In 1948, two brothers revolutionized the food service industry in an attempt to address to more fast-paced life styles, increase efficiency and boost revenue. First, they ran the data and found most of their profit came from hamburgers. So, they simplified the menu to focus on that item, potato chips and apple pies, according to author Bill Bryson.

But the real innovation was more conceptual than that. Brothers Maurice and Richard McDonald saw their kitchen for what it truly was: an assembly line. In 1952, they purchased a new building that would both catch the eyes of passing drivers and give them the space to create a clean, extremely efficient, standardized process for preparing meals. That single innovation, some 70 years ago, continues to inform the business of quick service restaurants and fast casual food retail in important new ways. Here’s a look at three other innovations that promise to shape the restaurant business in 2018.

1. The integrated supply chain in the contemporary modern kitchen

The integrated supply chain of food covers a network of vendors, manufacturing centers, warehouses, distribution centers and restaurants that raw materials move through, and are changed to meet the needs of the final consumer. The complexity of the food supply chain has grown enormously since Maurice and Richard McDonald’s day, but what remains critical is data. Data informs decisions at every successful food retail operation.

Gone are the days of a burger, chips and an apple pie as the main menu. Today large QSR restaurants can have a dozen different cheeseburger choices on the menu, 13 different sides to choose from, a half-dozen salads and 18 drink choices. And then there are the seasonal coffees, short-term signature sandwiches and other offerings that come and go. This food and drink comes from many different parts of the country, and depending on the operator, even the world. Connected restaurant real-time data provides operators information on everything from food costs to cross-unit operations managers and owners need to make strategic decisions, spot trends, identify issues and reward successes.

At Panasonic, data is at the heart of what we call the “connected restaurant.” This covers not just assembly line technology with conveyor belts that move food as workers prep. It’s a digital overhaul that includes connecting all parts of the restaurant to provide data analytics that promote a better operation. Software ties together disparate functions, collects and interprets data and sends out alerts to quickly inform restaurant operators of things going wrong, and right.

2. Transparency in the food supply chain

Food safety and quality has always been important to restaurants; what’s changing is the attention that consumers are paying to the topic. Social media, education and government regulations are helping to drive interest. “In 2018, expect to see transparency and traceability for all, regardless of their income,” predicts market intelligence agency Mintel. In other words, patrons will be able to learn just about everything they want to know about a food’s origins, ingredients and nutritional information. One example: Independent Purchasing Cooperative (IPC), a SUBWAY franchisee-owned and operated purchasing group.

Focusing on the “Fresh Forward” theme, IPC has for several years worked to achieve the full traceability of suppliers' products as they travel from their source into SUBWAY restaurants, according to a recent article in Modern Restaurant Management. “Knowing exactly where a specific lot code of food product is in the supply chain is our goal. If a product is a risk to our brand, and our customers, the benefits of adopting the use of standards are immeasurable,” Dennis Clabby, IPC’s executive vice president, purchasing, told the magazine, highlighting a view that will accelerate across the industry in the coming year.

3. QSR in the age of autonomy

New technology and pilot projects have generated incredible interest in autonomous vehicles. Developments range from driverless cars navigating city streets in the U.S., Japan and Europe to announcements of advanced technology that will speed developments in both autonomous vehicles and smart infrastructure. These developments are pushing automakers to rethink the business of buying and selling vehicles, and the same developments are expected to reshape retail, restaurants and other industries.

As cars start talking to cars and road infrastructure, it’s not a stretch to imagine a car communicating with a restaurant. Here’s how it might work: A vehicle’s infotainment system uses beacon technology to connect to the restaurant’s operations center. The restaurant accesses data on the purchasing characteristics of the vehicle so that, when this vehicle arrives, the system knows that its occupants typically order two double cheeseburgers, fries and a soda. Already major restaurant operators are rethinking the future of the drive thru.

To understand the future of quick service restaurants and fast casual establishments, tech companies such as Panasonic not only invest in in-house innovation, they also devote considerable time evaluating, testing and supporting nascent entrepreneurial ideas that could be fundamental to not only future driverless cars, but also the food business. In this scenario, tech leaders take on a much greater role as third party ecosystem managers which involves code sharing, open innovation and other partnerships. The beneficiaries are consumers who gain customized and fast service they’ve come to expect while allowing owners to increase revenue and efficiency.

Matt O’Connor is the Senior Vice President Food Service & Retail Solutions Group at Panasonic Corporation of North America.

Route 66 was constructed to address a need created by an emerging technology: the rise of the auto in the United States. When completed in 1926, the highway gave motorists quick passage (at the time) from Chicago to Los Angeles. This transportation shift also gave rise to another innovation. In 1947, Red's Giant Hamburg in Missouri opened the first drive-thru window so customers could pick up their food without leaving their car.

