Will Synthetic Data Drive 80% of all Restaurant Decisions?

Carl is joined by Rishi Nigam, CEO of Franklin Junction, to break down the most important stories shaping restaurants and consumer technology as we close out 2025. From GoPuff’s latest funding round to Cloudflare’s massive outage and the rising role of synthetic data, this episode looks at how operators should prepare for a rapidly changing year ahead. 

Topics covered:

• GoPuff’s new funding and whether it signals discipline or deeper trouble

• Q4 softness and why consumer spending may diverge sharply by income level in 2026

• Kroger’s closure of e-commerce fulfillment centers and what it means for delivery economics

• How synthetic data is reshaping forecasting, pricing, and marketing

• Why Cloudflare’s outage shows every restaurant needs a real contingency plan

Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
01:00 GoPuff funding analysis
06:00 Consumer spending outlook for 2026
12:00 Kroger closes fulfillment centers
15:00 Synthetic data and the 80 percent prediction
22:00 Cloudflare outage and industry risk

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Happy Thanksgiving from The Digital Restaurant.

Chapters

• 0:00 TDR 11-24-25
• 0:42 Q1 - GoPuff Funding news
• 5:23 Q2 .Consumer Spending to grow in 2026
• 11:34 Q3. Kroeger closes fulfillment centers
• 14:54 Q4. Will synethetic data drive 80% of decisions by 2028?
• 21:24 Q5 - Cloudflare outage what does it mean for restaurants