Automatic

📈 Revenue managers are shifting from Excel reliance to leveraging AI and machine learning for real-time pricing. They now focus on strategic decisions and human skills like persuasion, negotiation, and leadership. Despite automation’s benefits, the human touch remains crucial for context and empathy, challenging AI-driven insights. Revenue managers must ensure data quality and involve customer feedback. Success lies in interpreting AI data with human judgment, emphasizing soft skills over technical prowess in the age of AI.

📶 Visual AI integrated with existing CCTV can track customer demographics and behavior without new hardware. Key insights include customer footfall, labor efficiency, and drive-thru analytics, aiding in demand forecasting, staffing, and product placement. This technology optimizes employee movement and addresses privacy by sharing only aggregated data. Drive-thru insights improve service flow. Visual AI enhances efficiency and satisfaction in fast-paced food service environments.

📱 Boostly, awarded a U.S. patent, June 2025, enhances restaurant marketing by transforming guest data from POS systems into personalized messaging. This breakthrough aids thousands of restaurants in converting first-time customers into loyal patrons. Boostly's innovation involves collecting guest data, confirming marketing opt-ins, and sending targeted SMS to increase repeat orders. Following a $22 million Series A funding by PeakSpan Capital, Boostly expands with AI-powered tools, empowering independent eateries with enterprise-level marketing capabilities.

📊 In 2024, Rimowa and La Marzocco debuted a limited-edition Linea Mini during Milan Design Week at two pop-up cafes. This collaboration, likened to MSCHF's art stunts, highlights the trend of ironic cultural collaborations. Other notable collaborations include Rosalia with New Balance, Loewe with On, Simone Rocha with Crocs, Fendi with FRGMT and Pokémon, and Tag Heuer with Formula One and Kith, often dismissed as lowbrow yet embraced for their quirky appeal.

💸 Zebra Technologies Corp. will acquire Elo Touch Solutions, Inc. for $1.3 billion in cash. The acquisition aims to expand Zebra's market by $8 billion, enhancing self-service and consumer-facing capabilities across QSR, hospitality, and retail. Elo, with $400 million in yearly sales, will bolster Zebra's offerings with kiosks and touchscreen solutions, adding $25 million EBITDA in three years post-acquisition. The deal is expected to close in 2025, subject to regulatory approval.

🚀 GoTo Foods partners with DoorDash to offer drone delivery through Wing in Frisco, Fort Worth, and Plano, Texas. Tens of thousands of households now have access to Auntie Anne's, Jamba, McAlister's Deli, and Schlotzsky's via drones, which deliver within four miles in as few as 20 minutes. With Gen Z driving $360 billion in global spending, this innovation targets high-growth demographics. The service, launched in June, aims to increase accessibility and sales for GoTo Foods' brands.

📲 Boostly, on January 2024, received a U.S. patent for its innovative messaging technology. The technology transforms guest data from POS systems into personalized marketing messages, revolutionizing restaurant marketing. This patent, following a $22 million Series A led by PeakSpan Capital, empowers restaurants to engage with customers through behavior-based SMS campaigns. Boostly aims to provide smaller restaurants the sophisticated marketing tools typically available only to large chains, enhancing guest experiences and driving revenue.

📱 Boostly, a marketing platform for restaurants, received a U.S. patent for its technology that enhances customer data usage from platforms like POS systems for personalized messaging. This development supports restaurants in converting first-time patrons into regulars. The patent enables data collection, marketing opt-ins, and targeted messaging. CEO Shane Murphy highlighted its significance for restaurant marketing. Boostly's recent $22 million Series A fundraising led by PeakSpan Capital further boosts its offerings, including AI-powered tools and social media management.