“The end game is to drive frequency, drive occasion, make a moment that will bring your customers back again.”
— Zerrick Pearson, CIO of Five Guys Enterprises
7 It’s all about the endgame Restaurant operators are more forward-thinking now. When it comes to tech, they’re looking at who’s best in breed, not can I have it, said Zerrick Pearson, CIO of Five Guys Enter - prises and chair of the International Food and Beverage Technology Association. “The features, the functions, the innovation cycle, it’s gotten so quick. Now people are far more forward-thinking. They’re less thinking about the integration, the ease of integration, and more about the end game, which I think is a better ap - proach,” he said. 6 Dynamic pricing is dead (as we know it) “I don’t think we should use that word anymore,” said Erik Knott, CEO of eight-unit Tiki Tacos. He’s not against the general idea of using technology to change menu prices based on demand. After all, he said, it’s commonplace in the travel industry. But consumers’ emo - tional attachment to restaurants makes it more difficult, as Wendy’s learned last year.
Maybe dynamic pricing just needs a rebrand. Tom Kincaid, a retail specialist with Google, noted that the idea has existed forever in restaurants in the form of happy hour. “If you can help the customer understand where the value comes from, then there’s nothing wrong with it,” he said. He threw out the name “dynamic menus” as an idea.
9 AI and sports schedules Tom’s Watch Bar, a chain of supersized sports bars fre - quently placed near sports venues, can make an awful lot of money one day and not a whole lot the next, and it’s all dependent on who’s playing in its markets that night. And so the company uses an AI forecasting model, along with sports schedules in the markets it operates, to deter - mine whether a specific location will be busy on a specific night. “We can have a $2,000 Wednesday and then a $200,000 Friday,” said Brooks Schaden, the chain’s co-CEO. “It’s like playing out the Grammys or an award show. You plan every - thing out. We know which locations are going to be busier than others and plan accordingly.” But because it can get so busy, it also takes other steps to satisfy customers. It has multiple bars to ensure that it can get drinks into customers’ hands quickly. Handheld devices cut down on mistakes. And it has a KDS system to ensure its orders are processed correctly. No matter who is playing.
8 And what is that endgame? It depends on the product, Pearson said.
“I think we’re all competing for the same customer forever,” he said. “At the end of the day, we’re all trying to deliver the best product and the top customer experience. So that end game is to drive frequency, drive occasion, make a moment that will bring your customers back again, either through the experience or the food, or both.”
6 | FSTEC 2025
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