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For decades, general retailers’ ability to attract significant shopping traffic proved lucrative for neighboring businesses — particularly restaurant brands. However, mass store closures and a major shift toward online retail have pushed grocery to the front of the anchor tenant line. These days, leading restaurant brands rely heavily on grocery development data to pick better locations.

In today’s economy, rapid change is a fact of life. To maintain a successful, yet flexible market strategy, multi-unit brands need the right data and the right technology. By adopting an A.I.-driven platform, forward-thinking businesses can predict, evolve, and thrive with confidence in a forever changing landscape.

When COVID-19 brought the restaurant industry to its knees in February 2020, an interesting phenomenon occurred; everyone from hometown eateries to major multi-unit brands temporarily offered takeout and delivery to survive. Meanwhile, companies with pre-established off-premises systems (i.e. Chipotle), enjoyed increased revenues.

COVID-19 has turned once thriving cities into temporary ghost towns, forcing the permanent closure of over 3% of all restaurants nationwide. When in-store traffic evaporated between February and March, many could not sustain the financial blow. In an unstoppable ripple effect, mass layoffs quickly ensued, and restauranteurs scrambled to implement safe takeout and delivery options to stay afloat.

SiteZeus is proud to mention that Chuck Cooper, CTO and member of board of directors at SiteZeus, has been recognized as the 2019 CIO of the year honoree by Tampa Bay Business Journal.

For the second time, SiteZeus finds itself placed among CIO Review’s 100 Most Promising Tech Start-Ups, which highlights innovative technologies that are making the world an easier, better place for humans and companies.

With an accountable demographic still preferring to shop at brick and mortar shops in this digital era, it is a perfect time for retailers to think about leveraging location intelligence to maximize foot traffic. Here are specific ways to use location intelligence in retail business.

This year, SiteZeus had the honor of being recognized as one of the top ten tech start-ups in Tampa Bay by The Tech Tribunefor the second year in a row. We sat down with SiteZeus Co-CEO Hannibal Baldwin to get his thoughts on this recognition, as well as some insights into the challenges and opportunities the company faces as we head into 2019.

Restaurant chains such as Subway are tapping AI-powered tech such as SiteZeus to help them optimize revenue at new or relocating restaurants. Using artificial intelligence, Tampa, Florida-based SiteZeus is providing multiunit restaurant operators predictive modeling that can be used to select optimal locations for earning revenue — even if the location doesn’t make sense on paper. In other words, even premium commercial sites, often dubbed “A” retail centers or malls, might not work for certain brands, marketing director Jorge Hermez said.

Forward thinking retailers are increasingly embracing big data in their business decisions when choosing new store locations. Using INRIX big data, site-selection companies help retailers pinpoint their target demographics and see where shoppers are coming from and analyze the potential profitability of millions of retail locations.

The Tech Tribune staff has compiled the very best tech startups in Tampa, Florida. In doing our research, we considered several factors including but not limited to: revenue potential, leadership team, brand/product traction, and competitive landscape. Additionally, all companies must be independent (un-acquired), privately owned, at most 10 years old, and have received at least one round of funding in order to qualify.