How it Works
With data covering everything from where customers eat to how much they spend, SignalFlare can predict how a $1 price change will ripple through traffic, check averages, and even customer satisfaction.
SignalFlare’s approach uses advanced AI and machine learning to help restaurants navigate complex economic landscapes. By analyzing mobile data, credit card transactions, and local economic indicators, Signal Flare provides restaurants with precise insights into pricing, promotions, and customer behavior.
With seven full-time employees and a dozen contractors, SignalFlare has already attracted clients like Habit Burger, First Watch, and Velvet Taco. Their mission: empower restaurants of all sizes to make data-driven decisions with unprecedented accuracy.
Modeling Consumer Behavior
After decades building predictive pricing models for RMS, Czar Metrics/ Fishbowl—Lukianoff saw the pandemic break traditional methods. That’s when he started over, designing SignalFlare from the ground up with new data and new thinking.
Instead of relying solely on historic demand, he tapped into mobile device data, credit card panels, local economic reports, and even detailed restaurant-level information collected online. This bottom-up approach aimed not just to provide marketing and pricing insights, but to uncover “the fundamentals of demand” driving each restaurant.
The early tests with smaller restaurant chains exceeded expectations. By layering in point-of-sale data with these new datasets, the models proved far “more robust, predictive, and accurate” than traditional approaches, he said. Signal Flare was born.
What’s Next
SignalFlare is moving beyond pricing to become a full decision-intelligence platform. By combining mobile, credit card, POS, and local economic data, the platform lets restaurants simulate how changes in pricing, promotions, or media spend will impact traffic, check averages, and customer satisfaction. Operators can test scenarios before making real-world decisions, reducing risk and improving outcomes. Next, SignalFlare plans to extend these models into promotions, media mix, and development strategy, turning data into actionable insights across every aspect of restaurant operations.
Start-Up Alley 2026
The RTN Start-Up Alley competition at MURTEC 2025: Experience Matters, drew some of the most promising new ideas in restaurant technology, offering a glimpse at the future of the industry, featuring 15 start-ups. Applications for the 2026 RTN Start-Up Alley at MURTEC will open later this year.
