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Bill Lindsey on 50 Years of Restaurant Tech, Casino Lessons, and AI’s Next Chapter
In this episode of the Restaurant AI Podcast, Matt Wampler, Co-Founder and CEO of ClearCOGS, sits down with Bill Lindsey, Partner and Co-Founder of COGS-Well. Bill’s journey started as a dishwasher at Farrell’s Ice Cream and took him through the Las Vegas Strip—where he learned operations on casino floors, lived through federal raids at the Stardust, and watched “learned intelligence” evolve into the systems we now call AI.
With five decades spanning kitchens, casinos, and code, Bill reflects on the timeless problems of restaurants, why human resistance to change has always been the biggest obstacle to innovation, and how AI could finally remove friction from tasks as fundamental as counting a register or tracking inventory. He also shares how Cogs-Well rethought recipe logic, the role of “workarounds” in building great software, and why the most powerful technology lessons come from lived experience.
This wide-ranging conversation blends history, war stories, and practical insights—showing how yesterday’s lessons can prepare restaurants to adopt AI with clarity, creativity, and control.
Episode Links:
Connect with Bill on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bill-lindsey775
Learn more about COGS-Well: https://www.cogs-well.com/
Connect with Matt on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewjwampler
Visit ClearCOGS: https://www.clearcogs.com
00:00 Intro
01:53 Welcome, Bill Lindsey!
03:00 Bill's vast history with restaurant technology
05:40 AI's role in solving human problems
09:30 Bill's history with restaurant accounting
12:21 From Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour to Las Vegas
15:49 Las Vegas in the '70s
18:40 Handling money issues for Vegas casinos
22:30 Bill's involvement in the real life 'Casino'
27:30 The tech stack of the 1970's
32:50 AI bringing us back to simpler technology
36:20 Learned intelligence vs artificial intelligence
42:51 COGS-Well
54:54 Understanding programming through business logic
1:03:40 The future of back-of-house software
1:09:11 What do you want from AI
1:12:20 Building back-of-house software
1:31:45 The future of the restaurant industry
1:34:16 Solving the money issue
1:35:17 Outro
View all episodes
By Matt WamplerIn this episode of the Restaurant AI Podcast, Matt Wampler, Co-Founder and CEO of ClearCOGS, sits down with Bill Lindsey, Partner and Co-Founder of COGS-Well. Bill’s journey started as a dishwasher at Farrell’s Ice Cream and took him through the Las Vegas Strip—where he learned operations on casino floors, lived through federal raids at the Stardust, and watched “learned intelligence” evolve into the systems we now call AI.
With five decades spanning kitchens, casinos, and code, Bill reflects on the timeless problems of restaurants, why human resistance to change has always been the biggest obstacle to innovation, and how AI could finally remove friction from tasks as fundamental as counting a register or tracking inventory. He also shares how Cogs-Well rethought recipe logic, the role of “workarounds” in building great software, and why the most powerful technology lessons come from lived experience.
This wide-ranging conversation blends history, war stories, and practical insights—showing how yesterday’s lessons can prepare restaurants to adopt AI with clarity, creativity, and control.
Episode Links:
Connect with Bill on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bill-lindsey775
Learn more about COGS-Well: https://www.cogs-well.com/
Connect with Matt on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewjwampler
Visit ClearCOGS: https://www.clearcogs.com
00:00 Intro
01:53 Welcome, Bill Lindsey!
03:00 Bill's vast history with restaurant technology
05:40 AI's role in solving human problems
09:30 Bill's history with restaurant accounting
12:21 From Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour to Las Vegas
15:49 Las Vegas in the '70s
18:40 Handling money issues for Vegas casinos
22:30 Bill's involvement in the real life 'Casino'
27:30 The tech stack of the 1970's
32:50 AI bringing us back to simpler technology
36:20 Learned intelligence vs artificial intelligence
42:51 COGS-Well
54:54 Understanding programming through business logic
1:03:40 The future of back-of-house software
1:09:11 What do you want from AI
1:12:20 Building back-of-house software
1:31:45 The future of the restaurant industry
1:34:16 Solving the money issue
1:35:17 Outro