The Future of Restaurants: How Technology Is Revolutionizing the Industry

The National Restaurant Association Show has come and gone, but the buzz around the latest trends and innovations in the restaurant industry is still alive and well. In this special episode of Extra Serving, a podcast from Nation’s Restaurant News, editor-in-chief Sam Oches sits down with colleague Jonathan Maze, editor-in-chief of Restaurant Business, to debrief their time at the show.

Restaurant technology on display at the National Restaurant Association Show

From THC drinks to snacks, there was plenty of food and beverage to discuss, but the editors were clear on one thing: technology investment remains critical. In this article, we’ll explore how restaurants can benefit from strategic tech integrations.

How Restaurants Can Benefit from Strategic Tech Integrations

Technology in the restaurant industry can feel overly theoretical when operators talk about artificial intelligence, data, and the like. But the exhibition halls of the National Restaurant Show were full of practical case studies for how tech companies, often working together through tech stack integrations, are saving restaurants time and money, enabling them to scale.

One such partnership is the CAKE point-of-sale system by Mad Mobile and the DAVO sales tax solution developed by Avalara. Bryon Kunkel of Mad Mobile and Cristine Vickery of Avalara explained how the hardware and software create automation to maximize a foodservice operator’s return on investment.

Through its integration with CAKE, the DAVO application pulls the day’s transactions for each restaurant and automates the calculation of sales tax due to state and federal agencies and the depositing of those funds into a withholding account, so that taxes are paid on time. The benefits go beyond mitigating the risk of tax penalties, the executives said, including significant time given back to the operator by replacing a tedious manual process with automation.

The CAKE point-of-sale system by Mad Mobile

The Future of Restaurants

As the restaurant industry continues to evolve, it’s clear that technology will play an increasingly important role. From streamlining operations to enhancing the customer experience, the possibilities are endless. By investing in strategic tech integrations, restaurants can stay ahead of the curve and set themselves up for success in the years to come.

The restaurant of the future: how technology is changing the game