Qu announced that Jack in the Box, Inc. is modernizing all of its Jack in the Box and Del Taco restaurants using Qu’s unified commerce platform. The visionary brand that introduced the two-way intercom at the drive-thru in 1951 is bolstering its innovation roots by partnering with Qu as the foundation for Jack in the Box’s digital-focused store of the future.

Jack in the Box will leverage Qu’s enterprise cloud platform to fuel multi-brand, omni-channel ordering and kitchen fulfillment, enabling the iconic restaurant brand to execute on its digital transformation roadmap and achieve its goal of 20 percent digital sales by 2026.

“We’re building for growth,” says Doug Cook, SVP and CTO of Jack in the Box, Inc. “Investing in this technology is key to our expansion strategy, increasing connections across ordering channels, geographies, and brands. Our partnership with Qu is the technology foundation we needed to deliver on our digital channel goals, drive automation, and increase efficiency.”

Everything from food lockers, automation, digital menu boards, and AI-enabled voice ordering to kiosks and personalized in-store ordering can be realized with Qu’s cloud-native POS and open architecture. New capabilities and features will be available quickly due to Qu’s frequent software releases and API-friendly approach.

“We weren’t looking for just a POS system. We were looking for a stable platform we could build on for years to come. Our digital roadmap includes constant innovation and multiple upgrades, but none of it is achievable without Qu’s commerce platform. I can’t think of anything we want to do in the next five years that doesn’t revolve around this platform,” says Doug Cook, SVP and CTO of Jack in the Box, Inc.

Speed, scale, and multi-brand support were key platform requirements. Between the Jack in the Box and Del Taco brands, the company operates more than 2,800 restaurants in 27 states serving more than 750 million guests a year. Although the separate brands have different guest experiences, they have shared technology initiatives. Qu natively supports multi-brand portfolios with one common architecture, menu structure, dataset, reporting, and API infrastructure—from one pane of glass.

“Jack in the Box’s business never stops. Their commerce platform needs to be available to their customers and franchisees all day, every day, on every channel—drive thru, kiosk, in-store, tablets, and especially online,” said Niko Papademetriou, co-founder of Qu. “Our platform was built with this exact scenario in mind. With this partnership, Qu demonstrates unified commerce in the cloud at scale for a true multi-thousand, multi-brand, 24×7 quick-service restaurant.”

With only 15-20 percent of Jack in the Box orders coming from inside the store, Qu’s unique Commerce Cloud plays a pivotal role in managing a high-volume drive-thru business. The triple redundancy of a replicated in-store platform, powered by the industry’s first in-store cloud, keeps stores up and running through internet or public cloud outages. Qu’s integrated kitchen display system (KDS) allows Jack in the Box to increase speed, throughput, and order accuracy across channels.

Franchisees will benefit from Qu by gaining more control and flexibility with an integrated system and access to Notify, Qu’s real-time mobile reporting app. Notify surfaces sales, labor, product, and store-level data using AI and machine-learning for busy managers on the go. The predictive analytics and forecasting capabilities of Notify help franchisees efficiently manage their operations and labor based on demand peaks and valleys.

“Qu is a fast, high-quality, and truly agile product, but our partnership is based on more than just the technology,” adds Cook. “The relationship we developed with the Qu team, and the level of support their teams provided, is a big differentiator. They took the time to listen to us and our franchisees and provided the solution we needed. I’ve had the pleasure of working for some of the world’s largest franchisors and technology vendors and I can say that Qu goes beyond.”

“Jack in the Box has always been an innovator. We’re proud to serve as a foundational element for their store of the future,” says Amir Hudda, CEO of Qu. “Five years ago, we started on a journey to build a platform that would someday serve as the engine for large multi-channel, multi-brand quick-service chains; we couldn’t be more excited to bring that vision to life with Jack in the Box and Del Taco.”