13 features of the next-gen restaurant

Restaurant Business asked industry experts to peer into their crystal balls and predict what limited-service and full-service operations might look like in the next decade. Here are their educated guesses on everything from inventory-tracking refrigerators to burrito-delivering drones.

Off-premise will change the face of limited-service restaurants, prompting more- prominent pickup counters, cubbies to organize to-go orders and separate areas for plasticware to ease congestion. Expect LSRs to add dedicated entrances and drive-thru lanes for third-party delivery drivers.

Speaker boxes will become extinct and drive-thrus will become an extension of the pickup windowas consumers grow increasingly comfortable with alternative ordering platforms like mobile, chatbots and voice-enabled technologies.

Greater reliance on data means an increase in “smart” kitchen equipment that can analyze inventory flow, track food safety, trace ingredients and send real-time mobile updates to operators. 

Most kitchens will have asecond makeline, outfitted with screens, for preparing orders for off-premise dining, Cava Grill CEO Brett Schulman says. 

Prep work and repetitive tasks like chopping onions or loading a pizza oven will be made more efficient, thanks to automation. But don’t count on all-robot operations, Technomic tech guru Erik Thoresen says. “I believe in automation; I don’t believe in robots. You need agility and flexibility in the back of house … It’s like the difference between a computer and a calculator.”

Front of house will command a smaller footprintas takeaway dominates. But, for consumers who do choose dine-in, expect cozy, lounge-type seating that mimics a home setting.

Expect more location-based marketing; operators will increasingly use beacon and geolocation technology to ping nearby consumers with coupons or other information about the brand.

At full-service restaurants, receiving a receipt at the table will likely be replaced by frictionless, direct payment via credit card, a la Uber’s model. “I would be very surprised five years from now that you get a check,” The Alinea Group's Nick Kokonas says. Consumers will register their credit card when making a reservation and will get a receipt via text or email after the meal. Cashless options will continue to expand at LSRs.

Drones, like robots, will likely remain more of a novelty, constrained by logistical impracticalities and steep prices. 

Not all third-party delivery vehicles will have drivers. Driverless delivery cars can be stocked by restaurant workers before hitting the road. 

Food purchasing and invoicing will be streamlined. Alinea's Kokonas predicts an online consortium of food vendors, each selling ingredients at competitive prices. “That marketplace doesn’t exist right now,” he says. “But there will be a marketplace where you can place an order and pay for it all in one place.”

Virtual reality will be employed to add sensory immersion to the full-service dining experience.

Progressive web apps—websites that have app-like features, such as push notifications—will gradually replace mobile apps as the go-to for delivery orders. Voice ordering in the home, such as Amazon’s Alexa, will also advance, says Technomic's Thoresen. It’s likely that brands will become “platform agnostic”when accepting orders to capture the widest customer base, Cava CEO Schulman says.

VIEW THE FULL FUTURE PACKAGE