Tech companies looking to woo restaurants would do well to talk more about their data and reporting tools and less about AI.
That’s one of the takeaways from a new report by Olive Technologies, a company that helps businesses source tech products. Olive analyzed more than 700 requests for proposals (RFPs) to see what companies are looking for from their tech, and found that data and reporting were the biggest themes, while AI was more of an afterthought.
Olive also found that tech integration remains in vogue as businesses combat tech sprawl, and that POS companies that win the most RFPs aren’t always the ones you’d expect. Read on for a deeper look at Olive’s analysis.
Data is king
To illustrate the results of its research, Olive generated a word cloud of the most common search terms in RFPs. The biggest bubbles belonged to “reporting” and “data.”
As the restaurant industry has become more digitized, operators have access to more data on their business than ever before. But it’s not always easy to parse and visualize that data, which is what restaurants are asking vendors to do for them.
“I definitely don’t think that people have a clear view on their data today,” said Olive CEO Chris Heard in an interview. “I would not be surprised if a lot of people run things in spreadsheets still.”
Heard said that restaurants tend to be looking for tech that can help them understand and leverage their customer data in particular, pointing to the rise in loyalty programs as one example of this trend.
“If you’re gonna build a brand, you need to understand customer data and how customers are reacting to things,” he said. “I think that’s really where the battle is now.”
AI on the back burner
Olive’s report found that artificial intelligence was far less of a priority than one might expect, given all of the discussion of the technology recently. In the word cloud, “AI” sits on the outer ring, occupying the same space as non-buzzwords like “currency” and “hardware.”
Heard theorized that restaurants now correctly view AI as a means to an end rather than a feature in and of itself. In this case, it’s a tool that can help restaurants analyze their data.
“The level of AI we have today, it really is just a fantastic analyst,” Heard said. “What this is telling me is that people understand that.”
He noted that while AI is in a “hype cycle,” it’s still a powerful technology. “It’s changing the world for sure,” he said.
Integration is in demand
The words “integration” and “configurable” also had large bubbles in Olive’s word cloud, which indicated to Heard that businesses are experiencing some “tech spread.”
“There’s a lot of tech out there,” he said. “Every time you bring something new in, there’s loads of integration needs.”
In the restaurant industry, vendors have responded to this either by developing new features or acquiring other companies. It has resulted in many providers marketing themselves as “all-in-one” solutions.
Heard said this is a common cycle that happens in every industry. Tech startups proliferate to a point that it becomes overwhelming for businesses to navigate, giving big suppliers a chance to step in as all-in-one players. Then those slow-moving giants fail to innovate, which creates an opportunity for startups once again.
Right now, restaurants seem to be smack in the middle of this cycle. “I think we’ll probably see in the next few years a pullback on startups and an increase of the Microsofts and Oracles,” Heard said.
POS priorities
Heard has noticed a lot of restaurants changing POS vendors in recent years, and Olive took a look at how different providers fared in the RFP process.
The conclusion from 30 RFPs was that well-known companies make it into a lot of them, but tend not to advance as far in the selection process.
Toast and NCR Aloha, for instance, were included in about 4 out of every 10 RFPs, but were only shortlisted about 20% of the time.
Revel, on the other hand, was included in about the same amount, but landed on more than 60% of shortlists. Brink POS was included in 30% but shortlisted in almost 80%.
“The No. 1 thing that I get from this is that people are buying into marketing less,” Heard said. “Some of the ones that have got a lot of market presence aren’t actually hitting the specific requirements that people are looking for.”
According to Olive, those requirements include:
- The technology should work on consumer tablets.
- It is not app dependent.
- It supports iOS and Android devices.
- It supports KDS customization.
- It includes API support.
Heard said the these results show why it’s important for restaurants to evaluate many different options when looking for a tech vendor. “If you’re only looking at three options, and they’ve paid to be on reports or have the biggest brand, you’re going to miss the best option for you,” he said.