 |
|
|
|||||
At first glance, the idea of integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into the restaurant experience seems counterintuitive. After all, sitting down for a meal is one of the most fundamentally human experiences there isfrom the warm greeting at the host stand, to the conversations at the table, and the feeling of eating food that someone else prepared for you with care. But when applied thoughtfully, AI doesnt detract from thatit enables more of it. And for restaurants, thats an operational game-changer. Despite macroeconomic conditions, people are still going out to eatin fact, OpenTable data shows that dining is up 7% year over yearat the time of writing. But restaurants are feeling the squeeze navigating continued staffing shortages, shrinking margins, and the looming impact of tariffs. The National Restaurant Associations 2025 State of the Industry report revealed over a third (39%) of restaurants were not profitable in 2024. Meanwhile, 95% of operators said labor costs were a significant challenge last year, and 77% said recruiting and retaining employees remains a significant challenge. And that is where AI can help close the gaps. Take something as simple as answering the phone: 59% of customers hang up after being placed on hold for a minute or less and its estimated that over 60% of calls to restaurants go unanswered during peak hours thats money off a bottom line thats already running on a razor-thin margin of ~3-4%. AI phone agents like Slang.ai and PolyAI can help restaurants take reservations and answer pertinent dining questions, 24/7. This means less time spent manning the phone, and more revenue from increased bookings. Technology has even come so far that these voice agents can be trained on a restaurants brand and tone-of-voice so that warmth and hospitality arent lost to efficiency. Automating phone calls is a good example of how restaurants can start small with AI. With any business, a test-and-learn approach helps you figure out which tools are right for the job and helps get team members on board. Restaurant owners can start by implementing a single toolsay, one that only manages inventory or only optimizes staff scheduling. Or maybe you dont have resources for a full marketing team but could use large learning models like ChatGPT as a starting point to create marketing campaigns, social media content, and even help produce branded swag. You can see the themes that are appearing here: reducing operational friction and costs and streamlining processes. Because the less time restaurant managers spend in the office or hosts spend on the phone, the more time they can devote to the core part of the job: delivering great hospitality. Diners are the beneficiary of this upleveled dining experiencethey will feel,but not see, AI behind the curtains. The use of AI will undoubtedly accelerate across the hospitality sector in the near and long-term future and its promising and exciting to see a strong interest in adoption: 72% of restaurant operators plan to adopt AI soon, and nearly 94% acknowledge its necessity to remain competitive in the evolving landscape of food service. The future of hospitality isnt a trade-off between high-touch service and high-tech tools; its a blend of both. Its my belief that by embracing these new tools to build stronger restaurants, we can, in turn, build a stronger industry. Debby Soo is CEO of OpenTable.
Category:
E-Commerce
In the midst of economic volatility driven by inflation, tariffs, and global geopolitical tensions, how do businesses keep up without a crystal ball? As the CEO of Sollis Health, my deep background in scaling mission-driven brands has taught me that thriving businesses dont predict the futurethey embrace uncertainty. Future-proofing is investing in your business, your offerings, and your relationships rather than trying to anticipate specific challenges. At Sollis Health, a 24/7 concierge medical membership, our guiding star is future-proofing by pioneering new ways to elevate and transform healthcare for our members, providers, and community. Build for adaptability, not predictability With its rigid structure, extensive financial projections, and reliance on outdated market analyses, the traditional business plan was designed for a world that no longer exists. Rather than boxing themselves in with an inflexible growth strategy, the businesses that prioritize data-driven decision making, lean operational structures, and empowered teams create more opportunities for innovation, even in todays unpredictable business climate. Ive seen this with Sollis Health, where weve found that working to meet the needs of a growing, mobile membership base has given us the freedom to be more responsive to our members needs. For example, after we saw that many of our New York-based members were regularly visiting our new Palm Beach location, we quickly opened a Boca Raton location because we maintain a robust list of target markets and available real estate. This foresight not only provided more convenience for our local members but strengthened our regional offerings with more comprehensive staffing and services. Invest in long-term relationships, not just short-term wins When market volatility rises, trust among your customers, your employees, and your business partners becomes even more valuable. Whether youre expanding member services, prioritizing employee culture, or exploring exciting new campaigns with your partners, investing in your peoplewhomever they might beis a future-proofing tactic that builds loyalty across the board. When I led global strategy and operations at Starwood Preferred Guest, the award-winning hotel loyalty program (now part of Marriott Bonvoy), we invested in ambassador service for our most frequent gueststhose staying 100+ nights per year. Each member enjoyed access to a dedicated ambassador to help navigate reservations and service requests, anticipate their needs, and even surprise and delight on special stays, like stocking a members room with plush dolls for her kids when she redeemed points to treat her family to a Disney