Spotlight Interview: Brittain Brown, President of Givex |

Since joining global restaurant technology solution provider Givex in 2003, Brittain Brown has held various managerial roles in the National Accounts and Operations divisions and has been responsible for some of the company’s largest client successes. As President, Brown has driven Givex’s international expansion efforts and overseen the successful acquisition of new additions to the Givex family of companies. In the following interview, Brown shares his perspective on how restaurant technology has changed over the last two years, what excites him most about the future of restaurant technology and how restaurants can utilize next-generation platform capabilities to achieve ever-greater success.

What do you view as the biggest challenges and opportunities for restaurant owners?

One of the biggest challenges for restaurant owners is to get back on their feet after a challenging two years. One challenge — that is also an opportunity — is to re-engage with the staff and employees that are working in that industry. There is more hesitation for people to go back into restaurants knowing there is a risk that they will shut down again. We anticipate that there will be a new type of person that will engage with the restaurant space — through delivery or other ideas for service in the way the restaurant works.

How has the landscape of restaurant technology changed over the last two years?

Before COVID hit, we already knew that online and mobile ordering and delivery were important and were growing. When the pandemic hit, these exploded as absolute priorities, which of course impacted POS technology. We know now that the ability to order ahead, and order exactly what you want, where you want and when you want, are the most important to the consumer — and technology is able to support this better than ever before.

We are also happy that we are seeing people making their way back to indoor dining, providing another opportunity to improve and evolve POS technology. We are not seeing as many paper menus — we are seeing a lot of digital menu boards and QR codes, and are excited to continue to expand and provide technology solutions for all aspects of the customer experience.

What excites you most about the future of restaurant technology?

I’ve been working in this industry for almost 20 years — and what excites me is that every year, we are carving out new opportunities for growth. There is a population of people who don’t like change and want to keep things the way they are, but there is an even bigger population of people that are looking for something new. At Givex, we have always been about figuring out ways our tech can fit into the society at large — we aren’t trying to push things — and the opportunities are endless.

How does Givex differ from other solution providers in this space? What are some of the company’s future plans?

Givex is not a provider of just one singular product — we have a few branches of what we offer — and we are always looking for ways to improve the experience for the consumer and for our client, whether it’s in retail or in hospitality through POS, gift card, stored value or loyalty.

One of the ways we can expand upon and improve upon our customer experience is through an acquisition strategy. We have completed acquisitions in the loyalty, gift card and POS spaces to expand upon the number of clients we can reach with additional products and make our overall approach more efficient. Our acquisition strategy is designed to always complement what we are doing — and it’s working really well. Our focus is on solid, steady growth, carefully approaching how we expand into these products using our existing team of team players as a strong base. We are here for the long haul, not chasing short-term wins.

What have been some of the key milestones for Givex?

Our milestones have offered challenges and opportunities to try new things. In 2015, we acquired the Gift Card Processing contracts of Chase Paymentech merchants. With this acquisition, a large number of clients transitioned seamlessly into our system without any downtime, and allowed us to provide them with additional Givex products and services.

Another more recent milestone was the acquisition of rewards management company Loyalty Lane, which gives us a stronger foothold in the grocery and retail space. As we have gone through the transition, we have found so many things that Loyalty Lane has done so well and are looking forward to integrating them all into our loyalty platform.

What do you view as Givex’s competitive points of differentiation?

One important differentiator is that we do all of our development in house so we can react quickly to our clients’ specific needs without having to outsource it. It’s important for us to have that control over what we are developing. Another differentiator is that we are specialists in what we do — we are not a huge private equity company doing this as a side gig. Supporting the consumer and merchant is our priority and it’s our focus.

We also have a dedicated account management and client services team that is able to provide the 1:1 support that so many merchants require, which is unlike any other player in the space.

Givex’s POS technology allowed Meltwich to streamline operations across its nearly 20 locations throughout Canada.

Can you share an example of how a restaurant client has partnered with Givex?

One example is Ontario-based gourmet grilled cheese franchise Meltwich. As it prepared to embark on an ambitious international growth strategy, Meltwich chose Givex as its primary technology partner. Givex’s POS technology allowed Meltwich to streamline operations across its nearly 20 locations throughout Canada and provided the flexibility for Meltwich to choose the technology products that best fit its needs as it prepared its introduction to the United States.

What does your day-to-day look like? How has it changed in your time with the company?

My day-to-day life has changed a lot in recent years since I’m not riding my bike into work every day. One awesome thing that has emerged in the last few years is my ability to engage with more people from Givex. In our Toronto office, I had lots of face time with our staff. We are a global company and I am now able to interact online more with team members from our offices in the U.K., Dallas, China, Hong Kong and more.

In addition, I now have the opportunity to take fresh air bike rides through the trails and paths in Toronto. I never knew we had such green space in Toronto. I am also able to cook healthier and enjoy better meals at home with my family now that I don’t have to commute into work every day.

My day-to-day life has changed a lot in recent years since I’m not riding my bike into work every day. But, one awesome thing that has emerged in the last few years is my ability to engage with more people from Givex. In our Toronto office, I had lots of face time with our staff. We are a global company and I am now able to interact online more with team members from our offices in the U.K., Dallas, China, Hong Kong and more.