 What’s next in data and delivery? As usual, Domino’s is trying some ideas that could spark some new approaches for other brands looking to build business. Its latest promotion, Points for Pies, urges consumers to upload photos of pizzas of all kinds (not just from Domino’s) to the Domino’s app — that could include a competitor’s pizza, a homemade pizza or even a dog’s chew toy in the shape of a pizza. The brand then uses AI technology to identify those pizzas and award points to each person who posts an image. A person can win up to 10 points by posting one pizza each week and 60 points earns them a free medium-size, two-topping pizza from Domino’s. By making this game about the consumer and not directly about Domino’s — and showing a clear, achieveable path toward redeeming those points — the brand has made it more appealing for consumers to share data. Eater reports that this latest move is a creative plan to help Domino’s gather and dissect consumer data, then enhance their menu and service accordingly. The photos and data from Points for Pies will give Domino’s information about how often consumers think about, buy, make and eat pizza, what ingredients and combinations they crave, as well as what pizzas competitors are making. The results could impact how Domino’s makes pizzas or adjusts it menu, and how it manages its staff, store expansions and delivery strategy.
 Consumer taste trends change fast — often faster than operators are able to forecast themselves. Now, AI is helping food companies stay a step ahead of consumer demand. Food Dive reports that the tech startup Tastewise surveys billions of food and beverage data points including one billion food photos shared monthly, 153,000 U.S. restaurant menus and more than one million recipes. It then synthesizes that information to pinpoint up-and-coming, on-trend ingredients and other market opportunities to meet consumer demand. The insights are both local and national so they may help operators identify micro trends as well as more widespread consumer preferences.
 Need another reason to invest in technology? The fast-casual segment is poised for a tech-powered boom in the next five years. A Wired report says that in the wake of the rise of such tech-friendly, fast-casual industry darlings as Sweetgreen, venture capitalists have been pouring hundreds of millions of investment dollars into what they call “early-stage scalable restaurant concepts.” Technology is the common foundation of these concepts, with AI and data-mining apps making it possible for them to tweak menu offerings quickly based on customer diets and preferences, or even minimize waste by using machine learning to study historical purchases, weather, local events and even growing conditions on farms.
 Operators typically consider restaurant technology options with an eye toward improving the guest experience or boosting the efficiency of front- and back-of house teams. But it just might help you attract and retain employees too. A recent Deloitte study found that 74 percent of millennials indicated they want technology to be part of their workplace. It doesn’t have to cost operators a lot either. The Rail reports that even free tools like What’s App and Google Groups can help, as can more-targeted paid apps like HotSchedules and RedEApp. Streamlining communication, assigning tasks, shift scheduling and switching, and managing employee payment via tech are all important, though even the quality of your wifi can make a difference to employees looking to log on during breaks. Before a new employee even joins you, tech can help you manage the talent pool more effectively. Tools like RoboRecruiter, for one, which has a multilingual platform, use an online chatbox to automate messaging and help you sort and engage your candidate pool.
 How well does your restaurant accommodate delivery? Amid the rise in demand for delivered food, many operators are rethinking their restaurant layouts and footprints — but what if such major changes aren’t an option? As Panera, Chipotle and others are discovering, shelving is one small move that is making a big difference in delivery efficiency, enabling drivers to quickly grab prepared orders and go. Fast Company reports that Eatsa is taking this concept a step further with its Spotlight Pickup System. It’s a small, modular, digital shelf that can connect with third-party delivery providers like Uber Eats. When an order is complete, the shelf lights up with a customer’s name and can sense when food has been placed on it or removed. It will even alert a manager if food sits on the shelf for too long. The shelves could be ideal for small spaces, since each shelf is self-contained and can be assembled in different numbers and configurations.
 Restaurant operators have reams of data at their fingertips to help make business decisions — but quickly distilling all of that data into actionable steps is another story. That’s where artificial intelligence is starting to make a difference, according to Rajat Suri, founder of the tech company Presto. In a recent Restaurant Dive report, he predicted that tabletop technology, connected with wearable technology for restaurant staff and a restaurant’s POS, will increasingly improve service efficiency and — perhaps more importantly — be able to translate data into staff alerts that anticipate guest needs. Presto technology can currently inform staff via wearable technology that there is a line at the door and they need to speed up service, for example. It can also analyze tabletop tablets and change up the menu items they promote in an effort to increase revenue at different parts of the day. Watch for AI to continue to ease the burden of decision making in the years ahead.
 At the pace restaurant technology is evolving, it can feel like restaurant manager candidates should be just as capable of navigating IT challenges as they are of handling guest complaints. But according to The Spoon, one nascent tech tool — voice-enabled ordering via Google Assistant or Alexa — could soon be an easy, plug-and-play solution for operators, with some help from a firm called Orderscape. The company makes a voice-ordering software layer that works with browsers, mobile phones and watches, and Alexa speakers, and partners with restaurant platforms like Olo, Onosys and Monkey Media. Orderscape can then tell users where a desired food item is available in their area. If someone asks Alexa where to find a bacon cheeseburger nearby and you serve a popular one, your restaurant would be suggested among other options in the area. Marrying a menu with voice-enabled tech isn’t normally a seamless process for restaurants but Orderscape is looking to make the process possible with no installation or training on the restaurant’s part, and no downtime.
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