Survey: Tech problems mount for QSR employees
While quick-serve and fast-casual restaurant chains are continuing to deploy new technologies, consumers and workers alike are often having difficulty navigating them.
That’s according to a new report from Canopy, a provider of remote monitoring and management software, which included a survey of quick-serve chain employees. Workers deal with chronic technology failures across drive-thru, self-service kiosks and mobile-ordering systems, which often frustrate customers and hurt sales. Nearly half (48%) of employees have seen customers abandon orders due to tech outages.
Nearly one-in-five employees surveyed experience tech issues at least weekly, and almost one-third (31%) report having to pause their regular job duties at least once a week to address them.
The Canopy report found that drive-thrus’ constant flow of traffic exposes them to unique challenges, most commonly payment processing issues (38%) and timer errors mistiming or missing cars (28%). Nearly half (49%) of drive-thru employees said they are required to use workarounds, such as writing orders on paper or asking customers to pull forward early, once a week or more. Almost three-quarters (72%) of those surveyed said they regularly see drive-thru technology issues.
Nearly one-third (30%) of employees experience mobile order problems every week, with mistimed or missing orders causing the biggest issues and potentially indicating backend integration issues. Fifty-percent of employees at restaurants offering mobile ordering report that technology issues have caused customers to abandon mobile orders, compared to 29% at restaurants without mobile apps.
[READ MORE: Papa Johns bolsters in-store tech with AI platforms]
When it comes to self-service kiosks, more than half (56%) of employees said they are asked to fix them daily or weekly. A similar number (53%) of employees said they have seen customers abandon a kiosk order due to a technology issue.
“The fast food and fast-casual restaurant of 2026 depends on dozens of technologies working together to give employees leverage and customers an easy, consistent experience,” said Steve Latham, CEO of Canopy. “Whether in the drive-thru, ordering at the kiosk, or using the mobile app, our research shows that tech problems cascade into disruptions in service, taking employees away from their jobs while frustrating customers enough that they leave. QSR operators need holistic visibility into the health and performance of every component in the restaurant tech stack plus an automated way to fix issues should they occur, if not before.”
Canopy surveyed more than 500 quick-service restaurant workers for its Fast Food Fault Lines report.
