When Patrick Doyle was leading Domino’s Pizza several years ago, he often referred to it as a “tech company that sells pizza.”
There was plenty of reason for this sound bite – at the time, well before the pandemic, the company served as a digital case study of sorts, delivering to hot spots, testing driverless cars, automating phone orders via AI, name it.
It was a bold statement, to be sure. After all, the cornerstones of our industry are food and service. But a few other chains embraced the idea of being a tech company first, or alongside, a food company. Wingstop and Sweetgreen come to mind. There’s nothing wrong with this. Many (if not most) consumers now want a tech-enabled, convenient, frictionless experience, and at limited-service concepts, those types of experiences have become just as meaningful as the food itself. Tech companies.
