By Chad Horn, COO, Inc Tank GTM
You don’t have to spend much time in the restaurant tech scene before hearing a common grumble: "Why do so many operators just follow the herd when picking their tech stack?"
You’ll hear folks in internal vendor meetings, boardrooms, and even in the aisles of trade shows mutter some version of it. I’ve muttered it too. The gripe goes something like: “Why don’t operators do the research? Why not compare all the options and choose the best solution instead of going with whatever their buddy down the street is using?”
But here’s the twist: that “herd mentality” might actually be one of the savviest decision-making strategies in the industry.
Let me explain.
Time Is a Luxury Most Restaurants Don’t Have
Restaurant operators aren’t leisurely browsing comparison sites weighing the pros and cons of software features seen on G2. More often, they’re deciding whether there’s enough staff to get through Friday night or which bill can wait another week without their POS getting shut off.
Evaluating tech takes time. Time for demos. Time for contract reviews. Time for checking references. In other industries, there might be a whole procurement team for this. In restaurants? You’re lucky if there’s one exhausted GM who doesn’t also have to fix the ice machine.
Starting with what a trusted peer is using isn’t lazy. It’s efficient. It’s not a lack of curiosity. It’s triage.
Peer Endorsement Is a Surprisingly Strong Filter
There are thousands, and I mean thousands, of restaurant tech solutions out there. Most can show you a flashy slide deck. Far fewer can hand over a genuinely happy customer who isn't still waiting on a feature that was "just a sprint away" two years ago.
When a fellow operator tells you, “Yeah, this works and support actually answers the phone,” that’s a high-value shortcut. And if it doesn’t work? They’ll tell you that too. The herd may be biased, but it’s not shy.
As The Wisdom of Crowds points out, large groups making independent choices often produce better decisions than a lone expert. In this case, the collective judgment of operators who’ve already been burned or blessed by a system is often a more accurate signal than anything you’ll find in a whitepaper.
Think of it this way: the best Google or Yelp reviews don’t come from software analysts. They come from people who’ve actually eaten the sandwich. Same goes for tech.
Community Brings Leverage, Not Just Comfort
There’s also a strategic upside to sharing a platform with friends. If you and your peer group are on the same system, you can swap notes, compare workflows, and even band together when something goes wrong. You’re not just a customer, you’re part of a user tribe with shared goals and leverage. While not an operator myself, I’ll reach out to any vendor an operator highly recommends, because, at the very least, I know I’ll learn something to further corroborate (or challenge) that recommendation - and then be able to help others with the insights gleaned.
Plus, there’s a hidden bonus for adopting a “herd” solution: if you spot a weakness or issue, you can flag it for others or benefit from their workaround. That communal feedback loop can be more responsive than anything coming out of the vendor’s product roadmap meeting.
And let’s be honest: when your friend’s restaurant is using a tool successfully, you’ve got built-in motivation to prove you can do it better.
In the End, the Herd Isn’t Just Guessing
Yes, herd behavior can have its pitfalls. But in an industry where time is short, the stakes are high, and the options are endless, using the experience of others as your starting point isn’t just understandable, it’s smart.
So the next time someone rolls their eyes at a restaurateur for “just doing what everyone else is doing,” maybe remind them: sometimes, the herd knows something the spreadsheet doesn’t.
Now, if you're an operator who does have the time to take a thoughtful deep dive and find the best-fit solution, that's fantastic. I’d be thrilled to join you on that journey, maybe even document the process. Just know that your best-fit tool might not be what the local crowd is using. But odds are, it's still someone’s herd favorite, just a different herd.