This year the drive thru turns 70, and its influence on the food business is staggering. Americans made 12.4 billion trips to the drive thru in 2016, according to a QSR magazine study, which said that quick service restaurants routinely generate 60–70 percent of their business through the outdoor lane. McDonald’s alone reported that the drive thru accounted for 70 percent of its U.S. sales last year.

Driverless cars, mobile and automation

Tech continues to shape the drive-thru with the biggest changes yet to come. One force is the auto industry. By 2030, around a quarter of all miles driven in the U.S. could be in shared autonomous electric vehicles, according to research. Already technology providers are looking at ways driverless cars could change the food business. More immediately, mobile communications, and automated supply chain advances are spurring shifts.

Forecasting food’s future tech

At September’s FSTec restaurant industry food show, where I delivered a keynote presentation on integrated solutions shaping food service, audience questions covered everything from mobility to connected kitchen strategies. Here are a few ideas.

Ever approach the drive-thru in the middle of a rainstorm? You and everybody else. At America’s drive thrus, bottlenecks are often inevitable, and companies are introducing technologies to serve customers what they want when they want it.

Innovation at Habitat Burger Grill

A few years ago, a chargrilled burger from The Habit Burger Grill, a nationwide fast-casual restaurant concept that specializes in fresh ingredients, was named the “best tasting burger in America.” To accommodate growing interest in its food, The Habit Burger Grill opened drive-thru windows.

To handle the numbers of people who want to use the outdoor lanes, the company introduced a careful mix of planning and technology. It turned to Panasonic Toughbooks to take orders from customers while they wait in the drive-thru line. This gives restaurant employees multiple points to take orders instead of relying on the traditional microphone and menu setup. By having employees move up and the down the line while cars wait, ordering and drive-thru pickup is faster.

DQ’s experience

In Texas, select Dairy Queen restaurants have moved toward putting the entire ordering process into customer’s hands. By providing Panasonic’s solution for self-service touch-screen kiosks, the company has put the power to fully customize orders directly into the hands of their tech-savvy customers. Now customers can place and pay for their orders on self-service kiosks. This frees up staff to more quickly complete orders.

For many food franchisees, profit nirvana is the connected kitchen, which links technologies in the front of the house—including drive-thru windows and kiosks—to automation systems in the back. Robotics is one area garnering excitement. More immediately, tech companies are leveraging other forms of automation—such as algorithms and artificial intelligence—to create solutions to repetitive tasks, like predictive maintenance on a deep fryer so food oil is ordered and changed just in time.

For more on how technology is reshaping the restaurant business, read The Future of the Drive Thru: Overcoming Choke Points.

About 67,000 food services pros from around the globe converged on Chicago’s McCormick Place convention center for the National Restaurant Association’s annual trade show in late May. These are the people who own, manage, buy and sell for some of the industry’s largest brands, and those that we spoke to had questions about technology that blurs lines between business solutions and consumer electronics.

Major food service businesses are increasing investments in technology as a way to improve convenience and the customer experience. They’re also trying new digital endeavors to appeal to a fresh crop of eaters seeking better quality food and an experience that incorporates their gadgets. Whether it’s a tablet-based POS software or an app that allows customers to engage with restaurants on their mobile devices, restaurants are moving toward technologies that look more and more like the tech consumers use in their daily lives. Here’s a look a few other of the most interesting ideas from the show.

1. Co-operative innovation

Some very exciting ideas in food service come from startups, and Panasonic has a track record of working with small companies to provide end-to-end solutions to customers. It benefits the entrepreneur who has an innovation, but may be struggling to bring it to the marketplace or to introduce it to more customers. The small company gains exposure to the engineering and tech resources of a global organization. Perhaps the biggest winner is the food service provider because it sees a steady stream of solutions that can help to increase customer engagement. Panasonic’s work with entrepreneurs take different forms, from partnerships to investments to acquisitions. One such example is Quick Service Software Inc., known for back office software to manage information from the POS and aid in all aspects of managing a quick service restaurant.

2. Immersive tech

For example, those who visited the Panasonic booth this year were able to experience the company’s own twist on this concept with our LinkRay technology. Using visible light communication, LinkRay delivers mobile content by enabling ordinary smartphones to read IDs sent from LED transmitters, such as displays, signboards and spotlights, and to connect to associated mobile content. Applied to restaurants, this technology allows consumers to view expanded menus, nutrition information and even order from their smart phones.

3. Step savers and other productivity hacks

Upscale dining at the movies is a trend sweeping across the U.S., according to Nation’s Restaurant News, which reports that foodservice spending at movie theaters has risen 20 percent compared with a year ago. “Many major movie-theater chains now offer full chef-driven menus complete with alcoholic beverages and seat-side service,” according to the article. One such trendsetter is Flix Brewhouse, which welcomes people with craft beers, fresh and familiar food and blockbuster movies.

