Our sixth annual Beyond4 is officially in the books and was our best yet. This event is all about community, from reconnecting with familiar faces to welcoming new ones.
Beyond4 is always my favorite week of the year because it’s a chance to step outside the day-to-day and into a dynamic, creative space with our Olo community. There’s nothing quite like being in a room with restaurant leaders, discussing the industry’s biggest challenges and opportunities. It’s an invaluable time to listen, learn, and collaborate on ways Olo can help brands increase orders, streamline operations, and improve the guest experience.
At this year’s event, 20 brand speakers shared their experiences, including Christine Barone of Dutch Bros Coffee, JP Thomas of honeygrow, Brian Pearson of Mendocino Farms, and more. Here are five strategies top brands are prioritizing right now in the industry.
1. Smarter Decisions with Data
More brands are embracing data-driven strategies to personalize experiences, drive loyalty, and optimize operations
From AI-powered segmentation to testing engagement strategies, brands leverage guest data to drive loyalty, personalize experiences, and make every interaction count. Olo brands can collect guest data from digital orders, payment transactions, and marketing activities to unify all of the insights into individual guest profiles within a Guest Data Platform (GDP). Whether it’s smarter messaging, more relevant promotions, or optimizing the entire guest journey, data is the key to unlocking the next level of hospitality.
Brands sit on a goldmine of guest insights derived from zero-party data, direct feedback from the guest, yet many aren’t leveraging the full potential of surveys or sentiment tools. As Justine Fisher from bartaco shared, guest recovery programs (GRiP), powered by zero-party data, re-engage lost guests and drive real growth. She put it masterfully: if you have a deep database, you also have a deep graveyard—why not bring those guests back? The right GDP turns insights into action by unifying guest data across channels, helping brands personalize engagement.
The same strategy can be deployed in real time from the host stand in full-service restaurants. Using Olo Engage, bartaco can segment guests in the moment and alert the server to elevate the guest experience as it’s happening. By tapping into the power of zero-party data and real-time insights, brands can transform every guest interaction into an opportunity for growth and loyalty, ensuring no valuable relationship is left on the table.
2. Culture Drives Consistency
Hospitality isn’t just a service—it’s the heart of every guest interaction, whether online or in person.
Dutch Bros Coffee is proof that hospitality transcends channels. Whether guests order via mobile, walk up to the counter, or drive up to the window, they should feel the same signature Dutch Bros love. CEO and President Christine Barone taught us culture isn’t an afterthought—it’s the foundation of every interaction.
Christine also shared the three principles of Dutch Bros: speed, quality, and service. To achieve all three, operators provide everything Broistas need to “just say yes” to their guests every shift. From the correct number of employees staffed per shift to freebies for surprise and delight moments, Broistas clock in every day motivated and empowered—the secret sauce to delivering genuine hospitality.
3. Tech with a Purpose
The best innovations solve real challenges, not just check a tech box.
Matt Eisenacher, Chief Brand Officer of First Watch Restaurants, shared a powerful perspective: The best innovations solve real challenges—not just check a tech box. First Watch focuses on technology that removes bottlenecks, improves operations, and enhances both employee and guest experiences.
An example of this in motion: waitlists at First Watch. The brand has customized the queue for walk-in tables within the app, powered by Olo Host, to include an egg mascot. Seems cute at face value, but that little egg unlocks a whole experience. Click on it and a game of pong will reveal itself, an experience that helps guests pass the time and puts a smile on their faces. Equipped with geolocation capabilities, the waitlist empowers guests to check in upon arrival. It includes details on whether they need a high chair or any accommodations, enabling staff to personalize the experience further. Matt explained, “We’re not doing this for the sake of downloads, we’re doing this to make a happier customer.”
4. Catering's High Stakes
With catering demand surging, brands have a major opportunity—but only if they execute correctly.
Catering isn’t just having a moment, it’s here to stay. Last year, the catering market reached $72.67 billion and is projected to nearly double within the next ten years. This boom has brands eager to expand their catering programs, but success requires the right foundation.
At Beyond4, we heard similar playbooks echoed across brands: Get leadership and operational buy-in, develop a menu that travels well, listen to feedback, and implement technology that streamlines execution. Rushing into catering without a solid plan can do more harm than good. As Eric Stepp, Senior Off-Premise and Catering Manager of Bojangles, put it, a bad experience doesn’t just lose one order—it can damage your brand’s reputation with an entire group of potential guests. To win in catering, brands must prioritize consistency, execution, and guest experiences from the start.
Cash in on catering. Get the guide
5. Payments as a Power Play
The brands winning in digital ordering are thinking beyond basic processing to create a seamless, valuable guest experience.
Payments aren’t just transactions—they’re a strategic advantage. The brands winning in digital ordering are moving beyond basic processing to create seamless, high-value guest experiences. In the Guest Data Flywheel demo room, attendees got to test Olo Pay Card-Present, our latest step toward unifying digital and in-store payments to unlock deeper guest insights.
Olo Pay Card-Present can now integrate with more POS platforms, which accelerates implementation and helps brands quickly adopt secure payment solutions to boost revenue and satisfaction, while consolidating transactions under one platform. This has massive downstream benefits from the back office to the guest experience. Accounting teams are freed up from reconciliation and other manual processes and guests can checkout faster—in store and online—all while a seamless flow of data provides insight into individual guest behaviors across the business. Relying only on digital order or loyalty program data misses key insights—digital orders don’t capture in-store behavior, and loyalty programs only track repeat guests. A full, multi-channel data approach is necessary for optimizing guest experiences and operations.
Watch how the Olo Guest Data Flywheel can accelerate your restaurant operations.
Celebrating 4 Years Beyond the IPO
Beyond4 2025 also marked a special milestone: the fourth anniversary of Olo’s IPO on March 17, 2021. We couldn't be together for the IPO in 2021 because of COVID, so it felt like a serendipitous moment to celebrate our achievement with a toast with the Beyond4 community.
In doing so, we reinforced our mission: Hospitality at Scale™️. Olo’s reliability and performance at scale are the foundation, and our guest data asset enables brands to scale transactions and how they make guests feel, driving both loyalty and profitability.
The Next Era: Guest Experience
With all of these insights and shared history in mind, it begs the question—what’s next? We see a fundamental shift ahead as we celebrate Olo’s 20th anniversary in 2025. The first 20 years were about meeting guests where they are. The next 20 years will be about knowing guests and making them feel known.
This is why we are laying out a bold vision for the guest experience—leveraging zero, first, second, and third-party data and agentic AI to enrich the guest experience and operator awareness in the deeply human-to-human interactions we call hospitality.
And our mentality, 20 years into our journey? Grateful + Unsatisfied.
Grateful for the community that got us here. Unsatisfied because we see the miles to go in the restaurant industry’s digital transformation. We’re prepared to keep pushing forward and clearing the way for restaurants to accelerate the future.
For detailed information about how your restaurant brand can more effectively manage high-volume days and maximize revenue during peak times, talk to our team of experts.
