Fourth introduces a range of new features to help hospitality operators level up in a challenging economic climate

LONDON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Fourth, a leading workforce and inventory management technology provider, today announced the ‘Level Up’ product release for its AI driven platform, containing a package of new capabilities to help customers face economic challenges head-on.

Rising costs are front of mind for most UK hospitality operators in 2024, with April’s increase in the National Living Wage and business rates a key contributor to stretched margins and over-burdened teams. Other ongoing challenges operators are facing include labour shortages, food inflation, and price-sensitive consumers, all of which require innovative strategies to combat them.

Available to customers from today, Fourth’s ‘Level Up’ product release introduces capabilities enabling hospitality operators to increase profitability, efficiency and employee engagement in the areas impacted by the current challenges they face.

Key among the new features is ‘AI for Inventory’, bringing two AI capabilities into Fourth’s Purchase to Pay & Inventory product. AI Forecasting leverages Fourth’s proprietary AI to predict item-level demand, increasing the precision and efficiency of purchasing, inventory management, and preparation. Additionally, AI Invoice Processing reduces the administrative burden of manually processing invoices, saving time and reducing errors.

Fourth’s Managing Director, EMEA, Sebastien Sepierre, commented: “Since its launch in 2022, our AI Forecasting solution has been delivering great results for our workforce scheduling customers. It’s used by many of the UK’s largest restaurant groups including PizzaExpress, and growing chains like Thai Leisure Group, who reduced overscheduling by 22% while boosting sales by nearly 16%. Our ‘Level Up’ product release brings the huge potential of this technology into our inventory solutions.”

Other significant features in today’s release include:

Onboarding App: delivers a flexible and initiative onboarding experience, helping new hires get off to a great start.
Shift Pooling: enables operators to optimise their workforce by offering staff the flexibility to take on open shifts across multiple locations.
Precision Payroll: includes updates to help operators comply with the new Allocation of Tips Act which takes effect in October.
Employee Engagement: offers new ways for employees to update their personal information, eSign employment documents and ditch WhatsApp groups with a dedicated messaging feature.

Sebastien Sepierre said, “For 25 years, Fourth has built a strong reputation for continually delivering the technology innovations our customers need to succeed; We are acutely aware of the challenges facing operators at this time, and we’re proud to proactively offer our customers new ways to make a measurable impact on profits, efficiency and employee engagement.”

For a full list of the product features released today, visit Fourth’s website.

About Fourth

Fourth helps restaurants, retailers, and hotels conquer the day with data-driven workforce and inventory technology. Fourth serves more than 15,000 customers across 100,000 locations globally.