Top 10 Noteworthy Restaurant Tech Trends For 2025

Buckle up, 2025 is going to be a wild ride. (Not that restaurant ops is ever not a wild ride, let’s be honest.)

When looking ahead to the future of the restaurant industry, we’re seeing a few important trends worth flagging for your 2025 plans. But before we start thinking about 2025 restaurant technology strategies, let’s agree on the core priority. The what’s-not-changing. What’s that?

Hospitality reigns supreme. 

This is the throughline. Great experiences. Happy guests. Positive ops outcomes. That is what has always mattered and will continue to matter most.

Ok, let’s dig into our predictions for the biggest 2025 restaurant tech trends.

1. Smart inventory management systems

Inventory just got a whole lot better (read: less time-consuming and a whole lot less headache-y). How? With an uptick in inventory management systems that include smart integrations.

Basically, some of your everyday kitchen items have gotten a fancy (and useful) tech upgrade. These things empower you to collect data more easily and efficiently with sensors and software that connect to helpful tech tools.

Exhibit A: MarginEdge’s recently released Freepour smart scale. 
With Freepour, your liquor inventory can take minutes, not hours—and it’s down-to-the-milliliter accurate. This game-changer tool means no more eyeballing or guesstimating, just easy, straightforward counting you can trust. Learn more about Freepour.

👀 Tools we're watching

• Intuitive inventory from Opsi
• Inventory management from Lightspeed

2. Contactless ordering and payment solutions

Here’s our take: QR codes and low-touch ordering aren’t the be-all, end-all.
But improving the ordering and payment experience for your customers? That’s a win. 

In 2025, that might mean:

• Blending paper and digital options
• QR codes that enhance menu storytelling or incorporate recommendations
• Using more mobile-optimized POS systems that improve cash-flow tracking, reduce processing times and simplify reconciliation—all while smoothing out the experience for your customers

The bottom line: Less time spent on ordering nitty-gritty or payment logistics equals more time spent on team training, menu development, marketing—or getting home in time for dinner with your family.

👀 Tools we're watching

1. Stored value wallet by Ansa
2. Self-ordering kiosk by Toast
3. Self-serve kiosk by Square
4. Dynamic menus by Popmenu

3. Integrated online ordering & delivery platforms

Have you ever asked yourself, “Can someone please just figure this out? Preferably this year?” Don’t worry, we’re finally getting somewhere.

More and more, online ordering and delivery platforms are ironing out the kinks and working together more efficiently. You’ve probably tried a whole bunch of these platforms. You’ve probably hated many of them. 

But you might be noticing that they’re starting to (gradually) get better. Better mobile app experiences. More opportunities to use your restaurant’s branding. Improved customer service. More accurate delivery time estimates.

Basically, they’re getting better at syncing up with your day-to-day ops instead of getting in the way and making you want to throw saute pans.

👀 Tools we're watching

1. Online ordering system by TouchBistro
2. Delivery service by Toast
3. Enterprise ordering by Lunchbox

4. Advanced POS systems 

Your POS isn’t everything… but when it comes to optimizing your operations with a smart understanding of your data, it kind of is. So what’s new with advanced POS systems? 

Better reporting

More and more, look out for platforms and resources that can generate automated reports on sales trends, margins and popular items. Plus, some of these POS tools even have advanced business intelligence (BI) tools to help you identify areas for growth. 

Open communication

You also want your POS talking to your accounting software (goodbye manual sales entries!). Open-source POS tools are designed to integrate easily with other systems—like MarginEdge—instead of getting stuck in silos where your tech isn’t talking. When these players play nice, you get a much clearer picture of where your margins are slipping, where you could switch things up and where you’re winning.

MarginEdge can help in cases where your POS and accounting systems don't directly connect. Think of us as a bridge ensuring your POS and accounting data flows seamlessly without lifting a finger. We support more than 50 POS systems and are constantly adding more. Learn more about MarginEdge POS integrations.

👀 Tools we're watching

1. Entertainment commerce platform by GoTab
2. All-in-one POS and restaurant management by TouchBistro 
3. Mobile handheld POS by Toast 
4. Benchmark reporting by Toast
5. Restaurant performance reporting by Tenzo 

5. Customer data and personalization platforms

We’re talking about emailing your customers. Texting your regulars. Getting everyone talking about your loyalty program. There are some exciting new tools out there to improve how you personalize dining experiences.

And don’t worry, they’re not a headache to set up or manage. In fact, many of these tools are getting better and better at integrating customer data and sales records to increase loyalty, maximize spend per customer and even get a better sense of forecasting revenue and spending trends.

