Technology

Qu acquires Fourtop, launches 1st Smart Kitchen platform

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April 16, 2025

Unified restaurant commerce platform Qu has acquired Fourtop, an AI-powered restaurant insights platform founded by Darien Bates.

As part of the acquisition, Bates has been named chief product officer at Qu, according to a press release.

In a LinkedIn post, Bates shared he believes Qu shares the same strategic vision as Fourtop: "to help restaurants implement advanced data and technology to improve the lives of people in the industry."

"We recognized that, to deliver on our mission of truly making lives better for restaurant operators, guests and other stakeholders, we needed to align with a company that was thinking about its technology in a fundamentally different way, that puts unified data at the heart of all its functions, and that is focused less on how things have been done and more on what we all can accomplish when we are truly courageous about charting a new path forward," Bates said in the LinkedIn post.

Launching the Smart Kitchen solution

In other Qu news, the company unveiled a first-of-its-kind Smart Kitchen solution at the Restaurant Leadership Conference earlier this week. The Smart Kitchen is built on Qu's data-first platform and features real-time equipment monitoring, energy optimization and predictive maintenance. It is designed to give operators greater visibility, control and cost savings across back-of-house operations at scale, accordingto a press release.

"Restaurants are facing an operational tipping point," Amir Hudda, Qu CEO, said in the release. "Operators and franchisees are under intense pressure to cut costs without compromising performance. Our ground-breaking Smart Kitchen gives them the advanced tools they need to meet those challenges head-on, unlike anything before — reducing energy use, extending equipment life and building more efficient, consistent operations across every location."

Key features of the platform include:

• Energy intelligence to cut utility costs.
• Real-time equipment monitoring and alerting with digital twins for proactive maintenance.
• Predictive maintenance using AI to prevent breakdowns.
• Remote equipment control for on-the-fly adjustments.
• Temperature and environmental control to ensure food safety, and
• AI-Powered forecasting to optimize staffing and reduce waste.

Restaurants using Qu's technology are reporting up to three-times ROI in the first year through energy savings, extended equipment life and improved product consistency, according to the release.

"This kind of end-to-end control simply hasn't existed in one solution until now," Manuel Schönfeld, SVP of infrastructure and innovation at Qu, said in the release. "As kitchens adopt more advanced equipment from a growing mix of manufacturers, a unified platform becomes essential. By connecting data across power, equipment and production systems, we're helping operators gain critical visibility and proactively detect anomalies — before they turn into costly disasters."