Last week, our Mysa HQ team joined hundreds of facility managers in Las Vegas for the 2025 Restaurant Facilities Management Association conference. Between conversations at our booth and attending several key breakout sessions led by industry leaders, we gained valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities facing restaurant facility managers today.
Here are some of our key takeaways from RFMA 2025:
Equipment Downtime is Not Acceptable
The loss of profit caused by downtime, not to mention the hit to a restaurant's reputation, can be financially devastating.
Five Guys Regional Facilities Manager Mike Morman highlighted this challenge perfectly – at their price point, customers might only visit monthly. If equipment failure prevents them from getting their meal the day they show up, they might not return for weeks and could find a new favourite in the meantime. For this reason, he is adamant about doing whatever it takes to prevent downtime. While some operations have redundancies in place, Five Guys’ approach is to simplify the kitchen as much as possible, which – while a great strategy for many reasons – means when something fails, it could render the restaurant unable to serve most of their menu.
And downtime isn’t limited to cooking equipment – if refrigeration temperatures exceed safe limits (above 41°F for cold food, below 135°F for hot food), the kitchen becomes too hot for safe food handling (varies by local laws, but generally above 90°F with no ventilation), or the dining area is too cold/hot for customers (local ordinances may require 60°F minimum), a health inspector can shut down a restaurant until the issue is fixed.
When every hour is worth hundreds or thousands of dollars in revenue, the cost of downtime goes far beyond the cost of repairing or replacing equipment.
Fast, Accessible Technical Support is a Game Changer
Many Facilities Managers shared their frustration with getting timely technical support. We spoke to some FMs who lamented that it could take days for a certified technician from one of their vendors – from cooking equipment to HVAC controls – to get to their restaurant and fix the issue. And while the option to enlist the help of any local tech is on the table, taking this route could impact equipment warranties, leaving FMs in the challenging position of weighing the cost of downtime vs. the cost of voiding a warranty.
Different chains are tackling this challenge in unique ways. Chipotle negotiates a 4-hour SLA for critical repairs, and CAVA is bringing facilities management into the conversation early in the procurement process to make sure high-quality equipment is chosen. Other restaurants shared that they’re negotiating terms into their warranty contracts, demanding that if a piece of equipment needs repairs within 12 months, they get a new one for free.
The common thread? Keeping restaurants fully operational is the top priority, even if it means making tough decisions about warranty compliance.
AI will Revolutionize Facilities Management – in a Good Way
The potential for AI to free up Facilities Managers’ time is huge. From proactive service dispatching to intelligent automation, FMs stand to make huge productivity gains by delegating routine, discrete task work to AI.
While the manner in which an FM leverages AI depends on factors like operation complexity and their own comfortability with the technology, many restaurants are seeing significant business gains by implementing it in specific ways.
Robert Doane, Facilities Director for Chipotle shared that they’re using AI to scan resumes in bulk, ensuring they can find top talent quickly – important when operating 3,500 restaurants in a high-turnover industry (according to Bureau of Labour Statistics' data, the Accommodation and Food Services industry as a whole saw an 86.3% yearly staff turnover rate in 2021).
While current adoption of AI in facilities management is limited, IoT-connected equipment (e.g., self-reporting grills) is an emerging trend that will continue to grow in both sophistication and implementation, creating an efficiency delta between those who do and do not explore the possibilities of AI.
High Quality Data is the Missing Piece
Perhaps most surprisingly, we discovered that the majority of restaurants still lack basic smart controls for their most critical and cost-consuming systems, like HVAC, lighting, and refrigeration.
The reason?
Most existing solutions are expensive and complicated to roll out per site, let alone across hundreds or thousands of locations. Because of this, these solutions aren’t solutions at all, as they end up being too time consuming and too expensive for most multi-sites operating with thin budgets and small facilities management teams.
The need for FMs to have access to high-quality facilities data has never been more clear. When it’s not possible for a multi-site FM to be in 10, 50, or 2,000 locations at once, having “eyes on the ground” in the form of connected technology can be a game changer, giving them the data and insight they need to make informed, timely decisions.
Why We Made Mysa HQ Smart AND Simple
This is exactly why we developed Mysa HQ. We believe restaurant facility managers shouldn't have to choose between staying within budget and having smart, efficient controls. Our system is designed to be lightweight and straightforward – giving you the remote monitoring and control you need while avoiding unnecessary complexity that only drives up costs and draws out implementation timelines.
Want to see how Mysa HQ could work in your restaurants? Whether you're interested in a demo, have questions, or want to discuss a pilot program, our team is ready to help! Contact us.