The calendar rolling over into a new year gives me time to reflect into the past and dive into the future.

Although it is important to understand where we’ve been both as an industry and as individuals, it is more important to look into the future and apply the learnings of the past. One key lesson learned from the past year or so is that while change may be the only constant, the pace at which it occurs continues to accelerate. And the variables that impact change continue to evolve.

For example, the fight for a higher minimum wage continues to dominate the headlines. A few years ago, the concept of a $15 per hour minimum wage seemed outlandish. Today, many municipalities seek to implement minimum wages greater than $20 per hour. As a result, the $15 per hour rate doesn’t seem too bad after all. Still, the impact of such changes is slowly starting to be felt in the industry. For example, an $18 Big Mac meal went viral a few weeks ago and several California Pizza Hut franchisees have pledged to move away from using in-house delivery drivers, per various published reports. Perhaps these issues represent the tip of the iceberg.

We continue to see chains seeking to drive efficiency into their operations and designs, particularly when it comes to labor. Keep in mind efficiency consists of two elements: cost and potential sales. It’s important to look at both, since driving more sales with the same labor can help a business maintain its profitability. In other words, don’t get enamored with only reducing cost.

At one point during the pandemic many industry observers felt kiosks were on their way out in foodservice. In reality, though, kiosks have enjoyed a resurgence across many industry segments. Some concepts now push kiosks so hard that they run the risk of taking things too far, as has been my experience as a consumer where the only option they give me is to use a kiosk. For some guests, this can become a negative factor. Other concepts use kiosks in such a way that although the guest does all the work, namely place the order and process payment, it still works well for both the customer and the operator.

Of course, implementing and transitioning to kiosks is easier said than done. Operators should consider deploying some labor to the front of the house during the initial stages of the transition to teach the guests how to use the kiosks. This was exactly how airlines did it when kiosks first came to be and today they still have someone ready to answer questions.

QR codes became quite popular during the pandemic as a way to showcase menus and even process payment. Many industry observers felt the use of QR codes would fade over time, but in our experience the use of this technology remains on the rise across a variety of segments, including inside the restaurants and in the drive-thru. In fact, a QR code can be the easiest way to facilitate a customer’s downloading of the restaurant’s app, allowing them to order and pay with little to no input from staff. I don’t know about you, but I keep the number of apps in my phone to a minimum, since I often cannot find some of them. If I go into a restaurant and see a line, though, I will definitely consider downloading the app via a QR code and proceeding to order and pay, since I will benefit from not having to wait in line. Of course, for customers to truly embrace QR code and app ordering, the process has to be simple. Concepts need to consider the cognitive ergonomics (ability to absorb and process information) of the customers using it.

Given all the headwinds operators face, I would say driving efficiency will trump everything else in 2024. Efficiency of service, throughput, labor, equipment and technology, facility design and menu offering, among other factors, will play prominent roles in operators’ success moving forward. Add to that list automation, which, as it gets more affordable, will play a role in driving efficiency, too. But I don’t see any major changes in automation during 2024. On the other hand, voice recognition technologies will continue to grow by leaps and bounds, particularly in the drive-thru. When implementing these technologies, it’s important to consider how one can impact other technologies the operation uses. For example, the impact of having a form of voice recognition technology take the order, will not be maximized if the kitchen is not efficiently producing food. It’s like an orchestra where all the instruments must play together to optimize the sound of the music.

So, whether you are a brand, or support the industry in any of these areas as vendors and consultants, there is a piece for all of us to do. What it comes down to is operators need to put technology to work for them in concert with everything else happening in the business to create the happiest restaurants on earth.

The application of industrial engineering principles, which Disney uses in just about every initiative, represents the most objective way to drive efficiency so operators can have the happiest restaurants on earth.