“Alternatives like this in tech don’t come up that often,” Azzurri Group digital and know-how director Jim Hingston says of US-themed restaurant chain Dave’s Scorching Rooster.
“You take a look at the ability of the model, the demand for it, the chance we’ve got – my problem is how do I make tech actually a catalyst for the expansion and permit us to roll out shops in new markets and territories.”
Hingston chatted to Pc Weekly within the build-up to his look on a panel at Retail Know-how Present 2026, the place he intends to affix a dialogue on the altering face of digital and tech in hospitality.
Dave’s Scorching Rooster, which Azzurri gained the UK and Eiregrasp franchise rights for in 2024 and has franchise rights for in 10 different international locations, has been a progress driver for Azzurri, which recorded flat income figures of £303.1m for the yr to 30 June 2025.
Azzurri’s franchise settlement is to roll out a minimal of 180 Dave’s Scorching Rooster eating places throughout Europe, with round 14 anticipated to be within the UK and Eire by the top of 2026.
Avoiding retail legacy tech entanglement
Hingston says the model, which is actually a startup when it comes to its European standing, offers his group’s tech workforce an opportunity to drag new progress levers and keep away from getting in a legacy tech tangle usually related to extra established companies.
“It’s by no means completely greenfield, there are all the time a couple of shrubs and weeds you’ve obtained to get by means of, however it’s such an incredible alternative,” Hingston says of the model and its fashionable tech stack.
Work achieved with Dave’s might then present a tech blueprint for its group stablemates corresponding to ASK and Zizzi, which, like several restaurant chains, require continuous upgrading and reinforcement from a tech and digital perspective. “If I’ve tech and I’ve proved I can scale it, [the question becomes about] making use of it again into the remainder of the group,” Hingston provides.
Whether or not the chance for contemporary tech growth and transformational change finally sits with Azzurri stays to be seen, nonetheless, after Bloomberg reported on 12 March that the restaurant group was contemplating the sale of Dave’s.
Both approach, the inner positivity in regards to the model and the seemingly exterior curiosity in it highlights the potential for the enterprise because it continues to develop out from its Los Angeles roots.
“In Dave’s, we’ve got an incredible alternative of a brand new, profitable, high-volume fast service enterprise the place you should use tech to provide you an actual benefit, the place you may develop a enterprise loads faster,” Hingston says.
How may that tech or digital functionality current itself? First – and an space Azzurri is especially enthusiastic about – is in dynamic pricing.
As reported, the group incubated and spun out Openr, a tech and information platform that allows speedier menu adjustments and worth elasticity. That now-standalone tech enterprise, which was the brainchild of Hingston’s former boss Joel Robinson, who continues to run the operation, remains to be utilized by Azzurri Group.
Journey and retail have achieved [price optimisation] for years, however you may’t do it if it takes you six weeks to replace a worth or you may have set programs Jim Hingston, Dave’s Scorching Rooster
With the ability to change pricing per location, time of day or primarily based on particular occasions is seen as a key approach tech is usually a enterprise driver. Assume particular presents at sometimes quieter occasions of the day to attract clients in, or extra premium costs according to demand – there are such a lot of methods this system could be enterprise optimistic, Hingston says.
Legacy tech points, he provides, imply it could possibly take six months to conduct a menu change, or six weeks to replace pricing within the hospitality area. “Retail friends take a look at me as if I’m on a unique planet,” he says. “As an operator, we’re taking a look at pricing optimisation. Journey and retail have achieved it for years, however you may’t do worth optimisation if it takes you six weeks to replace a worth or you may have set programs.”
The perfect tech infrastructure Hingston and his workforce – which contains round 25 roles and features a comparatively new in-house engineering workforce – are eager to implement, beginning with Dave’s, is a headless digital structure. They need to construct a “tech ecosystem” round a few of these ideas of worth optimisation.
Openr is being already being utilized by the group through partnerships with aggregator platforms Deliveroo, JustEat and UberEats.
Making bodily shops an ‘occasion’ for digital natives
Elsewhere from a tech perspective, Hingston envisages alternatives for Dave’s to create interactive experiences for its restaurant clients through the digital screens deployed at venues.
The screens it has put in in its flagship London Shaftsbury Avenue website replicate the close by Piccadilly Circus billboards. The tech boss, who joined from Health club Group in 2024, describes the necessity to carry pleasure to life in retailer “so it seems like an occasion”.
That is an space of specific focus for Dave’s, which has a core influencer-led, digital native and social media-loving Gen Z viewers. By way of capturing their hearts and minds, one mooted thought is to make use of the digital billboards in eating places – already in place to facilitate the Openr-enabled dynamic pricing – to gamify the shopper expertise (CX). Trison, which supplies the screens, can allow loyalty app-linkups that let customers to regulate a few of the content material on show.
“That’s costly tech however we’re seeing the fee come down and there are such a lot of enjoyable issues you are able to do with an in-store expertise when you may have a digitally native viewers,” Hingston says.
Round 10-15% of in-restaurant interactions at Azzurri Group are carried out through the order-and-pay system facilitated on smartphones, however typically talking Hingston believes the very best tech in hospitality and the broader retail panorama is hidden. The tech that powers operations somewhat than any shiny {hardware} and software program that may carry friction to the CX is most vital, he acknowledges.
For instance, Wi-Fi utilization in Dave’s is significantly larger than that encountered within the extra family-oriented and conventional ASK branches, in line with the digital boss. That reveals the significance of community infrastructure in fashionable hospitality.
AI a great tool, however can’t change creativity
On the substitute intelligence (AI) revolution sweeping throughout retail and consumer-facing industries, Hingston is eager for his friends and the management workforce to experiment to see what enterprise advantages might come up from it.
“I’m within the background making it secure – you need to be sure to have good guardrails in place and know the restrictions,” he says.
I take into consideration the craft of software program growth; there may be a part of it which is artistry and deeply artistic, and AI isn’t going to have the ability change that Jim Hingston, Dave’s Scorching Rooster
Hingston is cautious about overuse and over reliance on AI, although: “I take into consideration the craft of software program growth; there may be a part of it which is artistry and deeply artistic, and AI isn’t going to have the ability change that – we have to mood issues just a little bit. However what’s nice now could be that, as a result of the fee to entry is commonly loads decrease, I’m innovating faster.
“Tech has a status of burning by means of money, late deliveries and initiatives which are by no means ending – now you may break issues down extra simply. My workforce remind me we’re in all probability doing treble the quantity we had been as tech division.”
At Azzurri Group, there are six main tech programmes beneath approach, Hingston says – “some deeply transformational”, including: “Usually you do one or two of these a yr. The workforce’s not a lot larger and we’re spending much less.”
It seems there are alternatives galore at Azzurri, and particularly at Dave’s Scorching Rooster. Whether or not it stays part of the group or not within the months to return stays to be seen – clearly, there’s lots for the hospitality tech panel at Retail Know-how Present to debate at London’s Excel on 22 April.
