In this thought-provoking episode of the Restaurant AI Podcast, Matt Wampler sits down with Rudy Miick, Founder and President of The Miick Companies, for a deep dive into what makes restaurant culture truly transformative—and how technology fits into the equation.

With over four decades of experience shaping restaurant brands from the inside out, Rudy shares why restaurants are more than food and service—they’re leadership laboratories, soul-restoring spaces, and the stage for daily human evolution. The conversation challenges the conventional view of operations, blending awareness, emotional intelligence, and data-driven coaching into a new vision for sustainable profitability and human-first leadership.

They explore how to architect every touchpoint—sound, smell, eye contact—to deliver not just meals, but moments. Rudy also breaks down how to quantify the unquantifiable, replacing punitive management with a culture of daily coaching and radical positivity.

Links:

00:00 Intro

01:31 Evolving through life

04:25 Nature vs nurture

09:18 Restaurants are “leadership labs"

14:13 Equipping everyone to rise to the top

19:45 The age-old restaurant model is dead

23:50 Awakeness and emotional intelligence as operational assets

27:07 The senses of a great restaurant

30:00 The power of sound, smell, and vibe

33:00 Crafting "the pitch" of a great restaurant

39:50 Rudy's passion for the hospitality industry

47:00 Rudy's greatest dining experience

51:19 Where technology makes sense in the restaurant industry

54:02 Mapping out human vs tech-driven touchpoints in the guest experience

1:00:25 Culture driving the brand experience

1:03:00 What today’s tech companies are getting wrong and what restaurants really need

1:08:11 Turning prime cost tracking into a daily discipline

1:10:33 The arithmetic of the restaurant business

1:14:15 A new model of leadership: coaching to the positive in real-time

1:18:30 Using AI to free up managers to be people-first leaders

1:22:07 Rudy's hope for the restaurant industry

1:24:30 Outro

In this episode of the Restaurant AI Podcast, Matt sits down with Justin Foster, Co-Founder and CRO of Incept AI, for a deep and technical dive into the future of Voice AI in restaurants, particularly in the drive-thru environment.

00:00 Intro

01:48 Voice AI, explained

03:37 Early innovations in Voice AI

7:45 Challenges of Voice AI

13:05 Latency in Voice AI

15:10 Walkthrough on Voice AI in a drive-thru

19:58 The critical role of clean audio input

24:36 Minimizing mistakes and maximizing accuracy

28:50 Foundation model advancements

30:46 Moving from Cloud to On-Prem

32:08 Model training and differentiation

37:30 Why purchasers are wary of Voice AI

46:57 Robotic vs human interractions

49:14 Which voices do humans prefer?

51:08 The economics of Voice AI

58:17 Do customers recognize Voice AI?

1:01:17 The future of Voice AI

1:06:57 Impact on minimum wage employment

1:07:54 The restaurant industry is resistant to change

1:08:49 Weirdest moments of Voice AI

1:09:47 How it all gets stitched together

1:13:58 Authenticity and regional dialect

14:55 Accuracy in Voice AI and non-Voice AI

1:18:33 Justin's passion for the technology

1:21:57 Contact Justin and Outro

Live from the floor of the National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago, Restaurant AI host Matt Wampler sits down with Jordan Boesch, CEO of 7shifts, for an energizing conversation about the evolution of labor management.

With 7shifts powering 1 in 9 U.S. restaurant workers, Jordan shares how his team is moving the industry beyond spreadsheets—building intelligent workflows that streamline scheduling, payroll, compliance, and communication.

They dig into the rise of cross-training, the need for intuitive tools in independent restaurants, and why AI isn’t just a buzzword—it’s the future of operational peace of mind.

00:00 Intro

In this episode of The Restaurant AI Podcast, Matt Wampler sits down with Jesse Stein—serial entrepreneur and CEO of Hermetic AI—to unpack how AI agents are transforming the private event sales process in hospitality. From building SportsMemorabilia.com and selling it to Fanatics, to scaling a skincare brand to $48 million in two years, Jesse’s entrepreneurial resume is nothing short of legendary.

