While many aspects of the restaurant technology industry are well into the era of artificial intelligence-and automation-driven everything, some parts of the foodservice experience remain frustratingly analogue.
With the rise of digital omnichannel ordering since the pandemic, mobile order pickup areas have become a pain point for quick-service operators like coffee and salad brands. While there has thus far been very little tech advancement in the realm of the mobile pickup lane — even Starbucks relies on baristas putting drinks in alphabetical order around physical signage — one new tech startup wants to change that.
Pickpad is in its initial launch phase and offers simple POS-integrated features like order accuracy checking, and digital displays of mobile order names. Pickpad isn’t the only tech company trying to cash in on this food tech white space in need of a solution. This year, Apex came out with smart pickup lockers powered by QR codes, and Starbucks’ new accessible store designs come equipped with digital order-ready boards. It would not be shocking if other companies follow suit to come up with a solution for the relatively low-tech mobile pickup sector.
In other news this month, Yelp has rolled out operator-facing AI features, and more.
Tech Tracker rounds up what’s happening in the technology sector of the restaurant industry, including news from restaurants, vendors, digital platforms, and third-party delivery companies. Here’s a breakdown of what you need to know and why:
Pickpad wants to resolve pickup pain points
Pickpad is a technology startup that just won a Consumer Electronics Show Innovation award for its foodservice pickup solution. The solution — which is preparing its first full-scale pilot test in Chicago soon — is an Internet of Things innovation designed around both consumer- and employee-facing technology.
According to founder Yaro Tsyhanenko, Pickpad is “a modular system of smart paths powered by sensors and machine learning” that can automatically double-check order accuracy and change the order status for each order in the system.
The technology is designed to look low-tech, with Pickpads camouflaged as different surfaces so that the “phygital” display with the order name and number can easily blend in with a countertop.
When an order comes in through the POS system, it is sent to a printer, which prints out which Pickpad number that order should be placed on when it is complete. When the order is complete, it gets placed on the correct Pickpad, and sensors can tell if there is an order error (red light indicates an order error, a green light gives the go-ahead). The Pickpad will then change its digital display to show the customer’s name.
“My idea was not to bring one more piece of complicated technology to restaurants, because they are overwhelming,” Tsyhanenko said. “I wanted to create something super simple that seamlessly integrated in operators’ existing ecosystem of tech products, especially their POS and digital ordering system.”
Currently, Pickpad is fully integrated with Square, and will be rolling out more POS integrations soon.
Starfish invents tracing technology not based on blockchain
While blockchain technology has already been used to create a system of ingredient tracing for foodservice companies, Starfish is a software-as-a-service company that launched in October and resolves food traceability issues without the use of blockchain.
Starfish was created from the brains behind the IBM Food Trust (supply chain intelligence network), which encourages networks of suppliers to share their data so that operators and customers can more easily trace the food they are sourcing and eating. The solution was devised as a way for supply chain sources to become compliant with new FDA laws that require data tracing.
“Typically, I’m shipping you 20 pounds of romaine lettuce, and you pay me for 20 pounds of romaine lettuce, and neither of us knows which romaine lettuce it is,” Starfish founder Wiggs Civitillo said. “This is really important when it comes to a recall or an investigation whenever there’s a foodborne illness outbreak that would cause a recall. The idea was borne out of the fact that traceability is very difficult.”
IBM Food Trust found that one of the biggest gaps in knowledge of the food supply chain is a lack of data sharing, due to lack of reporting and the fact that many data sharing networks do not speak the same language.
“The goal of Starfish is to fill this gap by providing a neutral data-sharing network—a layer zero foundation that allows for universal sharing of traceability and supply chain data,” Civitillo said. “We are taking on the difficult task of building connectors, and harmonizing the data, which allows us to share it in a trusted way.”
Compared to blockchain, Civitillo said, this system is cheaper and less time-consuming. Starfish’s network contains thousands of food companies already and is in partnership with IBM Food Trust.
Yelp launches AI-powered review insights
Yelp announced its end-of-year product release, which includes AI-powered review insights (and has the power to compete with similar external products that are able to comb through reviews). According to Yelp, these review insights can discern overall guest sentiment as a score ranging from 1-100, and operators can learn more about their scores by clicking on specific sentiments about the restaurant, like food quality and wait time.
“While Yelp is known for aggregating consumer reviews of local businesses into a single business rating, we know finding detailed information about your specific interests can be time-consuming,” Yelp’s announcement said.
This feature is available for restaurant, bar, and nightlife operators via iOS.
Yelp announced several more AI-powered tools in this product update. Another update that is relevant to operators includes AI ad optimization.
The Voice AI industry is expected to quintuple by 2029
It’s no secret that voice AI has been the most high-profile implementation of artificial intelligence in the restaurant industry, particularly in the drive-thru lane and call center. According to a new report on the State of AI from Checkmate, voice AI will continue to be valued and infiltrated in foodservice moving forward.
In fact, Checkmate data predicts that voice AI will balloon from a $10 billion industry to a $49 billion industry by 2029. Additionally, 71% of operators plan to implement AI technology in some form soon.
However, voice AI is not without its issues or detractors as integration issues and challenges with the AI understanding some human voices are still hurdles to be tackled.
Contact Joanna at [email protected]