World vacation. And if a longtime loyal member didnt spend the requisite number of nights with us in a given year due to extenuating circumstances, the ambassador was empowered to make a proactive exception to maintain ambassador service for another year. With this investment, Starwood made its most important members feel recognized and valued, thereby creating more opportunities for loyalty in the long term. Make customer experience your competitive edge In premium sectors especially, customer expectations are rising even as conditions become more uncertain. The pressure to differentiate has never been higher, but its more than possible to rise to these challenges with a focus on personalization, service continuity, and care that goes beyond the transactional. At Peloton, we leveraged the power of community to enhance the customer experience. We cultivated online spaces for members to connect outside of class, from scheduling workouts to drive shared accountability, to celebrating fitness milestones together. We even hosted in-person events to bring members together IRL, from hosting group rides and runs at our production studios to instructor meet-and-greets at each new showroom. I still remember a massive line of members decked out in Peloton gear snaking through Washingtons Bellevue Square in 2017 to meet instructor Cody Rigsby. We even hosted an annual Peloton Homecoming, a sold-out event in New York City that brought together 3,000 of our most passionate members, cementing their loyalty to the brand. When it comes to member experiences, it’s little thingsand they all add up. Whatever your industry, customer experience will continue to be the core of your differentiation. The businesses that serve customers deeply and in obsessive detail will not only outlast economic uncertainty, but ultimately thrive. Leadership with purpose and clarity The antidote to uncertainty is not certaintyits clarity of mission and agility of execution. As business leaders, we must foster cultures that welcome change while remaining steadfast in our commitment to value. You cant future-proof your industry, but if you prioritize adaptability, long-term relationships, and customer experience, you can future-proof your business. Brad Olson is CEO of Sollis Health.
Category:
E-Commerce
Across the U.S. and parts of Europe, science funding is in crisis. In the U.S., a planned $18 billion worth of cuts to federal research have already halted trials, triggered mass layoffs, and shut down entire programs. Europe isnt immune either, with Horizon, Europe’s flagship funding program for research and innovation, also facing rollbacks. These cuts are stretching researchers thin and slowing down innovation when we need it most. Breakthroughs in cancer, rare diseases, and drug development require time, space, and the freedom to explore. Instead, scientists are burning out and many are even walking away, with a recent Nature survey showing that 75% of U.S.-based researchers are considering relocation. With China ramping up investment in AI, the U.S. and Europe risk falling behind just as science enters its most exciting era. Agentic AI could ease the burden Scientific research is slow and expensive, not because of a lack of ideas, but because the tools havent kept up. Knowledge is buried in siloed papers, scattered datasets, and disconnected systems, and pulling it all together takes time, money, and a lot of manual effort, slowing down even the most promising discoveries. This is where AI comes in as a true lab partner. Unlike the AI systems most of us are familiar with, agentic AI can plan and carry out tasks, all from a single prompt. Scientists can access a suite of agents that will handle the repetitive work that eats up their time, like writing reports, reviewing literature, or designing and running early-stage experiments in the lab. Tech companies and academic researchers are already starting to develop agentic AI to help achieve this. Owkins K Navigator, Googles AI co-scientist, and Stanfords Biomni reflect a growing shift towards the adoption of agentic co-pilots that let scientists engage with their data as naturally as they would with a colleague. K Navigator is already showing that it can boost productivity by up to 20 times, giving researchers the freedom to focus on making breakthroughs. K Navigator exclusively accesses and analyses spatial multiomic data from MOSAIC Window, a subset of the largest spatial omics dataset in oncology. This allows researchers to better understand how different cells work together in the tumor micro-environment and advance vital cancer research. Agentic AI can help researchers shape hypotheses, work with complex data, and uncover insights, without needing a data science team to guide every step. This kind of acceleration will not only help researchers meet deadlines, but also open up scientific questions that might otherwise go unexplored. We hear this need from researchers every day. Many feel compelled to maintain the same high standards and deliver more data, more trials, and more publications, with fewer resources. In cancer centers and university labs alike, time is the scarcest resource. Agentic AI, embedded into real workflows, can effectively remove some of the friction that slows science down. More time on what matters AI agents wont replace critical thinking or peer review. But with the right safeguards and design (e.g. accurate source referencing and intuitive data visualization), they can help scientists spend less time on admin and more time on what really matters to advance treatments and diagnostics for patients. Because if we cant increase budgets, we need to increase impact. That means giving scientists the tools to do more with less, without burning them out or holding them back. Now is the moment to get this right, otherwise, the cost of underfunding science wont just be slower progress. Itll be lost cures, missed breakthroughs, and a generation of researchers who walk away. Thomas Clozel is cofounder and CEO of Owkin.
Category:
E-Commerce
All news |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||