Focus on inclusivity as British restaurant chain wagamama boosts talent attraction process with inploi technology

wagamama, which serves Asian food based on Japanese cuisine, says that it has transformed its talent attraction process, with a focus on inclusive and accessible candidate experiences, by partnering with inploi.

It first teamed with the company in 2021 to use its candidate experience technology for a management hiring campaign during the Covid-19 pandemic. wagamama then decided to expand the tie up, working with inploi to revamp its careers website. The firm configured a careers hub for its, making it easy for candidates to search and apply for jobs.

As a result, wagamama has cut time to hire by 50% and created a more accessible hiring process. This ensures equal access to all features and functions, with multiple adjustment tools including a seizure safe and ADHD friendly setting. 

wagamama previously faced challenges with measuring the ROI of its recruitment tools. inploi’s solution provided hiring managers at each restaurant with better visibility on time and cost to hire, enabling it to cancel three job board contracts that weren’t delivering sufficient ROI.

Now, its ATS, Talos 360, has integrated with inploi to allow it to track metrics and gain visibility on every stage of the candidate journey. The company also supported wagamama with a consistent candidate experience while changing its ATS, including handling reintegration. This includes spend and time to hire per candidate at a national, regional, and local level. 

Martin Wonham, Talent Acquisition and Employer Brand Manager at wagamama, comments: “Partnering with inploi has completely transformed how we hire at wagamama and created a smoother candidate experience with faster response time and clearer outcomes.”

“inploi’s technology has optimised our recruitment from end-to-end while creating a more meaningful candidate experience. The whole team’s flexibility and dedication to our needs has been key in helping us deliver a market leading candidate journey.”

Matt de la Hey, CEO at inploi, says: “I am very proud that wagamama has chosen to renew their contract with inploi. On a significant growth plan with many new restaurant openings coming, it needs a candidate experience that will continue to support its impressive growth.”

“In addition to a revamped careers hub and next gen search functionality, our advanced analytics implementation gives wagamama visibility from the point of first contact through each stage to the point of hire. This allows it to make data driven decisions, streamlining the hiring process and maximising their ROI.”

“We look forward to our ongoing collaboration, helping the team set a new benchmark for inclusive and effective talent acquisition.”

2024 RTIH INNOVATION AWARDS

Inclusivity was a key focus area at the sixth edition of the RTIH Innovation Awards.

The awards, sponsored by Vista Technology Support, Scala, CADS, 3D Cloud, Brightpearl by Sage’s Lightning 50, Business France, and Retail Technology Show 2025, celebrate global tech innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.

Our 2024 hall of fame entrants were revealed during an event which took place at RIBA’s 66 Portland Place HQ in Central London on 21st November, and consisted of a drinks reception, three course meal, and awards ceremony presided over by comedian Lucy Porter.

In his welcome speech, Scott Thompson, Founder and Editor, RTIH, said: “The event is now into its sixth year and what a journey it has been. The awards started life as an online only affair during the Covid outbreak, before launching as a small scale in real life event and growing year on year to the point where we’re now selling out this fine, historic venue.”

He added: “Congratulations to all of our finalists. Many submissions did not make it through to the final stage, and getting to this point is no mean feat. Checkout-free stores, automated supply chains, immersive experiences, on-demand delivery, next generation loyalty offerings, inclusive retail, green technology. We’ve got all the cool stuff covered this evening.”

“But just importantly we’ve got lots of great examples of companies taking innovative tech and making it usable in everyday operations - resulting in more efficiency and profitability in all areas.”

Congratulations to our 2024 winners, and a big thank you to our sponsors, judging panel, the legend that is Lucy Porter, and all those who attended last month’s gathering.