With activation of its data automation platform for Hart House and Nekter, Fourtop is transforming the fundamentals of restaurant operations.
As wages are set to rise in California with the onset of new regulations, two California restaurant brands are looking to fight back against shrinking margins using the power of their own data.
April 4, 2024
Washington, D.C. — This month, in the midst of new regulations going into effect in California, Fourtop is rolling out its advanced restaurant data automation platform for two California brands: Kevin Hart’s plant-based QSR concept Hart House and Nekter Juice Bar, acai bowl, juice and smoothie brand. Both restaurant brands are looking to leverage a foundational investment in Fourtop’s groundbreaking data infrastructure to drive improvement across business functions and fight back against some challenges that are threatening the future of the restaurant industry.
This February, the National Restaurant Association released its latest State of the Industry report, predicting that restaurant sales would top $1 trillion for the first time. However, the rosiness of the sales projections exposes a harder truth about the future of the restaurant industry. In the same NRA report, operators were nearly unanimous in their anxiety about the persistence of high food and labor costs and their impact on restaurant viability for the future.
The Fourtop platform brings together data from across a restaurant’s operational systems, including those systems used for marketing, inventory management, employee scheduling, and financial reporting. By processing and automating all of a restaurant’s data in sophisticated, optimized workflows, Fourtop can help restaurants achieve significant bottom-line results in real-time and at scale – two of the hardest things for multi-unit restaurants to do.
In a recent analysis of user data, Fourtop identified opportunities that could lead to a 26% increase in restaurant profitability, by activating and orchestrating data analysis across forecasting, scheduling, supply chain, and marketing to quickly identify inefficiencies and cost escalations and spotlight areas of opportunity for increasing profits.
“The most forward-looking restaurants are realizing that data should no longer be constrained to dashboards,” said Darien Bates, Fourtop’s CEO. “Data should be the fuel for driving more effective and more scalable restaurant automation in every area of the business. When systems operate in tandem, the value of data is multiplied.”
Every restaurant is a little different, and so too are the uses that restaurants can activate with their data.
For Hart House, a visionary brand founded by comedian Kevin Hart, which has put a heavy emphasis on investment in its employees, advanced data analytics are at the core of how the brand is discovering and enhancing the value driven by its workforce.
“Restaurants need to be assessing their labor value in completely new ways,” says Hart House CEO, Andy Hooper. “We have to start looking at the same kind of ‘Moneyball’ strategies that have worked in other industries to make the most out of our available talent. Humans are the most important part of running a quality restaurant, and we need to access and activate as much data as possible to put our people in the best position to succeed. We all win together when our data is effectively aligning our employee and business outcomes.”
For Nekter, a forward-thinking healthy-lifestyle bowl, juice and smoothie brand, which has led the way in both healthy-eating and smart technology applications, the investment in Fourtop’s system creates new opportunities at every level of the business, from creating greater visibility in supply chain and business management, to being a foundation for more advanced and responsive customer engagement marketing platform.
“Technology has been an incredibly important part of Nekter's success and there is much to still be gained from the technology currently available to us,” said Steve Schulze, co-founder and CEO, Nekter Juice Bar. “We have always been aggressive in its pursuit and exploration yet conservative in its development and implementation. That plan has worked well for us, and I will continue to challenge our teams to operate under those guidelines. The doors that will open due to technology advancements will continue to offer brands like us the opportunity to reach a large guest base, build a more efficient business model, and provide a better guest experience.”
In partnership with Fourtop, both brands are building additional automations to further streamline operational demands, improve profitability, and grow sales.
About Hart House
Hart House, one of Los Angeles’ most sought-after restaurants, is a plant–based quick service restaurant serving craveable, sustainable, and plant-forward food with the mission to be “plant-based for the people''. The menu features plant-based burg'rs, chick'n sandwiches, salads, nuggets, fries, tots and milkshakes, including gluten-free options. Founded by Kevin Hart and a team of passionate partners, Hart House is committed to the future of food by disrupting the quick-service industry with an affordable and flavorful alternative. All items are 100% plant-based with no cholesterol, antibiotics, hormones, artificial colors, preservatives, high-fructose corn syrup, or trans fats. For more information, visit myharthouse.com or follow @MyHartHouse on your favorite social site for more.
About Nekter Juice Bar
As the pioneer of the modern juice bar experience and the champion of menu transparency and ingredient integrity, Nékter Juice Bar was founded in 2010 to nourish America's increasing appetite for plant-based, healthy food options that promote and support various lifestyles and diet preferences. With a steady eye on innovation, the health and wellness brand offers a delicious menu of freshly made, clean and nutrient-rich juices, superfood smoothies, acai bowls, wellness shots, cold-pressed "Grab N' Go" juices, healthy snacks, and several natural cleanse options to help guests live "Better with Nékter." At its core, Nékter believes that "healthy" can taste great, be easily accessible, and be affordable too.
According to its 2023 Franchise Disclosure Statement, Nékter has one of the category's highest top quartile average store sales of $913,314, positioning it as an industry leader in the truly healthy juice bar category. Nékter has been named multiple times to the Entrepreneur Top Food Franchises list and has earned a spot on the Inc. 5000 Honor Roll, reserved only for companies named to the Inc. 5000 at least five times. Since opening its first location in 2010, Nékter has received tremendous recognition from multiple leading business and restaurant industry authorities such as Franchise Times, Nation's Restaurant News, Newsweek, QSR Magazine, Restaurant Business, and more. Recently, Nation's Restaurant News ranked Nékter in the top 300 restaurant brands in the country.
About Fourtop
Fourtop is an Automation Solutions provider for the Hospitality Industry. Backed by a team with deep experience in both technology and restaurant operations, Fourtop works with mid-market and enterprise level organizations to transform their tech infrastructure from a cost center to a value driver. Through its Open Automation Platform, Fourtop connects and orchestrates a restaurant’s technology systems to deliver activations that drive significant and measurable value to every part of the business. Specialties include, centralized data management, P&L automation, architecture optimization, labor modeling, fraud prevention, technology-based training, dashboarding and data visualization, customer data segmentation and marketing automation.
