Point of Sale

Domino's Pizza CEO Russell Weiner earlier today said “Our positive U.S. transactions and same-store sales growth in both our delivery and carryout channels in the fourth quarter underscore the strength and momentum in our business.” Durng the company's earning call, Weiner said “A big driver of the increase in active members, as well as the early success of the program...

Earlier in May of 2023, Wendy’s (The Wendy's Company (NasdaqGS: WEN)) CEO NasdaqGS Todd Penegor announce that the fast food chain would start test piloting  AI (Artificial Intelligence) drive-thru technology in June at some locations in the Columbus (Ohio) area. On CNBC’s Jim Cramer show on May 9, 2023, Penegor stated that the aim of incorporating AI into the drive...

Damola Adamolekun, the CEP of P.F. Chang’s Restaurant Chain announced earlier on CNBS today the introduction of the Platinum Rewards program which he called “a layer on top of our existing loyalty program.  The Platinum Rewards and loyalty program will be a subscription based costing $6.99 per month the which will include Free unlimited deliveryVIP ConciergePriority ReservationsFaster accumulation of rewards points...

Jersey City, NJ – June 1, 2022 – Sintel Systems Global POS, the industry's single-source and direct omni-channel point of sale (POS)  innovator recognized for its innovative QSR drive-thru tech solutions, announced the release of its latest automated fast food drive thru system.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqcunknkbGE

The fast food and drive thru giant announced a new restaurant grading system it plans to roll out in January of 2023. Dubbed PACE (Performance and Customer Excellence), the new grading system will include 6 to 10 inspections a year per location. Some of McDonald's franchisees feel that the new "grading systems may alienate workers." McDonald's responded by saying,“We must...

Chipotle Mexican Restaurant reported quarterly earnings with total revenues of $2.02 billion and EPS of $5.70. Same store sales increased by 9 percent as compared to analyst consensus estimate of 7.9 percent. Operating margins came in at 20.7% versus an estimate of 21.7%. The company cited higher food, beverage and packaging costs and noted that "price hikes partially offset higher...

Popeyes Louisiana Fried Chicken fast food chain, part of publicly traded Restaurant Brands International’s (RBI), will open over 200 locations in 2022 in the United States and Canada with the majority of them featuring double drive thrus. Popeyes operates over 3,600 restaurants in 25 countries.The QSR chain will open several stores in New York including ones in Manhattan Staten Island...

Jersey City, NJ – March 22, 2022 – Sintel Systems Global POS, the fast food industry's single-source and direct omni-channel point of sale (POS) innovator announced today the development of its most advanced Kitchen Display System (KDS) specifically designed to meet the growing needs of today's drive thru restaurants. The pandemic of the past two years has proven the vital...

Jersey City, NJ – February 14, 2022 – Sintel Systems Global POS, the industry's single-source and direct omni-channel point of sale (POS)  innovator recognized for its top-grade POS hardware and innovative solutions including QSR drive-thru tech, announced the release of its latest self-serve fast food self-serve Kiosk system. The onset of the global pandemic in March of 2020 further emphasized...

According to Krispy Kreme CEO & President, Mike Tattersfield, the top 3 items (ingredients) comprise 50 percent of cost of goods sold (COGS), but only 10 percent of total sales so they have been able to manage through the inflation challenge easier than others.  He also stated that they have been able to attract and receive three applicants for each...

Randy Garutti, the former Union Square Hospitality Group Director of Operations, and current Shake Shack QSR announced on CNBC earlier today that they company had opened its first two drive thru locations in Minnesota and Missouri. The move was called by Garutti "a game changer" as they plan to open 10 more drive thru locations this year and called the...

Domino's Pizza, the nations largest pizzeria franchise chain reported earlier today on CNBC that it expects its food basket costs to grow by eight to ten percent in the coming year. The CEO, Richard Allison, also cited labor costs as "a big factor" in the inflation factor with wage costs increases mainly due to supply demand dynamics of labor.In addition...

