This episode was originally published as part of the Restaurant Growth Podcast. It has been rebranded as part of The Pre-Shift Podcast as of January 2023. The information presented may no longer be up-to-date and may differ from the viewpoints and insights currently shared on The Pre-Shift Podcast.

For our tenth episode, we welcome the authors of Delivering the Digital Restaurant, Carl Osbourn and Meredith Sandland. Delivering The Digital Restaurant explores the world of off premise food and the massive disruption facing American  restaurants through first-hand accounts of restaurateurs, food industry veterans, and start up entrepreneurs. We chat about how the book came about, who it's for, and how technology can help restaurant during the labor crisis.

00:00 Introduction and Pre-Show Setup

01:19 Starting the Interview: Meet the Authors

02:22 Background Stories: Meredith and Carl

05:26 The Evolution of the Restaurant Industry

07:26 Challenges in the Restaurant Industry

14:23 Adapting to Digital and Delivery

21:57 Insights from Writing the Book

27:22 Conclusion and Where to Get the Book

30:20 Post-Show Wrap-Up

About Meredith Sandland

Spent two decades in consulting, corporate strategy, and restaurant development. After building 1000+ restaurants as the Chief Development Officer at Yum! Brands’ Taco Bell, Meredith observed that the on-demand economy was starting to affect restaurants. Meredith joined ghost kitchen start-up Kitchen United as employee #4 to create their business model, raise initial capital, and serve as the public face of the GV (Google Ventures) backed disruptor. Meredith lives in Orange County, California with her three favorite guys: husband, Scott; son, Lincoln; and dog, Kobe. 

About Carl Osbourn 

Carl led BP-owned ampm and its billion-dollar grab-and go food and beverage offering across the brand’s 1000+ convenience retail locations. At BP, Carl obsessed over consumer convenience, and transformed ampm’s fresh food offerings to deliver record growth. In 2018, Carl joined  

Kitchen United to lead Operations, working with restaurant brands to reinvent an operating system that capitalized on the rapidly changing face of  

food delivery. Carl, his wife Elicia, and their two cats, Positano and Ravello, live in Orange County, Ca

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7shifts is a scheduling, payroll, and employee retention app designed to help restaurants thrive. With an easy-to-use app and industry-specific solutions, 7shifts saves time, reduces errors, and helps keep costs in check for more than 50,000 restaurants.