Nursing a turkey hangover? Actual hangover? Longstanding grudge against your in-laws? A quick glance at the past week’s restaurant tech won’t cure any of those ailments, but it may give you a two-minute mental break from the holidays as we leave Thanksgiving behind and head towards Cyber Monday and the month of December.
Herewith, the latest news in restaurant tech from around the web:
Amex Launches Reservation Booking Tool
American Express this week introduced a restaurant reservation booking tool in to its mobile app that lets Platinum Card and Centurion Members search, book, and manage restaurant reservations. In a press release sent to The Spoon, Amex said it will “continue to invest” in digital initiatives around the restaurant experience, a goal evident in the company’s recent acquisitions of Resy, Pocket Concierge, and Cake Technologies. The reservations feature can be used by select Platinum Card members now and will become available to a wider base in early 2020.
Multiple Restaurant Chains Announce Potential Data Breaches
It’s the holiday season, folks, which means more people whipping out credit cards to pay for goods, services, and meals out. But at least three restaurant brands are dealing with potential data breaches, Nation’s Restaurant News reports. Church’s Chicken is investigating a possible card data breach, Checkers Drive-In Restaurants reported a malware issue, and On the Border is looking into a security issue with the payment-processing system at some of its locations. All three companies have released statements regarding their investigations.
Wingstop Launches Online Ordering Extension with Twitch
In a bid to gamify the food-ordering experience, Wingstop has teamed up with livestream platform Twitch to offer an extension that will let users order food for delivery from within Twitch itself. The chain’s Wing Calculator asks viewers questions to determine their order size (e.g., “How many are in your crew?”), then makes menu suggestions based on that information. Viewers head over to the Wingstop site to complete the order and pay for it. Delivery is being handled by DoorDash.
