A local restaurant tech firm is catching the attention of well-regarded industry investors in New York and notable national fast-food brands, such as Pizza Hut, by offering software that makes it less time-consuming to manage digital menu boards.
Santa Ana-based Vistify Inc. announced in August the launch of Menu Builder, a tool within the company’s flagship platform vMenu that allows quick-service and fast-casual chains to design and update their digital menus in under an hour without relying on designers or developers.
“Our mission is simple: to transform every menu into a measurable revenue driver, while giving enterprise brands the speed, control, and confidence they need to scale,” CEO Michael Mathieu told the Business Journal in an email.
Company executives say designing and updating menu boards is labor-intensive, often taking hours or days to create.
Vistify has attracted interest from investors such as Craveworthy Brands of Illinois and Branded Hospitality Ventures of New York City. Vistify said both firms are leading a Series A round that has yet to close.
Jimmy Frischling, co-founder and managing partner at Branded Hospitality, said: “Vistify checks every box: smart tech, hospitality-first design and a team that knows how to execute. Most importantly, it makes life easier for operators on the ground. We’re proud to partner with Craveworthy on this and help bring this kind of innovation to more brands across the industry.”
Craveworthy owns about 20 brands across the U.S., including Los Angeles-based Fresh Brothers and Shaquile O’Neal’s Big Chicken. Besides investing, Craveworthy plans to roll out Vistify’s software at all of its concepts in the coming months, the company said.
“Hospitality is the soul of everything we do at Craveworthy, and we believe technology should support it. Vistify helps us do just that,” Craveworthy CEO and founder Gregg Majewski said in a statement.
“With vMenu, we’re giving our teams and franchise partners the ability to move strategically and operate smarter behind the scenes, so they can focus on what matters most: creating an exceptional guest experience.”
How It Works
Menu Builder’s drag-and-drop interface works similarly to graphic design platform Canva.
Using a single dashboard, restaurant operators, can drag text boxes, stickers and wallpaper to their drafted menu, creating a fully customized digital menu without the need of coding.
Texts, fonts and styles are customizable to match the restaurant’s branding.
Restaurants can publish menu updates, ingredient changes and promotions, as well as add limited-time items in real-time across all their locations through vMenu.
“Operators can adapt to local demand, deploy updates in real time, and stay fully on-brand without needing design or dev support,” Mathieu said. “That’s a game-changer in today’s fast-moving QSR environment.”
vMenu Platform
Fast casual restaurants have used vMenu to manage, update and share their on-brand content, according to the company’s website. The platform connects directly with a restaurant’s point of sales system, like Toast and Square.
“Within that platform, Menu Builder is the drag-and-drop solution that makes it easy for any team member to build and launch on-brand dynamic menus in minutes,” said Mathieu.
Vistify is also looking to bring AI to its platform this fall to “automate updates, promotions, and decisions at scale.”
Brands such as Pizza Hut, Poached Neighborhood Kitchen, WaBa Grill and Urban Plates use Vistify’s vMenu.
“With Menu Builder, we’re not just streamlining the menu process—we’re transforming it,” said Mathieu.
