Instant Payments

Tal Clark hosts part two of a conversation with Andrew Roy, GM of Mahogany Prime Steakhouse, covering the restaurant’s tip workflow and broader lessons from hospitality leadership. Roy explains Mahogany’s shift from cash to a pay card solution, with about 90–95% of server tips deposited daily, limited use of adding tips to paychecks for tax withholding, and the remaining need for some cash handling. He describes using Squirrel POS to print nightly cash-outs and relying on Excel to calculate tip-outs and pools for support staff, bar, and shared tables. Clark outlines Instant Financial’s approach to pulling POS data, automating tip calculations, and distributing payouts to cards or bank accounts. Roy also discusses empathy learned from experience, staying calm under pressure, quitting smoking and adopting exercise, launching the “Serves You Right” podcast after post-COVID industry challenges, and operational modernization through Restaurant365.

00:00 Welcome Back and Setup

00:44 Tip Payout Options

02:13 Tip Calculation Workflow

03:32 Automating Tips With POS Data

04:22 Leadership Lessons and Empathy

06:15 Staying Calm Under Pressure

07:25 Restaurant Chaos Stories

09:13 Self Care and Health Habits

11:28 Launching “Serves You Right”

14:41 Tech Upgrades Restaurant365

16:40 Rapid Fire Favorites

17:58 Closing and Where to Find Andrew

Instant Financial: instant.co

Connect with Tal Clark: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tal-clark-a60776b/

Connect with Andrew Roy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-roy-784a46271/

References:

• Serves You Right Podcast: https://servesyourightpod.com/
• Mahogany Prime Steakhouse: https://mahoganyprimesteakhouse.com/
• Hal Smith Restaurant Group: https://halsmith.com/
• Squirrel POS: https://www.squirrelsystems.com/
• Restaurant365.com

Check out all episodes of the Instant Payments Podcast: https://www.instant.co/podcast

Host Tal Clark, CEO of Instant Financial, interviews Andrew Roy, host of the “Serves You Right” Podcast and the general manager of Mahogany Prime Steakhouse in Omaha, part of the Hal Smith Restaurant Group. Roy recounts starting at age 15 at a small Texas restaurant doing multiple roles, then working at a restaurant and bar in college where he fell in love with classic mixology and wine. After moving to Tulsa, he joined Mahogany Prime Steakhouse, advanced from server to manager, and later helped relocate the Omaha restaurant location. He explains Court of Master Sommeliers certification levels and his own progress. Roy describes Mahogany’s menu and vibe and shares staffing strategies. He also outlines his day-to-day management routine and cashout oversight, with a preview of part two focused on operational systems.

00:00 Welcome to the Podcast

00:29 Meet Andrew Roy

01:29 From Texas to Omaha

02:05 Hospitality Career Origins

05:05 Sommelier Certification Explained

07:43 GM Versus Sommelier Role

08:32 Inside Mahogany Steakhouse

11:30 Hiring and Retention Playbook

14:06 A Day in the Life

15:54 Wrap Up and Part Two Tease

Instant Financial: instant.co

Connect with Tal Clark: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tal-clark-a60776b/

Connect with Andrew Roy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-roy-784a46271/

References:

• Serves You Right Podcast: https://servesyourightpod.com/
• Mahogany Prime Steakhouse: https://mahoganyprimesteakhouse.com/
• Hal Smith Restaurant Group: https://halsmith.com/
• Smokin Joe’s BBQ in San Antonio: http://smokinjoesoftexas.com/
• Hotel St. Francis in Sante Fe: https://www.hotelstfrancis.com/stay
• Secreto Lounge: https://www.hotelstfrancis.com/eat-drink/secreto-lounge

Check out all episodes of the Instant Payments Podcast: https://www.instant.co/podcast

Tal Clark continues the conversation with Amir Hemmat about Welcome Tech’s benefits and recruiting tools for hourly and frontline workforces. Hemmat says recruitment, payment, and retention should be addressed together as a one-stop solution, especially amid labor shortages and rising competition. He explains Welcome Tech’s platform reaches nearly five million workers directly and another nine million via community locations, consulates, and embassies, enabling employers to connect with hard-to-reach talent. Welcome Tech offers household-focused benefits, including 24/7 multilingual telemedicine, diagnostics, mental health support, dental, vision networks, plus financial services and education, delivering broad access for about $25 per household. They discuss employer trust and communication, and how AI—enabled by distribution and data—improves matching, interview screening, and personalized training.

