In this compelling episode of Beyond the Bot, Tony DeHart and Steven King take us inside the Restaurant Franchising and Innovation Summit in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. As restaurants face labor shortages, rising operational costs, and a rapidly changing customer experience landscape, artificial intelligence and robotics are stepping in as key enablers of change.

In recent years, the restaurant industry has faced a whirlwind of challenges, from recovering financially post-pandemic to grappling with labor shortages and rising operational costs. In California, the recent introduction of a new law raising the minimum wage to $20 per hour for fast food workers adds a strain on small to midsize restaurants already dealing with inflation.