We dive into how technology is shaping the future of fast food by helping the likes of McDonald’s and Chipotle bring new products to the table faster.
This is part of our Future of Fast Food report. Download the full report.
In the future, restaurants will be able to create and test new menu items in a faster, less wasteful, and more cost-efficient way. Combining AI tongues and social listening, restaurants can identify early trends as well as tweak recipes and menus to grow revenue.
This is one of the key technologies that will shape the future of the fast food experience. Below, we dive into this technology: how it works, who has an edge, and how it’s changing the future of fast food.
WHAT ARE AI TONGUES AND SOCIAL LISTENING?
AI tongues and social listening are separate technologies that can work together to speed up R&D.
AI tongues use sensors and artificial intelligence to replicate how humans will perceive a taste — allowing for rapid taste tests without relying on human subjects. Social listening technology taps into consumer sentiment conveyed in social media posts, online reviews, and other forms of digital content to generate actionable insights about what new ingredients, flavors, or habits might be gaining popularity.
By combining these solutions, restaurants can predict what new items will gain traction with consumers and hone recipes and flavors that are likely to appeal to a broad variety of tastes. Detecting these new consumer habits early on can also help restaurants adapt other considerations beyond taste, including opening hours, layout, and category offerings.
FIRST MOVERS
Because this technology is still relatively nascent, first movers have typically been in the CPG industry, where players have expansive brands and product lines to experiment with novel ingredient technologies.
In 2019, McCormick & Company partnered with IBM and its newly developed Hypertaste, an AI-assisted “digital tongue.” McCormick says that it reduced the time it took to develop new products by 70% and that it was able to tweak formulations between 50 and 150 times before finalizing.
Source: IBM
Tastewise uses AI and social listening across data sources like menus, reviews, and social media to create dynamic dashboards for restaurants, food service, and CPG companies on consumer trends. The company has raised $25M since 2019.
Using similar data sources, Singapore-based AI Palette tracks ingredient and flavor trends across 15 different languages to identify opportunities for new products by geographic region. It also predicts how long consumer demand might last.
Both startups have partnerships with large CPG companies like Nestle, PepsiCo, and Kellogg’s.
For more information on what early-stage companies are disrupting food and beverage R&D, read our early-stage food & beverage product development and distribution Market Map.
IMPLICATIONS
- AI tongues and social listening technology can help restaurants release new menu items in a fraction of the usual time: traditional R&D can take around a year for restaurants. This tech can help restaurants reduce uncertainty and timelines around product development, meet evolving consumer expectations, and stay ahead of competitors.
- Restaurants should evaluate partnering or investing in AI tongues early. Because the technology is still nascent, providers will be more likely to form exclusive partnerships to test and scale capabilities — giving both sides advantages over competitors.
- Restaurants should prioritize social listening tools that can easily incorporate new and emerging platforms and social media to get a more accurate picture of consumer sentiment and boost loyalty. These technologies can also help restaurants tweak items to better match regional tastes, making new items more successful and profitable.
Read more in this report about how tech will shape the future of fast food, including:
- The metaverse will become an extension of the brand experience
- Conversational AI and AI recommendation engines will power online and in-store orders, allowing restaurants to upsell orders through personalized suggestions and prioritize labor for other customer service operations
- Robotic food preparation will automate cooking to increase profitability and reduce food waste
- Autonomous delivery will help reduce reliance on gig workers
- NFT loyalty programs will create unique experiences and boost customer loyalty