FAST FACTS:
Founded: 1994 in Tokyo
Global Reach: 538+ stores in 17 countries
U.S. Development Pipeline: 75 stores slated to open in the next 4 years
Franchise Goal: 1,000+ locations worldwide within 5 years
Tech Partners: 19+ SaaS and hardware providers
At Pepper Lunch, the plate sizzles at 500 degrees — and the tech stack is just as hot.
Many restaurant tech stacks are duct-taped together. That’s ineffective and expensive. So what do you do when more than a dozen different tools still can’t do what you need.
If you’re Troy Hooper you and your team rebuild the tech stack yourself — and make it scalable enough to power hundreds of locations.
At Pepper Lunch in Las Vegas, I sat down with Troy Hooper, CEO of Pepper Lunch North America, to get a behind-the-scenes look at how this DIY teppanyaki fast-casual juggernaut is building for the future — not just with sizzling plates, but with one of the most sophisticated restaurant tech stacks in the industry.
Here’s a full rundown of the tools powering Pepper Lunch’s operations, growth, and guest experience across 538+ global locations.
🎥 Watch the full conversation embedded above
📊 Explore the tech stack, links, and insights below
TECH STACK RUNDOWN
Here are the main systems powering Pepper Lunch’s U.S. operations — from point-of-sale to reputation managment:
1. Toast
Function: Point of Sale, KDS, and foundational integration layer
Why it matters: Toast acts as the backbone of the entire tech ecosystem, enabling plug-and-play compatibility with other tools.
“Everything is sort of built on Toast... it integrates with just about every one of our other partners.” — Troy Hooper
2. Restaurant365 (R365)
Function: Inventory, financial reporting, and operations management
Focus: Corporate and franchise-level performance insights
3. Grubbrr
Function: Self-service kiosks + digital menu boards
Rollout Site: Irvine Spectrum, used by guests and Walchef Wolfpack firsthand
4. Momos
Function: Reputation management and sentiment monitoring
Capability: Unified inbox for reviews, comments, and brand mentions across platforms
“Allows us to listen to the world… and answer all of those in one place.” — Troy Hooper
5. Ovation
Function: Real-time guest feedback tool
Strength: Captures sentiment before it goes public; prompts actionable service recovery opportunities
6. Adentro
Function: Wi-Fi marketing and hyperlocal customer targeting
CRM Depth: Taps into 260+ million U.S. consumers for microtargeting
Example: Geo-targeting potential guests within a 3-mile radius of any Pepper Lunch
7. Franchise Systems AI
Function: Proprietary operating system for franchise operations
Scope: Built in collaboration out of necessity when no other solution existed
Analogy: "Microsoft Windows for franchise businesses"
Origin: Replaces 18+ disjointed SaaS tools for a unified franchisor-franchisee system
“We ended up being the customer who built the thing that didn’t exist.” — Troy Hooper
📺 Watch Troy’s Podcast: The Pineapple Perspective
💼 Connect on LinkedIn: Troy Hooper
🌐 Restaurant Website: pepperlunchrestaurants.com
