Restaurants Reinvented: Putting Growth Back on the Menu - Trailblazin’ CTO Completes Full Tech Refresh in Under 1 Year - Dawn Gillis Freebirds World Burrito

Trailblazin’ CTO Completes Full Tech Refresh in Under 1 Year - Dawn Gillis Freebirds World Burrito

10/08/22 • 52 min

Restaurants Reinvented: Putting Growth Back on the Menu

Dawn Gillis, CTO of Freebirds World Burrito, kicks off our new CTO series and we couldn't find a better pioneer in our space.

In true trailblazin' in fashion, she joined the fast-casual concept and took the brand by storm, revamping the entire technology stack - including POS, KDS, Back of House, and Online ordering - in under a year.
Dawn shares all her secrets and strategies for achieving the ambitious technology platform upgrade - as well as the early results she's achieved which are beyond impressive!

Key Moments to Listen For:

The process of replacing 25-year-old architecture and 10-yr old systems with new technology
Early results from the tech refresh with Qu > 98% decrease in training and labor hours; and 97% reduction in online ordering failures (lost transactions and sales)
How to align your tech refresh with the brand values
How to sell your stakeholders on a new tech vision
The most common barriers faced by restaurant CTOs
Why MACH matters
Why being uncomfortable is a Good Thing!

Check out Qu's Annual State of Digital for Enterprise QSR & Fast Casual Brands

Dawn Gillis, CTO of Freebirds World Burrito, kicks off our new CTO series and we couldn't find a better pioneer in our space.

Key Moments to Listen For:

The process of replacing 25-year-old architecture and 10-yr old systems with new technology
Early results from the tech refresh with Qu > 98% decrease in training and labor hours; and 97% reduction in online ordering failures (lost transactions and sales)
How to align your tech refresh with the brand values
How to sell your stakeholders on a new tech vision
The most common barriers faced by restaurant CTOs
Why MACH matters
Why being uncomfortable is a Good Thing!

Check out Qu's Annual State of Digital for Enterprise QSR & Fast Casual Brands

Previous Episode

What Does it Mean to Go "Beyond POS" with Amir Hudda, CEO of Qu (Part 3 of 3)

In this 3rd and final part of our mini-series, Amir Hudda, the CEO of Qu discusses the evolution of POS technology in the restaurant industry and what it means to go “Beyond POS.”
Today, it's possible to build a platform from the ground up that will last for the next 20 years. The challenge is eliminating the mindset of fear restaurant operators have toward new technology. Find out how a strong foundation of trust between restaurant operators and tech providers helps restaurants embrace new technology.
Key Insights
🎙️Beyond POS is: Uniforming the guest experience and driving operational efficiency by providing real data value. The data that flows in/from POS is more important than anything else for restaurant operators. Qu's system lets them make decisions in a quasi-real-time fashion allowing them to serve guests in-store and digitally in a more meaningful way.🎙️Out with the old. POS companies cannot survive by doing things the old way. Allowing restaurant brands to be more nimble and efficient in serving guests anytime anywhere and going beyond traditional ways of building technology is critical.
🎙️A glance back. As with most companies, navigating the pandemic was difficult for Qu. Amir feels fortunate to have investors who put trust in them to innovate and a team who collectively stepped up to make these technology advancements happen.
“The investment we made in our people and our technology is here to stay and will add value to our brand partners and our customers for a very long time.”
🎙️Looking forward. "I'm excited to share everything we've built over the last 2 years. We've talked a lot about things like Notify and Edge Computing but there's a lot more to come and I'm looking forward to educating restaurants not only about what we created by why we created them."

Related Resources
Making Technology Invisible in the Restaurant – Amir Hudda CEO of Qu (part 1)

Connect with Amir on LinkedIn

Check out Qu's Annual State of Digital for Enterprise QSR & Fast Casual Brands

Next Episode

Burn it Down and Fail Forward Fast - Justin Keenen CTO Hart House

Justin Keenen, CTO of Kevin Hart's plant-based QSR, Hart House is redefining the role of tech in restaurants with his burn-it-down, fail-forward mentality. Justin's willingness to embrace change in tech and use it to create a remarkable experience establishes him as a titan in the industry.
Find out how Justin built his restaurant tech stack from the ground up to align with the Hart House brand vision.
Key Moments to Listen For:

Don't be afraid to burn it all down and start again. Fail forward.
It's not legacy's fault that your restaurant tech hasn't been updated in 25 years
Don't forget what you're running away from
Tech is no longer optional in restaurants. It's a requirement
Aligning tech with remarkability
Best-of-breed vs all in one
Putting your employees first

Check out Qu's Annual State of Digital for Enterprise QSR & Fast Casual Brands

Restaurants Reinvented: Putting Growth Back on the Menu - Trailblazin’ CTO Completes Full Tech Refresh in Under 1 Year - Dawn Gillis Freebirds World Burrito

Transcript

Restaurants Reinvented - Dawn Gillis

[00:00:00] Dawn Gillis: I would say, at this point, "Be fearless." It's wide open and there is so much more ahead of us, especially as the technologies evolved to serve people, that's one of the things that delights me the most.

[00:00:43] Jen Kern: Hello, everyone and welcome back to Restaurants Reinvented. My name is Jen Kern, I'm the hostess here of the show. And today we're kicking off what's gonna