• Partner and Senior Designer at Hager International
• Karl has over 20 years design experience and is a graduate of Algonquin College in Ottawa and has a Diploma of Interior Design. He is also a 2010 inductee of his alma mater Hall of Fame for the School of Media and Design. Karl’s background is in hospitality which included partnership in a restaurant located in Whistler, BC, Canada. Karl is NCIDQ qualified, is registered with the Interior Designer Institute of BC, the Interior Designers of Nova Scotia and the Interior Designers of Canada.

• www.hagerinc.com 
• https://www.instagram.com/hagerdesigninternational/?hl=en 
• https://www.linkedin.com/company/hagerinc/ 
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/karltravisathagerinc/ 
• https://www.foodandwine.com/news/shake-shack-first-drive-thru 
• https://www.brooklyndumplingshop.com/
• https://www.qsrmagazine.com/outside-insights/geofencing-can-minimize-face-face-interactions-restaurants
• https://marybrowns.com/

• “There are so many shifts happening as a result of the behavioral shifts with consumers – designers are reacting, absorbing, and developing new solutions.” – Joseph
• “Things like drive thru’s were shunned for the most part.” – Joseph
• “What also shunned it was city council, because of the environmental factor.” – Karl
• “There’s potential for overcorrection, but it depends on the board rooms of the large companies, they have some very smart people and they pay them to do the research.” – Karl
• “It’s giving people the option to not interact with other people, so it’s all about choice.” – Karl
• “McDonald’s was always way ahead of the game.” – Karl
• “It’s all automated. You can see the appeal from investors – its very low cost of entry, you dont need a lot of labor, and the food is delicious.” – Joseph
• “It has a lot to do with location as well, and rent/leasing/availability. And of course the labor shortage – this will factor into how companies will determine what they want to do.” – Karl
• “I used to go to Starbucks a lot and I don’t go anymore …. I’m gonna get my coffee and go on with my life.” – Karl
• “What if people want to stay and watch? Maybe it’s a spectacle … watch the hustle and bustle of what’s happening behind the glass wall with these

• VP of Brand Development & Strategy at Savory Restaurant Fund
• Started career at 18 – managing a small Mexican grill (under 10 units)
• Began franchising and helped the company expand until acquisition by Jack In The Box
• Then helped grow the Paradise Bakery with franchising until acquisition by Panera
• Moved on to 14-unit company called Cafe Rio, grew to 100 units and, you guessed it, acquisition!
• Grew another franchise system with Four Foods Group; then purchased 48 Little Caesar’s locations. Added 30 more locations, then sold them off and “lived happily ever after”.
• https://www.hashkitchen.com/
• https://savory.mercatopartners.com/

• “Small brands – those 5 to 15 location concepts … this growth from that moment to 50, 100, 200, seems very enigmatic and tough.” – Joseph 
• “During that growth phase … we learned a lot on going fast but not too fast.” – Alonso
• “There’s nothing you can read, nothing you can do, that will teach them but your experience. You can’t replace experience.” – Alonso
• “Every stage in the restaurant business is difficult. It has its own little challenges. The industry in itself is hard, right? The initial stage from 5 to 50 is especially hard … you gotta keep that momentum. Setting up that foundation is so important.” – Alonso
• “Sometimes restaurants get funding and they slowly forget to be scrappy.” – Alonso
• “There’s all these services that come to you as a young operator and they offer you … this extra little software that tells you the weather … the sales pitch was fantastic … so the middle of your P&L fattens up and your profits are so low.” – Alonso
• “You have to be brilliant at the basics. If you have great service, great quality food, and a clean environment, and you’re consistent with it, that’s all you need.” – Alonso
• “If you’re not careful you can get rid of your money. It’s pretty easy.” – Joseph
• “What’s needed today and a little bit of tomorrow, instead of what’s needed five years from now.” – Joseph
• “If you’re a mom and pop shop, opening your first or second location, do you need to spend $50k on a brand identity? Probably not.” – Joseph
• “Focus on operations, get those systems smooth… when you hit that 10, 15, 20 location mark then take a look at the brand.” – Joseph
• “Your food is your branding. Your marketing budget is getting your food in people’s mouths …. Feed the local football team for free. That’s your marketing” – Alonso
• “Everything you do does build a brand, so if you do it wrong you’re doing yourself a disservice.” – Joseph
• “We find these brands that have so much potential to become