Restaurant Brand International  (RBI), the parent company of Burger King, Tim Hortons, and Popeyes with over 27,000 restaurants in 100 countries announced that it will acquire Firehouse Subs for one billion dollars.Firehouse Subs was started in the 1990s by firefighter brothers in Jacksonville, Florida.Jose Cil, the CEO of RBI called Firehouse Subs an awesome brand with exponential growth over the...

Panera Bread restaurants is planning on going public again after going private for $7.5  billion in 2017 by JAB Holdings . The company which also includes Caribou Coffee and Einstein Brothers  has secured investment from USHG Acquisition Corp . Earlier today on CNBC, Shake Shack founder Danny Meyer and the CEO of Union Square Hospitality Group expressed his excitement for...

The last 18 months have proven the vital role drive thru operations play not only in quick service restaurants but also other drive thru operations like Starbucks. The narrative has been very simple. As local and state COIVD-19 mandates left many restaurants in limbo from full closures, limited capacity, to  take out only, drive thru fast food restaurants not only...

Jersey City, NJ – November 3, 2021 – Sintel Systems Global POS, the industry single-source and direct omni-channel point of sale (POS)  innovator recognized for its top-grade POS hardware and innovative solutions including QSR drive-thru tech, announced several changes effective 5:00 pm EST November 5, 2021.  The changes are due the continued global supply chain disruptions in the semiconductors utilized...

With more than 30 percents of its 1,600 restaurants back to full operations, staffing challenges are impacting the ability to fully open the rest according to CEO John Miller on CNBC on Thursday. 

Krispy Kreme, the North Carolina based doughnut chain is going public under the ticker DNUT on the NASDAQ. The company plans to offer under 27 million shares at $21 to $24 per share.

McDonald's is to launch its loyalty program on July 8, 2021 to take advantage of the increased number of digital customers it has gained over the past year. The fast food giants mobile loyalty program, My McDonald's Rewards, will focus on the following. 1. Redeem Points for Free Menu Items 2. Offer 100 points for every dollar spent 3. Enhanced...

Taco Bell, the fast food franchise will offer free seasoned beef Nacho Cheese Doritos Locos tacos on June 15, 2021 at California Taco Bell locations .

Higher menu prices which were announced by Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) recently will results in better financial results in the quarters ahead according to Raymond James.

"Gonna put an old school drive-in, roller skates & rock restaurant at one of the new Tesla Supercharger locations in LA," Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said previously.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) operating  through Merchant Solutions, Issuer Solutions, and Business and Consumer Solutions and a strong Sintel Systems network partner announced the acquisition of Zego a property management software and digital commerce company, for $925 million.GPN Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jeff Sloan said, "We have further widened our competitive moat. With Zego we underscore our distinctive focus on software...

Panera Bread, with over 2,100 bakeries in the great majority of states in the United States and mostly owned by JAB Holding Company (“JAB” or Joh. A. Benckiser) which also owns Caribou Coffee and Peet’s Coffee & Tea announced it will unveil its newest store configuration concept by the end of 2021 in St. Louis. It will open the new...

Jersey City, NJ – November 3, 2021 – Sintel Systems Global POS, the industry single-source and direct omni-channel point of sale (POS)  innovator recognized for its top-grade POS hardware and innovative solutions including QSR drive-thru tech, announced several changes effective 5:00 pm EST November 5, 2021.  The changes are due the continued global supply chain disruptions in the semiconductors utilized...

Jersey City, NJ – May 10, 2021 Sintel Systems Global Point of Sale (POS), the industry direct and single-source omni-channel POS solution innovator released specifications of its latest POS hardware technology. The new Model 5.8i keeps with Sintel’s promise to offer technologically advanced hardware while ensuring ultimate counter appeal without compromising performance. While the majority of the industry opts out...

Food delivery platform DoorDash announced that it's purchasing on demand food and catering delivery service Caviar from third party payment processor Square. The deal is reported to be worth $410 million in cash and stock. Square purchased Caviar in 2014 for $90 million. This acqusition will inrease DoorDash's delivery infrasture. Doordash will also gain wider market appeal--currently DoorDash service mostly features...

