Modern Restaurant Management

MAY 30, 2025

This edition of Modern Restaurant Management (MRM) magazine's Research Roundup features delivery data, tariff troubles, summer dining trends, and Beer Serves America. Additionally, consumers continue to favor delivery transactions, which are up by 383 percent since 2020. billion transactions and $67 billion in sales in 2024.

Fast Casual 251

Fast Casual Food Point of Sale Mobile Ordering 251

ChowNow

FEBRUARY 12, 2025

New concepts, ghost kitchens, and delivery-only brands are popping up constantly, making it harder for any single restaurant to stand out. The right marketing strategy helps you get the most out of every dollar by increasing customer retention , boosting order volume, and encouraging repeat visits.

2025 195

2025 Marketing Email Marketing Operations 195

ChowNow

JULY 11, 2025

When going through the ordering process, diners want three things: Speed Ease Clarity Your menu categories have more to do with delivering on those expectations than you might think. On the flip side, a cluttered or confusing category setup can overwhelm guests, slow down ordering, and lead to missed sales opportunities.

Menu 195

Menu Dietary Restrictions Seasonal Menu Online Ordering 195

ChowNow

MAY 23, 2025

Business model: Delivery-heavy brands reliant on third-party apps may see lower returns due to commissions. Restaurant type: Whether you run a fine dining, fast casual, or quick service concept plays a big role in potential margins. Keep them too low, and youre losing your net profit margin every time someone orders.

Point of Sale 195

Point of Sale Insurance Fast Casual Customer Service 195

Modern Restaurant Management

DECEMBER 31, 2024

This final edition of Modern Restaurant Management (MRM) magazine's Research Roundup for 2024 features news of operator challenges and priorities, delivery trends, wages and hourly worker considerations. This is according to a survey conducted by TD Bank at the 2024 Restaurant Finance and Development Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Franchise 221

Franchise Franchising 2024 Mobile Ordering 221

ChowNow

FEBRUARY 21, 2025

Third-party delivery apps start out as a convenient way to reach new customers, but they always take a significant chunk of your profits. While these platforms do bring in orders, they also come with the price of high commission fees, loss of customer data, and a weaker connection between you and your guests.

Ordering 195

Ordering Email Marketing Online Ordering Social Media 195

Restaurant Business

JUNE 23, 2025

Acqui-hire “To acquire a company in order to use its employees skills or knowledge, rather than for its products or services.” Starbucks’ deal with Empower Delivery fits the acqui-hire framework. The coffee giant is licensing the company’s order fulfillment tech while also bringing aboard Empower’s six engineers.

Hiring 167

Hiring Mobile Ordering Advertising Leadership 167

Restaurant Business

JUNE 17, 2025

Salad is rising as the next drive-thru concept The fast-casual Greenlane is plotting growth across Florida with investor and NFL star Rob Gronkowski working the drive-thru window. But Tampa-based Greenlane is among a growing number of fast-casual concepts making freshly prepared salads a drive-thru option. By Lisa Jennings on Jun.

Fast Casual 155

Fast Casual Leadership Mobile Ordering Casual 155

Modern Restaurant Management

DECEMBER 18, 2024

So much data is generated at every point within a restaurant, whether fast casual or fine dining. Restaurants are already experimenting with using AI to handle drive through orders to allow human employees to focus on customer interactions in the restaurant. As of 2024, over half of U.S.

2025 419

2025 Loyalty Program Social Media Fast Casual 419

Modern Restaurant Management

JANUARY 31, 2025

This reflects the positive impact loyalty programs have on driving revenue, with 83 percent of restaurant leaders saying their loyalty program successfully drives up order or basket size, as well as repeat visits (82 percent) and return on investment (78 percent). Fast-casual visits overall were down 3.8 percent in December and 11.3

Marketing 221

Marketing Loyalty Program 2024 2025 221

Restaurant Business

JUNE 17, 2025

Photo: Shutterstock Made-to-order food, value offerings, loyalty programs. Made-to-order food is now second only to gas as a driver of c-store visits. When it comes to value , three-quarters of c-store consumers said made-to-order food at c-stores is a good value, up 13 points from last year. By Heather Lalley on Jun.

Food 272

Food Fast Casual Leadership Loyalty Program 272

ChowNow

APRIL 25, 2025

Your restaurant brand is the gut feeling a potential customer gets the first time they see your restaurant logo, scroll through your online ordering menu, or walk into your restaurant. Youre not just designing for yourselfyoure designing for the potential customers you want ordering from you day after day. Are you casual and playful?

