In this episode of Captive Conversations, Adam speaks with Ed Christmas, Managing Director of Bums on Seats — one of the most influential voices in hospitality sales, bookings, and operational efficiency.

Ed shares how fragmented systems, under-utilised CRMs, and broken booking processes quietly drain revenue — often up to 30% of business turnover due to inefficiencies alone. 

Together they explore:

✔ The leaking bucket analogy and how brands can immediately plug revenue gaps 

✔ Why “tech should only enhance, never replace” in hospitality 

✔ How to streamline enquiry management and pre-booked sales

✔ What operators should do before investing in new marketing or paid ads

✔ The future of bookings, benchmarking and data-driven decision-making

✔ Ed’s new AI-powered tool Heidi, now live in 50+ venues, built to give operators real-time clarity on performance, forecasting and conversions 

This episode is packed with practical insights for restaurant groups, pubs, bars, competitive socialising venues, and hospitality marketers looking to drive measurable results.

Keywords: hospitality bookings, restaurant CRM, Bums on Seats, hospitality data, pre-booked sales, restaurant marketing, Captive Conversations, hospitality tech, operational efficiency

From pulling pints in Welsh pubs to building one of hospitality’s most connected marketing communities — Glenda Barber shares her journey from Brains Brewery to Bloom Marketing and the creation of Team Marketing IRL.

In this Captive Conversations episode, Glenda and host Adam Forman explore how hospitality marketers can build authentic communities, foster collaboration, and create meaningful customer connections.

💬 Topics:

• Hospitality marketing trends for 2025

• How to build a marketing community that lasts

• The power of empathy in branding

• What Team Marketing IRL means for the industry

#HospitalityPodcast #BloomMarketing #CaptiveConversations #HospitalityMarketing #MarketingCommunity

Two engineers. One mission: make dining safe for everyone.

In this episode, Adam chats with Eve and Alana, founders of Served, the tech company redefining allergen transparency across hospitality. From their early research at university to partnerships with Dishoom, Techstars, and Hawksmoor, they’re showing how empathy can drive innovation.

🎧 Topics:

• Highlights:

  💡 Turning lived experience into scalable hospitality tech

  🍽️ Working with over 100 restaurants to perfect the product

  📊 Why 40% of orders include allergens — and what that means for brands

  ⚙️ Behind the scenes at Techstars and their US journey

  ❤️ Making dining out safe, inclusive, and joyful again

📈 Fun fact: 40% of restaurant orders now include allergy notes — and Served is helping teams handle that confidently.

If you work in hospitality or just love eating out safely, this one’s for you.

#ServedApp #CaptiveConversations #HospitalityInnovation #FoodAllergies #TechForGood

In this episode of Captive Conversations, Adam Foreman sits down with Matt Serwin, Director of Partnerships at Klaviyo, to discuss how hospitality operators can use data to truly understand their guests.

💡 Highlights:

• How Toast and OpenTable data power personalisation

• Why first-party data is the foundation of real loyalty

• What AI means for guest experience

• How to shift from vanity metrics to actionable insight

🎙️ “Data should make marketing smarter, not harder.”

Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get yours.

#CaptiveConversations #HospitalityTech #Klaviyo #CRM #DataInsights

.In this episode of Captive Conversations, I sit down with Charlton Santana, founder of HeyGuest, to explore how messaging, automation, and AI are quietly rewriting the rules of hospitality.

From working front-of-house to building a platform used by hotels and short-term rentals, Charlton shares how he turned guest frustrations into a product that serves teams and guests equally.

We talk about:

💬 Why messaging is becoming the new front desk

🤖 How AI removes repetition — not humanity

🧠 The danger of “data wallpaper” and forgotten feedback

✨ Why your loyal guests should be your focus group

🌍 Benchmarking innovation outside the hospitality bubble

Quote to remember:

If you’re in hotels or hospitality tech and want to evolve how you communicate, this one is full of real, actionable insight.

🎙️ Follow Captive Conversations for more honest talks with the people building the future of hospitality.

“Guests don’t want another app — they just want an answer, fast.”

Better Conversations, Not More Apps.

In this episode of Captive Conversations, Adam Forman chats with Guy Weiss about the chaos of communication — and how ZenZap is bringing calm, clarity, and connection back to workplace messaging.

From noisy notifications to meaningful moments, we unpack:
• The real reason internal comms fail
• How AI can help teams breathe, not burn out
• Why simplicity always wins in complex industries
• How to build tech that listens instead of shouting

💡 Quote from Guy:

“Technology should feel like teamwork, not traffic.”

🎧 Listen now on Spotify — and if you’ve ever felt buried in messages, this one’s for you.

#CaptiveConversations #ZenZap #Messaging #TeamCulture #HospitalityTech

Richard Liverman: Brand DNA & The Power of Ambassadors

What do food, stories, and ambassadors all have in common? They’re at the heart of building brands that last.

In this episode of Captive Conversations, I sit down with Richard Liverman to talk about:

✨ Why brand DNA is more powerful than just marketing

✨ The role of ambassadors in scaling businesses

✨ Why curiosity is key for growth

✨ His challenge to hospitality: stop saying “we’ve always done it this way”

And of course – his reminder to all of us: “Don’t be boring. Be a little more amazing.”

🎙️ Episode 68 of Captive Conversations welcomes Olivia FitzGerald, Managing Director of 125 Data & Insights.

Olivia shares her journey from:

✅ Early days in hospitality at Quaglino’s

✅ Scaling online reservations at Livebookings & Bookatable

✅ Leading sales & marketing at Zonal

✅ Running B2B at Majestic Wine

✅ Transforming Feed It Back into 125 Data & Insights

Key themes we cover:

• Why operators must be brave enough to really listen to customers

• The danger of vanity metrics vs. actionable insight

• How AI and advisory boards are shaping the future of guest experience

• Why acquisition is expensive — and retention is where the value lies

📢 Quote:

“Feedback is the start. Insights are where the growth happens.”

🎧 Listen on Spotify, watch on YouTube, and follow Captive Conversations for more industry stories.

In this episode of Captive Conversations, I sit down with Victoria Searl, founder of DataHawks, to unpack her career from running pubs at 18, to senior sales & marketing leadership, to building a platform designed to turn hospitality data into action.

We cover:

✅ Early lessons from running pubs and learning ops the hard way

✅ Sales and marketing at major brands under private equity pressure

✅ Why operators collect endless data but struggle to act on it

✅ Building DataHawks to help operators focus on what really matters

✅ How to balance people, process, and tech in hospitality

💡 Standout quote: “Hospitality is easy when everything’s going well. Real hospitality is tested when something goes wrong.”

If you’re in sales, ops, or tech, this one’s packed with nuggets of genius.

🎙️ Catherine Allen on Selling with Empathy & Building Stereo

In this episode of Captive Conversations, Adam chats with Catherine Allen, sales leader turned founder, about building Tidr, a new tool for sales enablement in hospitality.

From her early days doing cold outreach at Trail to launching her own platform, Catherine shares what she’s learned about earning trust, finding product-market fit, and growing with grit.

🔥 Highlights:

• How rejection shaped her sales mindset

• Building relationships over transactions

• Why most outreach fails (and how to fix it)

• Stereo’s vision: empowering teams from the inside

• What ops people actually want from tech

💡 “You get one shot to show up as someone useful, not annoying.”

If you’re in SaaS, hospitality sales, or ops, this episode is a must.

#CaptiveConversations #HospitalitySales #Stereo #Startups #HospitalityTech