This week Chris is joined by Mitz Patel, Global Head of IT Projects at Soho House, and David Broom, CIO at Prezzo Italian, for a festive-but-real chat about the tech challenges and breakthroughs shaping hospitality right now.

They dive into inherited systems, shaky connectivity, labour and inventory headaches, AI that’s finally useful, and why hospitality tech still relies on strong human relationships. All of that… plus Abbey Road, Christmas rotas, and Mitz’s legendary community Christmas in Twickenham. 🎅💻

🌟 A quick word about “Always Open at Christmas”

Before the episode begins, Chris introduces “Always Open at Christmas” – this year’s brand new hospitality charity single. Recorded at Abbey Road Studios in just 72 hours by volunteers from across our industry, it celebrates the people who keep hospitality warm, open and full of heart.

💛 All proceeds go to Hospitality Action, supporting workers and families who need a lift this winter.
🎵 Search “Always Open at Christmas – The Hospitality Choir” on Spotify, Apple or Amazon Music and give it a stream, save and share.

In this episode 👇

• Why only 18% of operators would recommend their tech stack

• The reality of inheriting legacy systems and trying to modernise without breaking everything

• Connectivity battles: patchwork networks, microwave links, backups and the 1:30pm meltdown

• AI moving from hype to real operational gains

• Big vendors vs smaller, more agile players — and why relationships still matter more than features

• Christmas in hospitality: on-call IT shifts, family traditions and community hubs 🎄

Wishing you a brilliant Christmas from all of us at Tech on Toast – and remember:
we are always open at Christmas. 💛

👋 What’s this episode about?

Chris is joined by:

• Sasha (Product Marketing, Dojo)

• Chris (Côte Restaurant Group)

• Jack (Founder, Pizza Rover)

to talk about what seamless tech really means when you are in the middle of a busy service – not on a slide deck.

They cover how to cut friction for guests, keep systems reliable, use data and AI smartly, and still keep hospitality human.

• Friction and the “V” of guest anxiety

  • Guests are most anxious when they arrive and when they want to pay 😬

  • Waiting to sit, waiting to order, waiting to pay – still the big three problems.

  • Côte’s “V” model shows where tech can smooth those pinch points without forcing one way to pay.

• Integrations vs “too many apps”

  • Jack on the pain of stacking loads of niche tools that do not talk to each other.

  • When tech sits between you and the guest, direct feedback can drop – so you need data to fill the gap 📊.

• Reliability > shiny features

  • Sasha explains Dojo’s “always on” mindset, multiple fail-safes and 4G backup.

  • Downtime in payments, bookings or reservations during peak trading can cost a fortune – and trust.

• Data, loyalty and personalisation

  • Mass blast offers make guests feel spammed or even “ripped off”.

  • The panel talk about moving towards thousands of micro customer types and more personal contact 💌.

• Where AI actually helps (today)

  • Côte’s AI phone assistant “Joe” answers every call and recovers lost bookings 📞.

  • Biggest gains for now: phones, CRM, training, compliance and back-office efficiency – not robots replacing people on the floor.

• Future wishes & Christmas pressures

  • Jack wants AI and computer vision to take complexity out of the back office and compliance, not the warmth out of service.

  • Chris dreams of tech that simply understands how each guest likes to dine.

  • Sasha sees AI agents taking admin off managers so they can focus on people and culture 🎄.

If you are an operator wrestling with clunky systems, choosing between “all-in-one” and “best in class”, or wondering where AI genuinely fits in your world, this live episode will give you real stories, not theory.

Hit play, follow the show, and share it with a fellow operator who is currently at war with their tech stack 🔁💚

🔑 Big themes👉 Why listen?

This week on the Tech on Toast podcast I’m joined by Brett Robbins, CEO of Snapfix – the 📸 photo-first “brain at the centre of your building” that helps teams stay on top of maintenance, safety and day-to-day ops in one simple app.

We chat about why simple software is secretly the hardest thing to build, how Snapfix grew from a seaside town in Ireland 🌊 to Dublin’s Docklands and beyond, and why taking a picture + scanning a QR code can 10x safety reporting on the floor.

