FSR January 2023

NEX TGEN TRENDSE T TERS

F or any large restau rant conglomerate, the guest experience must remain at the forefront, says Lisa Lee, senior vice president of market ing at SPB Hospitality— which is why “hospitality” is in the umbrella group’s name and DNA. SPB’s 16 brands include Logan’s Road house, J Alexander’s, Stoney River, Old Chi

day, this is a people business. We learn the most when our servers and team members are able to look our guests in the eyes and make sure they are getting their needs met,” Lee says. “The technology and tools that help our teams should be in the background, or even out of sight. Technology should help us provide

LISA LEE SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF MARKET ING SPB Hospitality

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: TAILOR YOUR TECHNOLOGY TO FIT EACH LOCATION AND EACH BRAND.

and the use of handheld ordering devices, some of our concepts bene fit from this technology, and others do not.” This year, Lee fore sees more technol ogy coming into play at full-service restaurants, ranging from auto mated services to arti ficial intelligence and machine learning. “It is such an exciting time to be in this indus try, and I am looking for ward to learning from our guest, learning from our competitors, and constantly challenging ourselves to improve the guest experience,” she adds.

guest expe rience when it comes to take out and delivery. These changes include creating more conve nient ways to pick up food, improving to-go packaging, and making upgrades to its loyalty program. “We do not homog enize our brands when it comes to technol ogy. We are focused on building our brand equity,” Lee says. “This means we need to work hard every day to main tain a unique identity at each of our brands. For example, as we look at the future of our brands

an improved experience and improve guest sat isfaction.” SPB is turning its focus to analyzing how consumers order food off-premises so it can optimize the

cago Pizza & Taproom, and a collection of res taurant-brewery brands, like Rock Bottom Res taurant & Brewery and Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant. “At the end of the

SPB (3)

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