• The very first Pizza Hut was only a half mile from Bill in Wichita! And they asked their fraternity brothers to open franchises.
• Pizza Hut’s red roof was so iconic you could identify them from aerial photography. It was designed by Robert Burke.
• Sagmeister & Walsh book: https://sagmeisterwalsh.com/work/all/beauty-book/  
• Taco Bell’s logo evolution: https://www.grayflannelsuit.net/blog/logo-evolution-taco-bell 
• Papa John’s logo evolution: https://1000logos.net/papa-johns-logo/ 
• Home on the Range: https://statesymbolsusa.org/symbol-official-item/kansas/state-song/home-range 
• Bullhearted Brand Book: https://bullhearted.co/ 
• Handles IG @gardnerdesignusa Twitter @gardnerdesign FB https://www.facebook.com/WeAreGardnerDesign/
• https://gardnerdesign.com/
• https://www.logolounge.com/ 

• “Back in the 70s 80s and maybe 90s, there was a lot of character in restaurant brands… it seems like there was a push to eliminate that.” – Joseph
• “People forget that the McDonald’s golden arches were the original arches on the building. These things draw this language and vernacular of the architecture of the restaurant. That’s where the color comes from, the pattern, the textures.” – Bill
• “There’s been this regrasping from the 70s especially – with Stranger Things – the typography, wonderful fat swervy, bold, and spoke of food, people love that.” – Bill
• “If you didn’t live through it, it’s new to you, but you remember it in a retro way – you remember the good, not the bad.” – Bill
• “I rarely say this about design … but God, it’s sexy.” – Joseph
• “If we all believe that brown rectangles are the ugliest thing in the world then why are we building them?” – Joseph, paraphrasing Sagmeister
• “We brown-rectangled logos and design elements for so long.” – Joseph
• “Familiarity is what we consider ugly” – Bill, interpreting Sagmeister
• “If you come to me, I can do (Burger King’s) 2050 logo, the bun will be just enormous on the thing … but the type will be the same.” – Bill
• “I’m not speaking about how good the product is, I’m just speaking about from a design perspective, I love the fact that they’ve picked up that vernacular and pushing that forward as a brand component.”
• “Is it lazy? I don’t mean in the amount of thought or work, but it seems like a parlor trick to leverag

• Jinya is franchised across the US and Canada
• 40 locations with a plan to add between 15 and 20 restaurants
• Pork broth is a 20 hour process

• “What it comes down to is the best marketing is word of mouth” -Justin
• “Trying to define who that customer is and once you have that definition then, putting the resources to where those folks are: -Justin
• “I cant underscore enough how important it is to truly think local at all costs” -Joseph
• “I try to let the data tell the story and kind of guide us” -Justin
• “If you’re not communicating with your franchisees on the “why”, they can go rogue rather easily” -Justin
• “It’s not just explaining what or how, it really is why” -Joseph
• “An elevated experience isn’t just the food, it’s all of it” -Justin

• Decided to go mobile first to get feet wet and understand how the industry works.
• They tailor the bar options and garnishes to the season 
• RAMP Certification – certification that servers and bartenders need to receive in order to serve food and beverages.
• Presley’s is named after CJ’s goddaughter

• “Make an experience with your brewery” -CJ
• “If you don’t have good beer to match your experience, you’re going to get washed out unfortunately” -CJ
• “What I’m really yearning to find is a brewery who really starts to take the brand seriously” – Joseph
• “I’m hoping that we just find a stride where people realize it’s not just the beer, it is the brand and people really need to start buying into the brand” -Joseph
• “We want you to have the experience that you’re sitting down in a really comfortable dim lit bar” -CJ

• Book — Run Studio, Run
• Naming Tips
  • Look around to see what other people aren’t doing
  • Understand the field and know what’s been done
  • Be clear about what you want to put on the table and why you’re existing
• Nopicnicpress.com
• Twitter — @elialtman

