Feeding the Algorithm: How Restaurants Use Data to Capture Competitive Advantage

Advanced analytics, powered by a variety of data sources, are transforming industry after industry, from technology to financial services to industrial goods. With a few notable exceptions, however, restaurants have been slower to move--which is ironic considering the amount of data that restaurant brands have available and the range of ways that they can put it to use. BCG's 2018 digital maturity survey of top restaurant brands found that four in five brands can access a wealth of data from multiple sources, but only one in five has in place a comprehensive big data strategy, an integrated customer master data set that the entire organization can access, or the ability to use predictive analytics algorithms to drive business decisions automatically. Not a single brand self-identified as fluent in advanced analytics techniques such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, chatbots, or voice-enabled ordering. This is a big opportunity for the brands that move fast.