Operations
Restaurant industry experts make predictions for 2026
Industry experts predict that the 2026 restaurant landscape will be defined by a "Me-Me-Me Economy," where brands must leverage integrated AI and data-driven precision to provide hyper-personalized guest experiences, streamlined operations and specialized health-conscious menus.
December 29, 2025 by Mandy Wolf Detwiler — Editor, Networld Media Group
Editor's note: This is part two of a two-part series on predictions for the new year. Click here to read part 1.
As the industry turns the corner into 2026, the fast food and pizza landscapes are being fundamentally reshaped by a "Me-Me-Me Economy," where hyper-personalization and solo dining have moved from niche behaviors to dominant market drivers.
With the expiration of major weight-loss drug patents early in the year, a surge in GLP-1 users is forcing pizzerias to pivot toward "mini-meals" and specialized high-protein, fiber-rich crusts to satisfy more health-conscious appetites.
On the technical front, 2026 marks the year AI transitions from a "nice-to-have" to the industry's central nervous system; predictive ordering systems now anticipate customer cravings before they are even voiced, while voice-AI-powered drive-thrus and autonomous delivery robots have become the standard for maintaining speed in an increasingly labor-tight market.
We talked to restaurant industry insiders in email interviews to get their predictions for the new year.
The importance of accuracy
Christin Trilone, content and media manager at Star Micronics, said in 2026, the biggest shift in restaurant tech will be the move toward connected order accuracy.
"As ordering becomes more digital and fragmented, kitchens need a unified way to track, label, weigh and validate every item before it reaches the customer," Trilone said. "That means more intelligent labeling, more cloud-connected printing, more weighing checkpoints, and fewer manual verifications. Restaurants that treat accuracy as a technology investment, rather than an operational chore, will see faster throughput, fewer remakes, and stronger customer retention."
Loyalty moves from programs to personality
Joe Yetter, general manager of PAR Engagement at PAR Technology, said the biggest loyalty wins won't come from points or punch cards; they'll come from personality. Guests are done with cookie-cutter offers," Yetter said. "They want loyalty that reflects who they are and how they live. We're already seeing brands use AI to create personalized offers, participation challenges and even tones of voice that match the guest. The next evolution is emotional connection, or loyalty that feels alive. Think gamified experiences, social tie-ins and dynamic rewards that react to each customer's habits in real time. The restaurants that act more like a friend than a brand will dominate loyalty next year."
Integration over experimentation
Oli Ostertag, general manager of PAR's Operator Cloud, said we'll see restaurant operators prioritize integration over feature experimentation when it comes to their POS systems.
"As margins continue to be squeezed and the macro environment remains challenging, brands are looking to consolidate their tech stacks rather than test flashy point solutions with tenuous ROI or shaky rollout track records" Ostertag said. "The winners will be the POS providers that can deliver rock-solid stability, seamless data integrations across the entire tech stack, and AI-powered operational insights that move from reactive to prescriptive. Operators require systems that provide full visibility into critical KPIs, including speed of service, inventory optimization, and labor forecasting. The POS systems that can help operators trim costs while maintaining quality through better data utilization and operational efficiency will come out on top."
Corporate catering is the new QSR marketing engine
Cindy Klein Roche, chief growth officer for ezCater, said corporate catering will become an intentional marketing engine for QSR brands in 2026.
"Workplace catering is a huge, yet often overlooked, opportunity for brands to acquire new customers. In fact, ezCater data shows that 70% of employees who first try a restaurant at work will order from it again on their own," Roche said. "When a business orders lunch for 35 people, it introduces the restaurant's food to 35 potential new customers with a single order. The halo effect corporate catering creates addresses the needs of QSR brands to expand their reach without spending on costly, traditional advertising."
Customer feedback becomes imperative
Zack Oates, founder and CEO of guest feedback platform Ovation, said that while value remains a key driver for customer decisions, we're seeing it increasingly offset by a growing focus on service and hospitality.
