NRN's - Technology

Catering software helps organize off-site foodservice business

MARK BRANDAU — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:58:38 GMT

Entrepreneurs always are looking for the next million-dollar idea, but restaurateur Michael Attias got his idea for a new business from a million dollars.

The eyes have it: Mooyah tracks guests’ perceptions

MARK BRANDAU — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:58:38 GMT

Talk about seeing your business through the customer’s eyes.

Suggestive selling part of FourCrown’s strategy for digital menu board

ALAN LIDDLE — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:58:38 GMT

Multiunit Wendy’s franchisee FourCrown Inc. has installed multimedia and event-centered messaging capabilities to suggestively sell products storewide, officials said. The company recently augmented the in-restaurant digital menu and presale marketing boards at its Woodbury, Minn., unit with similar devices in the drive-thru.

Becks Prime beefs up digital signage, praises technology’s flexibility

ALAN LIDDLE — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:58:38 GMT

Becks Prime, in an effort to more easily update information and more quickly inform new customers about the quality of its food and depth of its menu, has been using digital menu and marketing boards at its Meyerland Plaza restaurant here since March.

Technology-loaded Hard Rock opens in Vegas

Alan J. Liddle — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:58:38 GMT

Looking to help reverse negative visitor traffic trends in this famous gambling and dining destination, Hard Rock International on Saturday opened its second Sin City branch – a three-level, 42,000-square-foot “cafe,” complete with 950 dining seats, a 1,000-chair concert hall and three guest-facing interactive technologies.

Burgerville tests nutrition data on receipts

Alan J. Liddle — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:58:38 GMT

Burgerville said Monday it is testing at a unit here technology that calculates the nutritional metrics of individual orders, customized or standard, and prints them on receipts.

Alleged Dave & Buster's card data thief faces more charges

Alan J. Liddle — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:58:38 GMT

A man arrested last year for allegedly stealing credit and debit card data from the Dave & Buster's chain on Monday was named in a federal indictment accusing him of illegally gathering information tied to more than 130 million cards, including those handled by Heartland Payment Systems, a processor that serves an estimated 60,000 restaurants.

Aramark’s Boffa: Remotely hosted POS gets an A for campus jobs

ALAN LIDDLE — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:58:38 GMT

The appropriateness of remotely hosting point-of-sale system software for multiple locations and relying on centralized storage for restaurant-level-transaction data has been a point of contention within the industry for years.

Customers welcome kiosks, but operators still reluctant

ALAN LIDDLE — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:58:38 GMT

North American consumers are embracing more self-service devices for ordering food, shopping checkout, ticketing and other uses, but some quick-service restaurant owners still have qualms about deploying such technology, researchers say.

RFID chips turn cell phones into coupons

STEVE COOMES — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:58:38 GMT

A new mobile-marketing tool in use in several central Indiana restaurants is changing the way operators promote specials to customers. The tool, called Tetherball, is a nickel-sized radio-frequency identification, or RFID, tag that sticks to the back of a mobile phone and simplifies the redemption of offers sent by text message.

Papa Gino’s CIO balances tech possibilities, corporate realities

JULIE RITZER ROSS — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:58:38 GMT

There are plenty of technologies to weigh during the course of Paul Valle’s workday, both sexy and straightforward. But Valle, Papa Gino’s Holdings Corp. chief information officer, knows that he can’t get distracted as he walks the tightrope dividing his department’s IT vision and overall corporate considerations, such as the cost of investing in new information tools and the need for a demonstrable return on investment.

Electronic loyalty tools punch out paper cards

JULIE RITZER ROSS — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:58:38 GMT

Moe’s Southwest Grill franchisee Neil Solomon was tired of being ripped off by customers redeeming counterfeit paper loyalty cards at his Altamonte Springs, Fla., outlet. So, in an effort to address the problem, he turned to a program built around text-messaging applications and handheld devices at the point of sale.

Study: Guests value virtual nutritional menus, table pagers

ALAN LIDDLE — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:58:38 GMT

A comparison study of restaurant technologies found that consumers felt tableside displays of virtual menus with nutritional information to be the most valuable, followed by pagers for table management and hand-held point-of-sale terminals for line busting, Cornell University researchers said.

FSTEC panel offers insights into revised PCI security standards

PAUL FRUMKIN — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:58:38 GMT

Even as the foodservice industry and other businesses digest the latest version of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards, experts agree that operators will have difficulty achieving full PCI compliance and completely protecting credit and debit card information.

Study: Virtual menus with nutritional info most favored technology

Alan J. Liddle — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:58:38 GMT

Latest transaction tech gains traction as operators explore POS possibilities

ALAN LIDDLE — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:58:38 GMT

At‘s Baggers, the HeineMack company’s Nuremberg, Germany, restaurant, food is delivered to tables on tiny trolley cars traversing roller coaster-like tracks. Patrons start their schnitzel or strudel on its epic journey with a tap to touch-screen, self-service point-of-sale-system ordering terminals positioned at eye level where they sit.

Domino’s upgrades custom unit management software

ALAN LIDDLE — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:58:38 GMT

Domino’s Pizza says overhauling the foundation of its proprietary Pulse restaurant technology yielded a system that is more secure, reduces downtime in failures and costs less to own.

Tar Heel Capital’s Ireland: Partnership sparks IT innovation

JULIE RITZER ROSS — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:58:38 GMT

Some franchised restaurant operators prefer to leave solutions development to vendors and franchisor big guns, but Robert Ireland isn’t among them.

Tar Heel’s Ireland: Partnership Sparks IT Innovation

Julie Ritzer Ross — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:58:38 GMT

Some franchised restaurant operators prefer to leave solutions development to vendors and franchisor big guns, but Robert Ireland isn’t among them. For the past four years, Ireland has served as director of information technology, or IT, for Tar Heel Capital of Boone, N.C., whose 76 Wendy’s stores across North Carolina and South Carolina make the company among the largest franchisee groups in the Wendy’s system.

Keeping an “i”on technology’s user numbers and promotional potential

ALAN LIDDLE — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:58:38 GMT

Shake your average cell phone, and the best thing that will happen is that it will still work. Shake an Apple iPhone or sister iPod Touch multimedia player, and you may be part of a cocktail lottery or experiment in better service.