Why QSR and Fast Casual Franchisors Need To Take Digital Security Seriously

As consumer expectations for convenience and speed have increased significantly across the QSR and fast casual segments, many franchisors have begun adding new technologies to keep up, whether it be through self-ordering kiosks, drone delivery or partnerships with third-party aggregators like GrubHub and UberEats. Unfortunately, these quick innovations create vulnerability, and consumers are growing concerned, according to a new article on RestaurantDive. 

According to a new study from Sift, 62% of restaurant customers are concerned about a data breach. Top consumer worries include lost information, account takeovers and hijacked loyalty rewards points. The study also found that 49% of consumers are most concerned about their credit card data being stolen.

Customers have plenty of reason to be concerned. Earlier this month, third-party delivery company DoorDash confirmed it suffered a data breach that affected 4.9 million users. According to TechCrunch, users had their name, email and delivery addresses, order history, phone numbers and passwords stolen.

According to TechRepublic, 64% of American adults have experienced data theft and there have been more than 3,800 breaches in 2019. That is a 50% increase over the past four years. 

Specifically, the foodservice space has proven to be vulnerable to hackers, especially as more and more QSR and fast casual restaurants become dependent on third-party services. In the past few years, major players in the QSR segment, such as Wendy’s and Sonic, have fallen prey to wide-scale data breaches. 

While many franchisors may want to turn away from new technologies to avoid these threats, restaurant companies can actually be proactive against this rising threat through technological innovations such as automation, AI and machine learning. Franchisors such as Jersey Mike’s are developing proprietary authentication systems that protect private data from hackers. 

Online ordering isn’t going away anytime soon. Franchisors need to find ways to avoid data breaches or it could spell big trouble for business. According to the Sift study, over one-third of consumers reported they would abandon a QSR forever if they experienced any type of fraud.