Restaurant Tech Trends

Justin Foster

On Restaurant Tech Trends, we interview movers and shakers in the restaurant industry to identify how technology is changing the way multi-unit restaurants work.

  1. 3 DAYS AGO

    Amber Trendell, Sr Director Strategy for Restaurants, Oracle

    Today on 🍔Restaurant 🤖Tech 📈Trends I sit down with Amber Trendell, Senior Director of Strategy for Restaurants at Oracle — someone who lives at the intersection of restaurant operations and enterprise technology every single day. 📺WATCH AND LEARN📺 👉 Why kiosks and self-service are seeing triple-digit transaction growth between 2024-2026, and why the smarter upsell story (not just convenience) is the real driver behind that shift 👉 Where agentic AI workflows are being deployed across Oracle's stack, and why labor scheduling and inventory are the two areas ripest for "no longer needing to interact with a software application at all" 👉 How Oracle's PIER review framework (Payments, Integrations, Extensions, Reporting) is the secret sauce to avoiding the costly mistakes that derail enterprise POS rollouts ➕ PLUS: Amber's rapid fire answers on the most overrated restaurant tech trend right now (👀 dynamic pricing), the one metric CIOs need to care more about (hint: it happens in the kitchen 🍳), and her guilty pleasure fast food order. Spoiler: 🍕 Thank you Amber for the thoughtful conversation and for sharing such a grounded, enterprise-scale perspective on where restaurant tech is headed. 🚀

    29 min

  2. 13 MAR

    Kenneth Hallwachs, Head of Customer @ PreciTaste

    🍳 AI IN THE KITCHEN — FOR REAL THIS TIME 🤖 Today on 🍔Restaurant 🤖Tech 📈Trends I sit down with Kenneth Hallwachs, Head of Customer at PreciTaste — one of the most exciting back-of-house AI companies in the game right now. Kenneth grew up in restaurants (his dad still owns them in Germany!), went deep on ops at brands ranging from large corporations to 60-unit chains, then took a leap of faith into tech. And wow — did it pay off. 📺WATCH AND LEARN📺 👉 Why spreadsheet-based prep is a ticking time bomb — and why most operators aren't actually using them anyway (they're winging it 😬). Kenneth breaks down exactly what's broken and why predictive AI fixes it at its root 👉 How PreciTaste's demand forecasting works: 15-minute interval predictions powered by computer vision, historic sales, weather, seasonality, and LTO/event data — and why building this model in-house (not third-party) is a key differentiator 👉 Real outcomes from real brands: a Dallas operator dramatically cut prep labor time, and a Houston/Austin franchise group is saving a half to a full percent on COGS — enough to fund building a new restaurant without outside investment 🤑 👉 Where PreciTaste is headed next: a one-stop back-of-house platform, deeper labor integrations, and a generative AI layer that doesn't just show operators data — it tells them exactly what to do and how to fix it ➕ PLUS: Rapid fire! Kenneth's hot take on the biggest misconception about AI in restaurants (hint: 😬), the one kitchen task he'd automate first, and what kitchens will look like in 5 years Thank you Kenneth for the candid, ops-first perspective on what it actually takes to bring AI out of the deck and into the kitchen. This one's a must-watch for any multi-unit operator still running prep on paper. 🚀

