Technology

Danny Meyer-affiliated company invests in 7Shifts

May 25, 2021

The growth equity fund affiliated with Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality — Enlightened Hospitality Investments (EHI) — was the lead investor of $21.5 million raised by 7shifts, a provider of labor management platform for restaurants, according to a company press release.

EHI's investment follows the implementation of 7shifts across USHG's portfolio of cafes, bars and restaurants and will add EHI to 7shifts' board of directors. The round also includes participation from existing investors, Ten Coves Capital, Relay Ventures and Conexus Venture Capital, 7shifts CEO Jordan Boesch said in the release.

"We are deeply appreciative of our partnership with USHG and EHI, both as a restaurant partner and now as an investor, and believe it is a testament to the value 7shifts provides to restaurateurs and their team members," Boesch said, in the release. "As the industry rebuilds, there has never been a more important time for restaurants to get more visibility into labor to improve long-term performance and profitability. Engaging with restaurant staff through data-driven, reliable shift scheduling will be critical to providing meaningful job satisfaction while simultaneously controlling costs, improving performance, and rebuilding the bottom line."

7shifts' network now comprises more than 500,000 restaurant professionals across 18,000 locations around the world.

"The restaurant and hospitality industry is about to experience one of the biggest periods of growth and hiring we've ever seen, and having the right technology in place to manage this process will be a crucial component to succeed," Meyer said in the release. "Our business leaders have been uniformly impressed and inspired by the staff management platform 7shifts has built, and we look forward to our work together to help further propel 7shifts into becoming our industry's gold standard."

7shifts will use this latest round of funding for scaling and deepening its capabilities in the core areas of scheduling and employee communication, accelerating technology integrations to provide a more holistic view of the business, and rolling out the next generation of tools purpose-built for restaurateurs, according to the release.