Rock My Restaurant

On the last episode of the Takeout, Delivery, and Catering podcast series, hosts TJ Schier and Sam Stanovich sit down with Nick Vojnovic, the president of the Little Greek franchise, to explore brand building and how businesses have shifted since the onset of the pandemic.

Little Greek specializes in fresh, grilled Greek cuisine. The chain prioritizes quality, handcrafted food that is as flavorful as it is affordable.

“Keep your footprint as small as you can,” says Vojnovic. “We’ve not seen a correlation between store size and sales… the future will be smaller boxes, and drive-thrus will be a key element going forward.”

Little Greek currently maintains 44 locations, adding four or five restaurants each year. The company dropped about 30 to 35 percent when the pandemic first hit, but was able to rebound and become even with the previous year by summer 2020. For the chain, the main priority is to offer a wide selection of authentic food.

“From a marketing standpoint, I think we’re the only franchise in the country that does not collect a marketing fee,” adds Vojnovic. “We try to let our food speak for itself. We use our catering to market the brand… for the most part, it’s all been organic growth.”

Listen to the episode to learn more about mentorship and cultivating a successful work culture!

In the latest episode of the Hospitality Hangout podcast, Michael Schatzberg “The Restaurant Guy” and Jimmy Frischling “The Finance Guy” chat with Giancarlo Fiorarancio, vice president of Hospitality Technology/IT for the Howard Hughes Corporation, to explore technology and redevelopment in hospitality.

Giancarlo Fiorarancio oversees the technology behind Howard Hughes Corporation’s hospitality division. Properties include hotels, restaurants, and event venues in The Woodlands, Las Vegas, and New York City.

“We approach each one of these communities differently and unique to the environment that they are in,” says Fiorarancio. “In New York, part of our strategy is to enable [the property] to become a destination for shopping, retail, and entertainment.”

Howard Hughes Corporation specifically focuses on master plan communities—long-term investments on acres of undeveloped land. The goal is to build out that land in a thoughtful way over many years.

“When you’re trying to restore full traffic to an area that currently doesn’t have it, you have to take a different approach,” adds Fiorarancio. “Not many restaurants would decide that they want to open up in an area that has no foot traffic… so instead of trying to get somebody there, we decided to create our own concept, and operate it on our own.”

Click here for more recovery and relief information for restaurant, hospitality and food service operators. And to keep listening, check out The Hospitality Hangout podcast on Spotify!

This syndicated content is brought to you by Branded Strategic Hospitality.

In the latest episode of the Hospitality Hangout podcast, Michael Schatzberg “The Restaurant Guy” and Jimmy Frischling “The Finance Guy” chat with Josh Goodman, the founder of PourMyBeer, to explore the latest in self-serve trends and developments in self-pour technology.

With over 8,000 taps in 24 countries, PourMyBeer is an industry leader in self-pour technology, offering a next-generation system that facilitates quick, efficient access to beverages. Consumers simply pour their beer, wine, cocktails, cold brew, or kombucha and pay by the ounce.

“One of my prerequisites for my partners in Austria was that it had to be so simple that my six-year-old son could install it and support it,” says Goodman. “We’ve doubled in revenue almost every year… it’s all about integrations and making it a seamless process.”

The company has enjoyed immense success and attention—Coca-Cola European Partners just invested in PourMyBeer last year. For Goodman, quality construction remains the primary goal: every system is restaurant-grade with long-lasting screens designed for 24/7 use.

“We are going to be transitioning more to PourMyBeverage over the next year or two because our number one selling product across all of our taps was margaritas,” adds Goodman. “Cocktails on tap is where everything is going.”

Click here for more recovery and relief information for restaurant, hospitality and food service operators. And to keep listening, check out The Hospitality Hangout podcast on Spotify!

This syndicated content is brought to you by Branded Strategic Hospitality.

In the latest episode of the Hospitality Hangout podcast, Michael Schatzberg “The Restaurant Guy” and Jimmy Frischling “The Finance Guy” chat with Micha Magid, the co-founder and co-chief executive officer of Mighty Quinn's, to explore virtual restaurants, nationwide delivery, and making the transition to digital.

Mighty Quinn’s is a restaurant franchise that specializes in authentic, slow-smoked barbecue. The team prioritizes high quality ingredients, all-natural meats and poultry, and carefully cultivated spice blends for seasoning.

“As we moved through the pandemic, we realized we needed a seamless platform—one system that was accessible via web, app, or catering that customers could use for ordering. So we switched over to a new platform that enables a more seamless guest experience,” says Magid. “These systems live side by side with third party delivery. We think having a solution for our guests outside the third party world was important.”

Mighty Quinn’s works with Goldbelly to ship frozen barbecue nationwide within two days. The food is fully smoked and ready to go, crafted in the chain’s large central commissary area.

