The Digital Kitchen: Powering the Future of Dining
Chris Demery, Chief Technology Officer at Blaze Pizza, discusses technological advancements in the food industry in episode 35 of 'Beyond the Connection.'
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EPISODE: Chris Demery Chief Technology Officer @ Blaze Pizza The Digital Kitchen: Powering the Future of Dining Episode 35
What’s Inside [2:02] Introduction to Chris Demery [31:21] Full Podcast Episode [2:10] Highlights Video [2:41] Eliminating Guest Friction Through Integrated Restaurant Systems [4:25] How Technologists Earn Influence in Restaurant Leadership [2:54] Measuring What Matters to Ensure Consistent Guest Experiences [2:11] How Data Helps Operators Meet Rising Guest Expectations [4:57] Using AI to Predict and Prevent Restaurant Slowdowns [4:49] Building Always-On Networks for Modern Restaurant Demands [2:23] Why Agile Thinking Drives Better Restaurant Technology Decisions [2:40] Predictability Is the New Standard for Fast Casual Success [0:52] Short - Eliminating Guest Friction Through Integrated Restaurant Systems [0:56] Short - Measuring What Matters to Ensure Consistent Guest Experiences
EPISODE: A Podcast with Chris Demery Chris Demery, Chief Technology Officer at Blaze Pizza, explains why the digital kitchen has become the command center of modern dining. He outlines how real-time data, guest expectations, and operational complexity require technology that removes friction instead of adding it. He also describes how marketing, operations, and technology must integrate to deliver consistency and scale. His insights reveal why the future of dining depends on predictable, data-driven execution.
Full Episode “The digital ecosystem within a restaurant has to make guests want to return because it is consistent and persistent. The only way to ensure consistent performance is to measure it. The digital kitchen allows you to capture the data and make business decisions based on what that data is telling you, and allows you to measure the speed of service.”
5 (2:10) Highlights Video
(2:41) Eliminating Guest Friction Through Integrated Restaurant Systems “Technology has to fit in seamlessly across the entire landscape because you cannot make something more difficult for an operator, believing that it is going to fit in seamlessly. A guest has to feel the omnichannel experience. They get to pick what they want to do, when they want to do it, and how they want to do it.”
(4:25) How Technologists Earn Influence in Restaurant Leadership “When I do not understand a situation, I dive into the details and understand the details behind whatever initiative we are trying to do. I have earned a right at a seat at the table because if I am talking to an operator, I am talking in operator language, so they understand you know what they deal with every day.”
8 (2:54) Measuring What Matters to Ensure Consistent Guest Experiences “The only way to ensure consistent performance is to measure it. The advantage technology has is that it can do timestamps based on actions that operators take, rather than having an operator try to remember how long it is taking to produce a pizza. The digital systems record all the pieces and refine their manufacturing process based on what the data tells them.”
(2:11) How Data Helps Operators Meet Rising Guest Expectations “If you are not in the competitive mindset of the guest, you have already lost. If they are not even considering coming to you because it takes too long and your food quality is bad, you have already lost the battle.”
(4:57) Using AI to Predict and Prevent Restaurant Slowdowns “We use AI in our backend kitchen display platform. It aggregates every order that comes through our kitchen and learns how long it is taking to manufacture that order. We use that to measure what we call kitchen efficiency.”
11 (4:49) Building Always-On Networks for Modern Restaurant Demands “I mandated that we are doing 5G backup in all of our locations because our internet service providers periodically go down, and if you go offline for a day, you can lose three to five hundred dollars in off-premises orders. Part of my job is to build a business case that reflects marketing and operations initiatives.”
(2:23) Why Agile Thinking Drives Better Restaurant Technology Decisions “The most important thing I learned is the concept of an agile mentality. It is a mentality, not a fixed project management approach. It’s a good technology person who understands operations and marketing. It’s introducing a compromised solution in order to prove it could be feasible to deliver the result.”
(2:40) Predictability Is the New Standard for Fast Casual Success “As digital business grows, you really have two speeds of service definitions. One is around the dine-in experience. The other is around how predictable you are for your off-premises business. If you tell somebody it is going to be twenty minutes, you need to be plus or minus two minutes on delivery.”
YOUTUBE SHORT: “Technology has to fit in seamlessly across the entire landscape because you cannot make something more difficult for an operator, believing that it is going to fit in seamlessly. A guest has to feel the omnichannel experience. They get to pick what they want to do, when they want to do it, and how they want to do it.” - Chris Demery
YOUTUBE SHORT: “The only way to ensure consistent performance is to measure it. The advantage technology has is that it can do timestamps based on actions that operators take, rather than having an operator try to remember how long it is taking to produce a pizza. The digital systems record all the pieces and refine their manufacturing process based on what the data tells them.” - Chris Demery
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