By Jimmy Frischling, Managing Partner at Branded Strategic Hospitality
Albert Einstein famously said that “in the midst of every crisis, lies great opportunity.” The global pandemic is most certainly recognized as a crisis and the Branded team feels very lucky to be positioned at the intersection of hospitality, technology and capital. For avoidance of any doubt, we define luck as the moment when hard work meets opportunity. Branded launched its investment and acceleration business to be an ally to the industry and to embrace technology and innovation like medicine as opposed to vitamins.
As an industry, hospitality has been among the slowest to embrace technology. We had come to believe that only coalminers were slower to embrace tech & innovation, but now that we’ve learned of some of the innovation that has taken place in coalmining over the past decade, it appears hospitality stands alone as the slowest adopter and certainly the most nostalgic.
With technology advancing at a faster pace than ever before, it is changing the way the industry conducts its business and the expectations of consumers. Branded likes to say that the pandemic has changed NOTHING for our industry, but it has accelerated EVERYTHING. Both operators and consumers have embraced 5+ years of technology in a matter of 5+ months.
As an example of the speed in which technology and innovation is being embraced, take a look at pay-at-the table. Prior to the pandemic, pay-at-the-table was 20-year-old technology that was widely embraced in Europe, Asia and Latin America, yet was almost non-existent in America. As a result of the pandemic, pay-at-the-table functionality has been leap-frogged, and the consumer now expects contactless payment solutions and there’s been a material demand for “BYOD” (Bring Your Own Device).
Not every technology and innovation will find its way into the industry and earn the trust and business of both operators and consumers alike. The best way for hospitality-centric technology and innovation companies to avoid spending time and money building a solution in search of a problem, challenge or opportunity is to work with a group of hospitality experts to ensure product, market and fit.
Branded has launched its first e-book and we’re excited to share it with our friends at the Mann Hospitality Newswire. The book captures some of our favorite verticals that our investment business has focused on and we’ve even included our recommendations.
HIGHLIGHTS
1. DELIVERY
2. CURBSIDE/CONTACTLESS PICK UP
3. VIRTUAL/GHOST KITCHENS
4. CUSTOMER RETENTION & LOYALTY
5. USING TECH TO MANAGE YOUR EMPLOYEES AND PATCH HOLES WITH AUTOMATION
6. BRANDED’S PICKS
Branded subscribes to the theory that “it takes a village.” Please enjoy the e-book and we invite you to get to know our Partner Companies and Branded itself. We love the community we’re building and invite other hospitality owners & operators and other investors to join us on this journey at Branded. The hospitality industry is being transformed and Branded feels lucky to have a front row seat for all that is happening.
