SevenRooms, a provider of marketing and operations technology for restaurants, has acquired text-message marketing company HeyPluto.
It’s the first acquisition for the 13-year-old SevenRooms and gives the company another marketing tool to offer operators. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
HeyPluto, founded in Boston in 2018, uses artificial intelligence to power personalized, two-way text messaging between brands and customers. SevenRooms CEO Joel Montaniel said in a statement that it would be “essential to our efforts to scale personalized marketing and loyalty solutions for the hospitality industry.”
Text messaging is a new capability for SevenRooms, which today helps restaurants interact with customers mainly through email. But it has worked to develop other touchpoints, such as Private Line, a product launched in September that allows restaurants to message VIP guests within the SevenRooms mobile app.
SevenRooms also offers tools like reservations, online ordering and waitlists that allow restaurants to collect customer data that they can use for marketing.
HeyPluto said joining SevenRooms was a “major milestone” for the company. “SevenRooms and Pluto share the same vision of building true personalization at scale and creating interactions that are worthy of people's time, rather than sending generic messages from a company's database,” said HeyPluto co-founder and former CEO Shana Opperman in a statement. “Combining that with the power of SevenRooms’ segmentation and data is going to be game-changing for operators.”
It is the second restaurant industry deal this year involving marketing technology. Earlier this month, Chowly acquired Targetable, which allows restaurants to create digital ad campaigns.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a Restaurant Business member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.