Insights from FSTEC 2025: High-Impact Growth Strategies for the Kitchen Operations Lifecycle

At this year’s FSTEC conference, newly merged Crunchtime and QSR Automations hosted a compelling panel discussion titled “High-Impact Growth Strategies for the Kitchen Operations Lifecycle.” Featuring senior leaders from Red Lobster and Zaxby’s, the innovation forum explored how leading restaurant brands are driving operational efficiency and achieving sustainable growth, even as economic pressures remain top of mind.

This conversation was supported by fresh findings from the 2025 Restaurant Growth Insights Report conducted by Crunchtime and Technomic. 

Among the insights: while 73% of multi-unit restaurant operators are concerned about the economy, 20% are still planning to open new locations. The clear message? Operational efficiency, powered by technology, isn’t just helping brands survive; it’s helping them grow.

Using Technology to Navigate Economic Fluctuations

When asked how their brands are approaching technology strategy amid economic uncertainty, Michele Brennan, Senior Director of Digital Experience at Red Lobster, emphasized the importance of foundational investments.

“Getting back to basics was really important. We are actually in the middle of a hardware refresh. How can we expect our staff to take care of our guests if they don’t have the tools they need? The other factor is consistency from the kitchen. How do we make sure that your food comes out together, at the right time, and you’re not waiting? So we did an initiative on how our KDS was set up, we worked with QSR Automations, and we changed things like pacing to make sure everything is coming out when it should.”

Nick Petrocci, Senior Director of Technology at Zaxby’s, spoke about the importance of building a flexible, resilient tech stack:

“Where technology plays the most important role is resiliency - encouraging resiliency throughout the operation, throughout the guest experience, across the board. The way to do that is to configure things that can do more with less. Making sure our technology is flexible and adaptable, which has the added benefit of adapting as you enter new markets and types of locations.”

Empowering Operators with Better Visibility and Tools

Both panelists agreed that giving general managers the right tools and data makes a measurable impact.

“When I was a GM, back in the day, we had spreadsheets upon spreadsheets upon spreadsheets,” said Nick. “Now with technology in place, I can walk into any location and ask them their daily labor goal today, sales goal, over/short goal, and since they’re getting the modeled data, specific to their store, they can see how they influence the day-to-day, and that has done remarkable things. With the technology providing leaps and bounds more information than they used to have available, our general managers are so much more empowered.”

Michele shared a similar perspective from a financial control standpoint:

“The GMs have the full responsibility of the P&L of their restaurant, so it is very critical to give them the tools that they need to be able to see their P&L, and make sure that there aren’t hidden costs that they aren’t aware of until the end of the month.”

Closing Visibility Gaps in Waste and Guest Experience

When asked about the biggest visibility gaps in operations, Michele pointed to food waste and guest wait times:

“One of the biggest visibility gaps is into waste tracking, of both ingredients and prepped items. We need to have visibility on a daily basis, especially for the high-value items. Giving us the visibility in a dashboard by restaurant, to say ‘hey, we’re seeing a high level of waste of this high-value item,’ allows us to put measures in place to cut the cost.”

“The other thing is visibility into how long our guest is waiting. Because while that’s not a hard cost, it is still a cost if the guests don’t come back because of having to wait too long. So that’s an area where we are partnering with QSR Automations to enhance our KDS to make sure that we are getting things out timely.”

Nick noted that as Zaxby’s has matured in its use of data and tools, visibility has improved significantly.

“Now that we have upgraded to modern tools, we have so much more data at our fingertips, and now it is about refining. We have so much more granular data about speed of service. Now we just have tiny blind spots that we are able to start closing because we’ve achieved a level of maturity with all of this technology that has been implemented.”

Automating the Lifecycle: Forecasting, Inventory, and Order Flow

Connecting forecasting to inventory and kitchen operations offers major efficiency gains, and both panelists are ready for what’s next.

“When I was a GM there were two days that I dreaded the most: truck order days and inventory days,” said Nick. “So now, we’re thinking about how can we eliminate those very manual tasks? Because you have all the information: what I’ve sold, what I’ve ordered previously, and what was my waste. Technically, if it was entered correctly and did the proper procedure, inventory becomes self-managed, running itself.”

“I think a world where technology starts to automate a lot of those manual tasks that are honestly just wrought with human error anyway, then we can get a lot better, a lot faster, and overall more efficient with our time.”

Michele added:

“We’re looking forward to seeing how having the whole life cycle within one company will allow us to automate tasks that are usually manual.”

Meet the Restaurants Behind the Insights

Red Lobster, with over 500 locations, uses Crunchtime’s inventory management platform and QSR Automations’ kitchen display system to improve kitchen pacing, track waste, and enhance order flow. With a hardware refresh underway, the brand is focused on ensuring restaurant teams have the tools they need to deliver timely, consistent service and drive same-store sales.

Zaxby’s, operating more than 950 restaurants, is using Crunchtime’s inventory solution, along with BizIQ for business
intelligence, to drive labor efficiency, accurate forecasting, and smarter queue management. Additionally, Zaxby’s has been a QSR Automations customer since 2019. By doubling down on essential systems like POS, payment, and kitchen platforms, Zaxby’s is building a future-proof tech strategy that supports operational resilience and scale.

This FSTEC innovation forum session made it clear: technology that connects the full kitchen operations lifecycle, from staffing and inventory to forecasting and guest service, doesn’t just solve today’s challenges; it also addresses tomorrow's. It creates the operational muscle needed for long-term, profitable growth. For more on the future of restaurant growth, check out the 2025 Restaurant Growth Insights Report.