    22 min

  3. 6 FEB

    Amar Narain, CIO & VP Information Technology @ Pizza Pizza

    🍕☁️ FROM DUMB TERMINALS TO CLOUD-NATIVE AI 🤖 Most restaurant tech leaders talk about digital transformation. Very few have actually lived every era of it. On today’s 🍔Restaurant 🤖Tech 📈Trends, I sat down with Amar Narain, CIO & VP Information Technology at Pizza Pizza Limited. He's spent 20 years inside the same brand modernizing it step by step. We’re talking: • Unix + dumb terminals • multiple full-stack rewrites • cloud-native rebuilds • fully custom POS / digital / call center • and now AI agents All while supporting 800+ restaurants and 20M+ orders a year. Amar's experience is real-world, “don’t break the business” execution. 📺WATCH AND LEARN📺 👉 Why Pizza Pizza builds and doesn't buy its POS, apps, and call center stack and how owning the codebase lets them move faster and avoid vendor lock-in 👉 How driver tracking + SMS alerts improved delivery ETAs, reduced wait time at the door, and increased driver throughput 👉 Amar’s practical take on conversational AI for call centers: it must be as good as a human AND cheaper per interaction 👉 How they’re layering AI personalization into web + mobile so frequent guests see what they’re most likely to order first 👉 His no-BS modernization framework for legacy brands: reduce friction --> align to business goals --> automate ➕ PLUS: Amar’s thoughts on analytics, cloud transitions, and the operational realities most vendors never see from the store level. If you’re a CIO, CTO, or operator sitting on legacy tech wondering where to start, this episode is a masterclass. Thanks Amar for sharing the playbook. 🍕📞☁️ #RestaurantTech #CIO #Cloud #AI #POS #Delivery #HospitalityTech

    25 min

  4. 28 JAN

    Jim Taylor, Founder & CEO @ Benchmark Sixty, Author of Bold Operations: Building The Foundation Of Strategic Excellence In Restaurants

    🧠 RESTAURANT OPS KNOWLEDGE BOMB 💣 Today on 🍔Restaurant 🤖Tech 📈Trends, I sit down with Jim Taylor, Founder & CEO of Benchmark Sixty Restaurant Services and author of Bold Operations: Building The Foundation Of Strategic Excellence In Restaurants. Jim has spent 20+ years helping restaurant operators cut through noise, rethink labor, and build calmer, more profitable shifts using people-first, data-driven playbooks. If you run restaurants and feel like labor metrics create more stress than clarity, this episode is for you. 📺WATCH AND LEARN📺 👉 Why most operators measure labor the wrong way, and why labor % is a result, not a strategy 👉 The 4 data points Jim asks for in every engagement and how they unlock productivity fast 👉 How a 26-unit restaurant group saved $600K in one year without cutting teams or burning people out 👉 The difference between high productivity and unhealthy workload, and why crossing that line drives turnover 👉 Why covers per labor hour may be the most underused metric in restaurant ops ➕ PLUS: Jim’s take on where AI actually delivers ROI today vs where it’s still early, why prescriptive analytics is the next big unlock for labor management Huge thanks to Jim for a thoughtful, practical conversation that every operator should hear. Full episode linked in comments.

    16 min

  5. 20 JAN

    Anthony Presley, CTO @ CBS NorthStar, Co-Founder @ TimeForge

    🚨NEW RESTAURANT TECH TRENDS EPISODE DROP 🚨 Today on 🍔Restaurant 🤖Tech 📈Trends, I sat down with Anthony Presley, CTO at CBS NorthStar and Co-Founder of TimeForge Labor. Anthony has been building restaurant tech for decades and it shows. This conversation cuts straight through the noise on POS, kitchen AI, labor, and why “all-in-one” isn’t always the answer. 📺 WATCH AND LEARN 📺 👉 What Kitchen AI really means in practice: predictive cook times, real-time promise accuracy, and why static Excel-based prep times are still killing guest experience 👉 How NorthStar is using predictive kitchen timing to prevent Friday night meltdowns when dine-in, online, and delivery all collide 👉 Anthony’s candid take on AI scheduling: why black-box schedules fail, and why AI should nudge, suggest, and pre-populate instead of fully replacing managers ➕ PLUS • The most common (and costly) mistakes multi-concept operators make when selecting a POS • Where automation belongs in restaurants and where humans will always win Full episode linked in the comments 👇

