At RTN's Town Hall, industry leaders including former El Pollo Loco CIO Clark Matthews urged the restaurant industry to shift from passive post-mortem reporting to real-time predictive AI that solves operational problems before they occur. They emphasized that technology should provide actionable insights rather than just historical data dashboards.
Vicious Biscuit's COO Amanda Kahalehoe, with a Marine Corps and IT background, has built a technology architecture designed for 150 units while operating only 12. She adopted middleware Olo and built proprietary layers for data integration. Through loyalty programs and AI analysis, the brand makes data-driven decisions during expansion, such as discovering that turning off third-party ordering spiked call-in orders by 40-70%.
Salsarita's Fresh Mexican Grill, with 65+ locations, relied on vendor data showing top 75th percentile performance, but store metrics didn't match. VP of Technology Laurens Pitts shared at an RTN Town Hall how the brand formed a cross-functional team to observe stores in person, discovering only one in four customers are loyalty members, and that high-frequency customers may not be digitally connected. Analyzing DoorDash heatmaps revealed dedicated customers living 5-10 miles away. The brand shifted focus to the three out of four customers not in the loyalty platform, balancing tech tools with operational awareness.
Visit Hungary has expanded its partnership with Amadeus to include travel agencies in targeted digital campaigns. Using Amadeus Media Solutions and Travel Intelligence data, Hungary achieved a 20% year-over-year increase in bookings via travel sellers and distributed demand more evenly to rural regions.
In a SAP Concur Conversations episode, Saia LTL Freight's Director of Finance Operations Ed Hebert shares how the company transformed its travel and expense (T&E) data from a tactical process into a strategic storytelling engine. By analyzing patterns and automating a reconciliation process, Saia reclaimed approximately 42 workdays annually, reduced burnout, and improved decision-making across the organization.
SAP Concur published an article exploring strategies for efficient event management to optimize investments in meetings and events. It suggests measures such as data-driven decision-making, consolidating purchasing power, simplified budget tracking and ROI measurement, automating planning processes, and prioritizing participant safety to help organizations reduce costs and improve financial outcomes.
SAP Concur's podcast features Ben Claxton and Jeff Saydah of Fox World Travel discussing how to build a world-class travel program. They note the "set it and forget it" travel policy mentality is outdated; policies should be agile, regularly reviewed, and aligned with company goals and culture. The discussion covers using data to inform policy, measuring program success, and having policies reflect company culture.