Pull together 800 restaurant-chain tech executives, mix in several sages with provocative ideas about where the industry’s digital capabilities are headed, and chances of the keen-eared suffering neck injuries increase geometrically. The volume of head-turning comments, be they from the stage or fellow attendees, is going to soar.
So it was at this year’s FSTEC conference. Here are some of the utterances that had us stopping and taking notice.
“Big Tech is going to be the next Big Tobacco.” —Mike Walsh, the futurist who delivered the keynote address. He explained that he expects artificial intelligence and other technological quantum leaps to revamp the economy the way steam engines and electricity upended the status quo upon their widespread adoption. “I think we triggered something we didn’t intend, another sort of industrial revolution,” Walsh asserted. And that, he said, may not be appreciated by societyHe cited such potential friction points as tremendous amounts of information being compiled without the subjects’ awareness, never mind their permission, and possibly via prying satellites.
He also noted the power already enjoyed by today’s tech giants and how they’re flexing that might in ways that will rattle the status quo. The example he cited: Oracle has secured permits to build three nuclear reactors, which it plans to use as the power source for a new data center.
Yum Brands’ tech operations boast a roster of 2,000 employees and a budget of about $650 million. —A reliable and well-placed source we’re not going to identify. However, the company dismissed those figures as inaccurately high. It declined to share what it said were the actual figures, saying they were proprietary.
“These days it feels like you’re running mission control for a space center.” —Joe Park, chief digital and technology officer for Yum. Yet, Park stressed, the parent of Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC has an overriding rule in adopting new tech: It has to be easy to use.
“We’re right there, getting ready for AI being our next wave of technology.” —Park, again, speaking about Yum’s plans for the tech that was the buzz of the conference. He noted that a dash of AI helped Pizza Hut’s United Kingdom operations cut their out-of-stock positions on supplies by 90%.
But Yum plans to adopt the capabilities in a studious manner. Said Park: “What we don’t want is AI applied to every part of the business; that might dilute the brand. We are trying to be thoughtful about AI.”
Chick-fil-A has never laid off staff. —Catherine Roberts, director of intelligent automation for the high-flying chicken-sandwich chain, offering an illustration of her employer’s staff-first approach. She also stressed its commitment to diversity; half its tech staff is female.
“As you remove toppings, guess who benefits? The franchisee.” —Park, on how the customization capabilities provided by digital ordering can cut food costs by allowing patrons to forgo standard components of a build, like olives on certain Pizza Hut pies.
FSTEC was held in Grapevine, Texas, from Monday through Wednesday. It is presented by Informa, the parent of Restaurant Business.
Update: The item on Yum's tech department was updated to incorporate the company's input that the numbers we heard were inaccurate but that it preferred not to provide the actual figures.
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