Merchant point-of-sale (POS) commerce platform Lightspeed is rolling out a new restaurant tool with analytics, payments and inventory management for a one-stop, unified solution, the company said in a press release on Thursday (Oct. 14).
As the world reopens following the pandemic, restaurants are increasingly getting more foot traffic but are finding they need different solutions than before COVID-19. Lightspeed kept on top the changing needs by making strategic acquisitions over the years to develop a new solution that combines the offerings of Upserve, Gastrofix, Kounta and iKentoo.
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Lightspeed Restaurant is a hospitality solution that offers an innovative POS, contactless integrated payments, digital ordering, inventory management and analytics. The new solution is intended to help restaurant operators tap technology for greater efficiency.
Peter Dougherty, Lightspeed’s GM of hospitality, said that the company has been working for years to bring this new solution to the U.S. and Canada following a positive trial in Europe last quarter. The new Lightspeed Restaurant will have a phased launch to select restaurants in North America.
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“Digital adoption has been an important lifeline for restaurants, and it’s clear there are greater efficiencies to be realized with new technology. Lightspeed Restaurant was built to meet these challenges by putting new data into the hands of independent restaurateurs to help them make smarter decisions about their business,” Dougherty said.
Technology was instrumental to helping restaurants hang on during the pandemic, with 90% of U.S. hospitality merchants crediting digital tools for their survival, a Lightspeed and OnePoll study showed. Some 50% of respondents said they need digital processes to automate tasks, especially considering staffing shortages.
Founded in Montréal, Canada, in 2005, Lightspeed in listed on the New York Stock Exchange and on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol LSPD. The platform serves retail, hospitality and golf businesses in over 100 countries and is used by major brands worldwide including Five Guys, Canlis, Momofuku, Tommy John and Vera Wang.