Now, he’s turned his attention to hospitality, creating AI agents like “Mia” that respond to leads in under 12 seconds, personalize communication with guests, and handle everything from scheduling to reactivation of past customers. The result? Increased revenue, lower operating costs, and happier teams. Jesse breaks down what makes AI agents truly effective, the importance of going niche, and why focusing on execution—not just ideas—is the real differentiator in today’s tech landscape.

If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to build an AI company that’s actually solving real problems for restaurants, this is the episode you don’t want to miss.

Relevant links:

Connect with Matt on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewjwampler/

Connect with Jesse on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessejstein/

Follow Jesse on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jesse.steinn/

00:00 Intro

01:26 Jesse's background as a serial tech entrepreneur

02:45 How he decides to pursue certain business ventures

07:40 SportsMemorabilia.com and buying raw domains

09:15 Being opportunistic vs filling a need

14:52 The story behind Hermetic AI

16:50 Turning an idea into a business and scaling it

18:01 How Hermetic AI solves pain points for the hospitality industry

20:04 The difference in 'Mia' vs other AI agents

23:01 Building vertically and not horizontally

24:44 The state of AI agents

30:06 How AI agents are trained to mirror you

35:14 "Businesses with AI will replace businesses without AI."

37:25 How MIA synchronizes with every aspect of the business

42:30 Realizing value

43:34 Why outbound lead generation is so tough

44:45 The best use cases for LLM's

46:20 Machine learning in order to improve conversions

47:50 Interesting learnings so far

50:15 The ethics of informing customers that Mia is an AI agent

52:57 "It's disruptive in a good way."

55:08 How focus can be a superpower

56:38 What else to look for when evaluating AI companies

59:30 The future of agentic AI

1:03:54 Outro

In this episode of Restaurant AI, host Matt Wampler, CEO and Co-Founder of ClearCOGS, sits down with Rob Wilder, partner at Jose Andres Group, for a wide-ranging conversation that spans decades of experience in the restaurant industry, the evolution of restaurant technology, and the impactful work of World Central Kitchen.

Rob shares his journey from opening his first restaurant, Austin Grill, in 1988, to becoming a pivotal figure in the Jose Andres Group (2:10), highlighting the early days of restaurant technology with basic POS systems and the current landscape of nearly 80 different tech platforms used by the Jose Andres Group today. Rob weighs in on the "renaissance" in restaurant technology, with a flurry of innovation in the last five to ten years, making previously hard things possible, especially with the advent of AI.

The conversation delves into Rob's transition to angel investing in restaurant tech and ag tech, and then into venture capital with FTW Ventures. He provides insights into what makes a successful angel investor, emphasizing the ability to spot great founders and the importance of understanding the business you're investing in. 

Rob also touches on the current venture capital landscape, noting the challenges and opportunities in a tight market, and how FTW Ventures focuses on early-stage investments across the entire food system value chain, from genomics and sustainable farming to efficient refrigeration and food-as-medicine.

The discussion then dives deep into the inspiring story of World Central Kitchen (WCK), co-founded by Rob and Jose Andres. Rob recounts WCK's origins after the Haiti earthquake in 2010 and its evolution into a global organization that has served over 500 million meals in disaster areas worldwide. He emphasizes WCK's unique approach of empowering local food systems and providing hope through the power of food during communities' darkest hours.

Listen to this episode to learn about:

Relevant Links:

In the debut episode of Restaurant A.I., ClearCogs Founder Matt Wampler sits down with Stuart McGuigan — former CIO of the U.S. Department of State, Johnson & Johnson, and Liberty Mutual — for a powerful conversation on the past, present, and future of artificial intelligence. (1:00)

With over 40 years of leadership at the intersection of technology and operations, Stuart unpacks:

Whether you're a restaurateur, tech leader, or just AI-curious, this episode offers a masterclass in strategic thinking, data-driven decision-making, and navigating complexity with clarity.

Learn more about ClearCOGS, a leading provider of real-time forecasting and restaurant data solutions, at clearcogs.com.

 In the debut episode of Restaurant A.I., ClearCogs Co-Founder Matt Wampler sits down with Stuart McGuigan — former CIO of the U.S. Department of State, Johnson & Johnson, and Liberty Mutual — for a powerful conversation on the past, present, and future of artificial intelligence.