years of hard work and dedication before John Padgett, CXO, Carnival Corp., was able to realize his dream of personalizing the vacation experience.
It wasn’t until Padgett started working at Carnival that he was able to achieve his goal. Key to his success: the closed ecosystem of each and every cruise ship. “To do personalization at scale, you have to have an incredible amount of real-time intelligence,” he says. “Why? Because to deliver true personalization, we need the information the guest is creating in that very second to be reinvested in their experience that very same second. We want our guests to interact with our crew and our ship on a personalized basis that is informed in real-time by who they are and what their needs, wants and desires are that very same second.” Where though does that real-time intelligence come from?
HOW THE MAGIC HAPPENS Unsurprisingly, the Medallion is just the iconic element of a vast network of readers and sensors embedded across the ship that interact instantaneously with the two microscopic antennas (one NFC and one BLE) inside each guest’s OceanMedallion. Just how vast is this network? Each ship contains 72 miles of cable, 6,000 sensors, 650 readers, 500 edge computing devices and more than 4,000 interactive portals. The resulting intelligence is associated with each and every guest in real time to fuel Carnival’s Experiential Internet of ThingsTM (xIoTTM) network which facilitates experiences for guests based on
location, personal information they provide and onboard interactions. Padgett often uses the term “fully connected” when referring to the guest experience. But what does this actually mean? According to Padgett, it means that the guest is connected to the ship environment itself, the crew, other guests (by choice) and – importantly – the internet. Providing fast, affordable and reliable high-speed internet on a cruise ship, however, is no small task. Especially when guests expect the same connectivity levels they’re used to having at home. To ensure guests have access to incredible WiFi, Carnival partnered with SES to leverage their hybrid medium earth orbit (MEO) and geostationary (GEO) network of satellites. The MEO satellites are especially important because they reside closer to Earth and thus the signals have less distance to travel. “Historically, cruise ships have been plagued by latency. It takes 0.6 seconds for the signal to go up to the satellite and 0.6 seconds for it to come back down. That delay compounded across unlimited internet interactions is very annoying to our guests who are used to modern-day connectivity. With MEO satellites we effectively eliminated any latency. Of course, our WiFi access points, switches, modems, satellite antennas, and the satellites themselves have all been optimized to work in the best possible way, too,” Padgett adds.
WHY GUESTS KEEP RETURNING As all of this technology and data works together in real-time, guests are provided with a best-inclass experience. For instance, prior to arriving at the embarkation port, guests are asked to download the MedallionClass app. Within it, they upload their passports and other travel documents among other things. Then when guests arrive, they don’t have to check-in at a front desk or wait in long lines to board the ship. That information, among other things, is also available via the OceanMedallion. Similarly, when the guest approaches their stateroom door, the door automatically unlocks and greets the guest by name via a digital display. (If the guest is celebrating a birthday, anniversary or other special occasion, the digital display will reference that as well.) A look inside the OceanMedallion. 21 • SU M ME R 2 0 2 1 • W W W.H O S P I TA L I T Y T EC H.CO M
SPECIAL REPORT Accessible via guests’ smart devices and on portals throughout the ships, OceanCompass leverages the Medallion to easily locate and chat with friends and family on board, as well as enables point-to-point wayfinding throughout the ship. OceanCompass guides guests throughout their journey, providing directional information so they can seamlessly navigate to their travel companions or their next point of interest. Guests can order merchandise, services, F&B on demand anywhere on the ship and have it delivered to them, wherever they are. Additionally, these purchases throughout their voyage are seamlessly charged to the guest’s folio because of the Medallion’s proximity and crew’s ability to confirm identification via frictionless, two-factor authentication. No swipes, taps, pin codes or signatures needed. And when guests approach crew members, the crew is aware of the guest’s name and preferences which helps to personalize their interaction. What makes this experience different from other travel experiences is that the MedallionClass Experience is not technology-focused, Padgett says, but is technology-driven. Instead of requiring guests to engage in the technology, they can be engaged in the cruise experience while the technology empowers and enhances the experience completely behind the scenes. Guests are not required to switch between mediums such as key cards, to printed pages, to mobile app. Additionally, the MedallionClass Experience is not smart device dependent. Experiences are also easily accessed using portals throughout the ship, through crew members as well as via stateroom TV. “The reason why we have a wearable is because of the value of universal individual connectivity which creates so much intelligence we’re able to personalize each guest’s experience,” Padgett notes. “Could we do this in other ways? Absolutely, but they all put complication back on the guest or on the operator.” While the guest experience is certainly the top priority, this intelligence allows for so much more to take place. It drives advantages in the crew experience, capacity utilization, and space allocation. It provides options to enhance security and health processes, and is beginning to aid in environmental and sustainable HVAC control. Most importantly, the same intelligence drives everything and enables the entire ecosystem to work more harmoniously, Padgett says.
