Shake Shack to open kitchen innovation lab in Atlanta this year

The company will test equipment and layouts at the lab without having to build new restaurants, accelerating the rollout of processes and optimizations.

By Julie Littman • Feb. 20, 2025

Serve Robotics is coming to Miami

Serve will offer delivery through Uber Eats from Shake Shack and a local pizza chain in Brickell and Miami Beach, Florida. 

By Aneurin Canham-Clyne • Feb. 19, 2025

Explore the Trendline➔

Back-of-house Technology

From voice AI at the drive-thru to robot-powered makelines, restaurants are investing in technology solutions to optimize kitchen operations and reduce employee turnover. 

By Restaurant Dive staff

Uber sues DoorDash over alleged anti-competitive practices

Uber claims that if a DoorDash merchant wants to work with Uber Eats for first-party delivery, DoorDash threatens higher fees or lower placement on its app.

By Julie Littman • Feb. 18, 2025

Why fine dining-trained chef Alisa Reynolds switched to Square

Discover how Executive Chef Alisa Reynolds of My 2 Cents in Los Angeles embraced Square to enhance efficiency and innovation in her restaurant.

By Maya Rollings • Feb. 18, 2025

Wendy’s hits the gas on drive-thru AI, digital menu boards and kiosks

Early results revealed this technology has simplified ordering and helped free up employees to enhance the customer experience. 

By Julie Littman • Feb. 13, 2025

Dutch Bros’ mobile ordering is booming

The new digital channel already accounts for 8% of sales just a year after initial testing, executives said, and is available at 96% of stores.

By Aneurin Canham-Clyne • Feb. 13, 2025

Popeyes will remodel stores and beef up ad spending

Restaurant Brands International will add equipment, ranging from a cloud-based point-of-sales system to an automated batter-maker, at the chicken chain’s U.S. stores.

By Aneurin Canham-Clyne • Feb. 12, 2025

Inside Golden Corral’s complete tech overhaul

CIO Dawn Gillis said the buffet chain’s new tech infrastructure, built by Qu, will help it double off-premise sales this year.

By Aneurin Canham-Clyne • Feb. 11, 2025

Yum Brands to scale loyalty, personalization in 2025

Taco Bell’s parent company is leveraging loyalty programs and AI-driven personalization in pursuit of higher digital sales.

By Bryan Wassel • Feb. 7, 2025

Panera Bread hires Dunkin’ vet as CIO

Santhosh Kumar, who spent almost two decades in IT roles at Dunkin’, will develop and deploy tech across the chain’s 2,200-plus cafes.

By Julie Littman • Feb. 7, 2025

Yum Brands launches integrated tech platform

Thousands of Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC restaurants already use Byte by Yum, which includes kitchen management and point-of-sale tools.

By Aneurin Canham-Clyne • Feb. 6, 2025

Boston wants delivery firms to give drivers liability insurance

Under the proposed ordinance, aggregators like DoorDash and Uber Eats would need to meet data-sharing requirements to obtain an operating permit.

By Aneurin Canham-Clyne • Feb. 5, 2025

Brian Niccol wants to double Starbucks’ US footprint

A host of changes to stores and operations could help Starbucks escape its sales trouble, and executives are already planning the company’s next move.

By Aneurin Canham-Clyne • Jan. 30, 2025

Most customers prefer ordering delivery directly from restaurants

Convenience, ease of customization and the ability to earn rewards were top reasons customers preferred first-party channels, per an NCR Voyix report.

By Julie Littman • Jan. 30, 2025

Miso Robotics develops smaller, faster Flippy

Its newest robotic fry station, which White Castle is testing, is more expensive than, but half the size of, previous iterations.

By Aneurin Canham-Clyne • Jan. 29, 2025

2025 could be fast casual’s year, again

Long-term trends in consumer preference have put fast casual chains in a position to leverage price sensitivity, digital touchpoints and an appetite for human connection.

By Aneurin Canham-Clyne • Jan. 27, 2025

P.F. Chang’s drops lawsuit claiming UKG lost, destroyed employee data

The restaurant chain sued in 2022 claiming that the HR vendor had provided “false hope” that it could recover some of the chain’s deleted information.

By Ryan Golden • Jan. 17, 2025

Chipotle invests in firm that makes plant-based meat from duckweed

The restaurant chain’s venture fund is also backing efforts reduce cow-based methane emissions.  

By Sarah Zimmerman • Jan. 15, 2025

Sweetgreen CTO shares the chain’s data-focused approach to CX

CTO Wouleta Ayele discussed why she designs experiences by working backwards from an ideal outcome at the National Retail Federation’s Big Show conference.

By Bryan Wassel • Jan. 15, 2025

Portillo’s tests computer vision to boost drive-thru times

Managers will see a screen flashing red if a car has sat for four minutes, allowing them to redeploy labor and move guests faster through the drive-thru.

By Julie Littman • Jan. 14, 2025

Shake Shack appoints chief information and technology officer

Rite Aid alum Justin Mennen brings over two decades of experience to the fast casual chain, which is developing a loyalty program.

By Julie Littman • Jan. 10, 2025

8 restaurant trends to watch in 2025

Analysts forecast a slightly rosier year, predicting that consumer demand will rise, bankruptcies will slow and increased valuations will spark M&A.

By Julie Littman , Aneurin Canham-Clyne • Jan. 7, 2025

PAR Technology buys Delaget for $132M

The food service point-of-sale and payments software provider said it bought the data analytics company to better service restaurant operators.

By Lynne Marek • Jan. 3, 2025

Darden Restaurants begins POS rollout as it pursues speedier service

The new point-of-sale system will help the company speed up orders and improve its data capabilities at nine restaurant brands, executives said.

By Bryan Wassel • Dec. 19, 2024

Dutch Bros names Lululemon exec as chief tech officer

Venki Krishnababu has over 30 years of experience and joins the chain as it rapidly expands into mobile ordering.

By Julie Littman • Dec. 17, 2024