Revel Systems Signs up Dewey’s As Hospitality POS Rivalry Grows Ever Hotter

In recent years, point-of-sale technology providers specializing in the hospitality industry have had a tough go of it. First came the pandemic, which shut down restaurants across the country. And now, the business has emerged as perhaps the most crowded POS market in North America, with at least a dozen or so providers selling payments and ordering technology.

“It’s difficult. It’s hard. But we do what we can to position our brand,” notes Jason Cigarran, senior director of marketing for Revel Systems, a 13-year-old cloud-based technology provider that distinguished itself in its early years with its tablet-based point-of-sale devices for restaurants—a technology many players have since adopted for POS applications.

Revel still offers that technology to restaurants, with news of its latest move emerging late Wednesday. Revel said Dewey’s Pizza, a 25-unit chain based in Cincinnati, has signed on to use its technology chainwide. Pizzerias have emerged as “one of our strongest verticals,” Cigarran says, adding that the company also serves Lou Malnati’s, an iconic pizza chain based in Chicago. “We’re looking to build on that momentum.”

Revel’s edge, Cigarran says, is its open API (application programming interface), which will let Dewey’s enlist and integrate separate providers of services like loyalty programs, gift cards, and data analytics, Revel says.

The Dewey’s installation, meanwhile, has gone “smoothly,” Cigarran says, in part because of that reliance on iPads for POS. “It’s been a very successful rollout,” he says. The “Apple thing helps,” he adds, noting that Revel distinguishes itself from the crowd of POS providers with the technology giant’s equipment. “We’re the only one with an iPad solution,” he says.

Dewey’s has also adopted Revel’s technology for online ordering, a function that took off during the pandemic when customers were loath to leave their homes. Next, Revel says, the chain will adopt the company’s kitchen display system, which cuts out paper by displaying orders arriving from multiple devices.

But the scramble for hospitality business will remain tough. The latest example of that competitive market emerged earlier this week with the news that Waffle House, a major chain with almost 2,000 restaurants across the South, had signed up for digital ordering with Olo Inc., one of the many players now competing to offer modern payments technology to restaurants. For Waffle House, it’s the well-known chain’s first step in the modern POS age.