By Jason Myler, Managing Director at Brown Gibbons Lang & Company (BGL) - 1.12.2026
After several years of disruption and recalibration following COVID, the restaurant technology M&A market is beginning to move with greater clarity and purpose. While 2025 did not represent a full return to peak deal activity, it marked a meaningful improvement over 2024 and reinforced the direction the market is heading. Improving operating performance across many restaurant technology businesses, combined with the aging of venture and private equity investments made between 2017 and 2021, is creating the conditions for increased consolidation.
The restaurant technology sector remains highly fragmented, with a broad array of point solutions serving front-of-house, back-of-house, and enterprise-level needs. Over the past few years, that fragmentation has persisted largely because market uncertainty and depressed valuation multiples delayed exit timelines. As we move into 2026, those delays are becoming increasingly difficult to sustain. Investors are further along in their holding periods, and companies that have not met growth expectations are facing increased pressure to pursue strategic outcomes.
As a result, we expect consolidation to become a defining theme in 2026, driven by a combination of sponsor-led platform strategies, selective strategic acquisitions, and an increased focus on scale, profitability, and defensible differentiation.
2025 showed signs of progress, not resolution
From a market perspective, 2025 can best be described as a year of incremental progress. According to PitchBook, mergers and acquisitions involving restaurant technology providers rose by 45% in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024. Deal activity improved relative to 2024, but it remained uneven across the sector. Some businesses have scaled efficiently coming out of the pandemic and are performing well, while others continue to struggle with customer attrition, slower growth, or margin pressure. This divergence is increasingly shaping buyer behavior.
The improvement in 2025 was not driven by a broad resurgence of strategic acquirers. Many public restaurant technology companies remained focused on internal execution and balance sheet discipline rather than large-scale M&A. Instead, much of the activity was driven by private equity-backed platforms and a small number of non-traditional buyers looking to expand their presence in the restaurant ecosystem.
Notable transactions helped restore confidence among buyers and sellers, demonstrating that high-quality assets can still command strong valuations in the right circumstances. At the same time, these deals underscored an important reality: this is not a rising-tide market. Performance dispersion matters, and asset selection has become paramount.
Private equity positioned to drive consolidation
Looking ahead, private equity is expected to play an increasingly central role in restaurant technology M&A. Capital invested prior to and during the pandemic is now well into its lifecycle, and while COVID extended timelines for many investments, it did not eliminate the need for liquidity. As operating performance stabilizes and visibility improves, sponsors are more willing to re-engage.
That said, sponsor activity remains highly selective. Buyers are prioritizing businesses with clear paths to scale, strong customer retention, and defensible unit economics. High-performing companies with differentiated offerings continue to attract premium valuations. For others, outcomes are more likely to come through platform-building strategies, where multiple complementary businesses are combined under a single sponsor.
In many cases, private equity firms are more comfortable backing a broader platform than a single sub-scale asset. Bringing together two or three solutions with overlapping customer bases or complementary functionality can create a more compelling value proposition, both operationally and strategically. We expect these types of transactions to become more common in 2026, particularly among back-of-house and operational software providers.
Strategic buyers remain selective
While strategic buyers are expected to re-enter the market selectively, they are unlikely to drive overall volume in the near term. Public companies continue to focus on profitability, integration, and organic growth initiatives. When they do pursue acquisitions, those deals are likely to be targeted and aligned closely with existing product roadmaps.
Non-traditional buyers, including payments providers and adjacent technology platforms, have played a more active role over the past year. These buyers are often looking to move closer to the restaurant operator, expand their product footprint, or enhance data and analytics capabilities. Their participation adds an additional layer of complexity to the competitive landscape but also broadens the pool of potential acquirers for certain assets.
AI shifts from experimentation to expectation
One of the most significant developments heading into 2026 is the evolving role of artificial intelligence within restaurant technology. Over the past year, there has been a clear shift in how companies approach AI. What was once viewed as experimental or theoretical is now being evaluated as a practical tool to address labor constraints, improve efficiency, and enable better decision-making for restaurant operators.
In 2026, AI is expected to influence both product strategy and M&A decision-making. On the product side, solutions that enable automation, predictive analytics, and operational insight will continue to gain traction. On the company side, acquirers will increasingly evaluate how effectively management teams are using data and AI internally to support customers and drive efficiency.
While many AI-focused companies in the restaurant ecosystem remain early-stage, larger platforms are paying close attention. As use cases become clearer and adoption increases, AI-related capabilities are likely to play a growing role in acquisition strategies, either through internal development or targeted M&A.
Elevated diligence standards remain the norm
As activity increases, diligence standards remain elevated. Buyers are focused on understanding customer behavior at a granular level, including trends in gross and net retention, churn by customer cohort, and performance differences across restaurant segments. Being able to explain why metrics are moving in a particular direction, and to support those explanations with clean, well-organized data, is critical.
For founders, preparation is increasingly important. Companies that invest early in understanding their customer data, segmenting performance by restaurant type and ownership structure, and anticipating diligence questions will be better positioned in a transaction process. Valuation expectations should also reflect current market realities, as the multiples seen in 2021 and 2022 are no longer representative of today’s environment.
Looking ahead
Taken together, these dynamics point to a market that is becoming more disciplined and more decisive. The restaurant technology sector remains attractive, but success in 2026 will depend on scale, execution, and realistic expectations. Founders should focus on building durable businesses with clear value propositions and strong operating fundamentals. Investors, meanwhile, will continue to differentiate between assets that warrant premium valuations and those that require consolidation to unlock value.
After several years of uncertainty, restaurant technology M&A is regaining momentum. The next phase will be defined less by speculation and more by execution.
Jason Myler is a Managing Director and a leader within the Technology team at Brown Gibbons Lang & Company (BGL), a leading independent investment bank and financial advisory firm focused on the global middle market. He heads investment banking activities for the Restaurant & Retail Technology, Travel & Hospitality Technology, Real Estate Technology, and Field Service Management Technology sectors. He has spent his 25+ year career advising clients in buy- and sell-side M&A, IPO, private capital raising, and debt capital markets transactions. His primary focus is on vertical market software and the convergence of software and payments.
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