As technology reshapes dining, Square’s global food and beverage head Ming-Tai Huh shares insights on the future of Canada’s restaurant industry. From AI-driven personalization to the rise of “eatertainment” and self-ordering kiosks, Ming-Tai reveals trends that are transforming how we eat and how restaurants operate heading into 2025. —Noa Nichol
How has Canada’s restaurant sector performed over the past year, and what are some key trends you are seeing heading into 2025?
The good news is that restaurateurs in Canada and the US continue to be optimistic and focused on growth. In our latest Future of Commerce report, Square found that restaurant owners are very focused on making sustainable choices and using technology to their advantage. In Canada, restaurants are embracing new technologies like Square Kiosk, that offer a more personalized ordering experience while freeing up time for staff to focus on other areas of the business, which is a very strong trend heading into 2025. We’re also seeing an explosion of creativity as restaurants are leaning fully into building new revenue streams by offering things like branded merch, cooking classes, meal kits and even wine and gift subscriptions.
Can you share more about how personalization and “eatertainment” are shaping our dining experiences?
Personalization is a growing demand from customers, and Square data shows that restaurants who offer a smooth, highly customized ordering experience are growing fastest. A good example in Canada is Oakberry Açaí. Customers have the power to craft their açaí bowl exactly how they like it thanks to Square Kiosk, which makes it easy for customers to add and customize layers of flavours and toppings. And, it’s also a really fun, choose-your-own-adventure experience, compared to having to verbally communicate a complex order. When it comes to adventures in dining, we’re seeing that Millennial and Gen Z foodies, in particular, respond to these types of fun experiences. Another business that comes to mind is Roll This Way in Toronto, that offers sushi-making experiences, “Sushioke” nights and more. Again, it’s about bringing something different and unique to the table – quite literally.
How do you envision AI transforming the hospitality sector – and what kinds of AI innovations are restaurateurs most interested in?
It’s so exciting as a restaurant owner myself to see the power of AI and automation in helping free up restaurant teams to spend more time helping and interacting with customers. In my view, automation and AI are going to be key growth levers for restaurants in the coming years, though not in the way you may think. The vast majority of restaurants will be integrating AI into their operations in small, iterative ways – not through flashy robots, but through automation in marketing or kitchen workflows – and these minor changes will add up to saved time and more profit.
While many of the AI-powered tools that exist for restaurants today are geared toward supporting staff, I believe we’ll soon be able to start using this same technology to understand customers better and guide business decisions. Having a tool that’s able to learn customers’ spending habits could open up ways to understand what ingredients to buy that will sell really well or respond to menu item trends more quickly. As AI automation technology matures, not only will we be able to track what works best for the business overall, but it will also be possible to use individual customer data to provide personalized recommendations for guests. Think about it: if my customer ordered an iced vanilla latte the last three times they visited my cafe, an AI-powered solution can flag this customer as a potential candidate who is more likely to use a buy-one-get-one coupon for that item when offered.
How are self-ordering tools, like the new Square Kiosk, reshaping customer service, staffing needs, and restaurant design? How has it impacted your own restaurant?
When it comes to ordering a meal or a quick snack on the go, we found that 76% of Canadians say they prefer to order online or through a kiosk compared to placing their order with a person. We’ve also seen this in the US at my newest fast casual restaurant, Amba, and how Square Kiosk has been able to help keep orders moving quickly since the restaurant is located in a busy, office-heavy area. It not only empowers customers to customize their orders easily and pay just as quickly, but it also untethers our staff from the counter, freeing them to focus on other operational tasks.
That’s also really important when it comes to labour costs, one of the most difficult aspects for restaurants to manage. Square transaction data shows, for example, that as of June 2024, Canada’s food and drink industry workers were earning an average C$17.35 an hour, up 4.2% compared to last year. As a result, restaurants are looking for creative solutions through technology to manage these rising costs, and self-serve kiosks can address that.
What advice do you have for restaurant owners looking to integrate technology into their business models?
I’d say focus on the basics first – such as having strong financial metrics on your Profit & Loss (P&L) Statement before considering new tech. Also, make sure to reach out and connect with other local restaurant groups and owners to share experiences and find out what’s working for them – it can be massively helpful to learn from others’ successes and mistakes.
On the other hand, in this day and age, data is king and will vastly help improve your bottom line. Knowing restaurant owners have particular needs, at Square we built restaurant-specific reporting capabilities into our products, including open-section sales reports. This gives businesses the ability to compare sales from, let’s say, the bar with sales from the patio. If you’re tracking sales per square foot, you can use this information to make decisions about rearranging your floor plans to help reach higher sales volumes. We also built kitchen performance reports, which tell owners about ticket counts and average completed ticket time across all devices and locations. This way, you no longer have to wonder if your kitchen is operating efficiently. And you can take action, such as adding more staff to improve performance.
Every restaurant owner needs to have access to these reporting capabilities to make informed business decisions. What’s uniquely empowering, however, is the ability to have it readily at your fingertips. What I love about what we do at Square is that restaurant owners can access reports via their POS, desktop, or even a mobile app device, meaning even if you’re away from your restaurant, you can still see how things are running.
As both a restaurateur and a leader in restaurant tech, what unique insights have you gained, and how do you balance these two perspectives?
It’s been amazing because I’ve been able to bring lessons learned on the frontlines of hospitality to the engineers, developers and designers at Square – and, at the same time, I’m learning lessons from my Square colleagues every day that I’m able to bring back to our community of restaurant sellers. I think I’ve been lucky to be in a unique position that will hopefully benefit our customers – the millions of businesses we support around the world – in a big way going forward.
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