3 Computing veers toward the edge
Restaurant technology used to run on physical servers in the store. Then computing moved to the cloud. Now it might be coming back to earth, at least partially. Many suppliers are rolling out edge computing systems that allow restaurants to process data locally, and, crucial - ly, without an internet connection. This not only speeds things up but also acts as a backup if the internet goes out. The edge is also viewed as a potentially important piece of AI adoption because of its lightning-fast processing speeds. It could solve the problem of laggy voice bots, for instance. Edge isn’t going to replace the cloud, as it has just a frac - tion of the processing power. But the two could work in tandem, with the edge handling real-time tasks, like ordering. 4 The next hot restaurant job: Concierge A general theme at this year’s event was restaurants’ desire to bring more hospitality into their operations after several years of adding technology. Things like kiosks have freed up staff to do other things, and a few brands said they are thinking about redeploying employees as concierges who can greet customers and help them navi - gate the ordering experience. “We’ll see how it all plays out, obviously, with the labor costs and all that good stuff,” said Iwona Alter, COO of The Habit Burger Grill, which is testing a host position. “But definitely a lot more texture and intimacy as to how the hospitality can happen in the restaurants today.” 5 Third-party customers prove tough to convert Restaurants have spent years trying to get customers who order through aggregators like DoorDash to order directly from them instead. This has been difficult, given the selec - tion and convenience that third-party apps offer. Some brands, like The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill, have given up entirely on trying to convert third-party users, and are now treating them as a distinct set of cus - tomers. “There was a time when brand leaders thought that we were going to take the customer from the third party and bring them to our native, and it’s not happened,” said Presi - dent Bob Andersen. “Most of the third-party platforms do a phenomenal job with their technology. They do a great job with their loyalty program. So now it’s, ‘How do I play in that arena the best we can, and then how do we bring business to us for people who want to come direct?’”
AT A GLANCE
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FSTEC 2025 | 5
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