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Technology & Innovation Articles

Browse all technology & innovation articles from QSR Pro

72 articles in Technology & Innovation

AllFinance & EconomicsIndustry AnalysisMarketing & GrowthOperations & ManagementPeople & CultureTechnology & Innovation
Showing 1–18 of 72
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NewTechnology & Innovation•March 2026

Olo's Zero-Commission App Is a Direct Attack on the Delivery Duopoly

Olo CEO Noah Glass unveiled a consumer-facing ordering app that charges restaurants zero commission, threatening the commission model that DoorDash and Uber Eats have built their businesses on.

QSR Pro Staff•8 min read
NewTechnology & Innovation•March 2026

Chowbus Raises $81 Million to Build the Operating System Independent Restaurants Never Had

Chicago-based Chowbus closed an $81 million funding round to build an AI-powered operating platform for independent and culturally rooted restaurants. The company has grown annual recurring revenue 9x in four years to more than $120 million, processing $4 billion in annualized transaction volume across all 50 states and Canada. The raise signals a broader bet that the 60% of the restaurant industry still running on mismatched, enterprise-focused tools is ready for something purpose-built.

QSR Pro Staff•6 min read
NewTechnology & Innovation•March 2026

The Restaurant Tech Delusion: Why 53% of CEOs Think Systems Work While Only 17% of Operators Agree

Qu's seventh annual Restaurant Technology Benchmark Report reveals a striking gap between C-suite confidence and operational reality: 53% of CEOs report no major system instability affecting their brand, while only 17% of their own operational leaders agree. The report is a warning shot for any chain betting on AI to solve problems their foundational systems cannot yet handle.

QSR Pro Staff•6 min read
NewTechnology & Innovation•March 2026

Byte by Byte: Yum Brands' AI Restaurant Coach Is Now Managing 28,000 Locations

Yum Brands has deployed its Byte AI Restaurant Coach across more than 28,000 locations, giving operators a new kind of digital GM that analyzes operational data and drives decisions on staffing, scheduling, and performance. Here's what that actually means on the floor.

QSR Pro Staff•8 min read
NewTechnology & Innovation•March 2026

The QSR Loyalty Arms Race: How 175 Million McDonald's Members Changed the Competitive Landscape

McDonald's 175 million active loyalty members and $30 billion in program sales have turned loyalty from a perk into a primary growth lever, forcing every chain in the industry to reckon with the technology gap.

QSR Pro Staff•7 min read
NewTechnology & Innovation•March 2026

CKE's Multi-Vendor AI Experiment: What Carl's Jr. and Hardee's Learned from Testing Three Drive-Thru Systems

CKE Restaurants tested Presto Automation, OpenCity's Tori, and Valyant AI simultaneously across its Carl's Jr. and Hardee's drive-thrus. The results offer a rare, side-by-side look at what actually works in AI order-taking, and why the multi-vendor approach may be the smartest move in a market with no clear winner.

QSR Pro Staff•8 min read
NewTechnology & Innovation•March 2026

Presto Raises $10M as Drive-Thru Voice AI Enters Its 'Prove It' Era

Presto Automation closed a $10 million funding round as the drive-thru AI sector moves from pilot theater to deployment accountability. With McDonald's IBM experiment now a cautionary tale, operators are demanding hard numbers on accuracy, labor savings, and rollout speed.

QSR Pro Staff•7 min read
NewTechnology & Innovation•March 2026

McDonald's AI Accuracy Scales Are Quietly Fixing a $2 Billion Industry Problem

McDonald's has deployed AI-powered Accuracy Scales across thousands of restaurants, weighing every order before it reaches the customer. Here's what the technology does, why it matters, and what it signals about where QSR AI investment is actually heading.

QSR Pro Staff•8 min read
NewTechnology & Innovation•March 2026

McDonald's Humanoid Robot Pilot in Shanghai: What It Actually Means for QSR Automation

McDonald's trialed humanoid robots at a Shanghai restaurant in March 2026, then quickly downplayed the whole thing. The real story isn't the robots. It's the gap between front-of-house optics and back-of-house economics.

