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How Can Restaurants Capitalize on Digital Orders?

Acceleration of restaurant technology adoption isn’t slowing down. The rush to adapt during the pandemic is still occurring, with new guest expectations and operational workflows. So, how is technology solving the restaurant industry’s biggest challenges? The Main Course host Barbara Castiglia spoke with Steve Simoni, CEO of Bbot, on the topic. Simoni described the company’s…

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Acceleration of restaurant technology adoption isn’t slowing down. The rush to adapt during the pandemic is still occurring, with new guest expectations and operational workflows. So, how is technology solving the restaurant industry’s biggest challenges? The Main Course host Barbara Castiglia spoke with Steve Simoni, CEO of Bbot, on the topic.

Simoni described the company’s evolution, “My co-founders and I were nuclear engineers in the Navy, and we founded Bbot creating ceiling robots bring food and drink to tables. Now we’re an ordering and payment technology for restaurants with software and QR codes.”

The company was growing pre-pandemic, but since then, it’s been a 10X increase in customers. Much of that success has to do with the reimagining of QR codes. “Customers can order and pay at the table by scanning, which is helping mitigate labor challenges,” Simoni said.

The technology does drive convenience and efficiency. Simoni noted, “You can go from a server model to a floor manager model. You can serve more tables and upsell while customers place digital orders and pay from their own device.”

This technology supports a business in many ways, and restaurant owners are embracing lots of applications. However, Simoni said, “What they really want is for everything to integrate.”

With this in mind and the evolution of the restaurant industry, Bbot’s next frontier is the customization of QR codes. “There are three ways a QR code can work now—scan for menu, digital orders, or pay the check but order through a server. What’s next for us is allowing restaurants to install different applications to curate the experience. If they can download an app, they can do this in a few easy clicks.”

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Restaurant kitchen automation is moving from robots to connected equipment

Restaurant kitchen automation is moving from robots to connected equipment

Sweetgreen says its Infinite Kitchen can assemble up to 500 bowls an hour and costs $450,000 to $550,000 per unit. Foodservice Equipment and Supplies reports 2024 Kitchen Innovations Award winners are adding sensors, AI and tighter links to POS, KDS and delivery systems. The operational shift is toward automation that removes steps and variability, not fully staffless restaurants.

  • 01The KI Awards trend is integration, robotics that season and pack, and pizza systems designed around POS, KDS and delivery feeds, which is where automation stops being a demo and starts being a production line.
  • 02For operators with small footprints or volatile staffing, equipment that recognizes food and auto-selects cook programs is becoming a training strategy as much as a cooking strategy.

Sep 8, 2026

GLP-1 users cut food spend

GLP-1 users cut food spend

PwC and Acosta Group data show GLP-1 users are spending less on food and changing what they buy. PwC reported GLP-1 users spent about 11% less across most food categories, and the steepest pullbacks were in sweet and salty snacks and baked foods. Acosta Group found users report buying more fresh and high-protein items while reducing purchases of sweets, salty snacks and sugary beverages.

  • 01The bigger operational risk is mix, not just volume: surveys from PwC and Acosta Group point to snack and sugary beverage softness alongside protein and produce lift, a pattern worth validating in loyalty and POS data.
  • 02Pack architecture becomes a supply-chain decision: when 47% of users report smaller portions (PwC), right-sizing case packs, planograms, and menu portions can prevent margin leakage from shrink and waste.

Sep 6, 2026

Restaurants are buying more customer tech even as visits stay 7% below 2019

Restaurants are buying more customer tech even as visits stay 7% below 2019

U.S. restaurant operators are budgeting more customer-facing technology for 2026, with 60% prioritizing customer experience investments, according to the National Restaurant Association data reported by Restaurant Business. The push comes while average chain restaurant occasions remain 7% below 2019 levels, a gap Restaurant Business says has persisted even as kiosks, digital menu boards, loyalty programs, and AI tools proliferated. Bar & Restaurant’s reporting on high-volume staffing shows why the timing matters operationally: with labor still tight and peak periods exposing process friction, operators are trying to shift guest decisions earlier, improve scheduling discipline, and free managers to coach instead of firefight. The near coin-flip in consumer sentiment, 41% saying tech improves hospitality versus 38% saying it hurts, indicates deployments that reduce staff burden without making the guest feel “sent to a screen” will be the ones that hold up in 2026 traffic conditions.

  • 01A useful benchmark for 2026 tech budgeting: 60% of operators plan to invest in customer-experience tech, but that category only outpaces front-of-house tech (54%) by six points, so many programs will compete for the same dollars and implementation bandwidth, according to the National Restaurant Association data reported by Restaurant Business.
  • 02The metric mismatch is becoming a planning risk: Restaurant Business says kiosks can lift sales per transaction, but operators still lack a clean way to measure whether customer-facing automation quietly suppresses visits, especially when chain occasions are already 7% below 2019.
  • 03For high-volume concepts, the highest-ROI “tech” may be workflow discipline: Bar & Restaurant reports operators leaning on forecasting, clear labor rules, and centralized reservation and add-on decisions to reduce peak-hour conflict, which can make customer tech feel like convenience rather than a substitute for hospitality.

Sep 1, 2026

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