Close Ad

The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Restaurant Tech Summit

5 Ways the Restaurant Biz Will Change In the Next 5 Years

If the last year and a half was about how restaurants could survive, this next stretch will be all about how they are and will continue to adapt to all the changes they’ve absorbed in the recent past. 

A lot of those changes have been around tech. In fact many would argue the restaurant biz made 10 years’ worth of technological evolution in the span of a few months because of the havoc the COVID-19 pandemic brought. Over the last year, online ordering has become table stakes, restaurants of all sizes have opened virtual, delivery-only concepts, and customer data has grown even more important for businesses to keep tabs on.

What do changes like these mean for the restaurant over the next five years? We’ll discuss that next week at The Spoon’s upcoming Restaurant Tech Summit. The virtual event takes place August 17, and you can still nab a ticket to it.

In preparation for the event, we’ve been publishing Q&As with restaurants, tech companies, analysts, and others who will be participating in the Summit. Below are some highlights from these individuals on where they see the restaurant biz headed over the next five years. 

Michael Schaefer, Head of Beverages and Foodservice Research, Euromonitor

“In the next five years, restaurants will become less synonymous with prepared food. Prepared meals will remain the primary business for restaurants, of course, and dining in restaurants will not be going away. However, the range of operators, concepts and venues for obtaining prepared meals and solving for daily meal occasions will continue to expand. Rather than a strict separation of restaurants and prepared meals on one end and grocers and packaged food and drinks on the other, we’ll see more of a spectrum, with a range of different approaches to prepared food and drinks, generally ordered via an app and often fulfilled by third-party delivery.”

Read Full Q&A

Allison Page, Founder, Sevenrooms

“We’re at the early innings of a data revolution for the hospitality industry. Over the next five years, hospitality experiences are only going to become more personalized and tailored to the wants and needs of guests – to the levels we see on an everyday basis from the likes of Amazon and Spotify today. The restaurant industry has been through a lot over the past year, but it’s one of the most inspiring industries to work in and be a part of every day and I’m excited to see what the next five years hold.” 

Read Full Q&A

Trish Paterson, CEO, Copper Branch

“There will be a surge in closings once the subsidies end — restauranteurs are focused on considering drive through and mobile pick up spaces for guests. There will be a stronger focus on touch-free technology (menus etc.). Due to labour shortages, there will be more focus on technology (robotics) for back of house and front of house, including self-serve kiosks, order from QR code at the table, etc.”

Read Full Q&A

Adam Brotman, CEO, Brightloom

“I predict we’ll see a couple of notable shifts. 

First, digital is here to stay and will only increase. Customers crave frictionless experiences. The accelerated shift to digital menus and mobile ordering and payment during the pandemic illuminated a new standard of customer convenience. If I can order ahead and arrange for curbside delivery with a few clicks on my phone, why would I ever return to waiting in line to order and pick up my food?

Second, we’ll see a rebalanced focus on customer retention relative to customer acquisition. It’s commonplace that loyal customers are almost always more profitable. Instead of over indexing on customer acquisition, restaurants will recalibrate their focus on driving sustainable revenue with existing customers based on historical transaction data.”

Read Full Q&A

Andy Wiederhorn, CEO, Fat Brands

“Five years from now, I think restaurants will be built upon the internet of things. Your POS talks to your grill, who talks to your fryer, who talks to your walk-in fridge, who makes an order to your potato supplier without a manager or cook having to lift a finger.” 

Read Full Q&A

You can hear all of these leaders at next week’s Restaurant Tech Summit on August 17th. Get your ticket today.

More Headlines

Ono Food Rebrands as Hyphen, Launches Makeline Food Assembly Robot to Work in Tandem with Humans – Hyphen just launched its Makeline assembly robot, which is meant to help fast casual restaurants quickly and accurately make meals for pick-up and delivery without taking up any additional space. 

Bite Ninja Raises $675,000 in Pre-Seed Funding to Virtually Staff Restaurants – The service allows restaurant workers to take drive-thru and counter orders remotely without interrupting the order process for consumers.

Kiwibot and Sodexo Bringing Delivery Robots to Three Colleges – Kiwibots will be rolling out to New Mexico State University, Loyola Marymount University in California, and Gonzaga University in Washington state.

This is the web version of our newsletter. Sign up today to get updates on the rapidly changing nature of the food tech industry

Q&A: Euromonitor’s Michael Schaefer Talks Restaurant Tech

Those with an eye on restaurant tech may remember that this time a year ago, Euromonitor predicted that the ghost kitchen market would be worth $1 trillion by 2030. 

That’s an enormous number to pin on what was then still quite a nascent sector. But Michael Schaefer, the Euromonitor analyst who made that prediction, wasn’t just talking about ghost kitchens for restaurants. He was talking about ghost kitchens that house ready-made meals and pantry/fridge staples, deliver groceries, and service other parts of the food sector in addition to restaurants. Turns out, he was right. Those lines between grocery, restaurant, ghost kitchen, and convenient store are fading as we speak, as much recent Spoon coverage can attest.

Michael is the Head of Beverages and Foodservice Research at Euromonitor International, tracking consumer trends, product innovations, and market evolution across the F&B industries. Needless to say, he’s hyper tuned into the state of the restaurant industry in 2021. Along with food tech investor Brita Rosenheim, he’ll help open The Spoon’s upcoming Restaurant Tech Summit, a day-log virtual event that will discuss the state, present and future, of restaurant tech. 

As a teaser, we recently got some high-level thoughts from Michael about where the industry is headed. Full Q&A is below. And if you haven’t already, grab a ticket to the show here.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

The Spoon: What is the biggest change in terms of the restaurant industry’s approach towards technology as a result of the pandemic? 

Michael Schaefer: There’s certainly a greater willingness to experiment in the restaurant industry. Some technologies, which were adopted out of necessity — such as QR codes for ordering — offer long-term benefits without compromising the guest experience. This will drive further experiments, particularly with technologies that can offer labor savings. 

What do you think the restaurant industry’s biggest challenge is right now? 

Labor is without question the restaurant industry’s biggest challenge in the short term. Restaurant work is difficult, demanding, sometimes dangerous and often pays minimum wage. The pandemic exacerbated these issues while extended unemployment insurance has given workers time to consider their options. This shifting cost-benefit analysis will create ongoing staffing issues. More restaurants will need to consider investing in technology that creates labor savings and makes the average worker’s job less strenuous. 

What is the biggest challenge for restaurants right now when it comes to digitization? 

Integration is the biggest challenge for restaurants when it comes to digitization, particularly among independent outlets. There are more options than ever in terms of systems and approaches to technology. This creates challenges in terms of finding the right solution and ensuring that disparate software and equipment setups can work together in a high-stress restaurant environment. 

What are you most excited about when it comes to the impact of restaurant technology? 

I am most excited to start seeing a range of new models that will reshape what traditional restaurants look like. A restaurant starting from scratch in 2022 will likely take a very different approach to staffing, tech, integration with third-party delivery and loyalty, among other strategies, than a ten-year-old business might. 

What do you think the restaurant industry will look like in five years? In the next five years, restaurants will become less synonymous with prepared food. Prepared meals will remain the primary business for restaurants, of course, and dining in restaurants will not be going away. However, the range of operators, concepts and venues for obtaining prepared meals and solving for daily meal occasions will continue to expand. Rather than a strict separation of restaurants and prepared meals on one end and grocers and packaged food and drinks on the other, we’ll see more of a spectrum, with a range of different approaches to prepared food and drinks, generally ordered via an app and often fulfilled by third-party delivery.