Nation’s Restaurant News
Why smart restaurant operators tailor tech investment with brand-specific needs
By Joanna Fantozzi
September 16, 2025
Technology investment is not a one-size-fits-all investment, and each operator has unique tech stack needs. That was one major takeaway from the “Dynamic Duos” session at the FSTEC conference in Kissimmee, Fla. The session, hosted by Nation’s Restaurant News executive editor Alicia Kelso, featured separate discussions with two executive leaders from two different brands — Qdoba and Tom’s Watch Bar — about how they think about technology investment in the context of operational needs and challenges.
For Qdoba, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, much of the brand’s technology strategy comes down to modernization and playing catchup with industry peers. Prashant Budhale, chief technology officer of Qdoba, said that the company is overhauling its entire tech stack, including a new digital platform, catering platform, back-office tech, and changing out a 20-year-old POS system. The total overhaul journey will take three years.
“Part of it is looking at our peer group at what they’re doing, and making sure we’re caught up on that,” Jon Burke, vice president of marketing at Qdoba, said. “A lot of it is playing catch-up right now. It’s nice that we can come in and learn from what other brands have done and grow from there.”
Another priority for Qdoba is digital marketing, as the company is rolling out national marketing for the first time to increase brand awareness.
“Our brand awareness is in the high 40% across the United States, so for a brand that has 800 restaurants nobody really knows who we are,” Burke said. “We’re looking at data and organizing that so we can personalize and target media. … We’re focused on targeting our consumer on the channels that they consume and connecting with social media influencers in an authentic way.”
While Qdoba is focusing on using digital technology to modernize and differentiate its legacy brand, Tom’s Watch Bar has very different priorities as an emerging 17-unit sports bar company. Since the concept of Tom’s Watch Bar as a sports entertainment and events-centric bar is unique in the industry, the brand’s approach to technology cannot be cookie-cutter.
“We operate so different from a restaurant; it’s not just lunch traffic or dinner traffic — we sell and market and put on events,” Shannon McNiel, cofounder and co-CEO of Tom’s Watch Bar, said. “We can have a $2,000 Wednesday and a $200,000 Friday, so we have to spend a lot of work studying restaurant schedules and all of the sports schedules. … How can we take all of that data and collect it all together to tell the team about what is coming? AI and data analytics are changing how we do our business, because if we’re off by an hour or two, we could be off by $40,000.”
The other way Tom’s Watch Bar operates differently than most other foodservice venues is through its modular bar setup, in which servers are stationed at different mini stations where different groups of people could be watching different games or events, all with different start and end times, and numbers of fans. Rolling out handheld POS systems has helped to facilitate this unique service model and allowed servers to focus on their specific station.
“How do you create a better experience that gets you up off the couch and coming over to Tom’s?” McNiel said. “Part of that is that energy and excitement and having servers using that technology makes them better at their jobs. … We use technology to make our business more efficient, but also to promote the atmosphere were trying to create.”
Moving forward, Tom’s Watch Bar wants to focus more on data analysis to know more about their fans.
“The guest that’s stopping in on the way to a Lakers game, versus coming in to watch and sitting there for a couple hours are different types of guests,” McNiel said. “So, how do we learn more about who they are, so that we can give them what they want and put on a better experience?”
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