Technology Plays a Critical Role in the Changing Foodservice Industry

NEW YORK — Nearly two years since the COVID-19 virus hit the United States, there is no denying the pandemic has changed the foodservice industry. 

Viewing impacted areas as opportunities, Rob Grimes, CEO of the International Food & Beverage Technology Association (IFBTA), said current issues include: 

• Labor;
• Regulations;
• Generating revenue;
• Reducing expenses;
• Changing business models; and
• Accelerating technology. 

New capabilities in the foodservice industry have come about because of technology acceleration and the use of data, he noted during the recent NRF 2022: Retail's Big Show hosted by the National Retail Federation (NRF). 

"A lot of CIOs [chief information officers] I talk to today say they don't have an unlimited budget, but no one is questioning their budgets and people want them to put the technology in faster," Grimes explained during the event's "State of the Food Tech Industry" session. "There used to be this saying that the budget never moved as fast as the technology. Well, it's the opposite now." 

The pandemic has driven traditional concepts in the food retailing business to change. For example, some food retailers began selling family-size meals to go, and some started offering contactless service via kiosks. 

"Connectivity was at the bottom of it," Grimes said. "If I had done this presentation seven or eight years ago, I might actually be talking about why restaurants have to put high-speed access in. We don't have that conversation anymore. If they hadn't had that, they would not have been able to handle things either the last two years or going forward."

Connectivity may not be an issue any longer, but where things "reside in the data" is. 

The foodservice industry has more data now than ever before. Retail always had rewards and loyalty programs and operators knew who their guests were — same with the airline and hotel industries — but restaurants never really knew, according to Grimes. 

"They did not always have a direct connect. All of sudden, you do online ordering and you have that direct connect. They have data they don't know about, and that is one of our areas of opportunity," he said, pointing out that the foodservice industry can learn from other industries that have well-established rewards and loyalty programs, like retail. 

Technology Enablement

While not a person who advises someone to develop technology for technology's sake, Grimes said he "very much" believes that technology follows the need, and the need is there.

Everything done in food operations today is enabled by technology, even if technology is not the focus. Technology allows foodservice operators to engage better with their customers and employees, provide convenient service, and more. 

"Digital is everywhere. Most companies, at least the big ones, seem to be combining the IT with the digital side of it," Grimes said. "We see the combination coming together because the solutions and connections are, in fact, digital solutions in an IT world."

These days, CIOs and IT department leaders spend less time on infrastructure and more time on the digital side, he added. 

Technology also plays a role in food safety. Customers want to know from where their food is sourced and restaurants are joining in on this trend.

This year's NRF event took place at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York from Jan. 16-18. The show put a focus on the tie-in between foodservice and technology.