Fortune 500 company Yum! Brands, parent company of Pizza Hut has announced that they will temporarily close nearly 500 hundred under-performing Pizza Hut locations. Yum! Brands is one of the world's largest food companies, they have some 43,617 restaurants in over 135 countries and operates the brands Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut, and WingStreet. The CFO and COO of Yum! brand, David Gibbs, said the...

Forbes recently released an article discussing how self service kiosks are finally catching on with customers. They cited a 2019 survey that showed 25% of restaurant customers have used a self ordering kiosk at a restaurant within the past three months—up 7% year-over-year. Furthermore, 65% of customers said they would visit a restaurant more often if self serve kiosks were offered, and 30% of customers prefer to...

We've reached the next evolution of omni channel options in the retail industry: stores that are solely for pickup and don't actually sell anything. Giant retailer Walmart is planning to open physical stores in population dense areas that are for pick up only. In July, Walmart opened a 40,000 square-foot prototype store (by comparison Walmart Super stores can be 178,000 square-foot...

More interesting tidbits currently happening in the restaurant and retail industries: • Remember Amazon Dash gadgets? They were plastic buttons to press to order a specific product such as Doritos or Tide. Dash never took off the way Amazon hoped it would. Amazon's already stopped selling them and has now announced all Dash buttons globally will stop working on Aug. 31. Not all omni channel...

Coming soon!

Often we blog about how e-commerce titans such as Amazon or digital food delivery services such as Postmates seek to provide omni channel options to busy customers. This time, let's discuss how omni channel ideas are being used a completely different retail industry, shoes and exercise gear. Fitness giant Nike began in 1964 as the Blue Ribbon Sports company, a shoe...

This week, ride share startup Uber quietly rolled out out a monthly subscription pass that would allow access to several Uber products: rides, scooters, bikes and food. The multi services subscription pass, which costs $24.99 per month, offers a 5% discount on rides, free Uber Eats delivery and free rides on JUMP bikes and scooters. The service is currently available in select cities...

Starbucks—the world’s largest coffee chain, with more than 30,000 location is investing in digital technology company Brightloom to improve customer convenience. Brightloom, which launched in 2015 under the earlier name eatsa, makes various efficiency based softwares including mobile apps, digital payments and shelves with integrated displays. Starbucks’s investment in Brightloom is significant, but neither company has disclosed the specific financial terms. The coffee company plans to...

Burger King in Sweden is issuing a challenge to customers. As part of a promotional campaign for its plant-based offerings, Burger King restaurants in Sweden are daring their customers to order from theirs new “50/50 menu,” meaning that Burger King will randomly decide whether customers get a meat or meatless burger. “We are really proud of how hard it is...

Today, fast food giant McDonald's announced that it's partnering with DoorDash. The company hopes to widen the reach of its McDelivery service to customers. McDelivery with DoorDash will start on July 29 with 200 locations in Houston, Texas. McDonald’s will also be added as an ordering option to DoorDash’s monthly subscription service, DashPass. Nearly a million DashPass members pay a $9.99 monthly fee for...

More interesting tidbits currently happening in the restaurant and retail industries: • NYC had a massive power outage on Saturday 7/13. The blackout, which started around 7 pm lasted until midnight, trapping people on the Subway, closing restaurants, halting Broadway shows, etc. No word yet on what causes the power outage. This illustrates exactly why using a battery backup system with...

Retail giant Walmart is using virtual reality headsets to assess which employees have the aptitude for middle management positions. For the past 3 years, Walmart has been working with STRIVR, an immersive performance training startup company to design and manage Walmart’s virtual reality training using $250 Oculus Go VR headsets. (Oculus is owned by social media giant Facebook.) In 2017...

Yesterday e-commerce giant Amazon announced a plan to invest $700+ million over the next 6 years to retrain 100,000 employees of its U.S. workforce. The education will help workers move into more advanced roles across various segments of the company including corporate offices, tech hubs and fulfillment centers. Amazon’s goal is to improve the skills and know-how of a third...

