Restaurants
Photo: Deloitte
June 24, 2025
Deloitte, a global professional services network, has released a report, «How AI is Revolutionizing Restaurants,» indicating that while restaurant executives plan to increase investments in AI technologies, widespread adoption still faces challenges, particularly in areas like self-service kiosks. The survey, conducted in Q4 2024, included 375 global restaurant executives, according to a press release on the findings.
Key findings show that 82% of surveyed executives intend to boost their AI investments in the next fiscal year, primarily hoping to enhance customer experience (60%), improve restaurant operations (36%), and strengthen loyalty programs (31%). This includes the integration of AI into customer-facing technologies such as self-service kiosks, where 52% of brands and 84% of operators surveyed currently report high customer experience impact from existing AI investments, such as in-app or in-kiosk recommendation engines.
Despite these plans and early impacts, significant hurdles remain. Identifying the right use cases (48%) and managing risks (48%) are cited as the top factors hindering AI deployment, including for advanced self-service solutions. Furthermore, less than half of respondents believe their organizations are ready for AI adoption across critical areas such as strategy (43%), technology infrastructure (39%), operations (34%), risk and governance (28%), and talent (27%), all of which are crucial for effective kiosk implementation.
The report also highlights that while customer experience and inventory management are leading the initial wave of AI adoption, a second wave is expected in customer loyalty and employee experience, followed by food preparation and new product development. The report notes the use of voice AI in drive-thrus as an emerging application, complementing existing self-service options.
«As the restaurant industry appears to increasingly embrace AI, the journey to full-scale transformation is still a work in progress,» Evert Gruyaert, Deloitte’s restaurants and food service industry leader, said in the release.
«Leveraging AI to create personalized experiences and deeper connections with consumers can be an effective strategy. However, to unlock AI’s potential, leaders will likely need to balance innovation and operational discipline, strengthen governance, and address capability gaps to help optimize operations, boost margins and future-proof their business — in both the front and back of house.»