COVID Conundrum? Not for Carnival When asked how this technology will help cruise ships regain customer confidence, Padgett’s response was an emphatic: “Thank God we started working on this technology six years ago!” Padgett believes that the OceanMedallion experience provides guests the flexibility to vacation the way they want, which will be instrumental when guests first begin to return to cruising during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. “Our personalized and frictionless technology offers the complete opposite of what many people think cruise ships are: mass volumes of guests being served the same experience at the same time in the same space,” Padgett explains. To help put this in perspective, he explains how just one small aspect of the cruise experience – dining – is different with OceanMedallion. A guest can choose to go to the dining hall, can choose to order a meal brought to their cabin, or can even choose to eat a meal on the Lido deck while watching the sunset. But if at anytime that guest changes their mind, and chooses to go somewhere else to eat their meal, they never have to worry that the meal will be delivered to the wrong spot. “Wherever I am, the food goes,” Padgett explains. “And if I choose to go back to the dining room and sit there, it will end up there too. That’s just one example of how real-time location-based service in a fully connected IoT is truly different.” In a post-COVID world, OceanMedallion also enables guests to avoid crowds like never before because it prevents queuing during the embarkation and disembarkation process. Guests receive their OceanMedallion and submit their travel documents ahead of time which means that Princess Cruise ships have no front desk. “In a post-COVID world, so many enterprises are having to figure out how to do what is now our standard operating procedure, and so we don’t really have any post-COVID stress,” Padgett adds.
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“In the traditional world, all of this data would be siloed by department according to where it was collected and for what purpose,” he adds. “Other organizations work futilely to get that siloed information to reconcile and sync. And what makes it difficult to get these silos to work together is that they can’t agree on the information base. But if all of your intelligence is generated at the same time, comes from the same source, and is generated in real-time – there is no conflict in understanding it. This allows operators to act versus debate.”
EMPLOYEES: A TOP PRIORITY Part of the beauty of the OceanMedallion, and the technology behind it, is that it not only improves the guest experience but also the employee experience as well. This was deliberately baked into Padgett’s strategy for a very important reason. “If you make the staff’s job easier, it ensures immediate adoption by the consumer,” he notes. “If you make something great for the consumer but horrible for the employee, the employee will tell the consumer not to like it. So, your numberone priority must be to make the technology great for the employee.” Not only do you make staff members happier when their job is easier, you also increase labor efficiency. And on a cruise ship, that’s “huge,” explains Padgett. While hotels do have costs associ-
“To do personalization at scale, you have to have an incredible amount of real-time intelligence, because to deliver true personalization, we need the information the guest is creating in that very second to be reinvested in their experience that very same second.” ated with labor, that person isn’t a factor in revenue loss. However, on a cruise ship, only a specific number of “souls” are allowed to be on board at any given time. So, the more staff you have, the less guests you have and the less revenue-generating potential is available. “If we can make the entire labor base more efficient, that allows more guests to sail on that ship and then everyone wins: guests are happier and ships are more profitable,” he adds. OceanMedallion helps staff members in a wide variety of ways. It eliminates queuing, which frees staff from the headache of long lines and lots of paperwork and instead allows them to greet and mingle with guests during boarding. It ensures that housekeepers are “invisible” and never intrude
When guests arrive, they don’t have to check-in at a front desk or wait in long lines to board the ship. 23 • S U M M E R 2 0 2 1 • W W W.H O S P I TA L I T Y T EC H.CO M
SPECIAL REPORT
accidentally on guests when they’re in their cabin. It eliminates lines at the bar and frustration among guests who can’t quickly and easily get their drink. And it even helps the captain of the ship locate missing persons in milliseconds.
