Livelenz Inc., a Bedford, N.S., maker of analytics tools for fast food restaurants, and Epson America, Inc. have launched a smart receipt printer that helps restaurant owners analyze their operations in real time with a view to increasing profits.

The launch is significant because Epson’s new Omnilink printer, which uses Livelenz's analytics software, is the only product available that allows fast food operators an analytics tool in a free standing printer. That means franchise owners can install it without an expensive upgrade to their entire Point of Sales, or POS, system.

What’s more, Epson -- the California-based subsidiary of Seiko Epson Corp. of Japan – has a 75 percent share of the market for receipt printers in North American fast food restaurants, which should help the partners roll out the OmniLink printers quickly.

“The really big news is that this technology offers the only POS-agnostic solution for data analytics in the [quick service restaurant] industry,” said Livelenz CEO Joel Doherty in an interview this morning.

Livelenz offers fast food franchise owners the analytic capabilities that are usually available only to larger corporations. By producing and analyzing data on sales, inventory and staffing levels, the system can tell the owners when to schedule staff, what products sell best at certain times, and how to reduce employee theft. This information helps to cut costs while increasing sales and profits.

The Epson OmniLink represents the next generation of analytic tools, and is offered in partnership with a company that dominates the market for receipt printers. It offers a cloud-based solution that allows the restaurant owners to retrieve and analyse the data in real time from any PC or hand-held device. It can be delivered through Ethernet or WiFi connectivity. The response to the new product has been tremendous, said Doherty.

Livelenz and Epson announced the new product at the National Retail Federation’s 102nd Annual Convention and Expo in New York.

Livelenz received a $1 million venture capital financing from Innovacorp last year, and the provincial innovation agency’s investment director Greg Phipps has temporarily joined the management team at Livelenz. The company, which recently attended 48 Hours in the Valley in California, is now working on a new round of venture capital funding with a target of $10 million.

Doherty said he hopes the company is weeks rather than months away from closing the round, but he added funding arrangements always take longer than expected.