Mobile Ordering 195

Mobile Ordering Social Media Email Marketing Customer Experience 195

Lavu

NOVEMBER 29, 2024

Cost Savings: Dual pricing eliminates credit card processing fees; low-stock alerts minimize waste; online ordering allows restaurant operators to get rid of pesky third party commissions Customer Engagement: Loyalty programs and CRM tools enhance customer retention. This change reduced wait times by 30% and improved order accuracy.

Loyalty Program 78

Loyalty Program Cash Management Inventory Customer Service 78

Lavu

MAY 30, 2025

Order and pay at the table technology is emerging as a game-changer, allowing guests to browse the menu, place their order, and complete paymentall from their smartphone or a tablet, without waiting for staff. Then, you might want to consider offering order and pay at the table technology.

Ordering 78

Ordering Mobile Ordering Fast Casual Online Ordering 78

Lavu

JUNE 20, 2025

From AI-driven ordering systems to smart inventory tools and contactless dining experiences, today’s innovations are reshaping how restaurants operate, serve customers, and stay competitive. Digital Ordering Systems If you are still scheduling shifts with pen and paper, 2020 is the year to change that.

Technology 78

Technology 2025 Online Ordering Fast Casual 78

Lavu

MAY 9, 2025

From real-time inventory tracking to mobile ordering and multi-location management, the right POS helps restaurants grow faster and operate more efficiently. Toast : Designed for restaurants, offering tableside ordering, inventory management, and a free starter plan with 3% payment processing. Thats where Lavu leads the way.

POS 78

POS Loyalty Program Mobile Ordering Food Truck 78

Lavu

JULY 4, 2025

From managing orders and tracking inventory to analyzing sales data in real time, today’s POS systems are essential tools for restaurants of all sizes. POS systems are where you place food and drink orders and send them to the back of the house. Without a POS system, your waitstaff has to constantly run to the kitchen to place orders.

POS 78

POS 2025 Front of House Back of House 78

Lavu

JUNE 26, 2025

As more restaurants turn to automation, self-order kiosks are becoming a must-have for improving speed, accuracy, and customer satisfaction. But before making the switch, one key question stands out—what is the actual self-order kiosk price in 2025? What Is a self-order kiosk? Self-order kiosks can range in size and use.

2025 78

2025 Pricing Ordering Fast Casual 78

Modern Restaurant Management

MARCH 11, 2025

. – Jackie Abril-Carlile, Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts Culinary Instructo r and Executive chef and general manager at North Mountain Brewing Everything Has Changed At the onset of COVID, most fast casual restaurants went from primarily dine-in business to mostly takeout and delivery models.

Loyalty Program 471

Loyalty Program Mobile Ordering Customer Experience Online Ordering 471

Modern Restaurant Management

MARCH 11, 2025

"As awful as it was, the pandemic pushed restaurants to completely rethink their operations in order to survive, and some of the changes they made during the pandemic have continued to be beneficial to those restaurants and industry at large." The pandemic made speed, accuracy, and seamless ordering non-negotiable.

Mobile Ordering 418

Mobile Ordering Kitchen Safety Fine Dining Food Safety 418

Lavu

JUNE 13, 2025

With cashless options such as credit cards, mobile payment apps, and contactless payments, customers can make quick and hassle-free payments, reducing wait times at the point of sale. In today’s fast-paced world, consumers appreciate the ease of using credit/debit cards, mobile wallets, or other digital payment options.

2025 78

2025 Cash Management Mobile Ordering Point of Sale 78

Lavu

MAY 23, 2025

Is your staff constantly battling long wait times, confused orders, or slow transactions? Order Errors : Miscommunication between servers and the kitchen leads to costly mistakes. Disconnected Systems : Managing multiple order sources without integration causes confusion. It might not be the teamit could be your tech.

POS 78

POS Online Ordering Mobile Ordering Inventory 78

Qu

MARCH 28, 2025

With escalating costs, persistent labor challenges, and operational inefficiencies eating into already thin margins, restaurant brandsparticularly enterprise fast casual and QSR chainsneed solutions that deliver immediate value and impact. Edge devices process orders locally, eliminating cloud processing delays and network latency issues.

Fast Casual 52

Fast Casual Technology Point of Sale Mobile Ordering 52

SpotOn

DECEMBER 30, 2024

Quick-service restaurants—like cafes, fast food, and fast casual—are estimated to have decent profit margins with lower food and labor costs. Handhelds enable servers to take orders and payments at the table instead of running to and from the POS, making them twice as efficient. But that's just the beginning.

Operations 52

Operations Loyalty Program Online Ordering Fast Casual 52

Lavu

JULY 18, 2025

Along with consistent branding, customers can order online, through an app, some options include being able to order hours ahead of time. For example, many fast-casual restaurants are now becoming the norm in quick-serve restaurants as an option with new delivery services like UberEats.

