Nearly 8 in 10 restaurant execs to boost AI spending

Restaurant execs eye AI to enhance customer experience, operations, loyalty, and more.

Restaurant executives expect to invest more in AI technologies over the next fiscal year, with 73% of those surveyed saying they are likely to increase somewhat, with 9% predicting a significant increase in investment, a report by Deloitte said.

The State of AI in Restaurants Survey gathered insights from 375 restaurant executives representing brands and operators across 11 countries.

Restaurant executives expect those investments to yield numerous benefits in the future. When asked to pick their top three, enhanced customer experience emerged as the clear leader, listed by six in 10 respondents. 36% expect AI to improve their restaurant operations, loyalty programs, and procurement and supply chain management.

Meanwhile, one in five believes AI will strengthen their digital marketing efforts, optimise food prep and waste management, enhance crew experiences, and help them develop new products and concepts.

Restaurant executives from different segments have different benefit expectations.

For example, the respondents from casual dining restaurants hope to achieve a significantly greater benefit in enhancing customer experience, compared to those in the quick service, fast casual, and café segments (60% versus 48%).

Additionally, casual dining brands prioritised benefits from improved procurement and supply chain, and optimising food prep and waste management made their top five, unlike their counterparts.

Regionally, respondents in the United States and Europe are more optimistic than their counterparts in Asia about AI enabling a more positive customer experience. Notably, respondents from Asia were the only group to rank automation and augmentation of restaurant labour in their top five.

Three waves of AI adoption

Deloitte also pointed out that most AI is already integrated into day-to-day capacities.

63% report daily use of AI in enhancing customer experience, and another 26% say they are engaged in pilots or other forms of limited implementation. One of the more emerging examples is the use of voice AI in drive-thrus to automate the order-taking process.

In Australia and the US, KFC has launched AI-powered drive-thrus to automate the order-taking process.

55% of the respondents surveyed report they are using AI in inventory management daily; another 25% say they are testing out such applications. Whilst forecasting is a common use case here, other AI-enabled use cases include Internet of Things sensors that enable automated data collection for real-time inventory tracking, and the use of predictive analytics to help minimise waste and optimise disposal processes.

The second wave of adoption is focused on using AI technologies to boost customer loyalty and enhance employee experience. Implementation hovers near 70% for these two opportunity areas, including daily use and pilots, but plans in the works for both applications indicate those numbers could soon rise. This could eventually surpass the use of AI in inventory management.

Following behind is the third wave, which includes leveraging AI in food preparation and new product development, respectively. Both applications are being used or tested in these areas by less than 50% of our respondents today, but they also boast the highest readings when it comes to planning and development. Some of the more promising pilots in these areas include real-time detection of food defects and contamination using computer vision, and flavour compound analysis enabled by machine learning algorithms.

Amongst the restaurant segment, casual dining is the most aggressive adopter of AI, focusing more towards using these technologies to help with inventory management and employee experience.

Deloitte said this is likely due to the typically more complex menus, larger and more varied teams, and the increased focus on customer experience that most casual dining brands rely on to operate effectively. And the same can be said for restaurants in Asia relative to those in the United States and Europe.

The worldwide AI market is expected to grow to over US$631b by 2028 from US$235b in 2024, according to global market intelligence firm IDC.