Restaurant brands are finding that their customers are hungry, as it were, for subscription offerings, presenting them with the opportunity to level up their fans to superfans. Take quick-service restaurant (QSR) giant Subway, which has more than 37,000 locations across 100 countries. The sandwich chain...
As restaurants look to weather ongoing labor challenges, many restaurant brands have noted that it is not hiring but retention wherein the heart of their challenges lie. Consequently, many brands are turning to tech solutions to boost employee satisfaction and keep operations running smoothly and...
Fast-casual brand Panera Bread, which has more than 2,100 bakery-cafes in the United States and Canada, is testing artificial intelligence (AI) voice ordering technology at two of its upstate New York locations. The brand announced Monday (Aug. 29) that it is trying out “Tori,” an...
Calling in via phone may not be the speediest or most efficient way of placing a restaurant order, but for many consumers, it is still one their go-to methods. By the Numbers According to data from PYMNTS’ October study “The Digital Divide, Aggregators: The Cost...
It would seem that automation is no surefire solution to restaurants’ ongoing labor challenges. Casual dining chain Chili’s, for one, is halting at least one of its robotics tests, at least for the time being. On a call with analysts Wednesday (Aug. 24), discussing the...
Restaurants that do well on third-party aggregators’ marketplaces may have better luck getting customers to adopt self-service ordering technology. By the Numbers PYMNTS’ research from the December edition of “The Digital Divide: Delivery Service Aggregators and the Digital Shift,” a PYMNTS and Paytronix collaboration, showed...
The staff at Danny Meyer’s New York City restaurants may soon include robo-voice assistants. On Tuesday (Aug. 23), ConverseNow, a company that offers artificial intelligence (AI) voice ordering assistants for restaurants announced a $10 million post-Series-A investment from Enlightened Hospitality Investments (EHI), a growth equity...
As restaurants’ labor challenges continue, a range of solutions are emerging to tackle the issue in creative ways. Bite Ninja, for one, a Memphis-based tech startup offering a remote work solution for select restaurant jobs, announced Tuesday (Aug. 23) that it had raised $11.3 million...
While restaurants at the heart of a global city like New York might typically expect to see a rush of tourists over the summer, the pandemic’s ongoing impact on travel is changing the game for these city-center eateries. Plus, with many consumers still not back...