To simplify the serving process — and help prevent servers from interrupt action scenes on the big screen — Flix Brewhouse introduced to its locations a feature-packed tablet that would integrate with our existing network infrastructure and most importantly to have ruggedization — and to last without trading off features.

By allowing its servers to present the check and take the payment all with the same device in a single stop at the table, it saves the time that goes into the back-and-forth between dropping the check, returning to pick up the payment, walking to the credit card machine and running the payment before, finally, dropping off the completed bill for the customer to sign and leave a tip. Matthew Baizer, COO of Flix Brewhouse, say that technology provided an opportunity to increase speed of service at their locations.

"We've seen our guest satisfaction and speed of service scores escalate a lot," Mr. Baizer says.Watch a video on how Flix Brewhouse uses mobility to boost customer service:

Drones are seemingly everywhere and they are being used for new and different tasks every day. The consumer oriented drones that have become so popular are only a small segment of the market and offer only some of the controls and functions available by their commercial counterparts. Enhanced functions that include precise controls, GPS mapping and flight planning, geofencing, and larger carrying capacities make industrialized drones suitable for many commercial purposes.

Companies engaged in supply chain operations are deploying drones, otherwise known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) to serve in a wide variety of roles that make some tasks that were previously either very time-consuming and labor intensive, highly efficient, less expensive,  and significantly improving worker safety when deployed properly.

Easy with the Right Tools

The transportation and logistics environment has taken to drones in several arenas because of their ability to maneuver around and above otherwise difficult to reach areas like warehouses and shipping container ports and terminals. And part of their repertoire includes multiple ways to communicate and share information.

Cameras are standard equipment and are used not only to provide visibility to pilot the drones but also for identifying and inspecting items. Drone cameras are used to automatically read QR codes that identify shipping containers, machinery and manufacturing equipment, and they can be equipped with RFID scanners that let them locate or identify items not easily visible from the ground.

For most operations drones need to be managed or flown by operators who are more concerned with the shipping or logistics process than in the flight. They use mobile tablet computers to see what the drone sees and can assist in directing the drone to specific locations and come close enough to areas of interest that they are able to see the video being captured by the drone’s onboard camera on their tablet display. This kind of immediate and real time visibility can make a real difference in reducing the time technicians need to spend accessing hard to reach places. Operators can position the drone above machinery for close-up inspection without having to shut down operations, something that can cause significant disruption to supply chain operations. Similarly drones can cover large areas from relatively high altitudes to survey rail yards and find specific rail car shipping containers or equipment, then quickly come closer to verify the item they’ve located is the right one. This allows crews to go directly to the freight or equipment eliminating hours of searching from the ground.

Maintenance and repair crews are using drones’ high resolution cameras to perform inspections of hard to reach locations like cargo cranes or towers of containers. Drones can easily maneuver around structures at heights that previously weren't easily accessible by workers needing to take a close look at conditions. Drones are able to be quickly and accurately positioned to aim their cameras at areas of interest while workers on the ground use their tablets to control, view, inspect and document their observations.

The versatility of mobile tablets and 2 in 1 hybrid laptops have found their way to forklifts and other vehicles in warehouses and intermodal terminals where they can be mounted to the vehicles and used to control and monitor drones, then quickly and easily detached and carried with the worker to the location that needs attention.

Stay in Control Under Duress

Of course the mobile devices used in these kinds of environments need to be both rugged enough to survive the rough and often wet conditions of outdoor work, and also have high quality display screens designed to be readable in bright sunlight or in the dark if they are to be usable.

Using drones in outdoor conditions means that both the drones and the mobile computing device workers use to view and control them need to be used and able to withstand adverse conditions including bright sun, at night, in extreme cold, rain, even dust or dirt. Viewing a tablet in bright sun is impossible for most consumer grade tablets, and it’s critical to have full viewing capability when using it to control a drone and view the video or pictures. Likewise operation in rain and snow and the ability to operate wearing gloves requires that a high performance, purpose-built, rugged mobile device be paired with a commercial drone to help ensure peak performance in all conditions.

These are just some of the operational considerations to be made when deploying commercial drones.  As with any new technology deployment researching and testing the capabilities of the tools and equipment is a critical element of a successful deployment.

For more information on mobile devices purpose-built for use in supply chain and shipping terminal environments, check out the Panasonic Toughbook family of mobile device at Panasonic Toughbook and Toughpad solutions.  If you would like to consult with an experienced Mobile solution Field Engineer about Toughbook mobile devices for use in your transportation and logistics operations, contact us.