Empowering Restaurants to Go Mobile with Flexible Technology

The Main Course returns to the topic of restaurant technology,
which has been a lifeline for most businesses during the
pandemic. But how did it allow them to pivot, and what role will
it play in the future? Host Barbara Castiglia spoke with Chris
Adams, VP of Strategy Food & Beverage at Oracle, on some
success stories and trends.


In his role, Chris works with independents, global chains, and
foodservice companies. He brings technology from Oracle and its
partners to solve problems.


Once the pandemic happened, Oracle began to consult with its
customers on what’s next and invest its own resources in areas
around mobile ordering and online payments.


Adams shared some stories, including how they helped Outback.
“Outback was predominantly a table service experience. They had
shifted to some new technology around takeout. In just a few
weeks, our partners and we were able to get a curbside ordering
and payment solution in place and help them get in with delivery
aggregators.


Adams worked with another brand in Italy, a country devastated by
the virus. “They came to us and said we need to get to our
customers. They took a data-driven approach from their customer
loyalty program, and we helped them build their own delivery,
ordering, and payment experience,” he said.


In looking at the future, Adams thinks the key word is
flexibility. “Consumers want the flexibility of ordering how they
want and getting food how they want. That’s not going away.”


He also predicts that the design of restaurants will follow the
flexibility theme. “We’ll see more drive-thrus from brands that
never did it before. Better mobile experiences, and smaller in
dining footprints.”