A panel of industry executives highlighted the need for more hospitality in restaurants. | Photo by W. Scott Miller Photography.
Wait, isn’t FSTEC a technology conference?
On Sunday, the first day of what is indeed a three-day, restaurant-technology conference, a group of C-level executives got up on stage, expressed some concern about AI and wondered whether the industry went too far in its post-pandemic tech revolution.
There’s a “human aspect we will never get away from,” Kevin Bentley, head of technology for Jollibee, said at the FSTEC conference in Orlando. “We shifted too far away from that with all the tech.”
To be sure, the panel did express the need to use technology to accentuate hospitality inside the restaurant industry. But the commentary illustrated the restaurant industry’s current conundrum: Technology can make restaurants more efficient, at least in theory, but there is also a growing sense that consumers are yearning for more hospitality.
Much of that comes from the experience of two companies: Starbucks and Chili’s. The former is walking back a lot of its post-pandemic, tech-centric plans and is remodeling stores to reinsert seating and power outlets and improve hospitality. Its CEO, Brian Niccol, talks about “connection” and “experiences,” both of which were echoed repeatedly at FSTEC on Sunday.
Chili’s, meanwhile, demonstrated that consumers will spend their money on a casual-dining concept that does things right. Bentley mentioned another in Red Lobster, which in its post-bankruptcy recovery is doubling down on hospitality.
As such, this year’s FSTEC may well be more about technology that improves hospitality than it is about technology for technology’s sake. And that includes the Tech du Jour, artificial intelligence.
Most of the executives speaking at the opening session Sunday highlighted AI’s ability to remove some mundane tasks from the restaurant to free workers up for that hospitality.
“AI is taking all the bullshit we don’t want to do every day,” Jennifer Bell, CMO with the independent restaurant operator Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises. “It’s freeing up time for the connection, to be creative and have fun. If we’re not doing it, we’re missing it.”
One such example comes from the aforementioned coffee-shop giant Starbucks, which is debuting a new AI-based inventory counting program that uses tablets with cameras to count inventory in a fraction of the time. That technology is designed to save time to free up store managers for that hospitality.
“They’re not in the back-of-the-house” counting inventory, Kevin Summers, strategy manager, inventory AI counting for Starbucks, said at the conference. “They can be more in the front-of-the-house, interacting with customers.”
But some companies are also taking steps to guide customers as they navigate in-store technology.
Iwona Alter, chief operating officer with Habit Burger & Grill, said the fast-casual burger chain is testing in-restaurant hosts that will greet customers when they come in and guide them to the right ordering point.
“There are 11 points of entry coming into the kitchen: Mobile, kiosk, cashier, drive-thru, and these multiply and multiply,” Alter said. “We’re not the first ones to take the cashier out from behind the counter, have them in the lobby and greet guests.”
The executives also believe technology in loyalty programs could also build experiences and remove some of the friction inside the restaurants. Bentley, for instance, noted that consumers today appear more interested in experiences than on discounts.
Bell suggested that loyalty programs could make life easier for customers. For instance, she said that the company could send push messages to its loyalty members enabling then to click once and get their favorite order. “Taking friction away from the experience is so vital,” Bell said. “Technology can solve for that. What I would like to do is take the mundane out and focus on people.”
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