DEAL ROOM: The Smartest Screen in the Restaurant Might Finally Be the Menu
The restaurant industry spent the better part of the last decade chasing “digital transformation.” Apps. Rewards programs. Push notifications. CRM platforms. CDPs. Email automation. SMS campaigns. More dashboards than a Bloomberg terminal (it took me years to get over the loss of access to my Bloomberg terminal).
And yet, most restaurant loyalty programs still feel like a punch card wearing a Patagonia vest.
That’s why the team at Branded Hospitality is excited about our newest partner company, Hang.com, the first AI platform built specifically for marketers and what we believe represents the next major evolution of restaurant loyalty.
This isn’t just another “earn 10 points, get a free cookie” platform (although I do love myself a free cookie).
Hang is building an AI-native loyalty and customer engagement system designed for the realities of modern hospitality: fragmented guest data, rising customer acquisition costs, declining engagement with traditional rewards programs, and operators desperate to turn guest data into actual guest relationships.
In plain English? Okay, let’s try that again.
Hang wants to help restaurants stop marketing like it’s 2015.
The company combines AI-powered customer data infrastructure, personalized offers, gamification, loyalty mechanics, messaging automation, and real-time segmentation into one unified platform. Instead of operators manually building campaigns and static audience segments, Hang’s AI engine continuously analyzes guest behavior and recommends, or autonomously executes, campaigns designed to drive incremental spend and engagement.
Translation for operators: less guessing, less spray-and-pray marketing, and more precision.
And perhaps most importantly, Hang understands something legacy loyalty platforms forgot: hospitality is supposed to be fun.
The best restaurant brands don’t win b/c customers mathematically optimize points accumulation. They win b/c they create emotional connection, habit formation, entertainment, and belonging. Hang leans into that reality with gamified experiences, personalized rewards, challenges, mystery boxes, and dynamic offers that feel more like modern consumer apps than old-school loyalty software.
That matters b/c the next generation of restaurant guests grew up on TikTok, DraftKings, Duolingo streaks, mobile gaming, and algorithmically personalized feeds. Static loyalty programs increasingly feel like Blockbuster memberships in a Netflix world.
Do you want to learn more? Checkout this podcast episode of Justin Ulrich’s Local Marketing Lab, with Co-Founder and CEO of Hang, Matt Smolin, where he reveals how next-gen loyalty programs are revolutionizing customer engagement. You can watch the episode here: 3X higher customer spend with next-gen loyalty programs
The bigger signal here, though, may not simply be loyalty. It’s that AI is beginning to move from the back office into the guest experience itself.
For years, restaurant technology focused heavily on operational efficiency: labor scheduling, inventory, procurement, delivery logistics, and POS systems. But platforms like Hang are part of a larger shift toward AI-powered revenue generation and customer engagement.
The industry isn’t just asking: “How do we save money with AI?” It’s increasingly asking: “How do we grow guest frequency, improve retention, increase lifetime value, and deepen customer relationships using AI?.”
That’s a fundamentally different conversation.
At Branded, we’ve long believed the winning restaurant technology platforms won’t simply digitize workflows, they’ll help operators create stronger guest relationships and more personalized hospitality at scale.
B/c despite all the technology, hospitality still remains a people business (are you getting theme of what I’m throwing down throughout the newsletter this week). 😊
AI doesn’t replace hospitality. It amplifies it.
And the platforms that understand that distinction? Those are the ones worth paying attention to.
We’re excited to partner with the team at Hang and look forward to introducing this AI-native loyalty platform to restaurant operators, hospitality brands, and our broader industry ecosystem.
To learn more about Hang and opportunities to engage with this company, please click here (or contact me directly).
