Why Every Restaurant Should Be Measuring These Four Delivery KPIs
The article outlines four essential delivery KPIs—direct-order share, repeat-order rate, promo dependency, and profit per delivery order—to reveal hidden margin pressures behind high sales volumes. It explains how reliance on third‑party marketplaces, discounts, and untracked costs can erode profitability despite strong top‑line numbers. By measuring these metrics, operators can shift focus from pure volume to sustainable profit, improve customer retention, and make data‑driven pricing decisions. The piece also highlights Sauce’s AI platform that helps restaurants own their delivery channel and maximize margins.
Sauce Launches AI-Powered Cashback Loyalty Engine to Help Restaurants Increase Reorders by Up to 30%
Sauce, a first‑party ordering and retention platform for restaurants, unveiled Sauce Cashback, an AI‑driven loyalty feature that automatically credits customers on each order. Early beta data shows participating eateries can boost reorders by as much as 30% within weeks. The...
Dishio Raises $2.5 Million to Help Restaurants Turn Guest Data Into Repeat Revenue
Dishio, a Miami‑based restaurant tech startup, announced a $2.5 million seed round that values the company at $20 million. The funding will fuel its AI‑powered growth engine, which unifies guest data from POS, loyalty, reservations, QR menus and online ordering into a...
Lavu Publishes Restaurant POS AI Capabilities Report, Finding Most Platforms Lack Cross-System Intelligence
Lavu Inc. released its 2026 Restaurant POS AI Capabilities Report, comparing AI features across seven leading point‑of‑sale platforms. The study shows most restaurant AI relies on a single data source, leaving multi‑unit operators blind to costly inefficiencies. Lavu’s Marty AI,...
Branch Launches TipCalc to Automate Tip Pooling and Cashless Payouts for Restaurants and Reduce Errors at Close
Branch, a workforce‑financial platform, launched TipCalc, an automated tip‑pooling and cashless payout tool for restaurants. The solution pulls real‑time data from point‑of‑sale systems, applies custom sharing rules, and distributes tips nightly to workers’ Branch accounts. By replacing manual spreadsheets, TipCalc...
Guestologie Launches to Help Restaurants Act on Guest Data in Real Time to Personalize Service and Boost Retention
Guestologie launched a platform that delivers real‑time guest‑data insights to restaurant staff, enabling personalized service at the point of visit. The system flags high‑value diners, offers actionable recommendations, and integrates with existing POS and reservation tools without a new app...
How Perishable Inventory Visibility Reduces Food Loss and Protects Restaurant Margins
Restaurant operators are grappling with rising labor costs and volatile menus, but hidden margin erosion stems from poor visibility into perishable inventory. Without real‑time data on aging stock, emergency purchases and write‑offs surge, hurting both profitability and guest experience. Implementing...
How to Tell If Your Restaurant AI Is Real
The restaurant tech market is plagued by AI‑washing, with vendors branding generic analytics as "AI‑powered" while delivering little value. Real AI should act as a painkiller, stitching together POS, labor, inventory and delivery data to expose hidden cash leaks instantly....
White Castle Puts Its Restaurant in a Box with 1,000 Automated Kiosks
White Castle is rolling out 1,000 automated "Crave & Go" kiosks across the U.S., targeting hospitals, campuses, and corporate sites. The kiosks prepare hot food on demand, eliminating the need for full‑service restaurants and reducing labor and real‑estate costs. Leveraging...
Square and Uber Eats Expand Global Partnership to Streamline Restaurant Operations and Payments
Block (Square) and Uber Technologies have broadened their partnership, extending Square’s native integration with Uber Eats into Canada, the U.K., Australia, Ireland, France and Spain while adding Cash App Pay as a U.S. checkout option. The deeper integration routes Uber...
Crunchtime Expands AI Capabilities Across Its Restaurant Operations Management Suite
Crunchtime, a leading restaurant‑technology provider, unveiled four AI‑driven features across its operations management suite. The new tools—AI Analyst, Voice‑Based Inventory, Photo Intelligence, and AI Actions—extend the company’s AI Forecasting to real‑time execution, promising faster inventory counts, automated compliance checks, and...
A Chef’s Perspective: How Kitchen Structure Drives Restaurant Technology Success in High-Volume Operations
Restaurant technology is proliferating, but high‑volume kitchens often see tools underperform because the underlying workflow is not built to support them. Chef Ankish Shetty explains that waste‑tracking systems capture only about 30% of data, with most loss occurring during service...
Dairy Queen Extends AI Drive-Thru Testing Across Franchise Locations
Dairy Queen is expanding its partnership with Presto to deploy voice‑AI in drive‑thrus at dozens of franchise locations, moving beyond earlier corporate tests. The technology aims to boost order accuracy, speed and upsell consistency while easing the chronic staffing challenges...
Starbucks Tests AI-Driven Drink Discovery Through ChatGPT Integration
Starbucks has launched a beta feature that plugs ChatGPT into its mobile app, letting customers describe a mood or craving and receive personalized drink recommendations. The AI layer sits in front of the existing ordering system, acting as a discovery...
How Real-Time Line Visibility Could Reshape Restaurant Demand
A new platform called Damn Lines streams live video of restaurant queues in Manhattan’s West Village, pairing real‑time footage with historical wait patterns. The service operates independently of the restaurants, letting diners see current line lengths and receive notifications when...