A VISION FOLLOWED BY UNWAVERING CONVICTION Since the debut of this technology, Padgett has had many Fortune 500 companies – including those in the hospitality industry – visit with him and his Global Experience and Innovation team to learn about the platform. Inevitably, they’ll mention that they have an “innovation strategy,” which grinds Padgett’s gears. “Innovation is not a strategy,” he says. “Innovation is a method to achieve a business strategy. Innovation is doing whatever the hell it takes to achieve your goal. If it takes inventing something, you invent it. If someone else has what you need, you partner with them, build great relationships and leverage it.” And Padgett has a very specific way of achieving his business strategies. While some businesses subscribe to either the Agile or Waterfall development methods, Padgett doesn’t see much value in their approaches. Instead he prefers to follow a method of his own creation that has been proved successful during his time at both Disney and at Carnival. “I establish a vision that is crystal clear for where we need to be five years from now,” he explains. “Everyone in the company, from the CEO to the board to all levels of the operation, has to be committed to this goal. And then I assemble a holistic team of passionate professionals that collectively possess exceptional creative, technology, operational, and business capabilities to agree that their purpose is to work together in order to reach that main goal.” Padgett uses a global network of relationships to bring in other companies as well as individual “free agents” to work with, because what is most important to him is that the team achieve the goal — not organizations, legacy processes or enterprise politics that all distract from the mission. Once achieved, Padgett doesn’t just let the technology “go” to sink or swim on its own during its first realworld applications. Instead, his team stays directly connected to the technology as it is operating and
only “leaves its side once it is in perpetual motion. “If you’re not willing to operate what you’ve created in front of a guest and alongside an operator, then you are never holding yourself truly accountable,” Padgett notes. “Consuming – not just delivering – that experience, creates the passion to go back and refine and improve and enhance and align and pull everyone together to become even better. Perfection does not exist but must be relentlessly pursued.” Of course, that’s not to say there won’t be some roadblocks along the way. Even with the best team,
When the guest approaches their stateroom door, the door automatically unlocks and greets the guest by name. 24 • S U M M E R 2 0 2 1 • W W W.H O S P I TA L I T Y T EC H.CO M
the most supportive CEO, a committed board and the greatest vision — setbacks are bound to happen, Padgett says. “If you have the mindset that a roadblock is an impassable obstruction, you shouldn’t even start,” he adds. “If it was easy to accomplish your goal, anyone could do it and it would already be done. You just have to understand that digital transformation and changing enterprises at scale is hard.” In 2020, Carnival planned to convert five ships into MedallionClass ships, Padgett gives as an example. Then the pandemic happened. These ships were located all over the world, and travel was shut down completely. But Carnival still managed to achieve its goal and convert all five ships. It took a tremendous amount of coordination, partnership with operations, commitment from the board, etc., but eventually it all came together. “Another company might have used the pandemic as an excuse to stall, lower ambitions and buy time. Not us. We said: ‘That sounds like a challenge, but we’re going to achieve our goal anyway,’” Padgett says. “It goes back to having a mission. To achieve that you need conviction, passion and a relentless ‘never-say-die’ attitude. While the topic of this story is the technology on OceanMedallion ships, Padgett is not as proud of the technology as he is of creating that simple, personalized guest experience at scale where tech-
“The MedallionClass Experience is not technologyfocused, it is technology-driven. Instead of requiring guests to engage in the technology, they can be engaged in the cruise experience while the technology empowers and enhances the experience completely behind the scenes.” nology fades into the background. “Often in the hotel space, hoteliers will throw technology amenities at guests like they’re game changers — but they’re not. Generally, they just end up creating more complexity for the guest, which makes their experience less desirable,” he says. “Guests don’t want technology for technology’s sake. People in travel get this wrong all the time because it’s sexy to talk about technology. But at the end of the day, the guest just wants to maximize the value of their time on vacation.” HT
