HotSchedules, Fourth merge operations

HotSchedules, provider of workforce and inventory-management solutions for the restaurant industry, and Fourth, provider of an integrated hospitality workforce-management and cost-control operations platform, have merged business operations in an agreement backed by Marlin Equity Partners and Insight Partners.
    
The merged company is a provider of end-to-end restaurant and hospitality-management solutions for customers—from a single location or franchisee restaurant to a global restaurant or hotel chain. 

The combined company’s complete software-as-a-service solution suite, which includes scheduling, time and attendance, applicant tracking, training, inventory management/procurement, HR/benefits and payroll services, now serves customers in 120,000 locations worldwide and is supported by a dedicated, unified team across offices in the U.S., U.K., Bulgaria, China, Australia and United Arab Emirates.
     
“Merging with Fourth will enable us to accelerate innovation,” David Cantu, co-founder/chief customer officer at HotSchedules, said in a statement. “As the two largest players in the restaurant and hospitality vertical, our combined strengths and industry expertise will ensure our customers have the solutions they need to solve complex business problems and remain competitive. We look forward to what the future holds and serving the industry together.”
   

HotSchedules’ core workforce-management, employee-engagement and back-of-house solutions combined with Fourth’s workforce-management and cost-control operations platform offer customers a complete back-of-house hospitality-management solution. Customers now have access to:

• An operations platform that seamlessly integrates with nearly every major point-of-sale system, finance platform and many industry-specific third-party applications.
• Single sign-on, integrated workforce-management and inventory management/procurement software.
• Robust compliance functionality to ensure enforcement of directives for labor management, safety, food and cash handling.
• Full-service, hospitality-specific payroll, benefits and HR services.
• Real-time operational insights, cost-control management and analytics dashboards.
• Dynamic, advanced demand forecasting via the company’s robust, predictive algorithms.

HotSchedules and Fourth will unite under the leadership of Fourth CEO Ben Hood and an executive team comprised of HotSchedules and Fourth team members. The combined entity will continue to support solutions across their respective platforms. The business will be headquartered in London and Austin, Texas.