Skip to content
MarketScale
Demo
‹ Back to IndustriesFood & Beverage

Customer Curation in the Drive-Thru Market: How to Seamlessly Roll Out Personalized Tech

Technology has transformed the way we shop and make decisions. With a little bit of data, a transaction can be curated specifically to each customer. Drive-thru transactions are no exception to the trend, and food and beverage giants like McDonalds and Starbucks are investing heavily in customer personalization and decision technology for their drive-thru transactions….

This story was produced through MarketScale. See how Food & Beverage teams put it to work with Customer Stories & Case Studies.

Share
Customer Curation in the Drive-Thru Market: How to Seamlessly Roll Out Personalized Tech

Get featured

Want to get featured in MarketScale Food & Beverage?

Create a free MarketScale workspace and get your company's expertise featured across our Food & Beverage coverage. No credit card, no demo required.

Request an invite

Technology has transformed the way we shop and make decisions. With a little bit of data, a transaction can be curated specifically to each customer. Drive-thru transactions are no exception to the trend, and food and beverage giants like McDonalds and Starbucks are investing heavily in customer personalization and decision technology for their drive-thru transactions. On today’s episode of Beyond Technology: The Experience Podcast by Acrelec, we explore the benefits and hurdles of integrating personalized technology into the drive-thru market with Thibaud Denolle, director of innovation and marketing at Acrelec.

The drive-thru experience has never been about creating personal connection. In response to In-and-Out’s popularization of the drive thru, Thibaud remarks ““It’s not In-and-lets-have-a-very-great-conversation-and-then-Out.” The drive-thru has always been about convenience. But, today’s drive-thru experience aims to change that. Thibaud asks “How can we build 1-to-1 relationship in the drive thru without compromising the speed of service?”

“Everyone is fighting for seconds of attention,” says Thibaud of our speedy, tech driven society. “If a customer is not happy it will not hesitate to go somewhere else,” he says, explaining why it is so crucial for new technology in the dining space to be implemented seamlessly, with no impact on the stream of service. “At Acrelec we try to bring technology that does not require the staff to change their habits…” says Thibaud. Often times, new technology designed to make production more efficient can be more of a boondoggle than a benefit.

Sometimes the biggest customer pain point can be the technology itself, but Acrelec’s innovations aim to eliminate the stumbles associated with rolling out new customer-personalized technology.

For the latest news, videos, and podcasts in the Software & Electronics Industry, be sure to subscribe to our industry publication.

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Twitter – @TechMKSL

Facebook – facebook.com/marketscale

LinkedIn – linkedin.com/company/marketscale

Your experts belong here

Every story in MarketScale Food & Beverage starts with a company putting its plant managers, quality leads, and R&D teams on the record. Buyers are already reading this topic. The only question is whose experts they find.

Processors and grocery buyers vet suppliers hard, and your operations people are the ones who can satisfy them.

Get your team featuredSee how it works15 minutes, straight to a calendar.

Follow Food & Beverage Insights

Get new expert content in your inbox.

Food & Beverage: are you visible to AI?

Before they reach out, Food & Beverage buyers ask AI engines which vendors to trust. See how AI describes your company today, and where competitors show up instead.

Free workspace

You just read one Food & Beverage expert. Your company is full of them.

This article was produced through MarketScale. The same platform turns your plant managers, quality leads, and R&D teams into the articles, video, and social content Food & Beverage buyers are searching for. Create a free workspace and see it with your own people. No credit card, no demo required.

NPS +73 · 1,000+ creators · 38+ countries

What you get, free

Your own MarketScale Studio workspace
One video edit a month, on us
AI writing, editing, and publishing tools
In-platform coaching to learn the system

More Food & Beverage Insights

Restaurants are buying more customer tech even as visits stay 7% below 2019

Restaurants are buying more customer tech even as visits stay 7% below 2019

U.S. restaurant operators are budgeting more customer-facing technology for 2026, with 60% prioritizing customer experience investments, according to the National Restaurant Association data reported by Restaurant Business. The push comes while average chain restaurant occasions remain 7% below 2019 levels, a gap Restaurant Business says has persisted even as kiosks, digital menu boards, loyalty programs, and AI tools proliferated. Bar & Restaurant’s reporting on high-volume staffing shows why the timing matters operationally: with labor still tight and peak periods exposing process friction, operators are trying to shift guest decisions earlier, improve scheduling discipline, and free managers to coach instead of firefight. The near coin-flip in consumer sentiment, 41% saying tech improves hospitality versus 38% saying it hurts, indicates deployments that reduce staff burden without making the guest feel “sent to a screen” will be the ones that hold up in 2026 traffic conditions.

