She suggested recording people interacting with the tech to see where people struggle and how it can be more accessible and inclusive. Cheema added that anything that you would ask a frontline worker to try, the leadership team should be experiencing first. “Digital knowledge can be acquired by everyone,” Fournier said, adding that it’s all about the willingness to learn. There are some, particularly those in Gen Z, who are digitally native already, said Ennis Olson, Global Insights and Innovation Lead at the Food Program at Google, which may be adding to the width of the tech gap. But the training and adoption of tech that even a few years ago when it came out wasn’t relevant isn’t helping foodservice employees trust that tech will be beneficial for them. Throughout the conference, it was stated that nothing will replace the human touch so people in foodservice don’t need to head for the hills. But it is time to, at the very least, dip their toe into tech. People within the foodservice industry create tasty, beautiful plates of food, noted Haroon Qureshi, Chief Executive Officer of omniXM. “You’re food people; you can do anything.” When modernizing tech training, Brummett suggests using media platforms such as YouTube and having shorter sessions that better suit a person’s attention span. Gamification also makes the experience more enjoyable. When it comes to tech adoption, it’s important to get key stakeholders into the process “very, very early,” Fournier said. “Don’t focus on creating a technology idea; create an idea,” said Jungveer Randhawa, Chief Technology Officer at Compass. “You can wrap technology around that idea.”
“We’re feeding the people who are driving the world forward,” said Joseph Shoemacker, Founder of FoodSpace.
HOSPITALITY NEWS MAY | Page 23
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