Over the past several years, restaurant technology strategy has been largely dominated by omnichannel flexibility and customer-facing tools like loyalty programs and voice AI. Now the focus is shifting as operators build second- and third-generation tech stacks with an emphasis on efficiency, growth, and return on investment.
This shift is highlighted in the 2026 Restaurant Technology Outlook Market Leader Report from Informa Foodservice. The survey of nearly 500 foodservice operators reveals that restaurants are investing this year in back-of-house technology, such as point-of-sale systems (prioritized this year by 53% of operators, up from 40% last year) and inventory management, which ranked as the third most common area for future tech investment.
