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Modulr has become a direct participant in CHAPS, the UK's same-day high-value payment scheme, settling directly at the Bank of England. The move makes Modulr the only non-bank payment service provider with direct access to all three major UK payment schemes: Faster Payments, Bacs, and CHAPS. For vendors selling payment infrastructure into hospitality, it removes a structural dependency that has historically pushed high-value flows through incumbent banks.
CHAPS is not a peripheral system. In 2025 it settled £93.9tn across a record 53.3mn payments, averaging £371.3bn every working day, according to the Bank of England. Direct participation means Modulr no longer routes those settlements through a sponsor bank, which cuts a layer of latency and counterparty risk from the chain.
"Becoming a direct participant in CHAPS is a landmark moment for Modulr; we are now the only non-bank payment service provider in the UK connected directly to all three major UK payment schemes, which uniquely positions us in the market to provide a resilient payments automation platform that scales with our customers," said Myles Stephenson, Founder & CEO, Modulr.
What direct CHAPS access changes for hospitality vendors
The practical effect is felt most in high-value and time-sensitive payment scenarios. Hotel groups settling supplier invoices, event venues processing large deposits, or multi-site operators consolidating daily takings all sit in the value band where CHAPS matters. A vendor whose platform can offer same-day, Bank of England-settled payments without a sponsor bank in the middle has a different technical story to tell.
That matters because payment vendors competing for hospitality contracts are often asked the same question: how fast does money actually move, and who touches it on the way. Direct scheme access is a concrete answer. It is also a resilience argument. Fewer intermediaries means fewer points of failure when a Friday-night takeaway surge collides with a bank holiday settlement window.
GrubMarket enters the UK through JR Holland
San Francisco-based food technology company GrubMarket has acquired JR Holland, a Gateshead-based distributor serving Northeast England and Scotland. The deal marks GrubMarket's first entry into the UK. JR Holland offers over 3,000 fresh products, including over 1,000 varieties of fruits and vegetables, runs a fleet of 32 temperature-controlled vehicles across two Newcastle-area locations, and employs over 120 people.
Its customer base spans restaurants, hospitality venues, foodservice operators, schools, NHS trusts and other public sector organisations. Following the acquisition, JR Holland will retain its brand and continue to be managed by its leadership team, with access to GrubMarket's proprietary AI-powered technology.
"Joining GrubMarket marks an exciting new chapter for JR Holland, our employees, and our customers," said John Holland, founder of JR Holland. Mike Xu, CEO of GrubMarket, framed it as a platform play: "We are thrilled to welcome JR Holland to the GrubMarket family as our first acquisition in the UK."
For vendors selling procurement, inventory or supply chain software into hospitality, this is a signal. A US technology acquirer entering UK food wholesale with AI tooling attached suggests consolidation pressure on regional distributors, and a likely technology refresh across the supply base as GrubMarket's systems roll out.
HeyGuest claims 43% of hospitality calls go unanswered
HeyGuest has launched Voice AI Ordering, a platform that answers calls, takes orders conversationally, processes payments and connects directly with point-of-sale systems. The company's research claims 43% of calls to hospitality businesses go unanswered, with 60% of missed calls relating to revenue-generating enquiries such as table bookings, takeaway orders and private event enquiries. Nearly 69% of customers abandon a business if nobody answers the phone, and 85% won't call back after reaching voicemail.
HeyGuest puts the manual cost of answering, booking, taking payments and entering data at around £30,000 per site, per year. The context is a sector under cost pressure: UKHospitality figures cited by HeyGuest put 23% of hospitality businesses operating at a loss, with one in six believing they are at risk of closure within 12 months, and 64% of operators expecting to reduce employee numbers as employment costs rise.
"This isn't about replacing people; it's about ensuring operators never miss another order," said David Charlton, Managing Director of HeyGuest. Operators already using HeyGuest's AI-driven upsell technology have seen an average 35% increase in spend per head, the company claims.
For POS and delivery tech vendors, the launch matters because Voice AI Ordering integrates directly with point-of-sale systems. Every venue that adopts AI call handling becomes a venue whose phone channel now feeds a POS integration point. That is a partnership surface, and a competitive threat to vendors whose ordering stack does not yet handle voice.
Azerbaijan's Bir partners to digitise hospitality
In Azerbaijan, fintech Bir has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Public Catering and Gastronomy Association (İİQA) and tech startup Clopos to deploy an integrated digital solution for restaurants and retail businesses. Diners scan a QR code at their table to access a digital menu, order directly to the kitchen and settle via Bir Pay or other integrated methods. The platform includes a digital tipping feature.
Bir claims more than 5 million users and describes itself as the first fully integrated banking, payments and e-commerce ecosystem in the Caucasus region. The original press release is dated Baku, Azerbaijan, 19 August 2026. This is a non-UK story, but it matters as a benchmark: QR ordering, integrated payments and digital tipping bundled into one stack is the template now being exported across emerging markets. UK vendors watching international POS rollouts will recognise the playbook.
A note on Peach Data
When payment rails shift, supply chains consolidate and AI ordering reshapes the front of house, the vendor's problem is the same: knowing which venues are actually in a position to buy. Peach Data provides verified, TPS/CTPS-screened contact data across thousands of UK hospitality venues. peachdata.co.uk