RTN in Review: What a Year!
2021 WAS QUITE A YEAR for the Restaurant Technology Network (RTN), with significant membership growth, meaningful connections and critical technical guidance releases — with one goal always centrally top of mind: to help restaurants and solution providers work together to solve problems large and small, inspiring bold ideas for the future. If you’re a member of RTN, a huge shout-out of gratitude for making this community what it is today. If you’re not yet a member, there’s no better time to join us. Here’s why.
As we close 2021, RTN boasts more than 200 restaurant brands and nearly 80 restaurant technology supplier brands in the community, along with more than 20 members of our restaurant Board of Governors and more than 20 members of our supplier leadership Vendor Advisory Council.
One of the most important things RTN does is bring members together to solve restaurant technology challenges. Published works to date include the RTN’s Open API Framework, Menu Synchronization Standard, Native Delivery TCO Calculator, Cybersecurity Operations Guidance, Fast Match Tools for Contactless Technology Solutions, RFP Guidance for POS, and so many more.
RTN Workgroups were in full force throughout 2021, collaborating on a variety of hot topics, such as standardizing customer record and transactional data, creating restaurant technology capabilities framework (publishing soon!) and developing labor and technology management strategies. RTN has also spearheaded the Restaurant Information Sharing and Analysis Center (Rest-ISAC) for restaurants to gather and share intelligence on cybersecurity-related technology solutions and threats. We’d love to have your expertise in the mix! Sign up here.
RTN launched several industry events to create meaningful connections, including a new format called RTN Town Hall, where members gather to listen to experts about the industry’s hottest topics, the first of which was on customer data, privacy and third-party delivery. Here were the top 3 takeaways.
We also launched Supplier-to-Supplier networking events, which allow industry power players like Comcast Business, Toshiba, Intel, PAR Tech, and so many more, to learn about emerging solutions and discover potential partnerships, helping new brands evolve and scale, while augmenting already-rich portfolios with even more diverse solutions
In-person events came back in 2021, and it was invigorating to attend HT’s MURTEC Executive Summit and Showcase October 13-15 in Orlando. Check out the MURTEC Executive Summit Recap here and my personal recap here. Followed by Food On Demand in November (which will be back in Las Vegas in May 2022). There were so many great learnings! Check out my recap of Food On Demand, jam-packed with the best quotes from the event.
Look for us to show up even more in 2022, at events such as HT’s own gold-standard event, MURTEC, (March 7-9, Las Vegas), National Restaurant Association Show (May 21-24, Chicago), and many more throughout the year.
