Today we sit down with Shake Shack’s CIO, Dave Harris. As you can imagine, he had some great insights on tech stacks, the balance between human and tech-centered hospitality, and the potential he sees AI having on the industry.

Today’s Ovation goes to you, Dave!

Here are some highlights:

What’s the most important aspect of guest experience nowadays? (3:27)

“I think every single step is important. You know guests have so many options and I think the key is putting guest experience at the heart of what you do, regardless of channel.“

What are some tactics that you’ve used to improve the guest experience? (9:32)

“Well, I’m a fan of self-service kiosks as an ordering option. That’s an option. Last year we completed a retrofit program that deployed kiosks across nearly all of our restaurants that didn’t already have them. They’re great for the guest, I guess really like using them. They perform great from a business perspective, so I’m a fan of those.“

Who’s someone who deserves an Ovation in the restaurant industry? (18:44)

“My answer is actually entrepreneurs. That’s the people you should be following.

So I’ve been really excited that the last few years there’s been an acceleration of innovation in the restaurant space. It started with generally guest facing and now it’s operational, and whether it be in the kitchen or in other places as well, so it’s spread throughout the restaurant and I think those new ideas and that new innovation coming in is really helping improve the technology that’s available to restaurants to support their business.

And that, for me, is the biggest thing following all of these entrepreneurs creating solutions, and some of them are very specific in the problem they’re trying to solve. Some of them are creating broader suites of features, whether it be everything to do with staffing in a restaurant or everything to do with operating a kitchen, but all of those solutions are helping technology, improve guest experience and create profitable restaurants, which is important.”