Technology

AI is rewriting the rules of restaurant strategy — here's how to keep up

Photo: Connect Media

July 27, 2026

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Consumer behavior is shifting. Privacy expectations are tightening. Data regulations are evolving by the month. For restaurant leaders trying to make smart calls on site selection, marketing and operations, the ground is moving faster than the old playbook can keep pace with.

That's exactly the challenge FastCasual.com's next webinar, "AI and the Future of Restaurants: From Foot Traffic to Predictive Insight," is designed to help solve.

Joining FastCasual.com Publisher Cherryh Cansler for the conversation are two experts who approach the problem from different angles: AziraCEO Gladys Kong, a 20-plus-year veteran of data science and geolocation intelligence, and Goodway Group's Isabelle Soriano, a Senior Client Director who has spent nearly eight years building integrated marketing strategies for QSR and other major industries.

Kong previously helped pioneer geolocation-powered data intelligence at UberMedia, technology now used by Fortune 500 brands and travel destinations worldwide — work that's earned her spots on Business Insider's "30 Most Powerful Women in Mobile Advertising" list and Mobile Marketer's "Mobile Women to Watch." Soriano brings a media strategist's lens, specializing in measurement and cross-channel planning that connects marketing spend to real business growth across QSR, CPG, entertainment and more.

What restaurant leaders will learn

Together, Kong and Soriano will unpack how AI-powered analytics and mobile location data are transforming three of the industry's biggest decisions: where to open next, how to market to the right diners, and how to plan strategically in a landscape that's more competitive — and more consent-driven — than ever. Drawing on their combined experience in location intelligence and restaurant-focused media strategy, they'll show how brands can turn trusted data into sharper audience engagement and measurable results.

The conversation will go beyond the static dashboards and one-size-fits-all AI models many operators have relied on, exploring how leading brands are building more dynamic systems on trusted, high-integrity data foundations.

Attendees can expect real insight into:

How to spot changing diner patterns before competitors do.
Where emerging market opportunities are hiding in location data.
How to make faster, more confident decisions on site selection and marketing spend.
What a consent-driven, privacy-first data strategy actually looks like in practice.

For any brand trying to figure out where to open next, how to reach diners more effectively, or how to use AI responsibly amid tightening privacy rules, this is a rare chance to hear directly from one of the sharpest minds in location intelligence.

Save your seat now — space for live Q&A is limited, and registrants will get access to the full session.