Restaurant Masterminds Podcast

Over the last half-decade, the restaurant industry has experienced a paradigm shift from dine-in experiential dining to off-premise dining in the form of catering, takeout, and delivery. Third-party marketplaces like Uber Eats and GrubHub have proliferated and the pressure on the restaurant and foodservice operations to "buy-in," is heavy. But for many, the cost has outweighed the benefit.

On this episode of The Takeout, Delivery, and Catering Show, Valerie and Erle speak with Jennifer Crawford, director of off-premise sales at Fazoli’s System Management, an Italian quick-service restaurant, and Ernie Davis, National Account Manager for Accurate Box, a box manufacturing plant that produces high graphics boxes. The group discusses what is quickly becoming a true differentiator for brands as more and more product is going the way of takeout, catering, and delivery.

We are nearing the end of the first season, so in this episode, we decided to answer some of your questions. From food safety issues in the delivery channel to social media marketing, we cover the gambit of the most significant problems facing operators today.

Today, off-premise driven by technology, and a generation that grew up on convenience is changing the restaurant model again, likely forever. By now, we have all heard the term ghost restaurants or virtual restaurants, and that this is the next big thing. The definition of a ghost restaurant depends on who you talk to but basically it is defined as a restaurant that only offers delivery — no store front. The savvy restaurants are using this model to their advantage and more innovation around ghost restaurants is happening all the time.

On this episode of The Takeout, Delivery, and Catering Show, Valerie and Erle speak with Gracie Prasanson, director of sales for Jason’s Deli, about how restaurant operators working with third-party delivery providers can make sure that the appropriate measures are in place, and known risks are mitigated so that your restaurant does not get outmaneuvered by the third-party provider.

It is estimated that the average restaurant misses 6 - 12 calls a day that could be leading to additional sales and revenue in your catering channel. Enter Intel and Voice Teleservices who provided centralized call center operations to make sure that your restaurant is not losing out on potential customers.

We meet Mike Axiotis, CFE, President & CEO, Lehigh Valley Restaurant Group, who is the franchise operator for Red Robin, we will explore how one franchise system launched an off-premise program, maintains their program, trains the staff, and markets themselves to keep customers coming back.

In this episode of The Takeout Delivery and Catering Show, Valerie and Erle talk with Ted Cohn, Co-Founder, and CTO at Orderscape Inc, to talk about AI in food service. AI is predicted to be a major player in economic growth over the next decade in food service.

On this episode of The Takeout, Delivery, and Catering Show, our host, Valerie Killifer, interviews Courtney Smith, VP of Off-Premise at Newk’s Eatery, Ed Keller, Director of Off-Premise Development at Corner Bakery, and James Clark, Director of Food and Beverage at Mama Fu’s.

There are so many option and so many players, it's a challenge to figure out what is the right blueprint for off-premise success. The fundamentals of your off-premise strategies are crucial to your future success. In today's episode, Valerie and Erle speak with Richard Hodges, Vice President of Operations Services at La Madeleine. La Madeleine has had 6 years of consecutive growth in the off-premise space. Richard Hodges shares their industry leading strategies like how to leverage third-party partnerships, using the technology to reach customers on multiple platforms, and streamlining the technology to maximize efficiency and profitability.