Alex Canter, CEO of Nextbite and Ordermark explains the difference between virtual restaurants and ghost kitchens. Both exist online, with no physical storefront. A report by Statista predicted online food delivery revenue will reach over $324 billion in 2022. Virtual Restaurants - only exist online, work with existing restaurants and kitchens. Helps increase productivity of their kitchen and labor, increase revenue and margins. Ghost Kitchens - Physical kitchens designed off-premise (pick-up and delivery only). Some have 30 or more individual commercial kitchens for rent and one area for delivery drivers to pick up. These kitchens house many brands and new local restaurants for a rent fee. Virtual restaurants require great marketing strategies, such as digital marketing, SEO, social media, professional photography and menu design. Some of the strategies suggested for success are utilising and being part of apps, focusing on the reviews, setting up a website.

Biometric Technology is being implemented in restaurants offering better health and safety, personalised dining experiences and efficient payment methods. Restaurants are using facial recognition for the following: 1. Contactless payments - scanning customers' faces for safe payment verification. 2. Social distancing and capacity measures - helps identify proximity between individuals and tracks number of people inside a store. 3. Loyalty programs and personalized dining - opted-in diners are recognized as VIPs giving them personalized service and suggesting past preferences. 4. Fast-food restaurants - customers don't need to remember a password or long into an app. Facial recognition is being implemented in drive-through lines to save time. 5. Employee systems - technologies can check body temperature and accuracy of mask wearing, it also simplifies cocking in and out and gives them login access to the POS terminals.

4.15 billiion are active in social networks, this shows social network has a big impact on travelers' decisions. Keywords such as "safe travel" became popular after Covid 19. Hashtags are useful in order to create brand awareness in social media, put hotels on map, making them searchable and creating brand authenticity. Social cause campaigns improve how hotels interact with customers and it helps generate leads. Influencer marketing is a form of word of mouth on social media platforms. Collaboration with influencers in Youtube, TikTok, etc is a good idea since they have their own follower base targeting some of the biggest customer segments in hospitality. The holdbacks of incfluencers marketing should be considered.

Many restaurants are adapting to a new reality. Some of the digital trends to watch in 2022 are as follows: 1. Online ordering systems and delivery apps - Food delivery market worth more than $150 billion globally. 2. Contactless payment estimated to triple from $2 trillion to $6 trillion by 2024. 3. Online table reservation system such as Open table Experiences initiative offering unique culinary events and dinner experiences. 4. Digital kitchen boards such as KDS, a digital menu board for kitchen staff linked to the restaurant's POI which displays orders automatically and efficiently. 5. Automated inventory management software tracking food and beverage stocks, anticipating quantities and scheduling reorders. 6. QR codes that allow customers to access menus online, order and pay. 7. Air purification technology like bipolar ionization and ultraviolet light.