EVENT RECAP

NEST Technology Summit 2026 @ FS/TEC

We kicked off FSTEC 2026 at the Gaylord Texan in Dallas with our 3rd NEST Technology Summit, and year 2 of the 858 and NEST partnership. The goal hasn't changed: be the best use of time for brand and tech execs before 2027 planning and budgeting kicks in. Mission accomplished. Here's a look back.

Event overview

The NEST Technology Summit. Summit #3 was our biggest yet. We started with 46 CIOs the day before the NRA Show in Chicago, then brought 64 execs together for a luncheon in Orlando. This time, 83 operators and 10 tech partners showed up for a half day of breakfast, 2 workshops, and a networking lunch, all before FSTEC even opened its doors. People who own the stack, together IRL instead of on another Zoom call. It was a breath of fresh air.

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Bird Circles. After breakfast, JG and Mark Hatch, Managing Director of NEST, kicked things off, and everyone went around and introduced themselves (more on that below). Then we split into 5 groups and ran 2 workshops back to back. Round 1 was tech partnerships, the stack, and what's really a priority right now. Round 2 was AI, data, guest experience, and how you get the field to adopt any of it. Operators and partners sat at the same table, with no pitches and a lot of honesty.

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Executive Luncheon. From the Mesilla Ballroom, everyone headed straight to lunch and kept the morning's conversations going, swapping notes and getting to know each other before the show floor opened. 100 executives walked out with 858 Melin hats. Wing took the group out to the lawn for a live drone delivery demo. Tough act to follow.

Want the full rundown? Check out our program guide.

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What the Data Told Us

Before the event, 83 operators across 68 brands told us what's on their tech priority list heading into 2027. Then we spent 2 workshops finding out whether those priorities hold up in real life. Here's what we saw.

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A good partner will tell you what not to buy.

Every group landed here. Operators want partners who share the roadmap, know the contract, and keep showing up after the ink dries. One operator picked his POS partner partly because they told him straight up their kitchen display roadmap wouldn't get him where he needed to go. Then they introduced him to partners who could. That's how you earn trust. Operators also asked partners to show them what they're paying for but not using, and to bring product people in before anything gets signed. It goes both ways, though. Operators owe partners real feedback and a clear look at how the business runs. One moderator summed it up: happy spouse, happy house.

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Clean data first. Then AI.

Data came up in 4 of our 5 groups, and nobody's short on it. The problem is getting everyone to agree on what it means. One brand ended up with about 30 names for the same menu item after a POS rollout with no rules in place. Another found out its POS let people edit transactions up to 90 days back, which was quietly breaking their reporting until they locked it down. Where most groups landed: the business owns the definitions, and tech owns the plumbing. The brands furthest ahead are building a semantic layer so finance, marketing, and ops ask the same question and get the same answer. One CIO put it best. If anyone on the line ever needs to know what a semantic layer is, he didn't do his job.

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Some are tokenmaxing. Some are just getting started.

AI came up in 4 of 5 groups, and the range was wild. On one end, a chief AI officer wants anyone who touches a keyboard writing code. On the other, a 7-person team is still teaching the basics, and one exec admitted every decision he made last year already feels old. Most folks are in the middle: pick one use case, prove it, move on. The sharper teams are watching token spend closely, sending each task to whichever model does it cheapest, and keeping their instructions portable so switching tools doesn't mean starting over. The wins people shared were small and real. One brand built an AI catering order tool that bumped up check size. Another built franchisee coaching off drive-thru headset recordings. A third is testing voice ordering built around bringing hospitality back.

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What Brand Executives Said

Here's what stood out:

Talking with > Being talked to "I've sat on a lot of panels. This was the first time in a while where I felt like I could interact in a real way and not hear platitudes from a stage. It was awesome to learn how other brands are handling their data problems and it was worth the trip on its own."

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Pre-event for the win. "It was helpful to spend time with tech partners and make those connections before the show even started, and get a chance to see that same person at the booth and at the show over the next 2 days."

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Best use of my time at FSTEC. "Kudos to the Nest and 858 for continuing to think outside the box and bring together ALL of these executives in one space and allowing us to listen and learn. I haven't been to anything like it, and I'm excited to come to the next one."

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Hundreds of years of experience! "During the introductions when everyone was introducing themselves, I couldn't believe the magnitude and experience of others in the space."

‍Best hat of all time. "I've got all 3 colors of the 858 hat now from all your events over the last couple of years. Thanks for all you & your team are doing for the industry."

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Feedback & Learnings

We're proud of our partnership with the NEST and moved the program pre-event (as opposed to a luncheon last year and attached to another show the year prior). We had a record turnout, but there's still room for improvement.

Bird Circles.

Several operators and partners told us the groups were great, just a little big. With about 17 operators per group, you had an operator running a POS nobody's heard of, with no IT team, sitting next to brands with 1,000+ units.

Next Time: Smaller groups, sorted by size, topic, or where our partners know their stuff best.

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Get on the calendar earlier.

Many operators told us they already had booked travel once we had invited them. Some folks reshuffled flights, but it's important to get the right operators together with enough notice.

Next Time: When FSTEC registration becomes available in 2027, launch the registration for the Nest Technology Summit 2027 at FSTEC.

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Too much AI?

All roads led to AI, whether it was on the agenda or not. Some operators are swapping out software for stuff they vibe coded themselves, while others are just getting going. It got a few eye rolls, but most people were hungry to figure out what to do with it over the next 12 to 18 months.

Next Time: Group people by where they are with AI so the builders and the beginners both get a real conversation, and save time for everything else on the list.
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With Gratitude

Big thanks to our partners: Olo, Toast, PAR Engagement, Bite, Decision Logic, Sona, Wing, Loop AI, DirecTV, and Deepgram. These modern forums help build trust between the operator and partner community, and we're excited to do more with you headed into 2027.

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We're headed to Coca-Cola HQ for the All-Nest Atlanta Chapter Gathering on October 15, followed by Vegas for the 2nd Annual CFO Summit at RFDC on November 8, with a grand finale in our backyard: the 858 End of Year SoCal Business Summit & Holiday Social on December 3 at the Porsche Experience Center. Register here.

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Bite

Brandon Barton

CEO

Ovation

Justin Roundy

Strategic Account Executive

Decision Logic

Keegan Conrey

CEO

Decision Logic

Tyron Stading

AI Strategy Consultant

Deepgram

Daniel Tsentsiper

Enterprise AI Strategest

DirecTV

Jim Grandahl

Sr. Director of National Accounts

Loop

Alexis Marrero

Founding Sr. Account Executive

Loop

Devyn Schwartzberg

Sr. Enterprise Account Executive

Olo

Jenna Land

AVP Enterprise Sales

Olo

Jennifer Tyler

AVP Enterprise Sales

PAR

Jason Barron

VP of Sales

PAR

Joe Yetter

President of PAR Restaurant

Sona

Natalie Wild

Hospitality - North America

Sona

Steffen Wulff Peterson

Co-Founder & CEO

Toast

Jeff Pinc

Director of Enterprise Restaurant Sales

Toast

Justin Graham

VP & General Manager of Enterprise Products

Wing

Kent Ferguson

Director of Partnerships

Wing

Mike Sorgenfrei

Lead of Global Business Development

Event pictures

Take a look at some moments from the event, from great conversations to key highlights. These photos capture the energy of the day and the people who made it memorable.

See Event Pictures ↗