Episode description

In this 3-part mini-series, Jen interviews the CEO of Qu, Amir Hudda. We reflect on the past 2 years of sweeping industry changes and how we can collectively innovate to create a more sustainable and profitable future for restaurants. 

Technology is just one piece of that puzzle, but a larger one than ever before. Jen and Amir explore the historically tense relationship between restaurants & technology - and how to make it less “friction-filled” -  in this short and educational segment.

Quotable Highlights: 

• Margins, not people, have challenged the industry when it comes to adopting the best foundational technology 
• The recent pace of change (and pandemic) forced many large restaurants chains to bolt new technology onto old legacy architectural foundations, creating more friction with operator and guest experiences
• The goal is: How do we make technology invisible in the restaurant? 
• Frictionless experiences are not the best goal - LESS FRICTION is the more attainable goal. 
• The pendulum swung too far for operators - from one tech provider to many - hoping we can get back to fewer moving parts for the restaurants to have to deal with. The pandemic created too many different tech stacks in the larger enterprise restaurant chains.
• The pace of tech adoption has been slower in our industry, but when it does happen with enterprise-level brands, it is very well thought out and planned. 
• Innovation is essential, but we have to innovate collectively as an industry. We cannot have a meaningful impact if the innovation is not a collective effort. Not just one company or person here and there, all of us need to focus on innovation to move the industry forward more sustainably. 
• Focusing on your #1 asset - People - is how you can have the biggest impact.  

Related Episodes:

• One Lean Mean Restaurant Machine - Peter Wiley of Rapid Fired Pizza & Hot Head Burritos
• Delivering the Digital Restaurant - Meredith Sandland & Carl Orsbourne
• The New Way to Do Employee Training - Rachel Nemeth, Opus

Resources: 

The Path Forward for Enterprise Restaurants - a Unified Commerce Platform.

Connect with Amir on LinkedIn

Check out Qu's Annual State of Digital for Enterprise QSR & Fast Casual Brands