    24 min

  6. 15 JAN

    Brandon Barton, CEO @ Bite

    🥷 RESTAURANT KIOSK NINJA ALERT🚨 On today's 🍔Restaurant 🤖Tech 📈Trends, I sat down with Brandon Barton, CEO of Bite. Brandon's bar-none one of the most experienced voices in restaurant kiosks and in-store digital ordering. He's been in restaurant tech for 20+ years and has had a front-row seat as kiosks shifted from "nice to have" to mission-critical infrastructure across both QSR and fast casual. This conversation goes well beyond surface-level kiosk hype. 📺 WATCH AND LEARN 📺 👉 Why kiosks drive ~20% higher check averages when personalization and upsells are done right (and where brands go wrong) 👉 Why "anti-hospitality" is the wrong framing for kiosks and how choice (cashier + kiosk) is what guests actually want 👉 How Bite thinks about kiosk UX differently than mobile or web, down to finger usage and screen real estate 👉 Why voice AI on kiosks isn’t a guest or brand priority yet 👉 The biggest reason kiosk pilots fail (hint: it's not the hardware) ➕ PLUS: Secret menus, Shaq at Big Chicken, why pop-ups should be banned forever, and Brandon’s unfiltered take on POS complexity and integrations. This is a must-listen for anyone building in the in-store ordering space. Huge thanks to Brandon for the candid, thoughtful conversation! 🚀

    28 min

  7. 30/12/2025

    Danny Klein, VP of Editorial @ QSR & FSR, Producer @ QSR Evolution Conference, Originator @ Women in Restaurant Leadership

    🚨 RESTAURANT INDUSTRY HEAVYWEIGHT ALERT 🚨 Today on 🍔Restaurant 🤖Tech 📈Trends, I sat down with Danny Klein, VP of Editorial at QSR & FSR Magazine and producer of the QSR Evolution Conference - among his many pursuits. If you pay attention to where this industry is headed, Danny is clearly at the tip of the spear of the conversation. Don't miss this one. 📺 WATCH AND LEARN 📺 👉 Why Danny believes the #1 threat to QSR over the next 5 years is… QSR itself (and how brands get in their own way) 👉 The real story behind Women in Restaurant Leadership (WiRL), how it went from an "accidental" networking event to a 500-person conference and full media platform 👉 What’s changing at QSR Evolution 2026: new venue, upgraded production, and a keynote lineup that includes CEOs from White Castle, Shake Shack, Texas Roadhouse, and more 👉 Danny’s candid take on AI in restaurants: where it’s delivering ROI, where the hype got ahead of reality, and why small, practical wins matter more than moonshots ➕ PLUS: Danny shares his unfiltered view on the explosion of restaurant podcasts and the simple reason voice AI on the 📞phone📞 may be one of the most underrated opportunities in restaurants Huge thanks to Danny for the thoughtful, honest conversation and for everything he does to elevate this industry. If you care about QSR, the media in this industry, or where restaurant tech is headed, this one’s worth your time. 🚀🍔🤖📈

    26 min

  8. 12/12/2025

    Gary Liskovich, Founder/CEO @ Harmonyze

    🧠 FRANCHISE DATA ≠ FRANCHISE INTELLIGENCE 🚨 Today on 🍔Restaurant 🤖Tech 📈Trends I sat down with Gary Liskovich, Founder & CEO of Harmonyze, a company tackling one of the messiest and most under-discussed problems in franchising: turning fragmented franchisee data into actual, real-world performance improvement through better coaching. 📺 WATCH AND LEARN 📺 👉 Why franchise business consultants spend 4x more time prepping for calls than actually talking to franchisees and how that breaks the coaching model at scale 👉 How Harmonyze "harmonizes" (see what I did there 😂) POS, loyalty, delivery, kiosk, LMS, ops, and even recorded leadership calls into one intelligence layer focused on EBITDA 👉 What happens when coaching shifts from reactive, anecdotal check-ins to daily, proactive, location-level insights pushed to the right people 👉 Real A/B test results where franchisees improved performance nearly 3x faster than control groups in the same quarter ➕ PLUS: Gary shares why most of the best coaching insights don’t live in dashboards or manuals but in recorded Zoom calls with brand leadership, and how AI can finally surface that tribal knowledge at scale ➕➕ PLUS PLUS: Rapid fire takes on gratitude as a daily habit, the future of franchise coaching, and the correct coffee order for a serious ops conversation ☕️ Huge thanks to Gary for the thoughtful, founder-level conversation and for building tech that actually respects how franchising works in the real world. 🚀

    15 min
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About

On Restaurant Tech Trends, we interview movers and shakers in the restaurant industry to identify how technology is changing the way multi-unit restaurants work.

Information

  • Creator
    Justin Foster
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    54
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Justin Foster
  • Show Website
    Restaurant Tech Trends