What's Next in Universal Solutions for Restaurants?
After a year that was dominated by off-premises dining and the supporting tech solutions, “The dependence is now on internet channels and with that, you got to have secondary and sometimes tertiary internet connections to be able support these things, otherwise you are at a standstill,” said Joe Tenczar, CIO at Sonny's BBQ and Co-Founder Restaurant CIOs. “The advancements and realities are if you are too dependent on the internet, things can happen. Make sure you have an offline mode and can transact business within your four walls.”
Tenczar was one of dozens of speakers at MURTEC 2021. ICYMI, MURTEC sessions are now streaming on demand in the MURTEC Highlight Hub.
With all the advancements, don’t unwittingly create a back door for bad actors; make sure you’re following best security practices.
“As you’re adding edge devices such as IoT, security becomes very important,” stressed Tenczar.
Robots & Drones Are Delivering
“It’s time to start paying attention” to robots and their role in food delivery, said Tenczar, who shared his picks for innovative hospitality tech from the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) at the 25th anniversary MURTEC.
Robots are being used for delivery in urban areas. Also on the horizon, drone deliveries. The Federal Aviation Administration issued new rules in December 2020 to allow small unmanned aerial vehicles to fly over populated areas at night, clearing a hurdle for companies to use drones for delivering goods.
Restaurant infrastructure has evolved – from client-server, to the cloud and now the edge. With the volume of data moving around, restaurants need to be able to process locally and batch summary files and upload them to the cloud, he notes. “Have a strong data structure around what is important to have real-time and at the frequency that it collects data − and collect, summarize and transmit to the mother ship,” said Tenczar. “It changes how your network infrastructure works and system infrastructure works.”
“Macro services are becoming important and becoming API-driven,” Tenczar said. “People are getting smart about how they're developing these applications,” making them easier to update and enhance for evolving restaurant industry.