• “The middle ground is where the bad names exist” -Eli
• “We would rather have someone do something ridiculous and interesting and fail than try to do something completely bland” -Eli
• “Mediocrity is driven by a desire to appease everyone simultaneously” -Eli
• “If you spend your time trying to fit in, you’re gonna waste your budget trying to stand out” -Danny Altman
• “You know you’ve done a really good job at strategy and absorbed it because it makes innovation feel more comfortable” -Joseph
• “We as humans have an innate desire to want to fit into something and when you haven’t effectively defined what that something is, it becomes just fitting in” -Joseph
• “Names are really introductions to stories” -Eli
• The name is about getting you to the front door, beyond that, it’s about experience” -Eli

• Cinnaholic, a gourmet cinnamon roll bakery, was founded in 2010 by a husband and wife team in California 
• No freezers, rolls are made fresh everyday
• Menu is 100% vegan and over 20 frostings and toppings
• Owners went on Shark Tank in 2014, deal fell through so they decided to go into franchising shortly after that.
• Each location has their own Facebook and Instagram page
• 59 units opened right now
• Menu Innovation
  •  Have to think USA and Canada from a sourcing perspective
  • Change flavors at least 5 times a year
• Don’t focus on being 100% vegan in marketing
• Future of Cinnaholic — lots of growth and new markets!

Notes coming soon!

• Caribou coffee is starting a subscription program
• Taco Bell is testing a subscription service in Arizona
• Clean Juice and Urban Plates are testing out subscription services as well
• Wendy’s is launching a Friday Freebies in October – every Friday, with the purchase of a medium fry, you unlock a free deal. There’s also a $0 delivery fee in the month of October.
• Internal Branding & Marketing to employees
  • Understanding what your brand means
  • Why does it matter?
  • Follow up and deliver on your promises as a brand
  • Dutch Bros. Coffee lives this
• Yellow Pages is an example of a company that failed to recognize a cultural shift
• Tater tots are not fries!

• “The McRib is one of those sandwiches that we all remember where were when we first ate it whether or not it a was a good or bad experience” -Danny
• “You can get customers onto loyalty, but how do you keep them?” -Danny
• “Now more than ever it’s become very clear how important marketing internally is” -Joseph
• “The restaurant industry has long been one of those industries where you can enter the workforce no matter what your background is and yet you can also still climb the ladder” -Danny
• “Great service is a by-product of a strong, real, authentic culture that people have bought into” -Joseph
• “It cannot be understated the importance of brick and mortar and having a sign out there that consumers can see” -Ben
• “Dine in is returning and the value of being able to sit in a restaurant is returning” -Ben
• “I think there’s going to be a lot of these virtual brands that burst at the seams and then fall off when people realize that they’re not really much more beyond what the gimmick may be” -Danny
• “It definitely does feel like you’re narrowing your customer reach when you develop a Cheetos flavored wing” -Ben
• Why do brands fail? “I think it’s because they fail to recognize a cultural shift that is beyond trend” -Joseph
• “Are people going to want to eat at buffets post COVID?” -Ben
• “A lot of these restaurants need to have that in their back pocket to reactivate who they were and why they matter to people” -Danny
• “Do not become too much of somebody else in a world that already has too many options” -Danny

• Ovation is an actionable guest feedback platform that works exclusively with restaurants
• Named the #1 guest feedback platform in America
• It’s an omni channel 2 question survey
• Custom comps are coming out soon, testing live chat on the website, etc.
• Custom questions in the Ovation app have just launched! 
  • With the longer surveys, you can send a coupon, you can ask about new dishes, favorite dishes, etc.
• Desert Dorado poem reference… “Listen to the dull and the ignorant, they too have their story”
• Zack’s Book — Dating Never Works… Until It Does

• “Eighty to ninety percent (depending on the brand) of our customers are going to have a five star experience” -Zack
• “It’s not just about getting a good rating, it’s about keeping those ratings coming in” -Zack
• “Online reviews are really critical to every single location” -Zack
• “We all have something to learn from everyone we meet” -Zack
• “It’s so important that we’re able to be open to the fact that we’re not perfect” -Zack
• “When you’re able to empower your staff, Ovation becomes like the superpower” -Zack
• “You get action from people when there is passion; positive or negative passion” -Joseph
• “Unfortunately, it’s really easy to trigger negative passion in this industry” -Joseph
• “One thing that Ovation does is we pick up the people in the middle” -Zack

• Grew up in the restaurant industry
• Learned early on that the most important thing is the guest experience
• Ovation is Zack’s 3rd startup