Restaurant operators increasingly see technology as essential to their businesses, but new research from the National Restaurant Association suggests the next competitive advantage will come from connecting those technologies rather than simply adding more tools.
According to Research Insight: The Future of Restaurant Technology, 82 percent of restaurant operators said technology has benefited their businesses. More than three-quarters, 77.9 percent, expect technology, automation, data and artificial intelligence to be at least moderately critical to their businesses during the next five years.
The research draws on an operator survey, interviews with restaurant leaders and existing industry research.
“Restaurant technology is shifting from tools operators use to intelligence that helps run the business,” Michelle Korsmo, president and CEO of the National Restaurant Association, said in a statement. “Operators are skilled at adopting technology to solve individual problems, from ordering and payments to scheduling and inventory. This research will give those operators a practical way to look at their current technology stack with an eye to evolving it so the combined information across all their tools speeds up decision-making and elevates hospitality.”
Operators identified training and education as a particular need, with 56.5 percent saying it would help them adopt technology more effectively.
Cost remains the most frequently cited obstacle to adopting or expanding technology, identified by 48.8 percent of operators. Business fit and value followed at 43.8 percent, while 41.3 percent cited workforce and expertise gaps and 38.8 percent identified integration challenges.
A Cautious Approach
Artificial intelligence adoption remains relatively limited. The research found 38.6 percent of operators currently use AI tools, with 42.4 percent describing their attitude toward the technology as cautious and 26.2 percent saying they are excited about it.
Just 3.2 percent of operators said they are implementing AI projects companywide, while 20 percent are conducting small-scale pilots.
Complexity was the most common concern surrounding AI, cited by 46.1 percent of operators, followed by cost at 43.5 percent and customer acceptance at 41.9 percent.
Restaurant leaders interviewed for the research described using connected systems for applications including store-level, product-level demand forecasting and answering operational questions that previously required days of analysis.
“Over the past 25 years, restaurant technology has evolved from a collection of individual tools into connected intelligence that informs decisions across the business,” said Chad Moutray, chief economist for the National Restaurant Association. “Operators are using real-time data, predictive analytics and AI to move from reactive to predictive operations.”
The research also indicates that technology could change restaurant jobs rather than simply replace labor. Nearly half of operators, 47.6 percent, expect technology, automation, data and AI to improve labor productivity. Another 37.2 percent expect employee roles to shift toward requiring greater technology skills.
Restaurant leaders interviewed for the report said organizational issues can pose a greater obstacle than the technology itself. Those challenges include AI initiatives that move faster than companies' data capabilities as well as insufficient training and change management.
At the same time, operators continue to measure technology against its effects on hospitality. Sixty-five percent said technology has a positive impact on the hospitality their restaurants provide.
The National Restaurant Association's report concludes that restaurants may derive the greatest value from technology when systems, data, processes and employees operate together and technology gives workers more capacity to deliver hospitality.
The full paper can be downloaded here.