00:00 Welcome Back and Guest Intro

00:18 Why This Partnership Matters

03:01 What Welcome Tech Does

05:10 Benefits Breakdown Healthcare and More

09:04 Driving Awareness and Enrollment

11:36 AI Opportunities for Frontline Work

14:19 How Welcome Uses AI Today

16:31 Rapid Fire Questions

18:28 Closing and Where to Learn More

Instant Financial: instant.co

Connect with Tal Clark: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tal-clark-a60776b/

Connect with Amir Hemmat: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirhemmat/

References:

• Welcome Tech: https://welcome.tech/
• Instant’s Financial Wellness Program: https://www.instant.co/financial-wellness/

Check out all episodes of the Instant Payments Podcast: https://www.instant.co/podcast

Host Tal Clark, CEO of Instant Financial, welcomes Amir Hemmat, co-founder and CEO of Welcome Tech, an AI-powered workforce and financial wellness platform serving more than 4.5 million immigrant and frontline workers. Amir shares his background as a first-generation immigrant, his early path through medicine, healthcare policy work in the California State Senate, and prior immigrant education media venture, leading to his focus on closing access and information gaps. They discuss why financial and essential service systems are overly complex and often not built for this workforce, contributing to lack of adoption, unbanked challenges, and employer turnover and retention issues. Amir highlights healthcare access as a key example and frames financial wellness as starting with employment and pay access, then extending to services like healthcare, housing, and transportation, enabled by more personalized technology.

00:00 Welcome to the Podcast

00:37 Meet Amir Hemmat

01:46 Amir’s Origin Story

04:22 Employer Worker Disconnect

06:53 Why Access Is Fragmented

09:18 Healthcare as a Case Study

11:20 Defining Financial Wellness

13:12 Culture and Personalization

14:31 Part Two and Wrap Up

Instant Financial: instant.co

Connect with Tal Clark: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tal-clark-a60776b/

Connect with Amir Hemmat: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirhemmat/

References:

• Welcome Tech: https://welcome.tech/
• Instant’s Financial Wellness Program: https://www.instant.co/financial-wellness/

Check out all episodes of the Instant Payments Podcast: https://www.instant.co/podcast

Host Tal Clark, the CEO of Instant Financial, continues his conversation with Spencer Baumhower, the President of Aloha Hospitality, about adopting Instant to digitize nightly tip payouts, citing over $30M and 300,000 tip payments processed. Spencer explains how the move away from cash improved security, solved cash shortfalls as credit card sales grew, eliminated petty-cash replenishment, and gave employees faster access and flexibility. He describes newer integrations that automatically calculate and distribute tip-outs to bussers and bartenders, removing manual tip logs. Spencer also details Aloha’s four-day workweek for store managers, tested and rolled out company-wide to most locations as an earned reward, improving coverage, service, and leadership retention. The discussion covers inflation and value-focused pricing, Aloha’s affordable menu strategy, recent and planned expansion in Alabama, and brief rapid-fire questions including faith routines and college football expectations.

00:00 Welcome Back and Setup

00:56 Why Instant Tip Payouts

02:41 Automating Tip Calculations

04:23 Four Day Workweek Origins

06:13 How the Program Works

08:39 Store Rivalries and Expansion

09:47 Running Restaurants Today

11:30 Value Pricing Strategy

15:38 Growth Plans Ahead

17:12 Rapid Fire Round

18:27 College Football Outlook

19:45 Closing and Where to Follow

References:

• Aloha Hospitality: https://www.alohahospitality.com/
• Bob Bauhower: https://www.baumhowers.com/bob-baumhower

Host Tal Clark, CEO of Instant Financial, welcomes Spencer Baumhower, president of Aloha Hospitality, a family-owned Alabama restaurant group founded in 1981 by Spencer’s father, former Alabama and Miami Dolphins player Bob Baumhower. Spencer shares that he joined Aloha in 2008 as a busser and worked through roles including server, bartender, general manager, COO, and president, now helping lead about 1,000 employees across 16 restaurants. He recounts how Bob discovered Buffalo Wings at Wings & Things in South Florida and brought the concept to Tuscaloosa, introducing Buffalo Wings to Alabama. Spencer describes Aloha’s multi-concept portfolio, including Baumhower’s, fine-dining Dauphin’s, Cuban speakeasy Las Floriditas, and fast-casual Wingfingers, and emphasizes servant leadership, hiring people who genuinely care, and achieving lower turnover than national brands.

