Exclusive Industry Insights from Olo’s Inaugural Partner Summit

Reflecting on Olo's first-ever Partner Summit at the Chicago Athletic Association this week, I am humbled by the amazing community of partners and brands Olo has the honor of serving and supporting.

The theme of our inaugural event was "the power of collaboration"-how we in the restaurant industry are stronger in numbers and how no single vendor can solve every problem on their own.

From day one, Olo has been a neutral, open platform, integrating with 400+ best-in-class partnersto help our customers adopt new and existing technologies-without the hassle of building in-house or settling for data silos.

The narrative that unfolded at our Partner Summit illustrated and strengthened my opinion that we must remain open and team up to serve the restaurant brands we all love.

Bottom line: We win together.

Here's a taste of some of the topics discussed-plus, exclusive industry insights shared by restaurant leaders and tech partners at the event.

Tackling technical debt

"A lot of brands made tech decisions very quickly when the pandemic happened because they had to. We're starting to feel that wave coming down where systems don't talk. Many restaurants are undoing tech stacks and trying to figure out how to get everything to connect, and who's the right tech partner. Restaurants want to build that ecosystem and understand first-party ordering better, but they're trying to get out of a lot of technical debt that was built."

David Feldman, Founder & President of 3 Owl

Getting back to the basics

"The market's been tough for restaurants for the last year and a half. [In 2025,] I think restaurants will focus on the basics, ensuring the programs they have in place are delivering on their promise-and, if they aren't, leveraging the dollars they can spend wisely to drive profit. People talk about AI and how we drive economies in restaurants using technology, but there's some risk aversion right now because they have to be careful about how they spend their money. It makes it even more important that we're putting programs like Sparkfly and Olo Engage together that really drive revenue in stores."

Catherine Tabor, Founder & CEO of Sparkfly

Proving technology ROI

"A lot of restaurants don't realize the value of the technology they have in driving some of the things they pay most attention to, like the bottom line or the top line. They look at technology as a cost center and don't think about the future. But if you leverage technology correctly, it can drive those things. Really, it puts more ownership on us as technology vendors to go in and prove ROI right out of the gate and continue to follow up."

Marc Wallace, Co-founder & CEO of Flybuy + Chairman & Co-Founder of District Taco

The importance of integration

"Back in the day if you made a technology decision, you were good with that decision for a couple of years. Now by the time you implement, there's some new technology that's better, shinier, or more feature-rich. Every time something new comes out, I look at it and ask, 'Is this right for the brand I'm working for?' There are a lot of shiny new toys that promise integration if you sign on the dotted line. That's a huge red flag for me, regardless of how good the company's intentions are. 100% of our tech stack is integrated. That's one of the hard requirements that I have."

Leon Davoyan, CTO of Dave's Hot Chicken

Creating a seamless guest experience

"For the first time ever-with the advent of kiosks, integrated point-of-sale systems, online ordering, and KDS-tech flows through the entire restaurant guest experience. We have an opportunity as technologists to make that experience seamless. For example, Mendocino Farms has had a non-integrated catering program for its entire life. As we modernized our tech stack, we brought on Olo catering because it's integrated with our point-of-sale. It's emblematic of Olo's growth in the stack, where we have an API for pretty much everything we want to do. It's a very exciting transformation."

Brian Pearson, CTO of Mendocino Farms

Where to learn more about Olo's partner ecosystem

This summit was a powerful reminder that we can go further faster when we work together. I'm inspired by the insights shared throughout the event and the connections made. I look forward to continuing to strengthen our partnerships for the betterment of the industry.

Olo's 400+ partner ecosystem enables restaurants to assemble the exact tech stack to suit their unique business needs and create personalized guest experiences that drive profitable traffic.

In addition to consulting brands on best practices for building an integrated tech stack, our value-based partner program Olo Connecthelps brands navigate the increasingly crowded restaurant tech space.

Check out our Partner Directoryto see which tech vendors are part of our ecosystem and learn how to join the Olo Connect Partner Program.

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