Author Archives: Jay Fiske, President

Jay Fiske: Riding the Tailwinds into 2025

Originally published by Retail & Restaurant Facility Business: https://retailrestaurantfb.com/riding-the-tailwinds-into-2025/ As we look ahead to 2025, the retail and restaurant industries are navigating a rapidly evolving landscape, driven by technological advancements that promise to transform operations, enhance customer experiences, and reduce costs. The convergence of IoT and AI technologies is revolutionizing how businesses manage their facilities, […]

6 Ways Connected Equipment Can Help a Business Meet Its Operational Goals

It’s no secret that operational goals are intrinsically tied to the long-term success of a business. These shorter-term objectives are meant to drive the overall strategic plan and contribute to the achievement of the big picture. Operational goals help ensure that day-to-day business functions are running smoothly and provide concrete targets to work towards. While […]

3 Ways Smart Kitchens Help Reduce Stress During Labor Shortages

The food service industry was hit hard by the pandemic and unfortunately, the problems aren’t in the rearview mirror just yet. When restaurants across the nation were forced to close, owners looked forward to a time when their empty tables would be full again. But with that day here, many are still struggling; not because […]

Demand Charges

  If you take a close look at many commercial electrical bills, you’ll note something called a “demand charge”. This is a fee the utility charges you based on the maximum amount of power your facility required during any 15-30-minute interval over the last billing period. Essentially, this is a fee the utility imposes on […]

Ghost Kitchens and the Rise of the Connected Facility

Ghost kitchens – companies providing kitchen infrastructure for new or existing food service concepts looking to expand quickly with delivery-only offerings – are rapidly gaining steam in our “new normal” and are poised to transform a significant portion of the food service industry. While there are a few different iterations on the ghost kitchen business […]

Innovating and Winning in the New Normal

In the hospitality industry, the customer experience is obviously critical.  Part of the customer experience in dine-in facilities is their physical comfort, and part of our SiteSage solution helps to ensure consistently comfortable restaurant temperatures through our enterprise-wide control and diagnostics of heating and cooling systems.    However, as restaurants rebuild their revenue streams in […]

This update to the CARES Act may provide additional tax relief for SiteSage users

With all the COVID-related challenges in retail and food service these days, we’re all looking for ways to controls costs.  While it may be a bit tedious to wade through, there are some changes to the federal tax code that may provide some relief.    We’ve come across some updates to the CARES Act that […]

Three Predictions for the New Normal

As restaurants and retailers begin reopening across the country, we have been reflecting on how our “new normal” in a pandemic-wary world will change the ways in which our food service and retail customers act.  For our typical users, who are focused on facilities maintenance, energy consumption, or food safety and product quality, three themes […]

Getting Ready to Re-open; What can be Done to Minimize Risks?

Restaurants are being allowed to re-open in many parts of the country, typically with some level of restriction that may vary widely from state to state.  In my home state of Massachusetts, one of the hardest hit by COVID-19, restaurants have been able to re-open as of last week – for outdoor dining only. Texas […]

Arby’s and Inspire Brands Lead the Way Toward the Smart Connected Enterprise

At a recent industry event, held just before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, Powerhouse Dynamics’ customer Inspire Brands, which owns Arby’s, Buffalo Wild Wings, Sonic, Rusty Taco and Jimmy John’s, gave a presentation on its innovative and industry-leading use of “internet of things”-based technology to save time, money and labor along with a slew […]

When Crisis Strikes – Five Below and Lush Cosmetics discuss facilities best practices

Earlier this week, we hosted a webinar and invited two of our valued customer partners, Five Below and Lush Cosmetics in an informal panel discussion on facilities best practices to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus. Amy Stelmaszyk, Energy Systems Manager for Five Below and Richard Outhwaite, Sustainability Analyst with Lush Cosmetics may manage different […]