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Tech Tracker: Foodservice tech is now gamifying everything

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Tech Tracker: Foodservice tech is now gamifying everything Nation's Restaurant News is part of the Informa Connect Division of Informa PLCINFORMA PLC|ABOUT US|INVESTOR RELATIONS|TALENTThis site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.About UsSubscribeAdvertiseMultimediaSubscribeSubscribeOperationsRelated TopicsMarketing & BrandingLaborDelivery & Takeout SolutionsEquipmentFood SafetyExecutivesRecent in OperationsSee AllCasual DiningRed Robin gains traffic traction from its value, marketing shiftsRed Robin gains traffic traction from its value, marketing shiftsbyAlicia KelsoFeb 26, 20263 Min ReadQuick ServiceKrispy Kreme announces further refranchising plans after Q4 revenue declinesKrispy Kreme announces further refranchising plans after Q4 revenue declinesbyJoanna FantozziFeb 26, 20262 Min ReadTechnologyRelated TopicsAutomationDeliveryLoyaltyAI in RestaurantsRecent in TechnologySee AllSponsored Content2026 Restaurant Technology Outlook2026 Restaurant Technology OutlookFeb 26, 20261 Hr ViewQuick ServiceBurger King is launching an AI-powered employee assistantBurger King is launching an AI-powered employee assistantbyAlicia KelsoFeb 26, 20262 Min ReadSegmentsRelated TopicsFast CasualCasual DiningFine DiningIndependent RestaurantsEmerging ChainsRegional ChainsQuick ServiceEatertainmentFamily DiningHotel DiningRecent in SegmentsSee AllCasual DiningRed Robin gains traffic traction from its value, marketing shiftsRed Robin gains traffic traction from its value, marketing shiftsbyAlicia KelsoFeb 26, 20263 Min ReadQuick ServiceKrispy Kreme announces further refranchising plans after Q4 revenue declinesKrispy Kreme announces further refranchising plans after Q4 revenue declinesbyJoanna FantozziFeb 26, 20262 Min ReadFinanceRelated TopicsMergers & AcquisitionsFranchisingRecent in FinanceSee AllCasual DiningRed Robin gains traffic traction from its value, marketing shiftsRed Robin gains traffic traction from its value, marketing shiftsbyAlicia KelsoFeb 26, 20263 Min ReadQuick ServiceKrispy Kreme announces further refranchising plans after Q4 revenue declinesKrispy Kreme announces further refranchising plans after Q4 revenue declinesbyJoanna FantozziFeb 26, 20262 Min ReadMenu TrendsRelated TopicsFood TrendsBeverage TrendsChef TrendsSandwich TrendsMenuMasters SpotlightRecent in Menu TrendsSee AllFast CasualOperational improvements lead to robust 2025 for Shake ShackOperational improvements lead to robust 2025 for Shake ShackFeb 26, 20267 Min ReadQuick ServiceBurger King has upgraded its signature WhopperBurger King has upgraded its signature WhopperbyAlicia KelsoFeb 26, 20263 Min ReadInsightsRelated TopicsRestaurant ExperienceExpert OpinionsTop 500 RestaurantsSupplier NewsRecent in InsightsSee AllSupplier NewsNational Restaurant Association Show Names 20 Kitchen Innovations Award Recipients for 2026National Restaurant Association Show Names 20 Kitchen Innovations Award Recipients for 2026Feb 26, 20262 Min ReadInsightsNational Restaurant Association CEO: ‘Cautious optimism’ for growth in 2026National Restaurant Association CEO: ‘Cautious optimism’ for growth in 2026bySam OchesFeb 26, 2026MultimediaResourcesRelated TopicsSignature CEO Series2026 Technology Outlook Report2025 Off-Premises Report2025 AI Insights ReportEvent Recap: CREATEEvent Insider: CREATE2025 FSTEC Show RecapEvent Insider: FSTEC2025 FSTEC Pre-Show Tech Guide2025 Restaurant Show RecapEvent Insider: Restaurant ShowEvent Recap: RLC2025 Data Insights ReportSustainability Outlook 2025Sponsored ByEquipmentMergers & AcquisitionsSupplier NewsTech TrackerTech TrackerTech Tracker: Foodservice tech is now gamifying everything

