Contactless Transactions In Demand

HT Talk · Episode 1 Contactless Transactions Are Having Their Moment Join HT’s editor-in-chief, Robert Firpo-Cappiello, and his guest, Toby Malbec, managing director at ConStrata Technology Consulting, as they discuss contactless technology and its ability to meet evolving guests’ needs, collect actionable data, and build loyalty.

Restaurant Business Model Changes In A Post COVID-19 World

Toby Malbec, Managing Director for Constrata Technology Consulting Business Model Changes We know that business-as-usual will be anything but as the industry begins its recovery from COVID-19 and begins its re-negotiation of expectations with the restaurant customer. They will be a much more wary and demanding customer, not necessarily as it relates to the price […]

Rethinking The Kitchen & Optimizing Investments

Toby Malbec, Managing Director for Constrata Technology Consulting Smarter kitchen systems that leverage data, artificial intelligence and IoT can be a salve for the top challenges that restaurants face, while also achieving on top strategic goals for tech investments. Data from Hospitality Technology’s 2019 Restaurant Technology Study indicates that 38% of restaurants were looking to […]

What’s The Big Data?: The Food + Labor = Profitability Equation

Toby Malbec, Managing Director for Constrata Technology Consulting Back-office technology is poised for growth, according to Hospitality Technology’s 2019 Restaurant Technology Study. The 2019 research, which queried restaurant IT leaders representing 22,075 units across QSR/fast casual (85%) and full-service (15%), reveals that in 2018, restaurants earmarked the back-office to receive 30% of overall IT budgets. This was […]

IoT: With New Rewards Comes New Risks

Toby Malbec, Managing Director for Constrata Technology Consulting Over the past five years, the marketplace has seen an explosion in the number of IoT (Internet of Things) devices being used not only personally but also professionally. From health monitors, smart coffee machines, to cars, the growth in the usage of these devices has gone from […]

Lessons Restaurants Can Learn From The Hotel Industry

Toby Malbec, Managing Director for Constrata Technology Consulting I expect that this may be one of the more controversial articles I have put together, partially because it will question some conventional mindsets in the restaurant industry as well as raise some alarm to some of the “emerging norms.” With that being said, let’s get started!The hospitality […]

The Dark Art Of Payment Processing

Toby Malbec, Managing Director for Constrata Technology Consulting With the growth and proliferation of bundled POS/Payment solution providers, it somehow seemed appropriate to address what many recognize is indeed a confusing world; that of credit card payment processing. Is bundling your POS and credit card processing with one vendor a good thing? Are there benefits […]

10 Reasons Execs Don’t Trust IT Managers

Toby Malbec, Managing Director for Constrata Technology Consulting There are often conflicts that can make it easy for executives to be skeptical of IT managers. Toby Malbec draws on his 30+ years of experience in restaurant IT, including time spent as the director of POS for IPC/SUBWAY, to provide a first-hand—and often humorous — look […]