Technology

The next generation of QSRs Part 2: How AI, personalization are turning loyalty into a growth engine

Following Part 1’s look at how rising costs and changing consumer expectations are reshaping value, Part 2 examines how QSR brands are using loyalty data, AI and personalization to move beyond broad discounts and build deeper customer connections that drive long-term growth.

Photo: Adobe Stock

July 22, 2026 by Valerie Gritton

Summarize with

Editor's Note: As QSR brands navigate a more value-conscious consumer, the path forward is becoming increasingly interconnected. Part 1 of our Next-Gen series examined how rising costs and changing spending habits are redefining value, In Part 3, The Next Generation of QSR series will examine how operators are investing in technology, automation and operational efficiencies to improve performance, support teams and build a stronger foundation for growth.

In today's quick-service landscape, growth is no longer defined by how much consumers are willing to spend — it's how often they choose to show up. As traffic patterns soften and value perception becomes more fragile, QSR operators are shifting capital toward investments designed to defend frequency, rebuild loyalty, and justify price points that continue to climb.

Whether those goals are established and met through the use of AI or enhanced loyalty programs, personalization is a key selling point for both brands and consumers.

Across the QSR space, McDonald's has expanded AI-driven personalization within its app and loyalty program to deliver more relevant offers and recommendations based on customer behavior. Meanwhile, Wendy's, in the middle of a deep turnaround, has invested in AI for ordering, operational efficiency and customer engagement, while continuing to expand its digital ecosystem.

As part of Wendy's Project Fresh, the company's strategy is focused on enhancing its technology capabilities to create a more seamless digital experience. And that's where a majority of brands are now focused.

According to data from marketing agency quench, consumers expect brands to deliver a seamless experience across every touchpoint — from social media and mobile apps to restaurant counters and grocery aisles. That shift is being driven by mobile-first shopping behaviors, blended online and in-store journeys, a growing demand for convenience and loyalty ecosystems that connect every interaction.

For quench CEO Michael Pavone, that evolution means the traditional marketing funnel no longer exists.

Consumers no longer experience brands in a linear journey. They encounter them across countless touchpoints simultaneously, making an integrated brand strategy more important than ever, he said.

"People can interact with brands and shop anywhere at any time," Pavone said in a Zoom interview with QSRweb.com. "It doesn't end at the store anymore."

Instead, he said, successful brands must deliver a consistent identity wherever consumers encounter them. Data and AI make that possible by helping marketers personalize messaging and determine where each marketing dollar will have the greatest impact.

Loyalty programs as data engines

For restaurant operators across all segments of dining, that means AI-powered loyalty offers geared toward personalization, especially for consumers no longer interested in one broad message sent to the same mass email list.

"Loyalty apps have been sitting on years of order data and brands have done almost nothing smart with it," Anthony Guerriero, founder and CEO of The Leveraged Years, said in an email interview. "The next-gen move is using that data to change the offer per guest in real time, (sending) the right upsell at the right moment instead of blasting everyone the same coupon. That's where personalization and loyalty finally start paying for themselves."

The Leverage Years was built on the philosophy that AI should remove operational friction, not replace professional judgment.

For restaurant brands, removing friction means transforming customer data into more relevant, personalized experiences.

"It's not just predictive, but prescriptive," said Scott Stone, director of marketing at Florida-based Huey Magoo's, in a Zoom interview. "AI has already changed what loyalty is because you can literally do personalization at the micro level."

With 500,000 members in its loyalty program, Stone said Huey Magoo's is focused on better understanding its core customers while continuing to attract new ones. That means continuing to evolve the loyalty program beyond traditional rewards by encouraging customers to order directly through the brand's channels, use the app, utilize drive-thru pickup and visit during slower dayparts.

And rather than relying solely on broad discounts to drive traffic, Stone said customer data now allows Huey Magoo's to deliver more personalized offers based on purchasing habits, visit frequency, daypart, location and even individual restaurant needs. AI is helping accelerate that process by identifying customer segments, recommending actions and automating campaigns that once required significant manual effort.

"What I see it as and what it's becoming, is you can go in and say, 'I want to target people who have shopped on weekends the last two months,'" Stone said. "How many [people are] in the database? Launch on a date and time and track the results. You can set that up in AI versus the labor and time it takes to manually [do it]. It's moving at an incredible rapid pace in a good way."

While the company and Stone are still learning how to leverage best-use cases, they're starting to see positive results from moving beyond a traditional loyalty model.

And as consumers increasingly choose how they want to engage with brands—whether through push notifications, text messages or email — personalization has become less about sending more communications and more about delivering relevant ones through the channels customers prefer.

For Stone, however, the technology investments still have to make sense. "You have to have a business case for it and show the benefit," he said.