TL;DR
Shake Shack is scaling hospitality through technology and AI with Project Catalyst, aiming to expand from 400 to 1,500 company-owned US locations. The company's chief information and technology officer, Justin Mennen, discussed the initiative's four pillars, including a new POS and KDS, loyalty program, Shack AI, and data foundation.
Fast Casual Nation goes live for the first time, recorded in front of a studio audience of restaurant operators and suppliers at the annual Fast Casual Executive Summit, Oct. 5 in Arlington, Texas. Hosts Paul Barron and Cherryh Cansler start with Brittney Wilganowski Harrison of HigherMe on hiring Gen Z, flexible scheduling and why referrals still matter.
Then, they sit down with Justin Mennen, chief information and technology officer at Shake Shack, to talk aboutProject Catalyst, the company's plan to scale from roughly 400 company-owned U.S. locations to 1,500.
Mennen breaks down the four pillars of the initiative (a new POS and KDS, the brand's first loyalty program, Shack AI and a data foundation), explains why Shake Shack is keeping AI out of the drive-thru, and shares what the kiosk data is showing about check size.
The episode wraps with an audience poll on technology priorities and a lightning round on IoT, cross-department alignment and loyalty without discounting.
In this story
This story was originally published in FastCasual on October 28, 2026. Burnaze summarizes and links to the original reporting.
Read the full story at FastCasualLiked this? Get the week's franchise news, explained
- Sunday 8 AM ET weekly + a monthly deep dive
- Sections picked for the industries you follow
- Every claim linked to its source. Free.