Guests can order merchandise, services, F&B on demand anywhere on the ship and have it delivered to them, wherever they are. 25 • S U M M E R 2 0 2 1 • W W W.H O S P I TA L I T Y T EC H.CO M
Angela Diffly, Co-Founder, RTN
RTN POS Security Technical Guidance Helps Any-Size Restaurant Level Up The Restaurant Technology Network (RTN) recently completed a seven-month-long collaborative workgroup, uniting restaurant operators and suppliers in a common mission: to uncover and document best practices for securing the pointof-sale. RTN hosted a webinar on May 25 to discuss the best takeaways and share the completed output with the industry. The POS Security Best Practices webinar featured panelists Courtney Radke, CISO for National Retail, Fortinet, Aaron Branson, Senior VP, Marketing, Netsurion and Tim Tang, Director, Enterprise Solutions for HughesON. KEY INSIGHTS “POS is super evolutionary,” commented Radke. “It’s almost evolved into a point-of-business. There’s a real need now for standardization. We are all in this for the same reason: to create a better, safer, more consistent guest experience.” The RTN workgroups bring top cybersecurity talent in the industry together. “The criminals are collaborating, sharing tools and supporting each other; we must do the same,” said Tang. “Restaurants compete on compelling food experiences, not cybersecurity. This is an area we need to come together. I encourage all restaurants to participate in the workgroups.” According to Branson, “Security in theory versus security in practice is tough. The key is standardization. The (RTN) document does a nice job of providing guidance when it comes to franchisee and franchisor shared responsibilities, endpoint security integration and smart partnerships. I recommend restaurants spend some time unpacking the section on MSSP considerations.” “We wanted to make cybersecurity more accessible to the industry,” added Tang. “What do you do initially, versus how you grow your cybersecurity stack as your business grows. We’ve included things like third-party integration, privacy considerations, infrastructure from a managed SD-WAN perspective or WiFi. The emerging brands, as well as the more mature brands, can really get a lot out of it.” “We typically think about the credit card data being the target,” mentioned Branson, “but it’s important to be aware of what’s happening with supply chain attacks, like SolarWinds, and ransomware attacks like what we just saw with Colonial Pipeline. The restaurant space has all these supply chains and integrations. I’m curious about what the current exposure may be to a POS ransomware attack.” The RTN POS Security Best Practices is a great resource designed for new brands and established brands alike. “The participation of the operators in this group allowed us to create an evolutionary guide, former, current and future state, and
“POS is super evolutionary, it’s almost evolved into a point-ofbusiness. There’s a real need now for standardization. We are all in this for the same reason: to create a better, safer, more consistent guest experience.” —Courtney Radke, CISCO for National Retail, Fortinet
what each of those mean,” concluded Radke. “It’s okay to be a fast follower, and not on the cutting edge. There are still things you can do to secure those environments today. We’re just trying to give you some tips and tricks, wherever you are along the journey.” Join RTN Workgroups to participate in workgroups with the industry’s top technology talent and help shape restaurant technology for the future. https://restauranttechnology network.com/ HT
RTN’s POS Implementation Security Best Practices technical document:
RTN’s POS Implementation Security Best Practices technical document
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RTN On-Demand Webinar: POS Security Best Practices
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2021
The Hotel Tech Industry Reunites, this December. Technology is more important to the hospitality industry than ever before. Reunite with your industry. Map your brand’s future. Find the technologies that will pave the way. HT-NEXT is welcoming you back to a powerful networking and immersive learning experience.
We’re Binging on Big Ideas for a Bold Future • Creating a Contactless Experience • Hospitality & the Gig Economy • Unraveling New Consumer Expectations • Beyond the Four Walls: New Hotel Business Models • Money Talks: Cryptocurrency, Payment Trends & More • Rethinking Guestroom Technology And much more!
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