Relish Works is a foodservice innovation hub exploring the future of the industry.

Our everyday work is to understand what’s going on in the foodservice industry today and imagine, create, and build solutions that drive the future. To do this work, we talk to restaurant operators – through casual conversations, formal interviews, and quarterly surveys. We track the latest industry news reports, scan the competitive landscape, and form partnerships with new players in the space. We spend countless hours building, testing, and investing in solutions that will solve the most pressing challenges. And we participate as passionate diners in our communities and beyond.

We identified the six Next Gen Operator mindsets through our close watch on the industry, our everyday engagement with operators, and a synthesis across our work over the last 18 months.

The six mindsets – Trial and Error, Focused Energies, Agile Identities, Social Savvy, Stewardship, and Digital Tranquility – are all responses to the growing challenges we’ve faced as an industry:

• Rising overall costs of operations
• Supply chain shortages
• Challenges in hiring, training, and retaining employees
• Brand disintermediation from third-party platforms
• Increased pool of competition online
• Consumer expectations for digital engagement and experiences
• Growing complexity in consumer dietary preferences

While some of these challenges may be temporary roadblocks, many of them are realities that are here to stay. We believe in the relentless and passionate entrepreneurial spirit of operators and the power of the restaurant community to face these challenges head on and shape the future.

To learn more about the work we do, the topics we explore and the solutions we create, visit relishworks.com