Dive Brief:
- Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores has selected restaurant technology company PAR Technology’s Data Central as its enterprise food management solution, according to a Wednesday announcement.
- The move is expected to streamline back-office operations and enhance the customer experience across Love’s footprint, helping the company optimize food cost tracking, improve reporting efficiency and centralize many of its operational processes.
- The technology can also help unify Love’s foodservice expenses. In addition to its in-house food program, Love’s network includes more than a dozen QSRs, including Carl's Jr., Hardee's, Arby's, Bojangles, Dairy Queen and Subway.
Dive Insight:
As convenience retailers look to boost operational efficiency, programs that unify their tech stacks are becoming more common around the industry. This can be particularly useful for retailers like Love’s, whose tech stack includes their in-house systems and those used by their QSR partners.
Since PAR’s Data Central can plug into multiple different point-of-sale systems, Love’s can use it to unify all of its tech stacks across its c-stores and partnering restaurants, keeping all food-related expenses in one place.
“The implementation of Data Central has transformed our operations, providing a comprehensive solution to effectively manage food costs across all our brands. It has empowered our teams to make data-driven decisions, helping to enhance efficiency and profitability,” said Margaret Barnes, operations lead at Love’s.
PAR has been building out its own array of offerings as well. Over the past few years, in addition to Data Central, PAR has acquired companies like Punchh, MENU and Drive-Thru Systems. Most recently, it added digital engagement company Stuzo, which brought its wallet-steering technology to the company, and acquired transaction management provider Task.
Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores owns more than 640 locations in 42 states, as well as 430 truck repair locations, and has more than 39,000 employees.
