Chick-fil-A Using Monnit Sensors to Enable New Interactions and Drive Food Safety Automation

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3Q 2017 | IN-4665

At the QCon New York conference held in June 2017, Brian Chambers, Chick-fil-A’s Enterprise Architect, spoke about how the fast-food company is using Internet of Things (IoT), edge computing, and cloud services technologies to change the way it enables in-restaurant interactions, from customer experiences to remote monitoring and kitchen automation. At the surface, it appears that the fast-food chain is simply utilizing sensors to monitor the temperatures of coolers and freezers as a precaution against the public relations nightmare that accompany E. coli or, more likely in this case, salmonella outbreaks. On the back-end, though, Chick-fil-A is embracing connected products and services, driving its digital transformation to impact operational experiences at individual restaurants. Through its container-based edge compute architecture, IoT platform, and data analytics, Chick-fil-A is differentiating itself from its competitors and proving that IoT is not just limited to industrial applications.

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Digital Transformation in Fast Food

NEWS


At the QCon New York conference held in June 2017, Brian Chambers, Chick-fil-A’s Enterprise Architect, spoke about how the fast-food company is using Internet of Things (IoT), edge computing, and cloud services technologies to change the way it enables in-restaurant interactions, from customer experiences to remote monitoring and kitchen automation. At the surface, it appears that the fast-food chain is simply utilizing sensors to monitor the temperatures of coolers and freezers as a precaution against the public relations nightmare that accompany E. coli or, more likely in this case, salmonella outbreaks. On the back-end, though, Chick-fil-A is embracing connected products and services, driving its digital transformation to impact operational experiences at individual restaurants. Through its container-based edge compute architecture, IoT platform, and data analytics, Chick-fil-A is differentiating itself from its competitors and proving that IoT is not just limited to industrial applications.        

Keeping Customers Safe and Secure

IMPACT


In the fast-food industry, already-slim margins are shrinking due to increased competition from other fast-food options, as well as the growing fast casual market. As a result of these challenges, fast-food restaurants are responding in part by attempting to connect with consumers and provide unique in-store experiences and reducing operating costs by more effectively leveraging technology. For customers, this takes the form of deploying digital signage and integrating that with mobile app-based rewards programs to deliver highly-personalized user experiences. For restaurant operators and staff, this takes the form of using sensors to monitor the temperature of coolers and freezers to avoid contaminated inventory. For Chick-fil-A, this requires the creation of an IoT environment that is secure, open, and scalable. 

Ensuring food safety by using sensors to monitor temperatures is only one part of the equation. Chick-fil-A secures the devices in its stores using a combination of device registration, credential management, and Transport Layer Security, along with brokered communications that require the devices to be authenticated before they can perform any business functions. Additionally, the systems do not allow inbound connectivity to prevent unrecognized requests. Chick-fil-A is not just focused on creating these siloed applications and operations, but instead is working to create a scalable IoT environment that enables it to mature over time and provide additional connected applications and services.  

A Not So Niche Market

COMMENTARY


No company in the food and beverage industry wants to be associated with a foodborne illness outbreak, nor does any company want its IT systems hacked or its customers’ information jeopardized. Chipotle suffered an E. coli outbreak at over 60 of its locations in the last quarter of 2015. As a result, Chipotle’s stock price declined from an-all time high of nearly US$750 per share in August 2015, down to just below US$400 at the writing of this Insight. Chipotle is still struggling to repair its brand image in the eyes of consumers. While this is the most recent widespread E. coli outbreak, it is not the most famous. In 1993, 732 people, most of whom were children, were infected with the E. coli bacterium at Jack in the Box restaurants due to undercooked contaminated beef patties. Four children died and over 150 victims were left with permanent injuries such as kidney and brain damage. More than 20 years later, Jack in the Box’s brand is still affected by the outbreak, as it changed not only consumer perceptions of the industry, but also behaviors in the industry as a whole. With sensors providing remote monitoring solutions, restaurants can ensure that any potentially contaminated product is disposed of. More importantly, though, if there is a claim of foodborne illness, the restaurant can point to its monitoring data to absolve itself of any wrongdoing.

Despite the need for remote monitoring solutions in the industry, the food and beverage industry is not the industry that most IoT solution providers are targeting. In its ongoing analysis ranking companies on their IoT service capabilities, ABI Research found a 20% increase in the number of companies offering food and beverage IoT solutions between 2015 and 2017. While that is sizable, for comparison, there was a 31% increase in the number of companies offering vertical-specific IoT solutions over the same period, with a 40% increase in the number of companies offering manufacturing, industrial, and enterprise IoT solutions. There may be some hesitancy from companies looking to target a niche vertical that has relatively slim margins, but food and beverage companies, particularly those in fast-food, are looking to protect those slim margins by reducing operating costs. Restaurants cannot afford to replace spoiled inventory, and even worse, restaurants cannot afford to serve spoiled inventory. As fast-food chains and other restaurant chains look to increase their operational efficiencies and decrease costs, they will look for providers that offer and have experience deploying connected solutions specific to their needs. 

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