In this episode of Restrocast, Chris Demery, CTO of Blaze Pizza, shares his unconventional journey from the U.S. military to leading restaurant tech transformations at Domino’s, Bloomin’ Brands, PF Chang’s, and Blaze Pizza. Chris shares how his military background shaped his leadership style and why listening to frontline teams is the secret to building tech that works.

From building Domino’s Pulse and the Pizza Tracker to rolling out Blaze’s new POS system, Chris reveals the real challenges behind scaling restaurant operations. He discusses the myth that making pizza is easy, the importance of operational architecture, and why most tech fails without operator buy-in. Chris also dives into his concept of “Heightened Time Awareness” using AI to deliver real-time insights without disrupting restaurant flow.

Find us online: 

Ashish Tulsian- LinkedIn 

Chris Demery- LinkedIn