Beyond ‘More’ Tech: Building What Really Works

The New Challenge: Intentionality, Not Innovation

The restaurant tech landscape has exploded. The challenge today is adding intentionality and proactive strategy to the widespread tech platforms restaurants adopted over the past 4-5 years.

Digital ease has become the new standard for hospitality. Guests now expect ordering, payment, and personalization to feel as intuitive online as a warm greeting in-store. Through a holistic and thoughtful approach to the digital business model, brands can deliver on that expectation.

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From Adding Tools to Building Systems

The next phase of digital transformation is about working smarter, not adding more. The opportunity now is to connect people, processes, and systems so the business runs seamlessly and the digital guest experience feels effortless. What’s missing isn’t technology, it’s coordination. When systems, teams, and data operate in silos, the digital business drifts away from the brick-and-mortar one.

The path forward is to define a digital operating model – a clear framework for how teams, systems, and guest touch points work together every day.

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The Technology Solution Myth

In today’s restaurant tech landscape, every platform seems to promise the same thing: a seamless, all-in-one solution that can do it all,  from POS and loyalty to marketing and operations. But as technology providers continue to expand vertically, many now aim to control a brand’s entire digital ecosystem without regard for the brand’s unique digital strategy or goals.

Allowing a single technology partner to power your entire digital ecosystem can seem like the easier path — one contract, one relationship, one source of support. But convenience can come at the cost of effective alignment with your goals. The extra effort it takes to define your brand’s priorities, map your needs across IT, marketing, finance, and operations, and conduct thorough due diligence to identify partners that truly fit your model is well worth it.

A thoughtful, brand-specific approach ensures technology serves your strategy, and your strategy does not have to conform to the technology tool kit you’ve been handed.

Recent data underscores the risk of over-reliance and overlap. In a 2025 survey of 200 restaurant marketers, only 20% said their metrics are fully automated across systems like POS, loyalty, and paid media, while 38% cited inconsistent data as their biggest barrier to insight¹. A Crunchtime–Technomic study found 79% of multi-unit operators struggle with integration and rising costs as they scale.²

Yet investment keeps growing. The 2025 Restaurant Technology Outlook reports operators’ biggest pain points remain the same — fragmented data, redundant tools, and mounting costs.³

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The takeaway: technology can amplify strategy, but it can’t replace it. The strongest ecosystems are built with intention — not accumulation.

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