The signs are clear: Casual dining needs a revolution led by new thinking, technological innovation, and the acceptance that there will be no return to the traditional.

The restaurant industry stands at a critical crossroads, with the very foundation of hospitality—how we serve our guests—undergoing a fundamental transformation. This four-part series will delve into the challenges reshaping the front-of-house (FOH) model in casual dining and explores the innovative tech-enabled solutions that could redefine our future.

Through conversations with industry leaders and drawing on decades of operational expertise, we’ll examine the mounting pressures that are forcing us to reimagine traditional service models. From labor challenges to changing consumer expectations, the signs are clear: Casual dining needs a revolution led by new thinking, technological innovation, and the acceptance that there will be no return to the traditional.

Why Traditional Models are Failing

The restaurant industry is facing an existential crisis, and it’s happening right where we interact with our guests—at the table. As someone who has spent decades partnering with leaders and operators across hospitality, I’ve watched our traditional front-of-house model slowly crack under mounting pressures. Now, those cracks have become chasms.

In my conversations with industry leaders, I often find the most revealing insights emerge during candid discussions about daily operations. Recently chatting with Toni Ronayne, president of Perkins American Food Co., she crystallized what many are thinking but few have articulated so clearly: “At Perkins, our commitment to hospitality remains unchanged, yet we also realize that the traditional service model simply wasn’t designed for today’s operational realities. As an industry, we’re all seeing firsthand how labor pressures and changing consumer expectations are forcing us to rethink our entire approach to service delivery.”

Ronayne’s observation isn’t just anecdotal. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a staggering 450,000-worker shortage in the restaurant industry compared to pre-pandemic levels, with casual dining bearing the brunt of this deficit.

David Henkes, senior principal at Technomic and a leading voice in foodservice industry analysis, puts the challenge facing restaurants in stark financial terms: “It’s harder today than ever before to profitably run a restaurant, and the labor situation is one of the major contributing factors impacting margin and industry profitability. Continued upward pressure on labor costs—including wages, recruitment, retention, training—are all creating huge headaches for restaurants that the traditional business model is ill-equipped to handle.”

The numbers tell a sobering story. According to Black Box Intelligence, replacing a single restaurant employee is estimated to cost over $2,800, and turnover rates in casual dining are reported to frequently exceed 130 percent in recent years. This indicates that a typical establishment faces a substantial annual financial burden just to maintain staffing levels. Meanwhile, reports suggest that average hourly earnings have increased by over 10 percent year-over-year, yet productivity and service quality often fail to keep pace.

This is further reflected in guest feedback. Recent studies highlight growing dissatisfaction linked to service quality and labor challenges, with noticeable trends in negative feedback for full-service restaurants. Industry surveys report widespread concerns about declining customer satisfaction and service quality, often linked to challenges in maintaining a skilled workforce. This decline in staff quality impacts the ability to recruit, train, and retain employees, ultimately affecting customer hospitality and service. Anecdotal trends on platforms like Yelp further emphasize negative reviews mentioning service problems, aligning with broader concerns about operational inefficiencies.

Operational inefficiencies tied to traditional service models exacerbate these issues. For example, findings from restaurant success reports, such as those by Toast, indicate that outdated service approaches may lead to higher server error rates and lower check averages. Wait times during peak periods can also increase, further impacting the guest experience.

This industry-wide crisis led me to develop HERO (Hospitality Enhancement and Retention Optimization), a new operations model that reimagines how restaurants deliver hospitality.

Over the next four weeks, I’ll explore the challenges we face and the transformative potential of the HERO model. This series will highlight how technology enables better hospitality and showcase real success stories from operators already embracing change.

As leaders in casual dining, your perspectives are crucial to this conversation. How are labor challenges affecting your operations? What solutions have you tried? What questions do you have about transforming your FOH operations? This series isn’t just about presenting solutions—it’s about starting a dialogue that will help shape the future of our industry.

I invite you to engage with me throughout this journey. Share your experiences, challenge my assumptions, and let’s work together to reshape the future of hospitality. The future of casual dining depends on our ability to move beyond outdated systems and embrace new ways of delivering hospitality. Through HERO, that future is already taking shape.

Food Futurist Liz Moskow is also the co-founder and CSO of saase (Service as a Service), a company dedicated to revolutionizing front-of-house operations through AI-assisted remote waitstaff solutions. With decades of experience in restaurant operations and hospitality innovation, she developed the HERO model to address the fundamental challenges facing casual dining. Connect with her at liz@saaseserver.com or on LinkedIn.

Expert Takes, Feature, Operations, Perkins Restaurant and Bakery