Restaurant owners like Panjwani are caught in the middle of a growing battle of new and established reservation platforms vying for their business. The two dominant players for more than a decade, OpenTable and Resy, are now facing a wave of fresh competition from high-end services and even delivery apps all trying to win lucrative bookings at exclusive establishments.
When power runs low, anxiety sets in. Psychologists often refer to this as battery anxiety, a stress response linked to the fear of losing access to information, contacts, or work tools. Attendees become less focused in sessions, check their devices more frequently, and start scanning the venue for somewhere to recharge.
The brands that excel are those that recognize the importance of engaging with their audience long before the show floor opens and continuing that engagement well after it closes. Today's decision-makers-operators, distributors, chefs, and F&B directors-are selective about their time and budget. They arrive at trade shows with clear agendas and short attention spans, making it crucial for exhibitors to establish a presence prior to the event.
When I tell fellow tech executives that every employee at sunday, from our engineers to our finance team, must complete a restaurant shift before they can fully onboard, I usually get confused looks. "You mean like, shadow someone?" they ask. No. I mean they tie on an apron, take orders, run food, and yes, deal with the 15-minute wait for the check that our product was literally built to eliminate.
That's a problem. Without a doubt, a great website and top-level marketing will help generate new sales, but it's the delivery experience that warrants future ones. This is because today's consumer not only has options for where they'll buy but also a high set of expectations. What's more, they remember the way a product arrives at their doorstep more than how it was sold.
Media buying refers to the process of purchasing advertising space across various platforms, including social media, search engines, and traditional media. It's about strategically placing ads where they will reach the target audience effectively.
There was usually a room of about 100 to 150 people, with two to three servers and two bartenders. One night, it was just the bartenders and me, so about 50 people per section. This usually wouldn't bother me, but three of my big tables were occupied by one large group. I went to help with the middle of the three tables, as a large portion of their group had just arrived.
As summer school breaks stretch longer and childcare becomes harder to secure, some families are turning to an unexpected solution: hotels offering full-day, structured kids' camps that allow parents to travel, work and keep routines intact.
Artificial intelligence is no longer futuristic-it's functional. Hotels are already utilizing AI to integrate siloed systems, such as PMS, accounting, CRM, and forecasting platforms, to drive faster and smarter decisions. Tools like Placer.ai and PredictHQ help identify ideal customers through demographic, behavioral, and geolocation data. As automation expands, the next opportunity lies in strategic human oversight: consultants and managers will interpret AI outputs, guiding capital investments and operational priorities rather than being replaced by algorithms.
That is one of several conclusions you're likely to draw after reading an article by Sheila Yasmin Marikar recently published in Air Mail. Marikar takes the reader into the world of small boutique hotels, the sort of establishment that attracts travelers looking for properties with an independent streak and a unique approach to doing business. The challenge here, though, is figuring out where that line exists, as some iconoclastic companies have acquired massive corporate parents over the years.
Picture this: a couple walks into a restaurant on a Friday night. They glance around, choose their table, and settle into their seats. Before they've even opened their menus, their server already has a pretty good idea whether they'll leave 10% or 25%. It sounds like mind reading, but after talking with dozens of servers over the years, I've learned it's more like pattern recognition honed by thousands of interactions.
The outlook for 2026 I'm watching 2026 with equal parts optimism and urgency. Optimism because consumer demand is still there. Retail sales have remained resilient in recent data. Urgency because the operating environment is only getting tighter. Coming out of FY2025, large retailers demonstrated resilience amid inflation pressure, shifting consumer behavior, and global supply-chain complexity. Walmart raised its outlook and leaned further into a model that blends physical stores, e-commerce scale, and execution discipline.
Like most founders, the early days of my company were very much geared towards solving a real problem. I wanted to create products to fill a market gap a loved one had personally experienced: finding effective, holistic and affordable solutions to common foot conditions like bunions. Product development and direct-to-consumer sales were my initial focus as CEO, but as the brand grew and I began to recognize the inherent potential in what we were building, retail expansion became a natural progression.
IoT tech is seeing increased use and paying dividends, fuelling operational efficiency, improving front-of-house guest experiences and reducing downtime in the kitchen, according to research from MachineQ. The 2026 restaurant readiness: ops meets tech report, conducted by independent research firm Censuswide, took the opinion of more than 400 US-based quick service and fast casual restaurant leaders about the effects of technology in their industry, highlighting how technology adoption is transforming day-to-day restaurant operations.
Years later, after countless nights in hotels from budget chains to five-star establishments, I've noticed something interesting. Those of us who grew up in lower-middle-class households carry certain behaviors with us into these spaces. They're not necessarily bad habits, but they're telling. They reveal a childhood where every pound mattered and waste was practically a sin. I've seen these patterns in myself, in friends from similar backgrounds, and in countless fellow travelers over the years.
The technology underpinning retail operations is under scrutiny in 2026 as fashion executives look to streamline systems with the aim to unlock efficiency, cut costs and meet consumer expectations for speed and personalisation in the shopping journey. At the retail event Lightspeed Edge on 12 January, Lightspeed - the unified point-of-sale (POS) and payments platform for SMEs such as Apricot Lane Boutique and Neal's Yard Remedies - convened industry leaders to explore the strategic imperative for integrated technology ecosystems over siloed systems.
On a recent two-week trip to Japan with my fiancé - six cities, six hotels - every stay was gorgeous and perfectly appointed. We wanted for nothing. Except, in most cases, a proper bathroom door. Instead, we spent the better part of two weeks making accidental eye contact through frosted glass and translucent panels while one of us was otherwise occupied. A design choice, apparently. A test of intimacy, definitely.
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