"In 2026, brands will shift from simply collecting feedback to operationalizing it -- using AI and automation to turn guest sentiment into real-time action," Oates said. "Growing brands will invest more money into retention than acquisition because customers are switching brands faster than ever. The key is making sure the highest number of your guests are sharing feedback, so you can celebrate the wins publicly and recover anyone who had a negative experience. That's how you scale hospitality."
The rise of the career-focused frontline worker
Luke Fryer, CEO and founder of Harri, a frontline employee experience platform for the hospitality industry, said that as AI removes the administrative grind from restaurant operations, we'll see a fundamental shift in who pursues frontline roles.
"The sophistication of restaurant positions is increasing while the repetitive, exhausting work is decreasing — and that changes the talent equation entirely," Fryer said. "In 2026, we'll start seeing more career-minded professionals choosing restaurant management as a long-term path rather than a stopover. When the job becomes less about surviving the chaos and more about developing people and driving business outcomes, it attracts a new pool of talent. This shift will reshape how the industry invests in workforce development and how capital markets value restaurant technology that enables this transformation."
Inflation will influence restaurant operations and tech purchasing
Bo Davis, CEO and co-founder of MarginEdge, said inflation will still be the quiet force shaping everything in restaurants — from labor to ingredients to debt.
"Larger brands will weather it better because they've got purchasing power and tools that help them adjust on the fly," Davis said. "Smaller operators won't have that cushion, which means real-time visibility into their costs will matter more than ever. Reading about inflation in the paper isn't helping smaller operators; we all know it's happening. Operators who understand what inflation means for their restaurant — and act on it in real time — will be the ones who stay ahead of whatever the next wave brings."
The era of precision hospitality
The outlook for 2026 makes one thing clear: the "Me-Me-Me Economy" is not just about the individual consumer; it is about precision. Whether it is the precision of a cloud-connected labeler, the targeted nutritional profile of a GLP-1-friendly crust, or an AI that understands a guest's emotional state, the margin for error in the restaurant industry has never been slimmer.
As we move into this new year, the divide between industry leaders and laggards will likely be defined by integration. Success no longer comes from simply having a great recipe or a fast drive-thru; it comes from weaving technology into the very fabric of the human experience. By automating the "administrative grind," brands are finally freeing their teams to focus on what truly matters: the art of hospitality and the science of business growth.
The restaurants that thrive in 2026 will be those that view technology not as a replacement for the human touch, but as the essential tool that allows it to scale. From the corporate office to the frontline, the industry is no longer just surviving the chaos—it is engineering a smarter, more personalized future.
About Mandy Wolf Detwiler
Mandy Wolf Detwiler is the managing editor at Networld Media Group and the site editor for PizzaMarketplace.com and QSRweb.com. She has more than 20 years’ experience covering food, people and places.
An award-winning print journalist, Mandy brings more than 20 years’ experience to Networld Media Group. She has spent nearly two decades covering the pizza industry, from independent pizzerias to multi-unit chains and every size business in between. Mandy has been featured on the Food Network and has won numerous awards for her coverage of the restaurant industry. She has an insatiable appetite for learning, and can tell you where to find the best slices in the country after spending 15 years traveling and eating pizza for a living.
Included In This Story
Star Micronics
Always Leading, Always Innovating
Star Micronics, a world-leading POS and labeling solutions provider, has designated a portfolio of printing, secure cash management, and customer engagement tools for any retail and hospitality establishment with a POS or mPOS environment.
Ovation
How Great Restaurants Get Better - Guest Experience Management Platform
Ovation is a guest experience platform for multi-unit restaurants that starts with a 2-question survey to drive revenue, streamline guest recovery, and easily improve operations. Thousands of restaurants, including leading brands like Dave's Hot Chicken, use Ovation to get more feedback, recover guests in real-time, and improve.
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