Restaurants NAICS 722511, 722513, 722514

Aug 14, 2025 - AI-Powered Kitchen Help

• Artificial intelligence is being put to work in restaurant kitchens, helping with tasks including food preparation and waste reduction, onboarding, and labor allocation, restaurant professionals tell FastCasual.com. "We're using QSR Automations' AI-powered forecasts to better predict demand," Aaron Noveshen, CEO of Starbird Chicken said, adding "That has led to improved food quality, prep accuracy, and reduced waste." AI-driven capacity management helps to optimize order flow during peak hours and eases pressure during busy shifts. Onboarding is also well suited for AI, as it can help get new hires trained and up to speed without requiring attention from other team members. Dillas Quesadillas is using an AI Prep Assistant at its restaurants in Texas and Louisiana. "We were just hoping to reduce waste and food cost," CEO Kyle Gordon said, adding "But the hidden impact has been labor allocation.”
• An analysis of BLS employment data by the National Restaurant Association found that job growth in the restaurant industry ground to a halt during the last two months, as a rise in people leaving their jobs offset hiring activity. Employment at eating and drinking places was essentially flat in June (+400 jobs) and July (-300), according to preliminary data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That was a stark contrast to the previous 3-month period during which the industry added nearly 68,000 jobs. Meanwhile, average restaurant industry wages reached a new high of $19.09 per hour in May, up 4.1% year over year, according to the BLS.

• Consumer spending at small restaurants slowed in June versus May, according to new data from fintech company Fiserv, Nation’s Restaurant News reports. Fiserv’s Small Business Index shows that while small restaurants/independents experienced modest 0.4% year-over-year sales growth in June, month-over-month transactions declined by 2.6% and foot traffic dropped 2.5%. June’s negative monthly comparison followed a 5.6% month-over-month drop from April to May. Just 13 states experienced a positive performance in food service and drinking places in June, versus 34 in May. The spending slowdown signals caution for the restaurant industry where traffic, sales, and hiring trends have been mixed so far this year,” according to the National Restaurant Association’s Economic Outlook for mid-2025. The association’s cautious outlook is supported by recent surveys from PopMenu and KPMG indicating that consumers plan to pull back on their restaurant spending amid ongoing economic concerns.
• As demand for hard-to-get reservations has grown, the restaurant industry’s equivalent of ticket scalpers have been scooping up reservations and selling them online, the National Restaurant Association reports. Technology enables individuals and companies to scrape reservations from legitimate restaurant websites or partner reservation sites and then sell them on unauthorized online resale sites and social media, per the NRA. The practice is creating challenges for restaurants, like costly no-shows, staffing needs to manage the expectations of customers who purchase these third-party reservations, and potential damage to their brand. Amid rising frustration from diners and restaurant operators, state governments have begun working with the restaurant industry to create a regulatory framework to fix the system by returning control of reservations to restaurants. A recent survey of diners at full-service restaurants found nearly 2 in 5 were aware of third-party websites that charge for reservations and nearly 15% said they’d paid for a reservation.