Fourth announces the release of Fourth iQ, the Artificial Intelligence for Hospitality. Fourth iQ is used by restaurant, pub and hotel chains to optimise their entire workforce and inventory operations to maximise profitability, increase productivity and enhance the experience of employees and customers.

“AI is transforming the technology landscape across industries and the hospitality sector will be no different. Fourth iQ marks a new frontier in how hospitality operators can easily embrace the transformative power of AI to maximise the profit of every location and create a competitive advantage,” states Christian Berthelsen, Fourth’s Chief Technology Officer.

Many of Fourth’s customers are already benefiting from Fourth iQ to optimise their employee scheduling with AI-driven forecasting, including national chains such as PizzaExpress, Big Table Group and Stonegate. As part of the expanded capabilities offered by Fourth IQ, customers can now apply AI Forecasting to their inventory management operations to maximise the efficiency and profitability of their purchasing, stock management and prep. A further range of advanced Fourth iQ features will deliver new ways to increase profitability centrally across all locations and boost the productivity of general managers at each location.

Speaking ahead of the release, Fourth CEO Clinton Anderson explains the drivers behind developing Fourth iQ. “With 25 years in the hospitality game, we are acutely aware of the challenges our customers face – profit margins are tight, as labour and food costs continue to rise; and the responsibility for driving efficiency is dependent on the decisions made by overburdened general managers who are often reliant on incomplete information and legacy technologies. Fourth iQ can overcome these challenges by using AI to generate ‘the next best actions’ informed by multiple data sources and defined goals; providing managers with real-time recommendations of how best to efficiently deploy labour, grow sales and reduce waste. It’s an incredibly exciting time for Fourth and our customers.”

In essence, Fourth iQ is a multi-faceted AI and Analytics capability that works across the entirety of restaurant chains’ operations, including HR, scheduling, payroll and inventory management. Fourth iQ is embedded into Fourth’s established suite of end-to-end solutions.

“A core aim of Fourth iQ is to create a ‘profit engine’ at the heart of our customers' operations,” states Christian Berthelsen. He continues, “By creating a layer of intelligence across all locations in a restaurant chain, Fourth iQ produces what we call ‘above store insights that drive in-store action’, to ensure every opportunity to drive profitability and efficiency is identified and actioned, whether by managers or entirely automated.”

The tangible benefits of Fourth iQ are already being realized by Fourth’s customers; AI-driven forecasting has enabled PizzaExpress to increase their revenue forecasting accuracy by 25%. The same combination of AI forecasting and intelligent scheduling led to a 15% increase in sales and 22% reduction in over-scheduling for the 16 location Thai Leisure Group.

Enabling customers to easily bring AI into their tech stack is core to Fourth’s vision for the industry. “In creating Fourth iQ, we are providing every hospitality business the simplest and most effective way to get started on their AI journey,” says Christian Berthelsen. He continues, “Our underlying AI platform provides the infrastructure to securely integrate data sources and train AI, then put it to work via our solutions and apps. Our experienced implementation teams do all the heavy lifting, including configuring the AI within Fourth iQ to what makes your business unique. There really is no barrier to getting started today.”

To learn more about Fourth iQ, visit the Fourth website. Additionally, The Fourth team will be at Hospitality Tech Expo on the 15-16 October and Hostech on the 22 October, where Christian Berthelsen, CTO, will be talking all things AI with customers and peers in the hospitality industry.

Nipul Chokshi nipul.c@fourth.com