The Devour Web3 food delivery platform lets customers play games for rewards; 1Huddle launched a new AI feature to gamify training manuals

Joanna Fantozzi,Senior Editor

July 15, 2024

6 Min Read1Huddle is gamifying the staff training process.1Huddle

Joanna Fantozzi

Gamification has been a buzzword in the restaurant industry for years, and usually refers to limited-service restaurants coming out with their own mobile games or adding a game of chance to the brand’s loyalty app. Recently, this digital marketing strategy has been expanding outside of mobile gaming to new platforms and customer bases.

Devour — a Web3-based food delivery platform that lets customers play games to earn rewards — just officially launched after being in community beta mode since last year. The 1Huddle tech tool gamifies restaurant staff training, and just launched a generative AI feature that can automatically turn staff training videos and manuals into interactive games. Like the mobile games launched by the likes of Jimmy John’s, Chipotle, and Chick-fil-A, these new and expanding tech platforms have one major goal in mind: increased customer (or employee) engagement through interactivity.

Related:How restaurants benefit from strategic tech integrations

In other news this month, M&A activity in the competitive voice AI tech industry is heating up as Soundhound and ConverseNow both announced acquisitions, a new tech tool has debuted just for cooking burgers at the right temperature every time, and more.

Tech Tracker rounds up what’s happening in the technology sector of the restaurant industry, including news from restaurants, vendors, digital platforms, and third-party delivery companies. Here’s a breakdown of what you need to know and why:

How Devour is gamifying the food delivery industry

Devour is a Web3-based food ordering and engagement company that launched its mobile platform in January 2023, initially with the DevourGo VIP membership, which gamifies restaurant loyalty, and later last year with a delivery marketplace. Last month, DevourGo officially debuted nationally after almost a year of beta community testing. 

DevourGo VIP is the company’s Web3-based loyalty platform, where users can earn exp points and level up (just like in a videogame) by ordering food from partner restaurants, sharing their orders on social media, or playing simple video games on the platform. Customers can then trade in their DPAY rewards points for merchandise, and larger prizes like an Oculus, drones, and vacations. DevourGo also offers loot boxes full of virtual prizes on the blockchain, and restaurant rewards, and just announced a cryptocurrency partnership with Coinbase.

“Think of it as similar to DoorDash or Uber Eats from a marketplace standpoint, but with gamified loyalty and digital communities,” Shelly Rupel, CEO and cofounder of Devour, said. “The idea is to keep users coming back to the app for more than just placing orders. We want business for our merchants, but we also want to engage users and reward them in a different way than we historically have.”

Related:Tech Tracker: How robots are finding their way on the restaurant floor

Right now, there are thousands of restaurants available on the Devour platform nationally. It’s free to join for operators and Devour is offering three to six months of no transaction fees for new restaurants on the platform. After that, there’s  a 10% flat delivery fee. On the consumer side, there are convenience fees that are lowered when they sign up for the VIP pass (much like DashPass or Uber One).

1Huddle is using AI to gamify restaurant staff training

1Huddle is one of several new tech platforms trying to improve the hospitality employee training experience, which historically is a low-tech and tedious process. While several companies out there have used AI to digitize and personalize staff training modules, 1Huddle is taking it to the next level with a platform that gamifies the training process.

The platform just released a new product called AI Assist that can use generative AI to automatically turn any staff training video, manual, or text into a videogame.

“Our AI generates a challenging series of trivia questions based on the content provided by the brand and is enriched by a database of over 178 million game questions that are restaurant-specific,” 1Huddle founder and CEO Sam Caucci said. “Our AI-powered games then adapt over time to each individual worker playing the games in order to accelerate learning, close knowledge gaps, ensure retention, and recommend new games to be played to cross-skill restaurant workers.”

Currently 1Huddle is partnering with TAO Group, FB Society (Mexican Sugar, Sixty Vines, Haywire, and Food Hall), Nathan's Famous, Dog Haus, bartaco, Bar Louie, and more restaurant operators nationally.

