CALL IT A brunch bonanza(繁荣；富矿带). On days in 2024 when Taylor Swift was performing in Miami, eateries within 20 miles of the venue that use software made by Toast, which helps 164,000 restaurants manage inventories and payments, registered a 27% surge in omelette sales. Fans appeared to be packing in protein to prepare for the pop marathon ahead. By the same token, when Beyoncé played Atlanta a year later, Toast recorded a spike(激增；尖峰) in sales of hard seltzer and late-night meals, peaking at 4am as concert-goers streamed(涌流；鱼贯而行) home.
姑且称之为早午餐盛宴。2024年泰勒·斯威夫特在迈阿密演出期间，场馆20英里范围内使用Toast公司软件的餐厅——该软件帮助16.4万家餐厅管理库存和支付——记录到煎蛋卷销量激增27%。粉丝们似乎正在大量摄入蛋白质，为即将到来的流行音乐马拉松做准备。同样地，一年后碧昂丝在亚特兰大演出时，Toast记录到硬苏打水和深夜餐食销量飙升，在凌晨4点达到顶峰，因为音乐会观众正陆续回家。
Such data are handy(有用的；方便的) for restaurants trying to optimise inventories and staffing levels to capitalise on(利用；从……获利) big events. Toast’s chief marketing officer, Kelly Esten, says the firm wants to take its number-crunching(数字运算；数据处理) further, and use artificial intelligence not just in the storerooms and kitchen, but in the dining area, too. Toast is toying with(玩弄；不认真地考虑) adding transcription software to the hand-held gadgets that waiters use to record orders and take payments, so that they can keep buttering up(讨好；奉承) customers with fewer distractions. She thinks cameras around the dining room could help alert workers to customers’ needs. Automated records and face recognition might allow front-of-house staff to offer regulars(常客；老主顾) their favourite table or drink as soon as they enter.
这些数据对于试图优化库存和人员配置以利用大型活动的餐厅来说非常有用。Toast的首席营销官凯莉·埃斯滕表示，公司希望进一步推进数字运算，不仅将人工智能用于储藏室和厨房，还要用于用餐区。Toast正在尝试将转录软件添加到服务员用来记录订单和收款的手持设备中，这样他们就能更少分心，继续讨好顾客。她认为餐厅周围的摄像头可以帮助提醒工作人员注意顾客的需求。自动记录和面部识别可能让前台员工在常客一进门时就为他们提供最喜欢的桌子或饮品。
Cooker pressure
烹饪压力
The way restaurants are run is changing at breakneck pace(以极快的速度). The reasons are not just whizzy(高科技的；炫酷的) technology like Toast’s, which is used only by a small slice of businesses, but also shifting consumer habits and stubborn(顽固的；难以消除的) inflation, which heightens competitive pressures. It has always been a famously unforgiving(不宽容的；严酷的) business. That remains true—but almost every other aspect of the industry is evolving rapidly.
餐厅的运营方式正在以极快的速度发生变化。原因不仅仅是像Toast这样只有少数企业使用的炫酷技术，还有消费者习惯的转变和顽固的通胀，这些都加剧了竞争压力。餐饮业向来以残酷著称。这一点依然如此——但该行业几乎其他所有方面都在迅速演变。
Pandemic-seared
疫情烙印
