TRENDS
9 takeaways from the Restaurant Show
Amid uncertainty and rising costs, operators find opportunity in streamlined tech, robotics, beverage innovation and AI T he teams from Nation’s Restaurant News and Restau- rant Business were out in full force at the recent National Restaurant Association Show in Chica- go, exploring the massive event to find the most pervasive trends and creative products. Here’s what caught their at- tention this year. Operators get back to basics Perhaps of no surprise, most of the conversations with operators at this year’s show centered on “uncertainty,” specifically around policy changes, in - cluding tariffs and immigration. And, as they both remain elevated, food and labor costs continue to be a recurring theme. “In this environment, we’re hearing a lot of our customers talking about go- ing back to the basics,” said QSR Auto- mations’ senior director of marketing, Julie Rudder. “They’re bombarded with a lot of tech solutions, and so integra- tion — and transparency about inte- gration — has also become much more important.” Indeed, the tech pavilion featured plenty of exhibitors promoting “inte- gration,” which makes sense given that there are now individual management platforms for everything from events management to delivery intelligence to swag. BY NRN & RB EDITORS
Seeking relief from ‘tech fatigue’
Black Box Intelligence. “They don’t want to go to different places to get different pieces of data — they want something that is cohesive and trustworthy.” AI seems to be what most are betting on to bridge the gap for both operators and customers. Juan George, with 858 Partners, said this year’s conversations have revolved around how tech compa- nies can bring AI into the mix for their
Operators are being more selective with their data and tech providers and indeed, such selectiveness was a major theme during the show. “Operators want integration and a one-stop shop. They have tech fatigue from the past several years,” said Vic- tor Fernandez, chief insights officer at
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National Restaurant Association Show 2025
PHOTO CREDIT: ALICIA KELSO (TOP), JOANNA FANTOZZI (BOTTOM)
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