M&A activity grows in the voice AI technology sector

While NRN previously reported on ConverseNow’s acquisition of former voice AI competitor Valyant AI, this major merger isn’t the only acquisition news to come out of the buzzy voice AI sector. Soundhound announced this month the acquisition of online ordering platform Allset, with the goal of strengthening Soundhound’s place in the voice AI sphere and “building toward its vision of a voice commerce ecosystem.”

With the acquisition, Soundhound will be able to add voice AI features to its suite of capabilities wherever consumers are ordering food delivery via voice technology, including in cars, on smart TVs, and through handheld smart devices. Soundhound’s current restaurant partners will now have full access to Allset’s products and vice versa.

ConverseNow and Soundhound have emerged as two of the most powerful voice AI platforms in the restaurant industry as more operators add voice AI capabilities to the drive-thru, calling center, and more. With these acquisitions, the two tech companies are further solidifying their reputation in a tech industry that’s quickly shrinking as smaller foodservice tech companies are bought up by larger ones.   

Aniai robotics company unveils an AI tool for cooking burgers perfectly

Robotics company Aniai just unveiled a new AI tool that has the singular purpose of making sure burgers are cooked perfectly and consistently. The new technology is called Alpha Cloud and piggybacks off Alpha Grill, Aniai’s commercial robotic grill.

“We have cameras and sensors built on Alpha Grill that capture live photos of each patty to check the doneness, primarily done by assessing color,” Jiyoung Hwan, marketing manager for Aniai, said. “These images are then sent to our OS, Alpha Cloud, where we overlay AI to analyze the photos against historical data. Alpha Cloud not only provides real-time data, but also all historical data as well, which can give larger brands significant handling over their products.”

The product is currently in test phase and is being piloted in innovation centers of multiple American burger brands, while Alpha Grills are currently being deployed in 15 locations in South Korea.

Aniai also recently closed a pre-series A fundraising round of $12 million. Alpha Cloud will be going live early in 2025.

Lunchbox launches catering platform

Foodservice technology company Lunchbox just announced the launch of Cater: a platform and resource hub for catering operators and the company’s first community based on the expanding catering industry (which is expected to nearly double in value by 2032).

Cater is less of a tech tool and more like a digital community that provides news, resources, and catering updates for those in the industry. Lunchbox will also be creating the restaurant industry’s first Catering Council: a directory of experts who will provide masterclasses and tools to help operators ace catering divisions.

Cater is an offshoot of Lunchbox’s catering order management suite, Lunchbox Catering.

Contact Joanna at [email protected]

About the AuthorJoanna Fantozzi

Senior Editor

Joanna Fantozzi is a Senior Editor for Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality. She has more than seven years of experience writing about the restaurant and hospitality industry. Her editorial coverage ranges from profiles of independent restaurants around the country to breaking news and insights into some of the biggest brands in food and beverage, including Starbucks, Domino’s, and Papa John’s.  

Joanna holds a bachelor’s degree in English literature and creative writing from The College of New Jersey and a master’s degree in arts and culture journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. Prior to joining Informa’s Restaurants and Food Group in 2018, she was a freelance food, culture, and lifestyle writer, and has previously held editorial positions at Insider (formerly known as Business Insider) and The Daily Meal. Joanna’s work can also be found in The New York Times, Forbes, Vice, The New York Daily News, and Parents Magazine. 

Her areas of expertise include restaurant industry news, restaurant operator solutions and innovations, and political/cultural issues.

Joanna Fantozzi has been a moderator and event facilitator at both Informa’s MUFSO and Restaurants Rise industry events. 

Joanna Fantozzi’s experience:

Senior Editor, Informa Restaurant & Food Group (August 2021-present)

Associate Editor, Informa Restaurant & Food Group (July 2019-August 2021)

Assistant Editor, Informa Restaurant & Food Group (Oct. 2018-July 2019)

Freelance Food & Lifestyle Reporter (Feb. 2018-Oct. 2018)

Food & Lifestyle Reporter, Insider (June 2017-Feb. 2018)

News Editor, The Daily Meal (Jan. 2014- June 2017)

Staff Reporter, Straus News (Jan. 2013-Dec. 2013)

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