After 27 years of delivering restaurant tech transformations for iconic brands including Friday’s, Applebee’s, Potbelly, CrunchTime, US Foods, Main Event, and Le Duff America, Tamy Duplantis is now the Founder and CIO of Return on Information. Return on Information helps to define and implement integrated technology stacks catered to your brand that enables you to excel in competitive digital environments.

Here are a few highlights from this episode:

What is the most important aspect of the guest experience nowadays?

“I would say the things that have always been important are still important. If you don’t have attentive service food quality or order accuracy; it’s about value. The overall experience has to be good. Even though we still are challenged with all these online orders and digital orders, and in store on-prem orders. There’s really not a good throttle. I think it’s a huge challenge . . .

. . . We’ve come a long way at at at resolving digital ordering and pay and pay a table and and delivery. I think we’ve done a great job with that. I think the thing that I’m most focused on. I think a lot of customers are turned on with is making an emotional connection.“

What are some successful tactics you’ve seen/tried?

“The buzz about AI or artificial Intelligence machine learning. I’ve been sitting at conferences for about the past 4 years, and one of the ones sitting at the breakout sessions or in the someone’s presenting something and have noticed a misuse over the concept of AI becasue we were so hungry to embrace that technology. Now, I think we’re actually doing it. I’m super excited about the the voice AI, I just think it’s it’s a it’s a cool use of that technology.”

Who deserves an Ovation?

Uknomi

“Instead of replacing the team, they are equipping the team. If you’ve ever watched someone at the drive through with the headset on, they’re taking your order, taking payment, and doing 4 things at one time. It’s mind boggling and no wonder they could never make a personal engagement, a connection with you, because they can barely even see you. Uknomi solution equips employees to know that this person has been here before: this is what their usual order is, this is kind of what their taste preferences are. Kind of the artificial intelligence of analyzing over time and people who order like you. and it gives the the team member a script”