2023 Brizo Restaurant Tech Landscape

From humble cash register to high-tech heart of the business, POS solutions are the cornerstone technology of restaurants, and are often the platform that integrates with all the other core BOH and FOH systems, from accounting and inventory management to online ordering and delivery. Following are the frontrunners in the POS space.

So much of the customer experience in restaurants today revolves around convenience, and a big part of convenience is providing guests with multiple ways to pay. Whether they’re eating in-house, at home, on the go, paying via debit, credit or mobile app—these are the choices consumers expect today, and the ability to provide them can be important service differentiators. In this section we profile payment tech innovators.

Probably more than any other technology, online ordering has revolutionized the restaurant industry. Online ordering has enabled restaurants to reach new customers and increase their kitchen capacity. It’s prompted them to change menu items (in favour of items that travel better). It’s the driving force behind ghost kitchens, and during Covid, it helped many restos survive. And, of course, it has propelled the exponential growth of food delivery — now an entire industry of its own (see Section 7). Have a look through our list of leaders in online ordering.

Another form of automation that’s all about customer convenience is reservation & waitlist systems — increasingly a critical decision factor for potential guests choosing one establishment over another. Not only do these systems give guests more control and flexibility in reserving a table, but it can let them read reviews, browse menus ahead of time, receive text updates, and—two huge pluses for the operators—reduce abandonment and collect valuable information for future marketing. Following are the companies setting the standard in this category.

While restaurant innovation often focuses on the front-of-house customer experience, more establishments are realizing the tremendous difference backend automation can make in day-to-day efficiency — and even more so now when foodservice establishments face heightened challenges around supply chain and labor management. From eliminating the hours spent ordering supplies to simplifying complex spreadsheet tracking of multiple vendors, to identifying high and hidden costs, these systems are game-changers in what are the more tedious, often time-consuming aspects of restaurant operations. Check out these category leaders.

Few industries are as critically dependent on good people as the restaurant business. Great kitchen and wait staff are the reason guests continue to come back — so it pays to invest in technology that helps find and keep quality staff, while unburdening operators of having to do so manually. This is especially the case now in an environment of labor shortages and higher labor costs. Whether it’s hiring new servers, processing payroll, scheduling shifts, or keeping teams connected, there are now many options for automating and improving efficiency in this crucial area. Here’s our list of the leaders.

Like online ordering, delivery, pickup and drive-thru have also forever changed the restaurant industry — and were a life-saver when the pandemic struck and shuttered indoor dining. And just as these services dramatically change the dynamics of a restaurant’s operations, they depend on sophisticated technology to run smoothly — not only for the operator, but for the customers who may or may not come again depending on whether a meal is late, cold, or incorrect. Read our rundown of delivery, pickup & drive-through tech leaders.

With the restaurant industry more competitive than ever, establishments have to work harder to win customers (one online source reported in 2019 that attracting and retaining customers was a top challenge for restos). That means foodservice operators have to actively woo guests — and that takes getting to know them, analyzing their likes and dislikes, and personalizing communication to suit their preferences. Thankfully, today’s robust marketing ecosystems can aggregate guest info, mine it for insight, and enable operators to market across the channels their customers use (analytics > marketing > loyalty > more analytics). Following is our take on the industry’s top performers.

Few industries are more labor-intensive than the restaurant business. Couple that with current labor shortages — not to mention high costs — and you’ve got the perfect recipe for innovation. From building pizzas to brewing coffee, food kiosks to drone delivery, voice bots to robot bartenders, AI-powered tech is creeping into kitchens and revolutionizing their operations. Check out our list of leading innovators.

There’s an old saying: Necessity is the mother of invention. Ghost kitchens were the invention necessary to help many restaurants survive the pandemic. Now, they’ve taken on a life of their own. And it’s hardly surprising: Between more consumers eating in and more costly serving staff that’s harder to find — not to mention minimal space requirements, no need for special decor and dramatically reduced marketing requirements… Need we say more? Here are the major players in this rapidly growing space.

While the catering sector took a hard hit with the pandemic — along with the rest of the foodservice industry — it has been rebounding significantly since 2020, up by a whopping 16% in 2021 alone. That year, the total sector was valued at over US$9.5 billion, and it jumped another billion in 2022.

Technology has played a huge role in fueling this growth, with an expanding array of robust online platforms making it ever more effortless for diners to feast wherever their fancy takes them, whether it be home, office, private meeting, or party space. Check out our list of leaders in the catering space.

In some areas of foodservice, like online ordering and POS, tech-driven transformation has been underway for a number of years. In other parts of the sector, however, the innovation is still relatively new. Dynamic pricing… food safety… food waste management… these are among the aspects of the restaurant industry that continue to challenge operators, and which these innovators are helping to overcome.