Sales Technology Firm Rings Up More Business

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Sales Technology Firm Rings Up More Business
Connected: Appetize’s sales software functions on registers and tablets.

Playa Vista point-of-sale technology company Appetize Technologies Inc. is expanding its convention center business.

Appetize, whose software systems are used at concession stands in stadiums and universities, announced last month that it signed four more convention centers as clients. Those additions brought its total number of convention centers to about a dozen, out of 700 venues of all types that use its systems.

All of the new convention center clients, which Appetize said host a combined 800 events a year, bought a mix of software for fixed point-of-sale transactions, such as those processed through a tablet, and for devices held by a cashier, according to Chief Strategy Officer Kevin Anderson. A couple of them bought software for self-service kiosks.

“For convention centers, they’re similar to (arenas and stadiums) in that they have different events coming in every day and night, but the format of each one is so different,” said Anderson. “It puts a lot of value on the ease and flexibility of the systems.”

The new venues include the San Jose McEnery Convention Center; the Wildwoods Convention Center in Wildwood, N.J.; the Phoenix Convention Center; and the Overland Park Convention Center in Overland Park, Kan.

Appetize, whose systems are mostly used for food and beverage transactions, charges venues an installation fee in addition to a yearly software license fee. Anderson declined to disclose revenue or the number of software licenses that have been bought.

The 6-year-old company says that its software allows venues to process transactions more quickly than traditional hardware-based systems and provides data that can be used to improve business.

Its customer list includes Beverly Hills live-entertainment promoter and producer Live Nation Worldwide Inc. and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Its competitors include some heavy hitters, such as Oracle Corp.’s Micros Systems, Hewlett-Packard Co. and Cisco Systems Inc.

Appetize nonetheless raised $20 million in December through alternative investment firm Shamrock Capital Advisors and arena development company Oak View Group, both of Westwood.

Advocacy Angle

Grocery subscription service Thrive Market is looking for ways to expand its business as Amazon.com Inc. moves into the grocery industry with the recent acquisition of Whole Foods Market Inc.

Marina del Rey-based Thrive, which aims to provide organic and nongenetically modified foods to consumers who live in areas where such fare is hard to find, generated more than $100 million in sales last year and has more than 500 employees, according to a company spokeswoman.

It has raised almost $162 million since the company’s 2014 founding, according to Crunchbase. Thrive now intends to focus on its advocacy work, the company said last month, citing the Amazon deal.

“As we see consolidation in the grocery industry, one way we see to differentiate ourselves is through our giving program and advocacy work,” said co-founder Gunnar Lovelace.

Lovelace said he will step down as co-CEO to helm the philanthropic and advocacy work as the new chief strategy officer. And starting this month, Lovelace and his co-founders Nick Green and Sasha Siddhartha plan to match and double the approximately $40,000 that customers donate monthly for free Thrive subscriptions to low-income people. The initiative will run through the end of the year.

The company charges customers $60 for an annual subscription, on top of the cost of any food purchased. Lovelace said Thrive charges wholesale prices.

He said the company plans to launch one major advocacy campaign a year, similar to a June 2016 effort that urged the U.S. Department of Agriculture to permit food-stamp recipients to make purchases online. That campaign resulted, at least in part, in the government agreeing in September of last year to launch a two-year test program allowing food stamp recipients in a handful of states to make online purchases from seven retailers, although Thrive wasn’t included.

Beefing Up BBQ

Ono Hawaiian BBQ will mark the 15th anniversary since the opening of its first restaurant in West Los Angeles next month, but the 65-location fast-casual chain with a menu of Hawaiian and Asian cuisine is looking to add more to its plate.

The Diamond Bar-based company, which has outposts in California and Arizona, plans to open a total of five more in both states by the end of the year. All of its locations are corporate owned, but the company is looking for franchisees, according to its website.

Co-founder and Chief Executive Josh Liang wouldn’t rule out opening restaurants in more distant locales, but said he is more concerned with upcoming launches in Modesto, Bakersfield and Fresno.

“For the immediate future, we are going to focus on perfecting the concept in the markets we’re in,” Liang said in an email. “And in the meantime, that means tackling expansion within California, to the central region where we don’t have a presence.”

Staff reporter Caroline Anderson can be reached at [email protected] or (323) 556-8329.

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