Can AI bring the human touch back to food and drink?
Ahead of the DB Conference, panelist and Preferabli AI co-founder and CEO Pam Dillon tells Eloise Feilden why artificial intelligence is the key to unlocking better storytelling and higher-quality service in the F&B industry.
“If somebody wants to give up, they don’t want to be part of the digital world, I harbour no judgement, but nor do I harbour hope for their future,” says Pam Dillon.
It’s a bold statement – one which has the potential to ruffle some feathers – but it reflects Dillon’s bullish stance on technology in the food and drinks space.
A former finance exec, Dillon began building an AI platform with Preferabli co-founder Andrew Sussman “a dozen years ago before anybody knew anything about AI”.
Both had experience integrating hardware and software into hospitality and retail platforms, and wanted to tap into the consumer shift towards an “experience economy” – one where people were willing to spend their disposable income on creating memorable and long-lasting experiences as well as on products themselves.
This was the initial spark which led, all those years ago, to the turn towards artificial intelligence.
“We started to build the platform because we knew that digital technologies were the lever, effectively; they were the one thing that would change the most by way of creating these experiences,” Dillon says.
And the technology has always been geared towards enhancing consumer experience.
Dillon says the aim was never to develop “the next whiz bang technology to be able to walk around and talk”.
Instead, “for us this is much, much more a matter of creating a positive change in the world, especially in the face of what the wine and spirits industry is looking at right now”.
Partner Content
Consumer preferences are changing, and have caused a pullback in global alcohol consumption. In 2025, the drinks space faces particularly challenging prospects, with a global trade war hiking tariffs and the scientific community raising health concerns around alcohol.
Even in the face of these challenges, Dillon is just as bullish about the survival of alcoholic drinks, and the rituals that surround them, as she is the future of AI.
“Eight thousand years of tradition can’t be wrong,” she says. “I believe in the magic of wine and spirits, and I believe that however deep the economic and political challenges are running right now, I believe this industry has the ability to meet every single one of those head on with the most beautiful stories ever told and with the most exquisite service ever created.”
Dillon shrugs off the common fears around AI development – fears that the robots are taking over our jobs, or that the use of AI will degrade the quality of experience.
In fact, Dillon argues artificial intelligence just enhances it.
“I think the first thing that any person should do today in the world that we live in surrounded by AI is to ask themselves what they love to do, what they do well as a person,” she says. “Chances are, it’s not what AI does well.”
Dillon argues that AI’s role in shaping experiences in the food and drinks space leaves people to shape the most important elements – the ones which bring the human touch.
“The crazy, happy truth is that people don’t want to do Excel spreadsheets for their inventory. Most people don’t want to analyse historic sales […], most people don’t want to go out and research every Cabernet in Napa in order to find the right ones for their list,” she says. “All of a sudden, these machines are doing things that we really don’t want to do.”
The next and most critical step, then, is acceptance. As Dillon puts it: “What people in the industry need to realise is that they’re walking around with all the ammunition that they need to use AI and then sit on top of it; use it to power them even better, faster, stronger than they already are, and do what they love, which is to tell the stories.”
Pam Dillon will be a panellist at this year’s DB Conference taking place in London on 8 October. Click here to secure your ticket.
Related news
Wines of Hungary makes central Europe the centre of attention
Trinity Hill taps into rising demand for white wines in Asia
