PODCAST RECAP: In this podcast episode of "Modern Solutions for Modern Restaurants," Mike Lukianoff, a data science pioneer and serial entrepreneur, joined Paul Molinari to discuss decision intelligence and its radical impact on how C-suite executives in the restaurant industry make business decisions. Lukianoff is the founder of SignalFlare.AI, his third venture in restaurant technology, which focuses on empowering brands with smarter, faster decisions through AI-driven insights and innovation.
The Problem: Data Overload and Lack of Clarity
The conversation highlighted a significant challenge in the modern business landscape: data overload. According to an Oracle-sponsored study, 86% of business leaders feel that the sheer volume of data makes decision-making almost impossible, and 72% admit that this overload prevents them from making any decisions at all. In the restaurant world, where speed, margins, and guest expectations are constantly tightening, decisions based on "feel" or hunches are no longer viable; they must be replaced by decisions based on data clarity. Lukianoff has dedicated his career to helping people use data to make decisions, recalling earlier resistance to the idea that data could reveal what operators didn't already know.
SignalFlare.ai - Turning Data into Actionable Insights
SignalFlare AI aims to untangle data overload so leaders can act with confidence. The platform transforms raw restaurant data—including guest feedback, sales reports, P&Ls, and ingredient data—into actionable insights. Lukianoff emphasizes that their approach goes beyond simply providing numbers; it offers insights, analysis, recommendations, and anomaly detection. This is achieved by connecting with various data points (e.g., POS, inventory, labor scheduling, online ordering, customer sentiment from reviews). SignalFlare's platform collects and cleans raw data, then feeds it into their proprietary AI and machine learning models, which are pre-programmed with over a thousand restaurant-specific questions. This ensures the data is pertinent to restaurants, learning and evolving based on user feedback.
Key aspects of SignalFlare's approach and benefits include:
- Behavioral Data vs. Psychographic Data: SignalFlare focuses on behavioral data, such as where customers go, how they navigate, what competitors they visit, and how much they spend, providing a more accurate picture than generalized psychographic profiles.
- Marketing Effectiveness: The platform helps marketers understand the effectiveness of campaigns and LTOs by demonstrating measurable lift and calculating ROI for marketing initiatives. For example, it can show the ROI of an email marketing campaign based on actual customer behavior.
- "Flight Simulator" Analogy: SignalFlare allows restaurants to get "answers to the test" before implementing strategies, helping them avoid potentially harmful decisions, such as overly aggressive pricing that could hurt the business.
- Data as a Service, Software as a Service, and Expertise: SignalFlare operates on a three-pronged model, providing data, software, and professional services. Lukianoff notes that they pre-source data to quickly deliver value to clients, often within two weeks, overcoming issues with unstructured or "crap" customer data.
- Future Plans: SignalFlare plans to launch a customer-facing agent platform that will allow customers to directly access these knowledge bases and ask conversational questions, further empowering operators at all levels.
Lukianoff highlighted the importance of their ability to quantify what they help clients not do, such as preventing bad pricing mistakes that could significantly harm a business. He sees the future of restaurant data intelligence as an AI-powered co-pilot assistant for restaurant operators of all sizes, from general managers to C-level executives, providing clarity without complexity.
You can connect with Mike Lukianoff on LinkedIn or learn more about SignalFlare AI and book a demo at SignalFlare.ai.
