Australia’s top hospitality innovators reveal three key trends transforming small business operations in 2025

With rising operating costs facing hospitality businesses more than ever, how are growing businesses finding new ways to increase revenue and create amazing experiences?

Australia’s most innovative hospitality software partners revealed the key trends transforming businesses across food and dining at Tyro’s 2025 Hospitality Partner Powerhouse.

1) New ways to boost bookings, topline growth using AI

An increasing number of hospitality businesses are turning to AI to execute easily automated tasks and boost revenue. Today’s AI systems can handle complex reservation requests, manage overflow calls, predict inventory needs, and provide valuable data insights that help optimise everything from staff scheduling to table configurations.

Founder and CEO of Axify.AI Bianca Brady said this technology is not replacing the human touch but enhancing and allowing staff to focus on delivering exceptional in-person experiences.

“We worked with a fine-dining restaurant to help them with reservations and enquires they receive via phone, during one of their busiest months. We implemented the AI so that it’s human first, and AI for overflow calls, so if someone’s on the phone or can’t get to the phone AI steps in,” Ms Brady said.

“Throughout the month of January, we took 859 phone calls for them just in overflow, of which close to 200 of those were converted into reservations. So that would have been straight missed revenue for them, just because they couldn’t answer the phone. It saved somewhere between 20 and 40 hours a week of the team being on the phones and they can turn more focus to serving customers.”

Brady said Axify.AI use agentic AI, which is built and designed to handle complex use cases.

“The AI can handle large parties, credit card preauthorisation, set menus and so on, it can make decisions and think and act on behalf of the operator to actually secure that reservation, whether it’s later in the evening or the following day, or putting them on a wait list because there’s no availability, it will make those decisions in real time,” she said.

Chris Mavris, Chief Operating Officer of Brooklyn Donuts, said stock availability and production is key to revenue growth for franchise businesses which rely on visible stock volume to create a consistent in-venue experience for returning customers. Chris said utilising AI to provide insight into how to better manage stock could be key to growth for franchisees.

“We’re about to launch a donut production predictor, scraping the data from our current sales we’ll be able to tell all our stores what donuts they need to make for what day of the week, Mr Mavris said.

“AI will help them with their ordering and wastage… for example, how much chocolate the business owner needs to melt to keep the chocolate fresh. If they’re running out of a certain donut every day at one o’clock, they’re obviously not making enough donuts, but without being able to see that data they don’t know that.

“Automating tasks that are not about the in-store experience, gives them time to spend more time on the front counter rather than sitting on their computer pulling data.”

2) Card matching technology key to increasing revenue through loyalty programs

An increasing number of businesses are offering loyalty programs to generate personalised offers and experiences for their customers.

Impact Data’s Sarah Franklyn said too many hospitality loyalty programs rely on the customer self-identifying as a loyalty member, which is a friction point causing operators to miss the full revenue opportunity of those customers.

“What we’re seeing is that currently on average only 8% of a business’s loyalty database is identifying themselves, if the process involves self-identifying as a loyalty customer via showing a card or providing membership details at the point of sale. This means that small businesses are blind to the buying habits of more than 90% of their engaged loyalty program customer base,” Ms Franklyn said.

“This is a huge, missed opportunity for businesses who could be tailoring offers, experiences and new products to existing repeat customers, missing out on so much potential revenue from customers who already love what you’re selling.”

“In order to reduce this friction, loyalty needs to be embedded into operational systems and this is where card matching technology is game changing,” Ms Franklyn said.

Tyro’s card matching API technology allows businesses to match a customer’s card to their purchases across multiple payment touch points securely, without the business storing sensitive card numbers or personal information. Purchasing patterns can be attributed to a single customer when they pay via an in-store terminal, QR-code or digital app, without the need to scan their loyalty card.

3) More businesses want to BYO hardware for POS Systems

The option to ‘Bring Your Own’ hardware for Point of Sale (POS) systems is becoming increasingly popular amongst business owners.

Amy Renae, General Manager of POS software provider Shift8, says this trend represents a significant shift from 10 years ago when there was proprietary hardware and software that couldn’t be uncoupled, and that BYO will soon become the norm.

“Business owners want the flexibility to select their own hardware, whether that’s iPads, Windows or Android devices. This choice allows them to use technology that best fits their specific business needs and preferences,” Ms Renae explained.

“We are observing this trend across all types of businesses, from sole traders to franchises and corporate chains. They appreciate not having to reinvest in hardware, making the decision easier as they can get excellent software while using their existing hardware.

“Tyro’s Tap to Pay technology enables businesses to use their preferred hardware, provided it supports NFC technology and runs a recent iOS or Android operating system. The chosen hardware can be embedded into an NFC-enabled POS system or device, allowing merchants can process payments effortlessly without the need for a separate terminal.

“Businesses can have Tyro powered payments embedded into their Android kiosk or alike, rather than having a separate terminal rental cost or just an additional piece of equipment in store that staff need to learn how to use and maintain,” Ms Renae added.

Media Enquiries
Lucy Rowles | media@tyro.com

About Tyro 

In 2003, Tyro set out to make payments the easiest part of doing business. Today, we’re still into business big time, powering more than 73,000 merchants across Australia with in-store, online and on-the-go payment solutions. Working with more than 700 partners, we create seamless payment experiences for hospitality, retail, services and health providers, with integrated banking and lending solutions designed to help unlock the potential of every business. For more information visit tyro.com/products .