liveRES BOOKS TWO KEY APPOINTMENTS

Zonal Retail Data Systems, the UK’s leading provider of hospitality solutions, has appointed two directors for online bookings business, liveRES, which is part of its Marketing Technologies division.

David Charlton, 31, joins as sales director and Symeon Breen, 45, is the new director of development. They join at an exciting time for the Staffordshire based division, which includes TXD Digital Marketing, and is headed up by managing director Olivia FitzGerald.

Symeon was one of the founders and the chief technology officer (CTO) of liveRES. He has spent the past 18 years building reservations systems in the leisure and hospitality industries, from technical functionality, programming and security through to sales generation and marketing.

As development director, he will focus on the quality and delivery of liveRES as well as other Marketing Technologies products such table management and digital marketing tools offered through TXD.

He said: “I have been involved with liveRES since its conception five years ago. The acquisition by Zonal presents us with a fantastic opportunity to tap into a wealth of expertise, coupled with a compelling mixture of products and services that will help us develop best of breed products. It’s an exciting time to be involved in the business and I am looking forward to being part of the future.”

David also brings a wealth of experience to the role, having spent the last decade working in hospitality technology. He previously worked at Bookatable as UK sales director and from there moved into the mobile payment and loyalty space for restaurants, helping launch new concept brands such as Zapper and the Velocity App.

He said: “Being able to integrate online bookings and table management software with EPoS is a huge benefit for restaurant operators, so I’m thrilled to be joining liveRES at this time and look forward to building on its initial success.”

David will be looking to grow the sales team as it focuses on growing the liveRES portfolio which currently includes Spirit Pub Company, Carluccio’s, Girraffe, Living Ventures and Red Hot World Buffet.

Olivia added: “Both Symeon and David are extremely well connected individuals who understand the hospitality sector and the online bookings market in particular. I am delighted to have people of their calibre join our team as we pursue our ambition to become the leading provider of integrated marketing technologies and services to UK hospitality groups.”