Justin Skelton, the chief information officer at Dine Brands, envisions a world in the not-too-distant future where an IHOP server can scan a QR code and pull up every detail about a guest’s order preferences and history. Using generative AI to guide them, servers can then suggest the perfect side dishes to complement that order of pancakes and sausage.
This AI-powered “recommendation engine,” which utilizes Google Cloud’s recommendations AI technology, is already in production for online orders at the restaurant operator’s IHOP and Applebee’s chains and will also roll out soon at Dine’s Fuzzy’s Taco Shop. It blends together a guest’s past order history with the buying patterns from a broader pool of similar diners to generate more personalized menu pairings.
But there could be even greater opportunities for targeted, in-person upselling when the technology could be deployed across the chain’s 3,5000 brick-and-mortar restaurants.
“There’s a lot of new technologies we’re looking at that we want to bring to the market,” says Skelton, who has served as CIO at Dine since 2019, after prior technology leadership roles at CVS Health, Bank of America, and Allstate.
Skelton says that all of his generative AI bets are intended to support three outcomes: boost revenue and traffic, improve the guest experience, and bolster worker productivity. Because he runs a small IT team, Skelton says he has to be very careful about his technology bets. “We’re not prepared to go and invest in and hire a lot of people,” says Skelton.
With that in mind, Dine tends to partner and “buy” more solutions from vendors rather than build. Skelton relies on large AI companies like Google and Amazon and non-hyperscalers like IT consulting firm Cognizant.
The latter helped Dine create and launch an AI Innovation Foundry last fall, a virtual lab that is led by Skelton’s IT team and works with different stakeholder groups including legal and finance to test emerging AI technologies. Initially only available for corporate employees, the Foundry became so appetizing that franchise partners have also been encouraged to submit use cases for Dine’s team to vet.
“There’s a recognition that not all ideas are going to make it and see the light of day,” says Skelton. “It’s really sort of a way we can incubate.”
With budget planning for 2026 already under way, Skelton and his team will mull the proposed use cases and a steering committee will determine the few select projects that will get capital allocation.
Some newer concepts that Dine is considering include AI-enabled tools that can make it easier for the general manager to understand their staffing levels, inventory, and other data needed to make a restaurant run smoothly and utilize that real-time data to make better decisions.
Another is an evolution of Dine’s generative AI assistant tool that guides the company’s franchise technology services team, a group of technicians that resolves issues like when a printer breaks or a point of sale system is down at a restaurant. In the future, Dine hopes to make this a self-service tool, allowing franchisees to access Dine’s technician data to solve some of their own problems.
Investments in AI to improve back office functions, demand forecasting, and predicting the appropriate staffing level for any given day are all efforts that can bolster the bottom line. That’s especially critical in the restaurant industry, which operates on notoriously thin margins.
For customer-facing applications of AI, many restaurant chains have prioritized AI-enabled recommendation tools that are flourishing online. Chains like Taco Bell, McDonald’s, and Wendy’s have all deployed or tested AI-enabled drive-thru technologies to varying degrees of success.
There is also a fine line that casual-dining chains like Dine must balance when adding technology—a playbook that differs from fast-food operators like McDonald’s and Burger King. At those chains, guests often prioritize the speed of service, which has fueled the popularity of ordering kiosks in recent years. But at Applebee’s or IHOP, diners crave a more personal connection.
“There’s still that human touch and that human interaction that cannot be replaced with technology,” says Skelton. “But it can be enhanced, without a question, and we’ve got to figure out how to get that right.”
John Kell
Send thoughts or suggestions to CIO Intelligence here.