The company also recently partnered with Otto’s Tacos to create a virtual taco restaurant via Mighty Quinn’s kitchen space. Otto’s was unable to keep its network of stores open after the struggles of the pandemic.

“We saw an opportunity to really utilize the kitchen space in our operation and relaunch them as a delivery-only brand,” adds Magid. “Similar to Mighty Quinn’s, Otto’s does a few things but does them really well. That was right up our alley.”

Click here for more recovery and relief information for restaurant, hospitality and food service operators. And to keep listening, check out The Hospitality Hangout podcast on Spotify!

In the latest episode of the Hospitality Hangout podcast, Michael Schatzberg “The Restaurant Guy” and Jimmy Frischling “The Finance Guy” sit down with Abhinav Kapur, the co-founder and chief executive officer of Bikky, to discuss the best way for restaurants to understand, engage, and retain their guests.

Bikky is the first CRM for restaurants that helps them power digital hospitality by providing the system of record for all of the restaurant's guest data. Bikky maps the guest footprint across all of their channels, from point-of-sale to delivery to loyalty, helping restaurants to know their guests.

Bikky provides your restaurant with a picture of how your guest is ordering across every single channel. Giving restaurants the capability to take that data and use it to precisely market directly to the guest. “Bikky is your system of record, your source of truth for every way you engage your customers,” says Kapur.

Prior to covid third party delivery was about twenty percent of a restaurant’s business, after covid hit restaurants went one hundred percent digital. During the pandemic Bikky built their in store POS and reservation integrations, thinking about what restaurants will need when customers want to be back in store.

Bikky built an automated email campaign that they can plug in and restaurant owners can use it to engage new customers every single day. Kapur says, this set it and forget it automated marketing tool will make restaurants money, allowing them to focus on food and service.

Kapur talks about the future for Bikky, and their main focus is how they can help restaurants map their entire customer journey and put it on autopilot. Bikky wants to provide the tools to engage customers based on behavior.

When it comes to must-have tech, Kapur thinks that all contactless ordering and payments is the best investment that operators can make. It allows restaurants to focus on hospitality.

Click here for more recovery and relief information for restaurant, hospitality and food service operators. And to keep listening, check out The Hospitality Hangout podcast on Spotify!

This syndicated content is brought to you by Branded Strategic Hospitality.

In the latest episode of the Hospitality Hangout podcast, Michael Schatzberg “The Restaurant Guy” and Jimmy Frischling “The Finance Guy” chat with Simon de Montfort Walker, the senior vice president and general manager of the Oracle Food and Beverage Global Business Unit, to explore how restaurant operators can leverage their tech to build and expand their business.

Oracle Food and Beverage provides point of sale systems to restaurants as well as sports and entertainment venues across 160 countries, handling 330,000 points of sale and processing 5.9 billion transactions annually. The company specializes in giving operators fully customized and integrated solutions designed to fit their unique business needs.

“For a lot of people consolidating right now, we see it as an answer to the questions customers are asking—how are you creating integrated solutions for them? How are you tying together loyalty and point of sale?” says de Montfort Walker. “Our core priority is having an incredibly open system that allows us to touch as many other vendors as possible for real-time integration so our customers have a lot of choice.”

Oracle offers systems for online ordering, curbside pickup, and delivery, and supports menu expansion ventures via cloud kitchens and virtual brands. Your front of house, kitchen, and back-office operations are easily connected via the most secure cloud point of sale in the industry.

“Customers and clients we’ve seen be successful throughout COVID and all the changes in the marketplace are those that have invested in flexibility,” adds de Montfort Walker. “Technology has failed for a long time because it was innately not flexible… you have to build flexibility into the model without breaking the core of your business. There’s going to be a lot more experimentation and change to come.”

Click here for more recovery and relief information for restaurant, hospitality and food service operators. And to keep listening, check out The Hospitality Hangout podcast on Spotify!

This syndicated content is brought to you by Branded Strategic Hospitality.

In the latest episode of the Hospitality Hangout podcast, Michael Schatzberg “The Restaurant Guy” and Jimmy Frischling “The Finance Guy” chat with Savneet Singh, the chief executive officer of PAR Technology, to discuss how operators and companies can rethink tech to better serve the ever-changing needs of restaurants.

PAR Technology is a global restaurant tech company and platform that creates innovative technology and hardware for operators to build their business and strengthen the bond between the restaurant and the guest.

“Companies are just a collection of people working together,” says Singh. “A lot of what we did was align on the culture we wanted to build, and hired and focused on that culture.”

When Singh joined the company, he and the PAR Technology team decided to work on four key issues: commence a dramatic restructure, remove distractions, change the culture, and raise money.

