Restaurant Tech Improving, But Has A Long Way To Go…

Jul 01, 2025

I am reminded every time that I walk through a show like NAFEM (North American Association of Food Equipment Manufacturers) or NRA (National Restaurant Association) of technology knocking at the door in every possible way. Every year vendors are showing off their latest claim to fame, and yet it is largely unattainable for your typical restaurant, hotel or bar due to high startup costs. While all businesses must concentrate on the bottom line and look for labor savings in today’s world, it’s the guest that is the most important piece of the puzzle. That guest interaction and experience will continue to be the number one reason that a guest comes back to an establishment.

On my left is a robot bartender making cocktails. We have started to see these in the wild on cruise ships and it’s fun and innovative. Guests sit down and order through a screen and watch a robot arm make their cocktail instead of a bartender. What you don’t see is the amount of people that walk on by or stay for only one drink. There is something to be said when you can only order off a prescribed menu and have no bartender to converse with. We, as drinkers, love to converse with the barkeep and watch a true show of the art of the cocktail. Is it lost with a machine for a one and done type of bar?

On my right is another robot arm making French fries and another cooking burgers. This has been a big showstopper for that last 3 to 4 years. It’s a pretty great setup where a guest walks up to a screen, orders and then waits 20 minutes for there food to be made and put into a locker to access. You look at the savings of labor with a machine replacements, but a closer look reveals it is taking double the labor to make and package the meals with 3 to 4 techs standing around making sure the 180k equipment does not breakdown. The technology is here and it is coming at lighting speed, but there is still a long way to go. There is also something cold and sterile about pushing a screen and having no face to speak to. Nothing will beat human interaction and a smile at the end of the day.

There are also tons of great technological advances across the showroom floor. Refrigeration tech getting smaller and smaller allowing for 16 inch freezers or multiple drawer units for bars. Autonomous retail merchandisers & self served automated ice cream machines, for un-manned grab & go markets for smaller hotels. Neapolitan conveyor pizza machines to speed up the pizza making process mixed with automatic beverage dispensers that can take a regular soda and add unique flavor enhancers to make this year’s most popular future trend, the “Dirty Soda”. The rest of the shows push the guest interaction and design of equipment. Pastry cases look like jewelry cases. The latest offerings of china, silver, and glassware. To show stopping pieces of equipment made for open kitchens. These are the types of show pieces in the wording “dinner and a show”.

In designing and creating our unique concepts, Davidson Restaurant Group always looks to push the envelope of what can be done using new technology and never forget the guest expectations, quality of the food & beverage, and those immersive environments our guest come to expect. At the end of the day, the advancement in technology of products we as hoteliers and restauranteurs look at everyday continues to push the needle for savings at a medium pace. Space saving tech mixed with faster production technology continues to be at the fore front. We weed through the trends and gimmicks of the show room floor to bring our guest and ownership groups true technology that is going to benefit them both in the best way. Alongside technology, we continue to see the development dollars put in training programs, hiring hospitable associates as that should win over metal, wires and computer chips every day.