Nicholas Upton
As the year progresses, value is emerging as a top motivator across the restaurant space. In these uncertain times (as if there were any other times lately), consumers keep pulling back.
This feeling is loud and clear in the latest consumer survey from accounting and consulting firm KPMG, which showed consumers expect to cut spending in restaurants by about 7 percent. Most respondents said it was to save money, as 39 percent of consumers said their incomes declined and most (79 percent) said they were worried about tariff impacts.
Wherever the tariff stupidity is vacillating, consumers are seeking bang for their proverbial buck, but also bang for their time, energy and email. Similarly, operators are being especially conservative and targeted with their investment in digital tools as they expect sales to be difficult.
Two other surveys, one of consumers and one of operators, show how value is a unifying theme.
Tillster’s 2025 Phygital Index asked more than 1,500 U.S. consumers how they were thinking about restaurants. Qu’s 2025 State of Digital report asked 170 enterprise brands how leadership teams were thinking about digital.
From the consumer perspective, the desire for value is crashing head-on into the explosion of loyalty offerings in the last few years. Most brands have some sort of loyalty program now, but many offer points and nonsense, not actual value. That’s evident in one datapoint from the Phygital Index: 33 percent of consumers said their favorite restaurant changed in the past year. For all the loyalty points, that is quite a lot of disloyal customers. Respondents said they dropped their old brand in search of better food (46 percent said the obvious here), but 40 percent said they wanted better value.
One big issue is crummy rewards as just 26 said they changed brands for better offers. That shows an aggravating trend: after that first freebie, rewards can be kind of a grind.
“I think a lot of consumers think, OK, will I ever get something? Maybe they’ll sign up but they won’t pay a lot of attention to it,” Tillster’s Hope Neiman told FT sibling publication Food On Demand. “A lot of loyalty programs are just not strong enough.”
Nobody is going to keep a brand top of mind if they need to climb a mountain of cheeseburgers for a free drink.
This issue was highlighted by Qu’s State of Digital report. Brand respondents saw that with all the loyalty innovation, many programs were still just for the regulars, and if that’s the case, why bother?
Qu respondents noted loyalty should bring in new guests, lapsed guests and encourage more frequent visits, but most are just a fancy version of the punch card from 25 years ago. In that case, brands are simply losing money on guests who are already extremely loyal and frequent.
To improve, 34 percent of respondents said they would be investing in data platforms to pair with loyalty programming to bring value to the brand by making enhancements for consumers.
Broadly, the investment in tech is value-forward. We’re far from the tech splurge of 2020, and across categories, consolidating tech is top of mind.
In the Qu survey, 64 percent of respondents said they would work to consolidate all the technology running through the brand. It was the No. 1 priority for both quick-service and fast-casual operators.
Things such as a unified payment apparatus are key so brands can stop paying for multiple services and paying again to connect all the bits and bytes behind the bites.
First-party ordering remains a value-minded strategy; 40 percent of Qu respondents said first-party ordering would drive the highest revenue growth in 2025. The ownership of the customer relationship also makes it easier to provide a valuable, engaging experience without a third party getting in the way (and pushing its own loyalty programs). First-party orders also remove some of those extra blocks in the complicated tech stack, something Amir Hudda, CEO at Qu, said was teetering on collapse.
“In the rush to ‘go digital,’ many brands built their tech stacks like a Jenga tower—unstable, ready to topple and blocking innovation,” he said.
Kiosks keep ‘shocking’
One area where consumers and brands find common ground is the kiosk. The resurgence of kiosk operations is akin to the return to QR-coded everything. It felt like transactions were heading for the pocket, but consumers crave kiosks as much as their favorite lunch.
“Sixty-one percent of the respondents said they wanted more kiosks,” Tillster’s Neiman told Food On Demand. “I found that shocking.”
They love everything about kiosks. Thirty-six percent of respondents to Tillster’s survey said they like the accuracy, 31 percent said it’s more convenient, 30 percent said it’s quicker, and 30 percent said they like the ability for deeper customization at the tablet.
Consumer preference for kiosk ordering is rising. In 2023, 36 percent of consumers surveyed wanted more. It’s up to 57 percent in 2024 and 61 percent today.
Restaurants love them, too. Assuming they’re working well, kiosks mean better labor value and the potential for more revenue, though that is hard to prove. Qu’s survey showed about 62 percent of restaurant brands are deploying kiosks to help alleviate labor challenges and improve efficiency.
But many operators haven’t yet seen kiosks translate into big revenue boosts.
“Kiosks rank high as an efficiency enabler but not as a revenue driver,” Jenifer Kern, Qu’s CMO, told FOD. “They help with labor strains and pressures and give more flexibility for guests. But they’re not seen yet as a revenue generator, which seems like an untapped area of potential because we know some brands are seeing increased check sizes. Look at Shake Shack.”
One hurdle for kiosks is the cost. Nearly 40 percent of Qu respondents said the cost was a barrier, but it may be a worthy investment in value for high-cost markets, as Brandon Barton of kiosk provider Bite told Food On Demand.
“If you’re California heavy, and you’re not thinking about automation, your profit margin is going to go away,” he said.
Both Qu’s and Tillster’s surveys show many different ways that 2025 is a year of value. Diners are thinking through every transaction, and restaurants better be doing the same.
Nicholas Upton has reported on retail and restaurant technology for more than a decade. His Tech Stack column aims to distill complex ideas into actionable insights. Send interesting tech topics to [email protected].