“The industry is moving toward open API and moving away from all of these closed systems,” adds Singh. “The next wave of innovation will not be in the point-of-sale system—it’ll be the innovation of the ecosystem that matters.”

This syndicated content is brought to you by Branded Strategic Hospitality.

In the latest episode of the Hospitality Hangout podcast, Michael Schatzberg “The Restaurant Guy” and Jimmy Frischling “The Finance Guy” sit down with Solomon Choi, the founder and chief executive officer of 16 Handles, to explore the digital side of hospitality.

16 Handles is a frozen dessert chain that specializes in innovative frozen yogurt, ice cream, and smoothies. Established in 2008, the New-York based chain offers a wide variety of fresh, quality, better-for-you flavors and toppings.

“Discovery for our brand in our markets was being made online. It was a digital experience first,” says Choi. “I realized this is huge—it’s not just the billboard that’s driving people in… I realized we needed to start investing into our digital presence. The entire guest experience could live online only.”

Over the past decade, 16 Handles has expanded to over forty international locations. The chain prioritizes expansion, menu development, and meeting the needs of a millennial lifestyle. Right now, Choi is focused on rebuilding the business as the pandemic comes to an end.

“We’re just trying to manage consistency across the brand. We don’t have real people out there visiting stores—it’s been over a year since we’ve had that,” adds Choi. “I do think Times Square will be busy this summer… I do think domestic travel to New York City will go up.”

Click here for more recovery and relief information for restaurant, hospitality and food service operators. And to keep listening, check out The Hospitality Hangout podcast on Spotify!

This syndicated content is brought to you by Branded Strategic Hospitality.

In the latest episode of the Hospitality Hangout podcast, Michael Schatzberg “The Restaurant Guy” and Jimmy Frischling “The Finance Guy” sit down with Steven Sperry, the founder and chief executive officer of Minnow, to explore the ins and outs of food safety.

Minnow is committed to creating a better food delivery and pickup experience. Established in 2017, the company offers contactless Pickup Pods to ensure the process is safe, secure, and convenient for everyone.

“Minnow is solving the last-mile problem in food delivery,” says Sperry. “There’s nothing to prevent food from being picked up [late] when it’s no longer safe to consume, or someone with a food allergy could easily pick up the wrong order with potentially disastrous consequences. Minnow gives our customers complete control over access to the food.”

All orders through Minnow are given a pickup window. The default time is two hours, but it can be customized to a longer or shorter time. Customers are notified via text or by email when their food is ready. If you do not pick up your food in that window, you will receive two reminders before your order is discarded for food safety reasons.

“Over the course of the pandemic, there has been an 80 percent increase in deliveries to multi-family locations. It’s restaurant and grocery deliveries, and it’s the most immediate pain point that the Minnow Pickup Pod can solve,” adds Sperry. “We believe there is an opportunity to make food delivery more efficient and less expensive by making it look more like packaged delivery… we’re working with other companies so that food can be more accessible and more affordable for more people.”

Click here for more recovery and relief information for restaurant, hospitality and food service operators. And to keep listening, check out The Hospitality Hangout podcast on Spotify!

This syndicated content is brought to you by Branded Strategic Hospitality.

In the latest episode of the Hospitality Hangout podcast, Michael Schatzberg “The Restaurant Guy” and Jimmy Frischling “The Finance Guy” sit down with Kelly MacPherson, the chief technology officer of the Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG), to explore technology strategy in the restaurant and hospitality industry.

Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group is best known for creating some of New York’s most acclaimed restaurants, cafes, and bars. The company is committed to providing outstanding food with exceptional warmth and hospitality services. Since its founding in 1985, USHG has added operational consulting services and built a catering and events business.

“The connected restaurant is a robust ecosystem that enables a seamless flow of data to all the components of the restaurant,” says MacPherson. “There’s all these pieces that enable a restaurant’s operation. The connected restaurant is making sure that they all talk to each other in the same language—otherwise everything is disjointed and draining from a managerial perspective.”

For USHG, communication is key. For your staff, make sure to explain both the what and the why behind any changes you make. And know your customer—build out a robust CRM that reflects your customer’s priorities.

“We’ve made strides in tech in the restaurant industry, but consumer tech has outpaced the other industries,” adds MacPherson. “We’ve really underinvested as an industry, and I think the pandemic exposed that in a big way… there’s been so many advances in forecasting and analytics. There’s a huge opportunity in forecasting. Machine learning should be driving forecasts. Let technology do most of the science.”

Click here for more recovery and relief information for restaurant, hospitality and food service operators. And to keep listening, check out The Hospitality Hangout podcast on Spotify!

This syndicated content is brought to you by Branded Strategic Hospitality.