Customer Service 78

Customer Service Point of Sale POS Fast Casual 78

Restaurant Business

JUNE 11, 2025

The food delivery company said Wednesday that it has acquired Symbiosys, an ad tech company, in a deal valued at $175 million. These ads will direct back to a restaurants’ DoorDash ordering page. In the future, they could also link to a restaurants’ own website if they use DoorDash’s Storefront online ordering system, Samolis said.

Advertising 213

Advertising Fast Casual Social Media Leadership 213

Modern Restaurant Management

NOVEMBER 1, 2024

Restaurants Order Up Tech, AI, and Dynamic Pricing As far as technology goes, 26 percent of respondents said they’d like to start using new tech to help run their business, which is up seven percentage points from last year. Anchor retailers like Macy’s, Target and Nordstrom all landed in the top 25. percent.

Point of Sale 221

Point of Sale 2024 Mobile Ordering Consumer Goods 221

Modern Restaurant Management

APRIL 1, 2025

Despite the fact that consumers are paying more to visit and order from restaurants this year – 12.5 Key data points: The demand for takeout and delivery has slightly outpaced the demand for dining in. 28 percent of consumers say they are ordering takeout and delivery more frequently than last year.

Pricing 251

Pricing Technology 2025 Point of Sale 251

Modern Restaurant Management

APRIL 29, 2025

Off-Premises Dining Is Essential Nearly 75 percent of all restaurant traffic now happens off-premises—meaning that almost three out of four restaurant orders are taken to go. More than 60 percent say they’re ordering off-premises more often than a year ago. Older adults still prefer in-person ordering.

Reservations 488

Reservations 2025 Marketing Loyalty Program 488

Modern Restaurant Management

OCTOBER 26, 2021

Most notably is the shift to mobile and the way in which consumers patronize their favorite restaurants. Of course, delivery also spiked, but the underlying thread between each of these dining preferences is the use of mobile for ordering and pick-up. Owning the End-to-End Experience.

Mobile Ordering 546

Mobile Ordering Download Customer Experience Fast Casual 546

Modern Restaurant Management

MAY 18, 2021

But as reality of the pandemic sunk in and dining rooms remained closed, it became apparent that ordering delivery and takeout was the best way to help restaurants weather the storm — and there was a significant consumer appetite to do so. By August 2020, Americans reported ordering takeout 2.4 So what’s next?

Delivery 421

Delivery Kitchen Safety Social Media Online Ordering 421

Modern Restaurant Management

SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

Businesses have been forced to pivot away from on-premises dining to offer on-line ordering and take-out services. Whether fine-dining or fast casual, great service now revolves around the customer experience you bring to every interaction. The people that answer the phone for takeout orders are now your frontline for customers.

Customer Experience 598

Customer Experience Customer Service Fast Casual Mobile Ordering 598

Modern Restaurant Management

MARCH 11, 2022

In particular, supply chain disruptions and staffing shortages – whether due to resignations or illness – are forcing quick service and fast casual restaurants to adapt quickly to changing conditions. Increased Emphasis on Online Ordering. Appeal to Mobile Gamers.

2022 520

2022 Marketing Fast Casual Mobile Ordering 520

Modern Restaurant Management

SEPTEMBER 15, 2020

These features include tableside mobile ordering, NFC contactless payments, and direct online ordering. They also have the choice of using the MarketConnect app to order and pick up from a designated shelf onsite, avoiding interactions and maintaining necessary social distancing.

Fast Casual 405

Fast Casual Casual Menu Mobile Ordering 405

Modern Restaurant Management

JULY 15, 2021

In this episode of The Main Course , host Barbara Castiglia talked with Alex Canter, CEO of Ordermark, which helps restaurants increase efficiency and grow profits by aggregating mobile orders across all of the major online-ordering services into a single dashboard and printer.

Front of House 493

Front of House Fast Casual Mobile Ordering Fine Dining 493

Modern Restaurant Management

SEPTEMBER 27, 2023

percent) than they do in casual restaurants (16.5 Takeout tips are down : Tips for online orders and delivery dipped slightly, falling from 8.83 In spite of earning the biggest in-house tips, bars were hit hardest on takeout, with the median online and delivery tip falling from almost 10 percent to 8.54 percent to 8.07

Fast Casual 493

Fast Casual Fine Dining Employee Relations Customer Service 493

Modern Restaurant Management

FEBRUARY 18, 2020

” Their answers touched on a variety of subjects including AI, virtual reality, virtual kitchens, staffing and retention, social media marketing, sustainability and third-party delivery. One great thing about the online delivery market is that it produces massive amounts of data. Christopher Baron of RedBaron Consulting.

Mobile Ordering 539

Mobile Ordering Front of House Customer Service Customer Experience 539