Why We Love Tech

It’s no secret. The Branded Strategic team has a thing for Hospitality Industry Technology (“HI-Tech”). What do we love about technology? We love that HI-Tech can help improve the guest experience with arguably less effort on your part. We love that HI-Tech can allow operators to reduce labor costs and increase sales. We love that HI-Tech can help us to truly understand the needs of our guests and improve operations through data. We love to see customers, staff and operators adapt to new technology and understand that while most technology is in its infancy, the implications are huge.

Most importantly we love working with the best and brightest minds and companies in HI-Tech that spend their days improving the industry as a whole. Just like you can’t ask a parent to choose a favorite child (we love all ours equally 😉), when it comes to our Partner Companies, they are all #1 in our book (and in their respective vertical). So we asked a few friends to share their thoughts on why THEY love hospitality technology and the Branded Partner Company that personally solves the biggest challenges and problems relating to their businesses.

Why Do You Love Technology For Restaurants? 

Jeff Mann | Mann Publications & Branded Principal 

“Hospitality technology provides solutions for a superior customer centric experience. Any digital tool used to support daily operations in technology makes the guest experience that much better. As a patron of restaurants in NYC I find that technology speeds up the dining experience leaves little room for error.”

Robert Guarino | 5 Napkin Burger & Branded Partner

“As we speak, technology is in the process of remaking the restaurant industry at an almost unimaginable pace. As a ‘restaurant lifer’ I am excited to embrace the change and figure out how to harness tech’s power to help our businesses thrive. Many of the newest companies coming on the scene are creating products that are helping us have a more meaningful relationships with our guests. These are the companies I am excited to support.”

Jed Kleckner | Delivery.com & Branded Advisory Board

“In an increasingly competitive and rapidly changing environment, restaurant operators should and deserve to have an ability to understand how their business performs. Technology allows them to understand their businesses more effectively, so they can remain focused on building their operations. Additionally, consumption habits are shifting, online ordering and delivery services as one, albeit important example, and technology enables restaurant operators to quickly adapt to such changes.”

Stephen Van Note | RBM Restaurants & Branded Partner

“As a long time operator I like technology best when it shifts the paradigm by which I view the business. Don’t get me wrong. I like new efficiencies as much as the next guy. But I don’t love a better mouse trap. What I love is when a tech completely changes the way I look at things.”

David “Rev” Cianco | SinglePlatform & Branded Partner

“The hospitality biz is hand to hand combat in the moment of service. How fast, how clean, how good looking, how friendly, how awesome can you make the experience? It’s that quick moment of human interaction with curated cuisine that drives sentiment and revenue. Getting that moment is absolutely essential and with technology you can perfect every moment before and after the moment that matters.”

Solomon Choi | 16 Handles & Branded Partner

“Technology allows owners and operators to minimize their rising expenses and make better decisions using data rather than guesswork. It also allows software and hardware to work faster and more reliably so humans can work on service and strategy. Lastly, technology connects the restaurant to the guest regardless of location thus allowing it to function as a digital brand rather than just a physical location.”

Which Branded partner company solves the biggest challenges and problems relating to your businesses?

Jed Kleckner | Delivery.com  & Branded Advisory Board

“We love all Branded partner companies because they all serve different needs, but at a fundamental level all restaurant operators today should be enabled with web-based online ordering, whether that be via their own website or a marketplace. GoParrot enables every operator to receive their orders through their own websites. We strongly believe delivery platforms and operators enabled with their own digital storefronts should not be mutually exclusive. They should all have the ability to receive orders through their own website as well as through marketplaces.”

Stephen Van Note | RBM Restaurants & Branded Partner

“I don’t use all the tech that BSH partners with so no sleight is intended here. I like Yumpingo the best. It was easy to implement. And avoiding implementation complexity is great. Most importantly, the insight into guest sentiment Yumpingo provides has changed how I evaluate the performance of our teams and business.”

David “Rev”Cianco | SinglePlatform & Branded Partner

“I once went to a bar just to try Bbot. I ordered from a server and from Bbot at the same time. The Bbot beer came first and my transaction was over. When I finished the 2nd beer, I still had to flag down and wait for my bill. I love Bbot. Makes a better consumer experience.”

Solomon Choi | 16 Handles & Branded Partner

“When looking at the next wave of tech integrations, I am very excited about Jetson. Voice A/I is yet to be realized in food ordering in the mainstream market so it intrigues me to think about when it will be “normal” to order food with voice for a truly ordering experience.”

Robert Guarino | 5 Napkin Burger & Branded Partner

“Yumpingo is the product that has had the most profound impact on our business in the last year. For the first time ever, we have statistically meaningful, item level data on our guest’s perceptions of their food and service experience. This data has allowed us to know where to focus our efforts in order to find ways to constantly raise the bar.”