This week on The Digital Restaurant, Carl is joined by Yaro Tsyhanenko, founder of PickPad, to break down the headlines shaping restaurants and tech:
⏱️ Timestamps
00:00 – Intro: Meet guest host Yaro, CEO of PickPad
01:00 – Why did Yum Brands partner with Nvidia?
05:37 – What does Qu’s State of Digital 2025 Report reveal?
13:06 – Why did Starbucks acquire Empower Delivery?
18:47 – Are loyalty programs evolving or stuck in the past?
26:02 – Could Bolt disrupt Uber and DoorDash in North America?
30:00 – What is PickPad, and how is it improving restaurant pickup?
🔥 Topics covered:
- Yum’s push into site-level AI
- Why loyalty without data is just a discount
- How fast casuals are quietly overtaking QSRs in digital
- Empower Delivery’s big leap into Starbucks
- Bolt’s entry into Canada — and what it signals for North America
- A smart startup (PickPad) fixing off-prem chaos with sensors + ML
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