Managing the Food Chain

I am not normally one to give much heed to press releases.  After all and as my regular listeners already know, I usually view press releases as being more about PR than about providing meaningful information.  However, when I received the release regarding the news pertaining to Applebee’s and IHOP, I was immediately transported back about 30 years to a time when “Industry Specific Applications” as they were called then, were a relatively new concept.  If you remember the MAI Basic Four you will know what I mean.  More to the point, I was reminded of Fisher Business Systems, which at the time was revolutionizing the hospitality industry my providing restaurants and hotels with what was then an unheard of capability to better manage their inventory and related costs.  We will talk about that later in the show.

However and jumping ahead to the here and now, and specifically the Ivalua and HAVI news regarding their partnership’s work with chains such as Applebee's and IHOP, I welcome to the show Paul Noël, who is Ivalua’s SVP Procurement Solutions and Havi Global Solutions Brian Benjamin to discuss the “Food Chain” in the restaurant and hospitality industry.