The most popular technology tools on display at the 2024 National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago were largely invisible. What do robotic arms, POS systems, in-house analytics tools, and other booth gadgets have in common? Most of them are powered by and supported by data. Data, whether collected through machine learning or AI, is proving to be the universal currency of restaurant technology in 2024 and beyond.
From employee scheduling and inventory management to marketing data about customers, operators are waking up to the importance of data collection and optimization in operational decisions. This was especially evident at the Restaurant Show, where nearly every booth in the Technology Pavilion detailed how software (and in some cases hardware) delivers data.
Toast was introducing a new benchmarking tool that allows restaurants to compare the performance of their restaurants and menus to similar restaurants in their area (although all data is anonymized). In this case, the Toast operator's aggregated customer data provides restaurants with insight into what they should put on their menus next and how they can update their prices to keep up with operational trends and competitors. used to. This technology uses both AI and machine learning to aggregate and analyze menu data.
“We wanted to create something that would allow each merchant to see what was going on outside their four walls,” said Susie Riley, product designer and vice president of ventures at Toast. Masu. “So if you saw a drop in sales last week, you're probably wondering, 'Is it just me, or are other restaurants in my area experiencing the same thing?'”
As more and more technology vendors begin leveraging data reporting in new and insightful ways, it's important for designers to create accessible UX interfaces that busy store managers can easily access on the go. is.
User interface design was mentioned on the restaurant show floor by multiple technology vendors, including both Toast and Middleby-owned AI company Powerhouse Dynamics. Powerhouse Dynamics' Internet of Things products are not new, but a “plug-and-play” interconnection network of all his Middleby (and affiliates) equipment was unveiled for the first time this year. His IoT capabilities for Powerhouse Dynamics include the ability to send operational, maintenance and energy usage data to operators. Users can also set rules for the system. This helps eliminate noise with too much unnecessary data. For example, if your freezer breaks during the night, you can set up a rule to notify your franchisee or manager immediately. You don't necessarily need to know all the data your system can provide.
“Let's say I don't want to pay attention to the 95%. I already know when everything will be fine. I just want to know that 5%. And then I can later reflect that in my field and… We want to be able to help them complete it,'' said Alex Lundy, vice president of product at Middleby. “So that’s where a lot of the power comes from and the data actually helps.”
I was surprised to see so much data-enabled hardware and equipment on the restaurant show floor, including robotics. Robotic arms specialized in dipping baskets of fries or sprinkling cheese on pizza have been around for a few years, but tech startup Robochef has added a customizable behind-the-scenes robotics solution to data We are taking this automation technology to a new level by adding additional insights.
“We can collect data in a cyber-physical ecosystem through an ecosystem of sensors and motors, and all that movement is collected in the cloud,” said Aravind Durai, founder of Robochef. “This allows us to get a digital footprint of everything that happens with that machine in the field. This allows us to gain useful insights that would normally not be possible using human resources.”
For example, Caesars Palace in Las Vegas has a cookie shot vending machine operated by acclaimed pastry chef Dominque Ancel's robo-chef that runs automatically long after the bakery closes, but the casino floor is still open. .
“Based on our analysis of that sales data, when the bakery staff comes to replenish inventory at 4 a.m. the next day, we can tell the machine with 99% confidence that we need to restock X number of loaves. “We know we're not going to run out of cookies,'' Durai said.
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