Modern Trends in Digitalization of the Restaurant Business

The relevance of studying the issues of digitalization of the restaurant business is due to the need to search for strategic directions and key factors in the digital transformation of restaurant services, assessing modern consumer demands and global market development trends.The purpose of the work is to study the main trends in the digitalization of restaurant business organizations.The objectives of the study are to analyze promising areas of digitalization of the restaurant business, assess the market for online food delivery, self-service points and the use of digital technologies.Methodology. Methods of comparative and statistical analysis, induction and deduction were used as research methodsResults. It was revealed that the main directions of digitalization of the restaurant business are online orders and delivery of ready-made food, the development of self-service points, automation of the value chain, as well as the promotion of restaurant services using digital technologies. Despite the fact that automation of the restaurant business began before the COVID-19 pandemic, it served as a catalyst for the transition of restaurant services to the virtual space. However, the reactive approach of restaurant business organizations did not allow the formation of an effective strategy for the digital transformation of restaurant business organizations. The growth of digitalization of the industry is due to digital channels for promoting services that require significant investments, available only to large market players; for non-chain restaurants, this segment of the digital market is not yet available in full, which is a limiting factor in the development of the entire industry.Conclusions. The results obtained during the research allowed us to formulate theoretical and practical recommendations aimed at developing a strategic understanding of the planning processes and implementation of digital technologies in the activities of restaurant business organizations.