Restaurant And Hospitality News – April 6, 2015
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
In news this week, a new security flaw in hotel Wi-Fi routers puts guests at risk, California Pizza Kitchen is finding new ways to target customers, Starbucks pushes out Subway as the #2 chain, and advice on adopting “Lean thinking” in the hospitality field.
Researchers Unveil Security Flaw In Hotel Wi-Fi Routers That Could Put Guests At Risk
Cylance, a security vendor, says that its security researchers at the Sophisticated Penetration Exploitation and Research team (SPEAR) have uncovered a flaw in the InnGate Wi-Fi router commonly used by many hotels that could be placing the devices of guests at risk, according to Wired. And, the Cylance team reported, the vulnerability could threaten not just guests, but could also spread to the hotels themselves if hackers are able to compromise the router to allow them to access other parts of the hotel network. Cylance says this could potentially impact reservations and billing. The vulnerability, dubbed CVE-2015-0932 gives an attacker full read and write access to the file system of an ANTLabs’ InnGate device, Cylance reports. Cyber thieves gain remote access through an unauthenticated rsync daemon running on TCP 873, which then allows them to read and write unrestricted to the file system of the Linux based operating system.
California Pizza Kitchen Leverages Data Insights To Target Customers
Los Angeles-based California Pizza Kitchen is leveraging Paytronix Data Insights to segment and target customers, according to a press release. "The Banding Segmentation has helped us get a handle on how guests move through the Pizza Dough Rewards Program. We are able to easily identify different guest segments for promotional targeting. For example, when guests join, and then don't return quickly -- we are able to reach out to them quickly before too much time elapses," said Ashley Ceraolo, vice president of marketing, California Pizza Kitchen. "Data Insights at Paytronix has enabled us to gain a better understanding of our guests. We are using this guest knowledge to boost engagement levels in targeted segments of our member population." Adopting the platform allows restaurant and retail marketers to benchmark their campaigns and set new achievable goals, according to Lee Barnes, head of Paytronix Data Insights. "Customers who collaborate with us to pair good analysis with targeted campaigns find they can drive spending by 10 to 20 percent within their loyalty programs."
McDonald’s, Starbucks, Subway, Burger King, and Wendy’s Are The Top 5 Chains
Starbucks has bumped out Subway as the number 2 chain restaurant in America, according to the restaurant industry's widely watched annual report on domestic sales, "2015 Top 500 Chain Report," compiled by the research firm Techonomic. USA Today reported that Starbucks recorded almost $12.7 billion in U.S. sales in 2014, ahead of Subway’s reported $11.9 billion. McDonald’s remains the clear leader, with U.S. sales of $35.8 billion in 2014. Of course McDonald’s has been experiencing falling sales, and Darren Tristano, executive vice president at Techtronic, predicts that a new battle for the top spot might still be in the works. “It would take an enormous negative impact from McDonald’s to do that, but if Starbucks continues its growth path, you might see 15 years down the road that they could pass McDonald’s.
How To “Think Lean” In the Hospitality Business
This article from ehotelier examines the lean business model and suggests ways to incorporate it into your organization. Lean thinking emphasizing centering all thought and action on the customer and her demands, and is an excellent way to meet the common challenges of the travel and hospitality market. This approach requires a mindset shift, according to the article, in which hoteliers build a culture that understands and responds to the increasingly complex and shifting customer needs. Engaging in lean thinking means envisioning, strategizing, developing, implementing, improving, and sustaining a program of services. As the article states, “Failures often occur when there is a general misunderstanding in the organization of how to acquire the lean process. It is therefore key that whoever is appointed as a lean agent or specialist to the organization should incorporate different ways to interact and exchange information between people from different departments, to engage all the people in the organization and to narrow down the number of possible interpretations. The objective is to strive for a coordinated action.”