DATA & CYBERSECURITY
T he bigger a tech stack gets, the harder it becomes to maintain control and security over all the moving parts. A growing number of companies are offering IT infrastructure so that restaurateurs can keep their busi- nesses secure as they scale up. Innov- ations in this space ensure the uptime and connectivity that consumers de- mand from brands in today’s digital-na- tive environment, as well as the inte- gration and functionality that operators need to modernize and safeguard their brands while they focus on execution in their front and back of house. From 2024 to 2025, the number of sur- veyed operators investing in their data security rose, according to research from Nation’s Restaurant News and Restau- rant Business. Momentum should accel- erate for devoting more strategic focus to this critical layer of infrastructure. Technology experts agreed that data quality underpins any successful design of a restaurant’s tech stack, enabling the integration not only of different point solutions but also the framing of the big picture, when linkages can be drawn among customer data, transaction histories, forecasted performance, menu mix, and more.
Strategic Sharing: Rob Grimes, founder and CEO of the IFBTA, cau- tions restaurant operators to be thoughtful about where and how they share company data.
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26 %
Don’t Overlook Cybersecurity: Lauren Selman, VP of operations for the IFBTA, calls enhanced data security and privacy a “must-have” for restaurants.
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26% of operators plan to invest in data management and security this year, up 9 percentage points YOY
Source: Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Business research
44 | FSTEC 2025
FSTEC 2025 | 45
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