Recently we discussed how Chick-fil-A is now the 3rd-largest restaurant chain in America, according to the Nation's Restaurant News analysis published in June. However, we thought we should mention some of the fastest growing restaurant chains in America, many of which also appeared on the list, but due to their current size of the chain are not in the top...

McDonald's has a chicken sandwich problem, namely Chick-Fil-A's signature fried chicken sandwich. Yesterday, the board of the National Owners Association (NOA) sent an email to McDonald's calling for the chain to create a southern style chicken sandwich to compete with Chick-fil-A. NOA was created in 2018 and consists of more than 400 U.S.-based McDonald’s franchisees. The self-funded owner's advocacy group...

At the end of June property management giant CBRE put out the second installment of their 'Food in Demand' report which examines the state of the US grocery industry and how changes will impact industry players and their real estate strategies. The report considers all non restaurant food stores as 'grocery' so that means markets, convenience stores, warehouse clubs and super-centers. The report...

Walmart recently announced that it's investing 8 billion yuan ($1.2 billion) in logistics for its business in China. Walmart which has been in China since 1996, is facing growing competition from local rivals and online retailers. Walmart plans to spend the money to boost grocery deliveries. They have also created a plan to build or upgrade distribution centers in the country over...

Recently we discussed Amazon's $575 million investment in UK based food delivery startup Deliveroo,  how Amazon has struggled in the food service delivery arena and how Amazon Restaurants was shutting down. Speculation by industry watchers was rife that Amazon was going to use Deliveroo to gain a presence and foothold in the digital delivery market. As of this week, UK regulators have ordered Amazon to suspend investing in...

American-Mexican fast food chain Taco Bell is opening a hotel for a limited time this summer. 'The Bell' in Palm Springs, CA will be open 4 nights beginning August 8th. According to the Taco Bell website, all rooms are currently sold out. In 2012 Taco Bell introduced the slogan Live Más (“Live More”), and for Taco Bell fans, staying at the hotel seems a great way to...

Wishing a happy and safe 4th of July to all of our American customers!  

Interesting tidbits currently happening in the restaurant and retail industries: • Uber Eats has rolled out a 'Dine In' option for some cities.  Customers can order or food ahead of time, go to the restaurant, then sit down inside to eat. The service is now available Austin, Dallas, San Diego and some other cities. • For a limited time this summer, Sonic is introducing...

Cloud or ghost kitchens are fully equipped commercial kitchens that exist to produce food for solely for delivery or takeout. There is no brick and mortar location or dine in facility. As online delivery platforms such as GrubHub, Uber Eats and DoorDash have grown, so has the number of cloud kitchens, especially quick serve (qsr) cloud kitchens. The  number of dine-in customers has also decreased as...

For the month of July, KFC will offer a unique sandwich--The Cheetos Chicken Sandwich. Kentucky Fried Chicken has begun airing cross over commercials with Chester Cheetah, Cheetos’ mascot, as Colonel Sanders, KFC’s mascot. The very orange sandwich features Cheetos on a toasted bun with mayonnaise, topped with an extra crispy chicken filet and a special Cheetos sauce. Customers have written mixed reviews...

Since 2015, Amazon has celebrated its own holiday with Amazon Prime Day, offering deep discounts and deals to members of Amazon Prime. Amazon has an estimated 100 million Prime members. Last year, Prime Day was a frustrating experience for some customers as the Amazon website was unable to handle the volume of traffic it received. To prevent a total website...

CEC Entertainment, parent company of Peter Pan Pizza and restaurant and entertainment brand Chuck E. Cheese has partnered with on-demand food delivery service DoorDash to for a trial run of its new Pizza Party Pack in San Diego, CA. The Pizza Party Pack is a 12-person bundle featuring three large pizzas, a decorated signature Chuck E. Cheese’s Cake and party...

On June 27th, The New York City Council hosted an oversight hearing to understand the impact of food delivery apps on the restaurant industry. The central question for discussion was: Do delivery apps make financial sense for restaurants? Lately, many New York restaurateurs have complained about the high fees from food delivery services and how they're being squeezed. Third party platforms have countered...