What Happened in Vegas Doesn't Stay There 🍕🍕🍕

4 takeaways from the Bar & Restaurant Expo and International Pizza Expo and what they mean for your business.

Las Vegas · March 2026

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Nearly 10,000 restaurant and bar professionals descended on Las Vegas last week for two of the biggest trade shows in the hospitality industry. We were there, and we brought back the highlights most relevant to you. Here's what was on everyone's mind — and why it matters for your operation right now.

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01 — Your POS Is Your Business Dashboard — Start Using It Like One

One of the clearest messages across both shows is that the operators doing best right now are the ones treating their point-of-sale system as a financial tool, not just a way to ring up orders.

Speakers at the Bar & Restaurant Expo were blunt about it — the numbers that tell you whether your business is healthy or slowly drifting (labor percentage, cost of goods, revenue per hour, average check) all live inside your POS. If you're not pulling them regularly, you're flying blind.

Bottom line: A survey highlighted at the shows found that 57% of operators say their POS delivers the highest ROI of any technology investment they've made. The data is already there — it just needs to be used.

HOW WE CAN HELP: Try our newly launched tool here. We've compiled many of the challenges we hear from you, our merchants, and we've provided a solution, all within your point-of-sale! Check it out!

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02 — Operators Are Done Duct-Taping Their Tech Together

If you've ever had a moment where your online ordering system doesn't talk to your POS, which doesn't talk to your inventory tool, which doesn't match your accounting software — you're not alone. That was one of the loudest frustrations on the show floor.

Consolidation was the word of the week. Operators are actively looking to simplify by replacing their patchwork of disconnected tools with a single integrated platform.

Bottom line: If your current setup involves multiple logins, manual data transfers, or end-of-day reconciliation headaches, that's the problem vendors were solving for on the show floor.

HOW WE CAN HELP: We offer the ability to integrate many different channels into our POS. Reply to this email today, and let's talk about how we can improve your online ordering and streamline your counter!

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03 — Staffing Is Still Tough — So Automation Has to Pick Up the Slack

Labor was everywhere at Pizza Expo. Sessions on hiring, training, and retention were packed. But the underlying theme was consistent: you can't run a profitable restaurant in 2026 if you assume you'll always have a full, well-trained staff.

That's pushing operators toward technology that fills the gaps — kitchen display systems that reduce order errors without an expediter, self-ordering kiosks that don't call in sick, and scheduling tools that automatically adjust based on forecasted covers. The operators who manage labor costs well are the ones whose POS does the heavy lifting.

Bottom line: Every feature that reduces reliance on any one employee is a margin protector right now. That's not just smart tech — it's a survival strategy.

HOW WE CAN HELP: We're close to launching a kiosk option for our Point of Success Complete customers. Imagine a world where your customers place their orders at a kiosk, reducing lines and allowing your staff to focus on other parts of your business. Stay tuned...👀

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04 — Guests Expect You to Be Everywhere — Seamlessly

Dine-in, takeout, delivery, online ordering, third-party apps — guests don't think about which channel they're using. They just want to order and get their food. The problem is that most restaurant tech stacks were never built to handle all of that gracefully at once.

Both shows had a strong undercurrent of operators seeking true omnichannel solutions — a single system that handles every order type, keeps the kitchen in sync, and gives the front-of-house a unified view of what's happening. The days of a separate tablet for every delivery app are numbered.

Bottom line: If your POS can't consolidate all order channels into a single stream, that's a gap your competitors are already closing.

HOW WE CAN HELP: Point of Success Complete is here to help you serve your customers. Are you taking advantage of every tool we offer? Reply to this email with a question, and we'd be happy to help show you how seamless we can be as your POS!

Have questions about any of these trends and how they apply to your operation? We'd love to talk through what we saw and what it means for you.