This article outlines:
How Beyond4 builds best practices
5 takeaways from Beyond4
Cultivating the best ideas in hospitality
Every year, Beyond4, Olo’s customer conference, brings together the best minds in restaurant technology—not to sit through sales pitches, but to share what's actually working and what’s not. This year at the Arizona Biltmore, the conversations were sharper, the announcements were bigger, and the community was, as always, the whole point. Here's what stuck with us.
1. Second-party ordering changes everything
The restaurant industry has spent years choosing between two imperfect options: first-party ordering (full ownership but limited reach) and third-party marketplaces (broad reach but no ownership). At Beyond4, Founder & CEO Noah Glass announced a third option. The Olo App is a commission-free ordering platform built on a new second-party model. Restaurants get the demand generation of a marketplace and the guest ownership of a first-party app, without the 15–30% commission. Guests get the convenience of a marketplace without the menu markups. All on top of Olo’s foundation, built over 20 years, facilitating billions of orders for tens of millions of guests and tens of thousands of restaurant locations. For the first time, the reach and the relationship belong to the same person: you.
2. The three metrics worth obsessing over: acquisition, frequency, and check size
Restaurant operators have never had more data at their fingertips—and arguably, never been more distracted by it. At Beyond4, VP of Strategy and Operations Collin Anderson presented a simple framework: the metrics that actually drive revenue are guest acquisition, visit frequency, and average check size. First-party (and now second-party) digital and loyalty uniquely give operators insight into these metrics at the guest level, and Olo cuts through the noise to highlight these key revenue drivers. Using Olo Guest Intelligence, the Olo team works with brands to identify and act on the areas of greatest opportunity. Forward-looking brands are relentlessly focused on driving growth through the Metrics that Matter.
3. Loyalty is shifting from "earn and burn" to "know and serve"
The most effective loyalty programs aren't defined by points and discounts anymore—they're defined by how well they use data to make guests feel known. During our “Building Loyalty That Lasts” panel discussion, panelists across multiple brands emphasized that seamless sign-up, intuitive UX, and actionable guest segmentation matter more than reward generosity. As one panelist noted, if a guest can't easily sign up or a brand can’t easily segment and communicate with them, none of the strategy matters. The new loyalty benchmark: turn first-time guests into regulars.
4. Catering is still a massive untapped opportunity
Brand after brand at Beyond4 identified catering as a major growth channel—but one that requires a different playbook. Operators who are winning in catering aren't just taking orders; they're proactively building relationships, testing lead times, and treating every catering experience as an introduction to the brand. Mo'Bettahs shared that 75% of guests who experience a brand through catering go on to visit the restaurant. This is the catering flywheel: catering orders drive profitable, incremental revenue and serve as an acquisition channel for new guests. Olo’s catering solution gives operators the tools to optimize their catering programs and drive growth at their brands.
5. Trust is the real currency with franchisees and guests alike
Whether the conversation was about rolling out technology to a franchise network or building a loyalty program from scratch, the same principle kept surfacing: trust is built through execution. Consistency, transparency, and follow-through are core to any relationship. Kim Van Heuvelen of Bloomin’ Brands captured it perfectly: When franchisees feel like partners in a brand's evolution rather than just recipients of decisions, resistance drops, and adoption accelerates. The same dynamic plays out with guests. The brands that win in the long term are the ones that treat every interaction as a deposit in a relationship, not a transaction. This is a core principle at Olo as well, which is why we invest so much in reliability, security, and scalability.
Beyond4 exists because this industry is better when it shares. Every panel, every fireside chat, every conversation over a burger or a gelato reinforced what we already know to be true: the best ideas in hospitality come from operators who are willing to bust down silos, learn from each other, challenge each other, and lift each other up. That's what makes this community unlike any other. We'll see you in Miami for Beyond4 2027.
