Restaurant Technology Trends in 2026
Explore restaurant technology trends in 2026, including AI, automation, digital ordering, workforce tools, connected kitchens, personalization, and profitability strategies today.
Aug 28, 2026
Explore restaurant technology trends in 2026, including AI, automation, digital ordering, workforce tools, connected kitchens, personalization, and profitability strategies today.
Aug 28, 2026
Learn the startup costs of opening an ice cream shop, including rent, equipment, renovations, permits, inventory, labor, marketing, and reserves.
Aug 28, 2026
A restaurant P&L statement reveals sales, expenses, and profits, helping owners manage costs, improve margins, and plan finances more effectively.
Aug 26, 2026
RaceTrac has appointed Jill Pemberton as chief financial officer, succeeding Karla Ahlert, who moves into the newly created role of chief administrative officer.
Aug 26, 2026
Learn practical ways to reduce labour costs through smarter scheduling, forecasting, productivity, cross-training, automation, overtime control, and performance monitoring strategies.
Aug 26, 2026
A payroll advance policy helps restaurant owners define eligibility, limits, repayment, documentation, approval procedures, and compliance requirements for employee advances.
Aug 24, 2026
Levain Bakery appoints Lorna Sommerville and Taya Stenson as co-CEOs, blending operational and marketing expertise to power national expansion and innovation while staying rooted in its brand values.
Aug 25, 2026
Create a practical restaurant marketing plan by setting goals, targeting customers, choosing channels, budgeting wisely, scheduling campaigns, and measuring results.
Aug 24, 2026
Blaze Pizza welcomes Tracy Stockard as Chief Marketing Officer, bringing decades of brand and franchise experience to drive strategic growth and guest engagement.
Aug 25, 2026
Anna Faktorovich, a seasoned marketing executive, has been named Chief Marketing Officer at Scooter’s Coffee, bringing decades of multi-brand experience to fuel the franchise’s next growth stage.
Aug 25, 2026
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Chili’s brings back Ziosk for pay-at-table, loyalty, and AI insights across 1,100+ locations, signaling a thoughtful, guest-focused digital restart.
Photo by Adrien Olichon
On the tables of Chili’s, a familiar glow returns, like the soft warmth of a café on a quiet evening. The rhythm of order, pay, and bite remains the same, yet the presence of a tabletop tablet adds a new kind of ease, an unobtrusive companion that speeds things up without crowding conversations. Since August 2024, Chili’s has expanded its relationship with Ziosk to place pay-at-table tablets across more than 1,100 restaurants, a homecoming that signals the brand’s enduring belief in friendly, technology-enabled service. In a dining world that moves quickly, the moment feels crafted for lingering over a shared meal:
Beyond the screen at the table, Chili’s now leans into a broader Ziosk ecosystem. The platform will integrate with My Chili’s Rewards to enroll guests at the moment of payment, while an AI-driven post-dining survey analysis promises practical insights for operators. Guests can interact with lighthearted features like games, and the data generated is intended to fuel personalized offers and more nuanced guest sentiment monitoring. The Dallas-based vendor’s hardware and software suite is positioned to support both smoother operations and warmer, more resonant guest moments.
Chili’s first welcomed Ziosk in 2014 and kept it through 2020, before shifting to Presto for tabletop technology. The renewed partnership is less about nostalgia than a calculated response to a market that prizes speed, seamless payments, and richer guest data. Coverage notes the expansion to more than 1,100 restaurants and frames the move as a way to sharpen team efficiency and guest experiences under pressure from competitors. In other words, it’s not a gimmick; it’s a coordinated effort to balance care with acceleration.
Industry observers describe the move as consistent with a broader push toward guest-facing tech that blends convenience with personalization. For Chili’s, the aim is simple: speed service, simplify payments, and create an in-store moment that feels both efficient and inviting. Brinker executives emphasize a longer arc, using the platform to enable ongoing brand improvement and sustained guest delight, while staying true to the chain’s tradition of hospitality in a digital era.
What Ziosk brings to Chili’s goes beyond convenience. The pay-at-table capability is paired with loyalty enrollment at point-of-sale, and the system’s AI-informed sentiment analytics are designed to surface actionable feedback in near real time. The technology also supports interactive features like games and serves as a central hub for data that can power tailored offers and sharper guest insights. In short, Ziosk is positioned as a backbone for both smoother service and richer guest engagement across a broad network.
Executive reactions echo that dual aim. Leaders described the renewed alliance as a way to speed service, simplify payments, and elevate each in-store moment, while Brinker executives frame it as a lever for ongoing brand improvement and stronger guest experiences. Taken together, the statements sketch a vision of blending tradition with digital-first tools so guests feel cared for without noticing the mechanics behind the scene.
August 2024 marks the culmination of a multi-year journey: Chili’s moves away from Ziosk and then returns as it scales the concept across more than 1,100 locations. Public disclosures in late 2025 and early 2026 underscore continued momentum for Chili’s, with quarterly reports highlighting strong performance within Brinker’s portfolio. The footprint remains substantial: nearly 1,600 restaurants in the United States and 27 other countries, plus two U.S. territories, positioning Ziosk as a high-impact touchpoint across most of the Chili’s network.
For guests, the renewal signals an experience-led differentiation in a crowded field. By combining fast pay-at-table speed, loyalty enrollment at POS, and AI-informed sentiment analysis, Chili’s can refine engagement, tailor offers, and monitor satisfaction in near real time. The overarching aim is to save guests’ time while making each visit feel personalized and distinctive, an ideal that industry observers say could set a precedent for how casual-dining brands use guest-facing tech.
Yet large-scale, cross-location tech rollouts come with caveats. Integrating loyalty, payments, and AI analytics across more than 1,100 restaurants requires robust data governance and ongoing staff training. Brinker has discussed tokenizing guest data to build unified profiles, a move that raises questions about privacy, security, and guest consent in a regulated environment. As with any rapid tech adoption, execution risk remains, and outcomes hinge on consistent implementation across diverse locations.
For Chili’s and Brinker, the project is a thoughtful wager on experience-led differentiation. The promise is clear: faster service, deeper loyalty, and near real-time sentiment that helps shape offers and hospitality. If governance, training, and rollout discipline keep pace with ambition, this renewed alliance could become a gentle benchmark, a reminder that comfort and connection can coexist with the spark of modern technology around the table.