Tech provider Bite wants to bring a human touch to kiosks

Bite’s kiosk software is used by Portillo’s and other fast-food chains. | Photo courtesy of Bite

Placing your restaurant order on a kiosk is not necessarily known as a hospitable experience. Convenient, sure. But calling it warm and fuzzy would be a stretch. 

Bite wants to change that.

The company, which makes kiosk ordering software used by chains such as Portillo’s and Big Chicken, has designed its technology with hospitality in mind. As such, it has features you wouldn’t normally expect to see at a kiosk.

There are experiential elements, such as secret menus and other easter eggs. And it recently introduced a feature that allows restaurants to give out free items or even free meals to customers selected at random.

Bite’s unique approach helped land it a spot on Fast Company’s list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies for 2025, where it sits alongside tech giants such as Nvidia and Waymo. Though Bite is still relatively small, CEO Brandon Barton said the recognition reflects how the company is pushing kiosks forward.

“I think we’re leading the pack when it comes to thinking about how the guest feels about the way that they order,” he said.

It comes as kiosk adoption is spreading at limited-service restaurants. In the wake of the pandemic, many large chains have embraced kiosks as they look to operate more efficiently. The technology is said to speed up the line, generate larger checks and free up employees to do other things.

Today, the typical kiosk experience is similar to the process of ordering on a website or app. Elevating and personalizing that experience has been Barton’s goal since joining Bite in 2018. 

At the time, he had recently left reservations company Resy and was doing some consulting work, which led to a meeting with Bite co-founders Jeff Hong and Stas Nikiforov. 

The two entrepreneurs had a digital menu business and were looking to get into kiosks. Their product used facial recognition to remember a customer’s past orders. Barton was intrigued.

“I switched from them trying to hire me to me trying to get into the company full time,” he said.

Barton knew kiosks were going to be big. McDonald’s and Panera were already using them, and Shake Shack was testing the idea. He also knew kiosks would mean less human interaction in restaurants. But he saw an opportunity to add some magic back in.

Barton had a background in people-centric service thanks to several years spent at Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group. He also had experience with consumer-facing software from Resy, a pioneer in online reservations. 

“I thought my journey with [Bite] was, how can we make this not just a transaction but a real hospitable experience?” he said.

The first iteration of that philosophy was facial recognition. Bite uses it to recognize returning customers (with their consent) and then provide a bespoke ordering experience. The kiosk can pull up their past orders, payment information and loyalty points, for instance. But the person doesn’t even have to be a loyalty member to get special treatment.

At Portillo’s, Bite’s facial recognition technology has made the ordering process more seamless.

“I can say … ‘Here’s your last four orders. You have a stored payment method. Would you just like to pay with that card? I’ll send you a receipt to the phone number associated with this,’” CEO Michael Osanloo said during a recent episode of The Simmer, a podcast hosted by Barton and restaurant tech journalist Kristen Hawley. “Your entire experience ordering is like 10 seconds.”

At the same time, Bite has created bells and whistles that make the kiosk experience more immersive. For instance, it worked with Big Chicken to design an interface bursting with animations of founder and former NBA star Shaquille O’Neal. If the customer orders a certain item, Shaq will do a chicken dance.

An animated Shaq also beckons customers to a secret menu that has the founder’s go-to Big Chicken order and other off-menu items. It’s like a digital version of In-N-Out’s “secret” animal-style menu that offers plussed-up preparations of the chain’s burgers and fries.

“The first time somebody told me that you can order animal style … I felt like I was part of the insiders, part of the club,” Barton said. Bite is aiming to give customers that same feeling.

It is working to make customers feel special in other ways, such as the aforementioned free giveaways, which Barton calls “something for nothing.” 

The idea comes from the world of full-service restaurants, where managers are often empowered to give things away to customers at their discretion. The practice is even baked into many operations’ P&L, Barton noted. Bite’s “something for nothing” program allows brands to move this policy online. 

“These guests are still walking into the restaurant, and they just happen to be ordering differently,” Barton said. “I love the idea that we can take this hospitality concept and put it into the digital sphere.” 

The possibility of getting a freebie at the kiosk could also encourage more customers to order that way. That’s good for the restaurant because kiosk orders tend to generate a higher check.

Bite is exploring some other features that it believes will make the kiosk experience even better. It’s working on a tool called surveys that asks customers about their food goals, diet and allergy information. It’s designed to help people navigate large or unfamiliar menus. 

Barton said Bite’s goal is not just to replicate the hospitality that human employees can offer, but also come up with new ways of recognizing and delighting customers at scale.

“Bite’s at the forefront of doing the thinking of how to make this into something totally new and different,” he said. “We’re opening up new pathways that we didn’t think existed.” 

The New York-based company’s software is currently live in just over 2,000 restaurant locations. It raised $9 million last year to help it grow.

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