During the opening keynote at Food Hotel Tech 2026, Christophe Gaschin, CEO of the Bertrand Group, presented a very clear vision of the future of the restaurant and hospitality industries: the sector’s transformation will not come solely from restaurateurs, hoteliers, or solution providers. It will come first and foremost from customers.

More demanding, more mobile, more connected, and sometimes more fickle as well, consumers are profoundly reshaping the norms of hospitality. They want things to move quickly, but without sacrificing quality. They want efficiency, but also a friendly smile. They want innovation, but not a cold or dehumanized experience. In short, they want it all. And that is precisely where technology becomes strategic.

Christophe Gaschin made this point very clear: today, people no longer go to restaurants just to eat. They go to have an experience. The atmosphere, the concept, the speed of service, the ease of payment, the quality of the welcome, the consistency of the digital journey: everything matters. The experience begins long before arriving on-site, starting with a Google search, reading reviews, making an online reservation, or interacting with a loyalty app. In this new context, the traditional boundaries between fast food, sit-down dining, fast casual, and street food are blurring. Customers expect the same thing everywhere: a seamless, fast, pleasant, and memorable experience.

The central message of this keynote is clear: technology is only valuable if it simplifies the lives of teams and improves the customer experience. Automating reservations, streamlining table payments, optimizing orders, preventing items from being left out of drive-thru bags, better managing schedules, or reducing waste: these are all uses that do not replace the human touch, but allow staff to focus on what matters most.

Because in both the hotel and restaurant industries, what builds loyalty is fundamentally human: a smile, a thoughtful gesture, attentive service, and being there at just the right moment.

Technology then becomes invisible to the customer, yet indispensable behind the scenes. It is what makes the guest experience seem simple, natural, almost effortless. And that is often how you recognize the best technology: when you don’t even notice it.

Faced with rapidly changing consumer preferences, companies must stay ahead of the curve. Christophe Gaschin emphasized the need for constant innovation: in products, concepts, and tools, but also in internal organization.

In particular, the Bertrand Group has established a Food Lab to track trends, fuel product creation, support marketing and digital teams, and envision the customer journeys of tomorrow.

The goal is clear: to better understand expectations, anticipate desires, create living spaces, and offer experiences that make people want to come back.

Data and artificial intelligence play a central role in this transformation. Not to dehumanize the relationship, but to better understand customers, personalize the experience, and optimize operations.

AI can help design a new concept, improve inventory management, reduce waste, adjust orders, or respond more effectively to customer requests. But it must always answer a simple question: does this make the experience smoother, more useful, and more enjoyable?

If the answer is no, then it’s likely just technology for technology’s sake. And in that case, failure is never far behind.

This opening keynote set a clear theme for Food Hotel Tech 2026: the future of the hospitality industry will be neither 100% automated nor nostalgic for the past. It will be hybrid, agile, and deeply customer-focused.

The establishments that will succeed are those that know how to use technology wisely: to ease constraints, strengthen teams, streamline guest journeys, and create more time for human connection.

Because ultimately, the challenge isn’t choosing between technology and hospitality. The challenge is ensuring that technology makes hospitality even better.

And perhaps that is the great promise of Food Hotel Tech: to show that innovation is not there to replace people, but to restore them to their rightful place.