In-house technology solutions could be the next frontier for the restaurant industry. This quarter, several major public restaurant chains mentioned investing in proprietary technology during earnings calls—ranging from one-off applications to entire operating systems built from scratch.
Wingstop was one of the most prominent examples, as the company went into detail last week on building its $50 million proprietary tech stack that has been in the works for years, and will be launching in the second quarter of 2024. Most notably, the wings chain confirmed this week that the company announced it will drop Olo as its primary tech partner at the end of Q1 2024, in favor of going in-house. Olo’s stock plummeted by $1.60 per share on Tuesday with the announcement of the news.
But Wingstop isn’t the only company trading in third-party vendor partnerships for in-house solutions. Other public companies that either mentioned or went into detail about investments in proprietary tech solutions include Yum Brands, Sweetgreen, and Restaurant Brands International.