Central Valley Business Journal: Dickey’s Barbecue integrates Alexa technology into restaurant operations

Dickey’s Barbecue Pit, a popular Texas-based restaurant with locations throughout the Central Valley, is integrating new technology to enhance its daily business operations.

The restaurant’s locations will begin incorporating a new enterprise voice platform from iOLAP, a data and analytics company, to operate hands-free and accelerate operations.

“In working with iOLAP to customize this technology for our restaurants, we are giving each of our franchisees a way to carry out key business functions hands-free in their kitchens,” said Laura Rea Dickey, CEO of Dickey’s, in a statement. “At Dickey’s, we are constantly looking for new ways to better our business along with our slow-smoked barbecue. This new technology means our franchisees can retrieve key data without having to stop smoking ribs.”

The new software, Alexa Skills (the same used in Amazon’s Echo), gives owner/operators the ability to retrieve data via voice command.

“Smokestack, our proprietary platform, makes data accessible and actionable in our restaurants,” Dickey said. “We’ve worked a lot with iOLAP to optimize Alexa for the kitchen from the data integration to the right placement in the back of house. We’ve also been thankful for franchisees that have opted in to further test the technology.”

It’s Dickey’s hope that the technology will make data more “restaurant friendly.”

Franchisees can ask Alexa for daily sales metrics, KPI analytics or when brisket should be finished being smoked. The platform also allows for inventory analysis, food safety reminders and waste management control.