The Evolution of Convenience: AI, Self-Service, and the Customer Experience

The food and beverage industry is on an exciting trajectory, continually evolving to surpass customer expectations. This past year, restaurants embraced digitalization and automation to prioritize convenience. In 2025, we anticipate more operators will scrutinize channel investments and adopt engagement-based loyalty programs, applications of AI will be focused and practical, and technology investments will be prioritized around self-service, kitchen automation, and communications infrastructure to handle the demands of real-time data and on-premises computational demands. 

Here are the top trends that will shape the industry in the coming year:

1. Maturing Sales Channel and Loyalty Strategies  

With the rising costs of customer acquisition across various marketing and sales channels, operators must strategically allocate their channel spend. Understanding the origin of orders and tracking purchases, whether from anonymous guests or loyalty members alike, is crucial for effective targeting. As repeat visits become less frequent, interpreting channel performance in terms of basket size, margin, and loyalty conversion is essential. Brands must offer hyper-personalization, such as points-based rewards or exclusive access, to drive customer engagement and long-term value.

Engagement-based loyalty solutions that prioritize meaningful rewards over discounts are yielding significant results. In our experience, an average 30 percent year-over-year growth in loyalty membership can be achieved for brands adopting this strategy. We predict a shift away from traditional 'earn and burn' programs, focusing on cross-industry collaborations and improved sales channel and loyalty measurement, including ROI analysis.

2. AI for Revenue

Brands are poised to unlock the potential of AI to enhance revenue-generating activities and improve operational efficiency. By harnessing AI within industry-specific applications, operators can transform various aspects of their business. Data science and large language models will be key drivers of this transformation, offering intelligent segmentation within loyalty platforms and optimizing sales strategies.

Voice AI is particularly promising, and we anticipate it becoming a cornerstone of the customer experience. By automating the ordering process, Voice AI will elevate convenience to new heights. In parallel, advancements in menu engineering and production forecasting, driven by AI, will boost efficiency and customer satisfaction.

Moreover, we foresee a growing trend of adopting business systems with embedded AI capabilities. These systems will streamline operations and provide invaluable insights. The strategic integration of AI will empower restaurants to raise their performance standards, simplify complex processes, and ultimately, maximize their profitability.

3. Self-Service Expansion

Driven by the ongoing pressure on labor costs and the fortunate alignment with customer preferences, customers have embraced the convenience, speed, and control offered by self-service ordering and contactless payments. As a result, restaurants are doubling down on their investments in self-service technologies, including kiosks and BYOD options. This trend will be prevalent across quick-service, fast-casual, business, and sports and entertainment venues.

The benefits of self-service ordering are undeniable, with larger average order sizes, more consistent upsells and cross-sells, and reduced wait times. Embedded AI within the ordering flow further enhances the experience, personalizing suggestions for known customers and using look-alike segments for unknown guests.

With embedded payments, self-service technologies are unlocking new possibilities for unique, curated experiences. In mixed-use environments, customers can enjoy connected brand interactions, where their loyalty is seamlessly recognized and rewarded. Hotel kiosks, for instance, can automatically identify loyalty members during check-in, link their stay to their loyalty account, and offer exclusive perks to elevate their entire visit, spanning food and beverage, retail, and leisure activities.

4. The Intelligent Kitchen

The kitchen is the heart of any restaurant, and with the growth of off-premises and on-premises sales channels, it's an area ripe for automation and innovation. Restaurant operators across all verticals are embracing digital and AI-automation technologies to enhance their kitchens' efficiency and improve the employee experience. What was once resistance to digital kitchen management systems in fine dining is now a thing of the past, as adoption becomes mainstream. This shift opens up new opportunities for improvements in production capacity measurement, forecasting, and predictive analytics.

In 2025, we expect to see further exploration and testing of AI vision technology in kitchens to enhance safety, ensure quality control, and reduce waste. With staff turnover on the rise, voice AI is also likely to play a crucial role in training staff and providing on-demand support for various kitchen tasks.

Additionally, as IoT devices become more integral to kitchen operations, predictive fault detection and system performance monitoring will be key to maintaining seamless day-to-day operations. The intelligent kitchen of the future promises to streamline workflows, optimize productivity, and deliver an even better employee and customer experience.

5. Communications Infrastructure: The Backbone of AI and Real-Time Data 

Communications infrastructure is poised to play a pivotal role in the food and beverage industry, especially with the increasing demand for real-time data and the computational power required by AI agents, notably in voice ordering scenarios. This trend will drive a significant rise in the adoption of edge computing solutions.

In the realm of cloud and digital businesses, robust communications infrastructure is essential. Innovations in this field, including platforms allow organizations to reimagine how they do business. By connecting industry applications to networks and IoT devices, ECP helps ensure all of the advanced capabilities of the digital restaurant operation perform at the speed and scale needed to meet business and consumer expectations.

The performance and security offered by cloud infrastructure solutions provide a solid foundation for communications and edge architectures. With integrated industry applications and IoT device management, operators can simplify complex integrations and network management. This empowers them to harness connectivity and data intelligence, ultimately enhancing their service offerings.