The US team maybe out of the world cup, but for restaurants it's for from over!
Boston ran out of beer!
When Scotland's Tartan Army hit Boston for the 2026 World Cup, and within hours, they drank the city dry. The Sam Adams Boston Taproom ran out of its own flagship beer. Hennessy's Bar reported sales that "tripled St. Patrick's Day." The White Bull Tavern's manager said it plainly: "We ran out of everything." Boston Beer Co. had to call in emergency deliveries just to keep bars stocked through the weekend.
That's a great story. It's also a supply chain disaster nobody saw coming.
The FIFA World Cup is running through July across Los Angeles, Dallas, Miami, New York, Atlanta, Seattle, Houston, Kansas City, and San Francisco. Boston wasn't the only city unprepared. It was just the most viral. If your operation is anywhere near those markets, the question isn't whether demand will spike. It's whether your prep sheets are ready for it.
Only 1 in 4 restaurant operators use AI. Only 1 in 20 says it's actually working.
According to the National Restaurant Association's 2026 State of the Restaurant Industry report, 26% of operators say they are now using AI tools in their restaurants. But according to Qu's 2026 Restaurant Technology Benchmark Report, only 5% have seen measurable operational value from those investments.
The lack of value is not about the technology. It's about where it's being applied. Most restaurants are investing in customer-facing AI tools: drive-thru voice ordering, loyalty personalization, marketing automation. Those are visible, flashy. They're easy to pitch in a budget meeting.
The prep decision, what to make, how much of each item, before the shift starts, is still largely made by gut instinct and some quick math at most restaurants. That's where the real value is sitting. Restaurants running ClearCOGS’s ingredient-level daily forecasting average a 55% reduction in waste and a 40% increase in profit margins.
The operators who solve the prep problem first will be the ones with margin to invest in everything else.
Cali BBQ: How a San Diego BBQ brand became one of the most-watched restaurant operations in the country
Shawn Walchef built Cali BBQ into a $35M+ operation across multiple San Diego locations, including Snapdragon Stadium and the Navy Exchange. In 2026, he was named one of Fast Casual's Top 25 Executives shaping the future of the restaurant industry.
Part of what drives that success: Shawn runs a data-first kitchen. "ClearCOGS will email you a daily prep sheet every day with accurate numbers," he said.
For a BBQ operation that runs across high-traffic venues and multiple locations, having those numbers before the shift starts isn't a nice-to-have. It's what keeps quality consistent when volume surges and customers happy.
With World Cup matches drawing huge crowds across Southern California this summer, that kind of daily clarity is what separates the operations that handle the rush from the ones that run out.
73% of operators are actively investing in AI. Only 5% say it's producing measurable results. Matt Wampler breaks down why the prep decision is where that gap gets closed, and what it actually takes to get a reliable number into the kitchen before the shift starts.
David joined Matt to talk about the technology decisions shaping hospitality finance, where AI fits into the back office, and why the operators who are winning aren't necessarily the biggest ones.
