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Chris Lybeer | May 2, 2023 |
In my role as Revel’s Chief Strategy Officer, I often get the chance to attend some of our most anticipated industry events of the season. I value the chance to meet face to face with clients, partners, industry friends, and prospective clients at these events, and this busy season is no different. Let’s take a look back at the Restaurant Leadership Conference and a look ahead to the National Restaurant Association Show.
Revel team members recently gathered at the Restaurant Leadership Conference (RLC) in Arizona. This conference is an annual meeting of the top minds in the restaurant industry and is one of our most important enterprise events of the year. Self-described by the event’s planning team as a “hub for executives from top chains and emerging brands to network and find partners,” I really appreciate the environment that’s provided for networking, learning and knowledge sharing with these key groups. Something I’ve noticed is how hungry leaders are for connection, idea sharing and discussing the challenges they're collectively facing in the industry, and this is a great opportunity to do just that.
In my role at Revel, I work closely with teams ranging from product engineering, marketing, sales operations, and many more to help shepherd our overall strategic plans to market. Having the chance to meet with restaurant leaders and hear their praise, concerns, and wish lists for point of sale (POS) technology is one of the most powerful tools I have at my disposal. Each year, feedback from this event directly ties back into our roadmap here at Revel and helps us build an attractive and powerful product for operators.
The most notable item I heard repeatedly this year? There is a technology boom happening right now, and it’s not just about swapping out point of sale (POS) platforms. There’s interest in using more and more bolted on technology that can drive revenue or reduce operational costs—everything from artificial intelligence (AI) ,to drive thru and curbside technologies that physically track consumers and sync with order fulfillment, to cameras that track order builds for accuracy, to CDP innovation. And the list goes on and on.
Most of our larger Revel customers already have four to eight integrations live, and my prediction is that by 2025 the average will be in the 10 to 15 zone. That means operators need a flexible, easy-to-integrate transactional platform if they’re going to remain agile in this changing market.
It’s important to note that some of this technology will be a wild success and some will fade away, but the innovation is going to keep coming at you and to meet consumer needs and run a great shop you’ll need to stay up-to-date.
My advice is to avoid getting locked into a less flexible architecture or a heavy vertical stack that constrains you (we’ve seen that story before!). Be ready to execute a healthy, ever-changing ecosystem of application solutions that deliver value to your business.
In alignment with the conference, Revel hosted its third-annual, sold out evening event at Taliesin West, the winter home of architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
Our team loves an opportunity to mingle with industry colleagues and friends, and similar to the event we held in correlation with RLC last year, we hosted a 5-star VIP dinner experience to do just that. This collaborative event was also co-sponsored by three of our valued integration partners, including ClearPath, 7shifts, and 1huddle.
Featuring expert-led sessions unpacking the latest industry challenges and advents, alongside a showcase of industry-leading brands (like Revel!), the National Restaurant Association Show (NRA) is a great way for restaurateurs to learn about what's new in their industry. Considered by many to be the biggest foodservice industry event of the year, we put a lot of thought and focus into making this a memorable event for our team and those who visit our booth.
This year at NRA, I think a lot of operators will be focused on learning how integrated restaurant technology can help them manage the many ordering channels customers demand today, while also improving speed of service (or at least holding that number steady).
It’s a challenge no matter how you look at it, but a cloud POS with direct integrations can certainly be a step in the right direction. Revel Enterprise® is really built to serve this exact need, and our team is eager to show you!
In just a few short weeks, dozens of Revelers from across the country will gather in Chicago, IL to help represent Revel at NRAS in our not one, but two booths! Find us in our usual spot at booth 6277 or find us in the Tech Pavilion at booth 438. We’ll be showcasing some new hardware at the show in partnership with IPORT, and in general, we’d value the chance to say hello and offer a demo if it's of interest.
I look forward to seeing you at the NRAs Show in May—this highly anticipated event will be here before we know it. If you weren’t able to attend RLC and don’t have plans to attend NRA, fear not! We maintain a complete industry event calendar on our website that you can check out anytime and see where we’ll be next.
In the meantime, I always like to encourage folks to follow Revel on LinkedIn to tune-in to new podcast episodes, upcoming product launches, technology insights and more. I hope to see you in-person soon!
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