You can’t personalize if you don’t have the info—and all the info can’t live in your head forever. Believe us, we’ve tried to cram every regular’s name, allergies and birthday in there… at some point, names start falling out.

So take advantage of these new platforms, usually called customer relationship management (CRM) software, to design marketing strategies that don’t feel icky and actually work.

👀 Tools we're watching

1. Restaurant loyalty software by TouchBistro
2. Customer data platform by SevenRooms 

6. Employee management and scheduling tools

Ah, scheduling. Maybe one of the most important ops challenges out there. Definitely one of the most complex. 

But you’re in luck: For 2025, we’re seeing more and more tools that use data and AI to help you predict peak hours, optimize staffing and reduce overtime costs.

Plus, there are great platforms out there that simplify payroll processing, ensure tracking is accurate and integrate with the bookkeeping tools you’re already using. 

So yes, predictive scheduling is actually a thing—and it works best when you incorporate your first-hand experience and inputs to tailor the experience to your distinct team. These tools keep improving, which means you can understand your labor costs, predict what’s coming up and improve long-term profitability.

👀 Tools we're watching

1. Employee scheduling by Sling 
2. Labor management by 7shifts
3. Labor management by Nowsta

7. Automation in accounting software

What else is getting smarter? Your accounting software.

In fact, MarginEdge can automatically sync your POS data with your accounting software, so you don’t have to do time-consuming manual input or connect the dots anymore.

Say it louder for the people in the back: No more manual checking, syncing, plugging. Just take photos of your invoices, and we can take it from there.

And this isn’t just about invoicing or inventory. MarginEdge saves you time, reduces the potential for errors, and makes sure everything actually matches up with your accounting tool, whichever platform you use. That’s good for your accounting team, your mental health, your bottom line and your taxes. (Sorry, pretend we didn’t say taxes.) Learn more about MarginEdge accounting partners and tech integrations. 

👀 Tools we're watching

1. Restaurant accounting software by QuickBooks
2. Restaurant accounting software by Sage Intacct 

8. Sustainability and climate-friendly technology

Choosing the more sustainable approach to packaging, sourcing, etc., often feels like a drag on your bottom line. Sometimes it’s something you’re interested in but don’t know how to implement.

But finally—FINALLY—there are some new tools and solutions out there that help you monitor and manage your energy use, waste and other important sustainability metrics. And they’re designed to help you see the financial impact of these things, like lower utility costs or long-term savings.

Thinking about sustainability doesn’t have to be a nice-to-have anymore. These new platforms and databases are making it easier to actually think about it as a core business practice more realistically than ever before.

👀 Tools we're watching

1. Energy management for commercial buildings by GridPoint 
2. Reusable packaging programs by Topango

9. Cybersecurity solutions

Whether it’s happened in your business or personal life, or it’s happened to a friend or family member… we’ve all been hacked or fallen for at least one scam. (If you haven’t, tell us your secret.) 

When it comes to protecting our restaurants and customer data, we all care about putting people first—that means protecting that sensitive information with the right tools. Because when we ensure financial data is secure, we cut the risk of expensive breaches or compliance problems. 

And it doesn’t have to be a huge investment or complicated setup to make a difference. Some great tools out there help you understand the risks of cyber threats in basic terms and help you easily adopt best practices for data security. Really.

👀 Tools we're watching

1. Security and analytics platform by Solink
2. Secure payment platform by Square

10. Supply chain management software & blockchain

We had to throw in at least one “weird” one. What’s blockchain? It’s an emerging technology that makes it easier to trace products as they move through the supply chain. Aka, having a closer understanding of exactly what’s going from farm to table in your sourcing—and whether it’s actually everything it’s cracked up to be.

Why does this matter? It’s helpful with navigating a food-bourne illness issue, if that ever (knocking on wood over here) happens to you. It’s valuable to be able to clearly explain (and prove) your sourcing to your customers, which builds trust. It cuts down on fraud, especially for more premium ingredients. And it can help automate a lot of your sourcing logistics (time = money).

The downside: It might be too expensive to make sense for smaller restaurants—but at the very least, it’s worth a little light Googling.

👀 Tools we're watching

1. Supply chain management by Trustwell
2. Supply chain management by OriginTrail

Restaurant technology trends 2025: a recap

The bottom line: There are some really interesting new tools out there that will help us make amazing food, keep people happy and maximize our business success.

And there’s a reason MarginEdge is known as an end-to-end Restaurant Management System.

That’s because we can help you with many of these things. Not all of them, but lots of ‘em. So as you’re planning your restaurant technology 2025 strategies, keep your margins front of mind (we certainly will be). Learn more about how [me] can help.

2025, let’s do this.