MURTEC 2026 Recap: XPR POS After Dark
MURTEC 2026 brought over 1,000 restaurant technology executives and solution providers to Caesars Palace in Las Vegas from March 9–11. For the XPR POS team, this year's conference was a milestone — packed with high-impact conversations on the expo floor, deep-dive sessions on AI and automation, and the honor of sponsoring the sold-out MURTEC After Dark party. Here is our recap of the key themes, trends, and takeaways from the biggest week in restaurant technology.
The Show Floor: Where Conversations Become Partnerships
The MURTEC exhibit hall opened Monday evening and stayed active through Tuesday and Wednesday, drawing a steady stream of operators, technology leaders, and decision-makers. Our booth was a hub for live demonstrations of the XPR cloud-based kiosk platform, kitchen display system, and real-time reporting dashboard.
What stood out this year was the quality of conversations. VPs of Technology and Directors of F&B Operations from multi-unit brands came with specific challenges — reducing labor pressure, improving order accuracy, and unifying technology across dozens or hundreds of locations. These are exactly the problems XPR POS is built to solve.
The MURTEC University breakout sessions on Monday set the tone, with tracks covering vendor negotiation strategies, autonomous restaurant operations, and the RTN Tech Standards Lab. Tuesday's general sessions and afternoon breakouts kept the momentum going, with standing-room-only panels on next-generation loyalty programs and payment system modernization.
Self-Service and Automation: The Dominant Theme
If there was one theme that cut across every conversation on the show floor, it was self-service. The global self-service kiosk market is projected to grow from approximately $14.5 billion in 2025 to over $25 billion by 2030, driven by a compound annual growth rate above 12 percent. For restaurant operators specifically, the ROI case is becoming impossible to ignore — kiosks consistently drive 12 to 20 percent higher average ticket sizes compared to cashier-assisted ordering, with some operators reporting increases as high as 30 percent.
Beyond revenue lift, operators are seeing meaningful reductions in wait times — up to 40 percent in high-volume environments. Combined with AI-powered dynamic upselling and personalization, self-service kiosks are evolving from a labor-saving tool into a genuine revenue channel. The conversations at MURTEC made clear that the question for multi-unit operators is no longer whether to deploy kiosks, but how fast they can scale them across their footprint.
XPR POS is purpose-built for this shift. Our platform integrates with leading POS systems including Oracle Simphony, Par POS, Heartland, and Genesis — giving operators the flexibility to deploy self-service kiosks without ripping out their existing infrastructure. Whether running a 50-location QSR chain or managing food and beverage across a stadium or airport, XPR connects the kiosk experience directly to the systems operators already rely on.
AI Summit: A New Chapter for MURTEC
This year marked the debut of the AI Summit at MURTEC, a full-day program on Wednesday dedicated to helping restaurant leaders build practical AI strategies. From networking breakfast through the closing happy hour, sessions covered everything from AI-driven kitchen optimization to building an AI-ready organization from the ground up.
The AI Summit signaled a clear shift in the industry's posture toward artificial intelligence. The conversation has moved past experimentation and into operational deployment — how do you integrate AI into existing workflows without disrupting service, and where does the ROI show up first? For XPR POS, the answers align directly with our product roadmap. AI-powered voice ordering, intelligent upsell recommendations, and predictive analytics are all areas where we are actively investing.
MURTEC After Dark: Sponsored by XPR POS
The highlight of Tuesday evening — and arguably the entire conference — was MURTEC After Dark, and XPR POS was proud to be the official sponsor.
Held from 9:00 PM to 11:00 PM at the Victoria Room on Caesar's Rooftop, the event sold out well in advance. Themed "Electric Connections," the evening transformed the rooftop venue into a neon-lit lounge high above the Las Vegas Strip. Guests enjoyed electric entertainment, signature cocktails, and bold bites while connecting with peers in the most relaxed setting of the conference.
For our team, sponsoring MURTEC After Dark was about more than brand visibility. It was an opportunity to bring together the restaurant technology community — operators, innovators, and partners — in an environment designed for the kind of honest, unscripted conversations that drive real progress. The energy in the room confirmed what we already believed: this industry is ready to move fast, and the leaders in attendance are the ones making it happen.
A huge thank you to everyone who joined us at the Victoria Room. The event was standing room only, and the connections made that evening will fuel partnerships and innovation well beyond MURTEC 2026.
Looking Ahead
MURTEC 2026 reinforced a clear message: the restaurant industry's technology adoption curve is accelerating, and operators who invest in self-service, automation, and AI-driven operations will lead the next era of growth. For XPR POS, the conversations, partnerships, and energy from this week validate our focus on building a platform that scales with the ambitions of the world's most demanding foodservice operators.
We are already looking forward to MURTEC 2027 — but we are not waiting until then to deliver. If you are evaluating self-service kiosks, modernizing your POS stack, or planning a technology rollout across multiple locations, reach out to our team or request a demo. Let's continue the conversation.