  • 01A useful benchmark for 2026 tech budgeting: 60% of operators plan to invest in customer-experience tech, but that category only outpaces front-of-house tech (54%) by six points, so many programs will compete for the same dollars and implementation bandwidth, according to the National Restaurant Association data reported by Restaurant Business.
  • 02The metric mismatch is becoming a planning risk: Restaurant Business says kiosks can lift sales per transaction, but operators still lack a clean way to measure whether customer-facing automation quietly suppresses visits, especially when chain occasions are already 7% below 2019.
  • 03For high-volume concepts, the highest-ROI “tech” may be workflow discipline: Bar & Restaurant reports operators leaning on forecasting, clear labor rules, and centralized reservation and add-on decisions to reduce peak-hour conflict, which can make customer tech feel like convenience rather than a substitute for hospitality.

Sep 1, 2026

Outback’s 600-manager reset puts kitchen discipline back at the center

Outback’s 600-manager reset puts kitchen discipline back at the center

Outback Steakhouse brought managers from roughly 600 restaurants together for its first systemwide conference since before the pandemic, signaling that the brand is again prioritizing operational standardization as it works its turnaround. Restaurant Business reported Outback posted 1.4% same-store sales growth last quarter, its best in more than three years, along with improving guest scores and a higher mix of premium items. Two QSR Magazine analyses outline areas operators are focusing on: kitchen-equipment discipline through asset lifecycle management and total cost of ownership, and store design as a factor tied to repeat visits, with the National Restaurant Association estimating QSRs get about 71% of revenue from repeat customers. For multi-unit operators, the practical takeaway is that repeatable execution often depends on standardized specifications, maintenance data, and remodel programs that protect retention and throughput, not only pricing actions.

  • 01The return of large-scale manager conferences is an operational tell: brands are re-centralizing standards and training, which makes equipment specs, service models, and maintenance playbooks easier to scale.
  • 02For chains that still buy equipment on sticker price, QSR Magazine’s push toward total cost of ownership reframes procurement as an uptime and utilities decision, not a capex line item.
  • 03QSR Magazine, citing the National Restaurant Association’s estimate that about 71% of QSR revenue comes from repeat customers, frames store design and the in-restaurant environment as part of the discussion around repeat visits.

Sep 1, 2026

Sweetmore’s Fantasy Baking deal shows food M&A is buying plant capacity

Sweetmore’s Fantasy Baking deal shows food M&A is buying plant capacity

Recent M&A activity in the food industry emphasizes expanding production capabilities by acquiring plant capacity. Companies are focusing on increasing their production lines and sites to enhance fulfillment speed. This trend highlights the importance of scalable operations in the competitive food sector.

  • 01Food industry M&A is prioritizing the acquisition of plant capacity to boost production capabilities.
  • 02Companies are expanding their production lines and sites for faster fulfillment.
  • 03Scaling operations is becoming crucial for competitiveness in the food sector.

Aug 28, 2026

Explore More Food & Beverage Insights

Read more expert perspectives from across Food & Beverage.

Browse Food & Beverage Hub

For Food & Beverage teams

See how Food & Beverage teams use MarketScale →

Customer Stories & Case Studies

Explore Channels

Industry news, analysis, and expert perspectives

Professional AV›Engineering & Construction›Education Technology›Healthcare›Energy›Software & Technology›Retail›Business Services›Industrial IoT›Sports & Entertainment›Transportation›Sciences›Building Management›Food & Beverage›Architecture & Design›Hospitality›Marketing Tech›
Keep exploring

More from Food & Beverage

Food & Beverage hubMore expert Food & Beverage coverage.Explore →Customer Stories & Case StudiesTurn supply-chain wins into proof.Explore →AMAG Studio DayOne production, 20–30 clips.Explore →State of B2B MarketingWhat is working in B2B marketing now.Explore →

For B2B teams

Your experts could be publishing here

Stories like this one run on content MarketScale captures from real practitioners. See how your team's expertise becomes coverage in Food & Beverage and beyond.

Book a 15-minute demo

Or call us. No forms required. We pick up. 214-945-2512