QSR Pro Staff•9 min read
NewTechnology & Innovation•March 2026

One in Four Restaurants Now Uses AI: What the NRA's 2026 State of the Industry Report Reveals

The National Restaurant Association's 2026 State of the Restaurant Industry report found 26% of operators now use AI-related tools, with marketing leading adoption and customer ordering lagging far behind. Here's what the data actually shows about where the industry stands.

QSR Pro Staff•7 min read
NewTechnology & Innovation•March 2026

Burger King's AI Headset Spy: Meet 'Patty,' the Bot Listening to Every Drive-Thru Greeting

Burger King is rolling out an AI assistant named 'Patty' to 500 restaurants, monitoring employee drive-thru greetings in real time. The system flags hospitality cues, answers operational questions, and is heading toward a full U.S. deployment by end of 2026.

QSR Pro Staff•7 min read
NewTechnology & Innovation•March 2026

The Restaurant Tech Stack Problem: Why 37% of Chains Say Fragmented Systems Are Killing Their AI Ambitions

A new Qu survey found that 37% of restaurant brands cite fragmented systems and disconnected data as the primary barrier to getting value from technology. As AI promises transform the industry, the unsexy infrastructure problem of the fractured tech stack is quietly blocking the revolution.

QSR Pro Staff•10 min read
NewTechnology & Innovation•March 2026

51% of QSR Brands Are Now Investing in AI, but Most Still Can't Prove ROI

More than half of limited-service restaurant brands are spending on AI, but the gap between investment and measurable return is widening. Here's what's blocking ROI and which use cases are actually delivering results.

QSR Pro Staff•9 min read
NewTechnology & Innovation•March 2026

McDonald's Is Building a $45 Billion Digital Machine. Here's How It Works.

With 210 million active loyalty members and a Google Cloud partnership powering AI kitchens, McDonald's is turning its app into the operating system for 43,000 restaurants. The target: 250 million members and $45 billion in loyalty-driven sales.

QSR Pro Staff•10 min read
NewTechnology & Innovation•March 2026

Dynamic Pricing Comes to QSR: How AI Is Quietly Rewriting the Menu Board

AI-powered dynamic pricing and real-time menu engineering are moving from pilot programs to mainstream adoption in 2026. With food costs still 35% above pre-pandemic levels, operators who treat the menu board as a static document are leaving margin on the table.

QSR Pro Staff•8 min read
NewTechnology & Innovation•March 2026

Restaurant Tech M&A Surges 45%: Inside the Race to Build the All-in-One Platform

Restaurant technology M&A activity jumped 45% in H1 2025, and 2026 is moving even faster. The industry is consolidating from a fragmented patchwork of point solutions into unified platforms. Here's who's winning the race, who's buying what, and what it means for operators betting on their tech stack.

QSR Pro Staff•9 min read
NewTechnology & Innovation•March 2026

Travis Kalanick's Atoms: The Uber Co-Founder's Bet to Own the Entire Restaurant Tech Stack

Travis Kalanick has rebranded his restaurant empire as Atoms, unifying CloudKitchens ghost kitchen real estate, Otter POS software, Lab37 kitchen robotics, and Picnic office catering into one vertically integrated bet. We break down whether the integrated stack strategy can actually work, and what it means for operators watching from the sidelines.

QSR Pro Staff•9 min read
NewTechnology & Innovation•March 2026

Voice AI Ordering Hits the Tipping Point: Half of Drive-Thrus Could Be AI-Handled by Year's End

Industry projections put AI-handled drive-thru orders at 50% of U.S. locations by late 2026. With SoundHound powering 10,000+ restaurants and Presto backed by fresh capital, the technology has cleared the novelty stage. Now comes the hard part: proving it works at scale.

QSR Pro Staff•9 min read
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