00:00 Welcome to the Podcast

00:36 Meet Spencer Baumhower

01:33 Gulf Coast Catch Up

02:45 Legendary Wingman Origin

03:33 Aloha Hospitality Beginnings

03:50 From Miami to Tuscaloosa Wings

06:26 Concepts and New Brands

07:14 Cuban Speakeasy Story

07:14 Spencer’s Career Journey

07:14 Playing for Coach Saban

13:15 Servant Leadership Hiring

16:59 Turnover and Retention Wins

18:31 Part Two and Wrap Up

Instant Financial: instant.co

Connect with Tal Clark: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tal-clark-a60776b/

Connect with Spencer Baumhower: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcuswasdin/

References:

• Aloha Hospitality: https://www.alohahospitality.com/
• Bob Bauhower: https://www.baumhowers.com/bob-baumhower
• Coach Nick Saban: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Saban
• Coach Neil Callaway: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Callaway

Host Tal Clark continues a conversation with restaurant technology leader Marcus Wasdin about AI in restaurants, including lessons from launching Par’s Coach AI to let operators ask natural-language questions across data sources, such as optimizing operating hours for profit. Wasdin discusses the need to minimize AI “hallucinations” with guardrails while keeping the product usable. They examine drive-thru voice AI challenges: high costs from token usage, common “human-in-the-loop” call centers due to imperfect accuracy, and menu-language semantics. Wasden argues AI will shift repetitive tasks off employees to improve guest experience, with success coming largely from revenue gains; he suggests using local marketing funds to offset costs and enable consistent upselling. He advises CEOs to pursue small, outcome-based AI wins before scaling, and shares PE evaluation themes, leadership principles, and excitement for measurable AI outcomes by 2026.

00:00 Welcome Back and Setup

00:32 Coach AI Origins

02:00 Guardrails and Hallucinations

03:23 Consistency Challenges

04:26 Drive Thru Voice AI Costs

07:26 Menu Semantics Pitfalls

08:16 Jobs and Guest Experience

10:09 Funding and Upsell Ideas

13:33 CEO AI Playbook

16:03 Private Equity Priorities

19:55 Rapid Fire Leadership

21:03 Chick Fil A Admiration

21:56 AI Hopes for 2026

22:45 Closing and Where to Follow

Instant Financial: instant.co

Connect with Tal Clark: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tal-clark-a60776b/

Connect with Marcus Wasdin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcuswasdin/

References:

• The Wasdin Company: www.wasdincompany.com
• Par Technology: https://partech.com/
• Whataburger: https://whataburger.com/home
• Chick-fil-A: https://www.chick-fil-a.com/

Host Tal Clark, CEO of Instant Financial, interviews Marcus Wasdin, founder of the Wasdin Company, about restaurant transformation and AI adoption. Wasdin recounts entering restaurants through Church’s Chicken, serving as the Atlanta Hawks’ first CIO during a $200M arena renovation that led to top NBA guest experience ratings, and later running a restaurant tech business line before moving into advisory work. They discuss how AI is driving a surge of restaurant tech solutions and potentially creating “AI fatigue,” as operators want outcomes while investors want more AI operations. Key operator challenges remain food and labor costs, talent attraction/retention, and driving traffic amid rising check averages. Wasdin explains the AI adoption cycle in restaurants today, citing costly drive-through voice AI and mixed in-restaurant adoption of natural-language analytics tools.

00:00 Welcome to the Podcast

00:37 Meet Marcus Wasdin

02:08 Career Origins in Restaurants

03:01 Atlanta Hawks Tech Turnaround

03:54 Three Lenses on Hospitality

06:20 AI Boom and Tool Fragmentation

09:58 Operator Pain Points Today

12:03 Why POS and HCM Changes Win

16:48 AI Reality Check and Use Cases

21:26 Part Two Tease and Wrap

Instant Financial: instant.co

Connect with Tal Clark: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tal-clark-a60776b/

Connect with Marcus Wasdin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcuswasdin/

References:

• The Wasdin Company: www.wasdincompany.com
• The Atlanta Hawks: https://www.nba.com/hawks/
• Par Technology: https://partech.com/
• Inspire Brands: https://inspirebrands.com/
• Church's Chicken: https://www.churchs.com/our-story
• Underserved Report: https://www.instant.co/2026-restaurant-study/
• Center for Generational Kinetics: https://genhq.com/

Host Tal Clark continues his conversation with Melissa Doolin-Koehne of Elevate 4 about advocacy for women in restaurant leadership and building purpose alongside profit. Melissa cites industry stats showing women are about 33% of executives but only 10% of CEOs. They also talk about restaurant industry challenges. She explains that cutting training or wages may save money short term but erodes brands, urging servant leadership and care for all stakeholders, including vendors. The discussion covers employee financial wellness, earned wage access, and the importance of employee experience, including manager investment, scheduling flexibility, childcare challenges, immigration impacts, and financial education. In rapid-fire, Melissa shares leadership principles, career advice to choose leaders over brands, and excitement for more intentional operations supported by smarter tools and data.

00:00 Welcome Back and Setup

00:42 Women in Restaurant Leadership

02:13 Executive Retreat and Allies

03:51 Women CEOs and Industry Trends

05:18 Purpose and Profit Playbook

08:20 Earned Wage Access and Wellness

10:12 Culture First and Realities

14:18 Hiring Flexibility and Benefits

18:42 Rapid Fire Leadership Lessons

22:18 Closing Thanks and Where to Follow

Instant Financial: instant.co

Connect with Tal Clark: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tal-clark-a60776b/

Connect with Melissa Doolin-Koehne: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-doolin-koehne/

References:

• Women's Foodservice Forum Conference: https://www.wff.org
• Women in Restaurant Leadership Conference: https://womenleadrestaurants.com/
• Cracker Barrel CEO: https://investor.crackerbarrel.com/management/julie-felss-masino
• Whataburger CEO: https://www.linkedin.com/in/debbie-stroud-88149540
• Habit Burger CEO: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannon-hennessy-hbg
• Taco John's CEO: https://tacojohns.com/company/leadership/
• Conscious Capitalism by John Mackey: https://a.co/d/0gXzI4tS
• Chick-fil-A Careers: https://www.chick-fil-a.com/careers
• FinFit: https://www.finfit.com/
• Texas Restaurant Association: https://txrestaurant.org/
• Texas Restaurant Foundation: https://www.txrestaurant.org/TRF/
• Black Box Intelligence: https://blackboxintelligence.com/
• Raising Cane's: https://www.raisingcanes.com/home/

Host Tal Clark, CEO of Instant Financial, welcomes Melissa Doolin-Koehne, founder of Elevate 4 and chair of the Texas Restaurant Foundation, to discuss her restaurant-industry background and current work advising brands on purpose-driven growth. Melissa recounts being raised in the industry and launching Elevate 4. She highlights the Texas Restaurant Foundation’s ProStart Invitational, drawing 1,000+ high school competitors and offering scholarships. They discuss a “tepid” 2026 outlook amid inflation, tariffs, oil prices, and consumer trade-downs, emphasizing brand promise, value via experience, simplified operations, and employee-focused innovation starting with designing a great shift.

00:00 Welcome to the Podcast

00:40 Meet Melissa Doolin-Koehne

01:43 Melissa’s Restaurant Journey

03:12 Inside Black Box Intelligence

05:06 Texas ProStart Spotlight

07:47 Restaurant Industry Outlook

10:45 Why Some Brands Win

12:47 Employee Experience Innovation

15:02 Why Texas Leads Restaurants

17:35 Part Two Teaser and Wrap

Instant Financial: instant.co

Connect with Tal Clark: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tal-clark-a60776b/

Connect with Melissa Doolin-Koehne: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-doolin-koehne/

References:

• Texas Restaurant Association: https://txrestaurant.org/
• Texas Restaurant Foundation: https://www.txrestaurant.org/TRF/
• Black Box Intelligence: https://blackboxintelligence.com/
• Raising Cane's: https://www.raisingcanes.com/home/