We also dive into AI, sustainability and the real world of broken kit – from £30k of dead plants 🪴 to cameras spotting spills before a guest slips, and bots quietly reading your invoices to tell you when it is finally time to replace that AC unit ❄️.

🎧 In this episode you’ll hear:

• 📲 What Snapfix actually does and why Brett calls it “the operational brain” in your building

• 🧠 The “modern art” analogy – 10,000 hours of work behind a product that feels ridiculously simple

• 🏨 Real stories from hotels, factories, care homes and more (including the £30k plant disaster…)

• 🤖 Where AI really helps maintenance and facilities teams today (no robot butlers… yet)

• 🌍 Why sustainability needs more than a sticker on the bathroom door – and how ops tech can help

• 🇮🇪 Snapfix’s journey from rural Ireland to Dublin’s tech hub and into the UK & US

💡 Episode sponsor

This episode is brought to you by Lightspeed – the POS and payments platform helping restaurants smash the festive rush 🎄, speed up tableside service and keep FOH and BOH perfectly in sync.

🔗 Links

• 🔧 Check out Snapfix: snapfix.com

• 👋 Connect with Brett on LinkedIn – search “Brett Robbins Snapfix”

• 🥪 More from Tech on Toast: techontoast.community

From Tech on Toast – helping hospitality operators make smarter tech decisions (and have a bit of fun along the way). 🎙️✨

In this episode, we explore how KATE Media’s dedicated on-table ordering and payment device is changing the way restaurants serve, sell, and scale. Host Chris Fletcher chats with Manuel Costin, Country Manager at KATE Media, about why a physical, brandable device outperforms QR codes — boosting guest control, staff efficiency, and average spend.

💡 What you’ll learn

• 📱 Why a physical device creates a smoother, faster ordering experience than QR codes

• 👩‍🍳 How staff use lights and smart watches to stay in sync during service peaks

• 💰 The measurable uplift in average order value and guest satisfaction

• 🔗 How KATE integrates seamlessly with POS, payments, loyalty, and reporting

• 🧁 Why brands like Heavenly Desserts and Elan Café are embracing the tech

🎧 Listen now on Spotify: Tech on Toast Podcast — On-Table Ordering That Works
🔗 Find KATE Media: katemedia.com | Connect with Manuel on LinkedIn

✨ Powered by Lightspeed — helping restaurants deliver seamless service and unforgettable guest experiences.

This series, Business in Better Shape, was born from new research by Tech on Toast and Square, The Long-Term Case for Smarter Tech Investment.We spoke to more than 150 hospitality leaders across the UK, uncovering an industry stuck between ambition and hesitation. Most hospitality teams buy tech only when something’s on fire - Square’s research shows just 6% plan purchases, while 94% react. That insight inspired this series, real conversations with operators who are finding ways to move forward, to simplify, to modernise without losing what makes hospitality human.Download the research here;https://www.techontoast.community/researchIn our second episode, Rachel Masing, People Director, Pool House - from the minds behind Topgolf & Puttshack, lays out how to flip that script and design people-first systems before opening day and use tech to create space for human leadership.Episode HighlightsTech-infused experience: ball & cue tracking, digitized scoring, and player-levelling to make pool competitive and inclusive.People blueprint: values → behaviours → role profiles → always-on feedback loops; hire for skill and behaviour.Scale by design: choose tools that work cross-city/country, not just for site #1.Noise killers: clear comms rules + project visibility (e.g., Slack for HQ, ClickUp for projects) so work doesn’t vanish into silos.Tech as strategy: not “keep the Wi-Fi up,” but a leader who scans the market and briefs teams on what to adopt next.AI where it helps: recruiting at scale and emerging AI-enabled coaching/L&D—augment humans, don’t replace them.GM = business owner: elevate GMs to run people, finance, sales, and ops—then upskill them to coach on site.Ownership mindset: equity for core teams and day-one employee ownership to hard-wire culture and commitment.Big missing piece: a light, continuous performance conversation tool (voice notes, auto-pull shift/attendance/peer signals, simple scheduling).This series is powered by Square - helping hospitality operators put their business in better shape through connected commerce, payments, and restaurant technology.https://squareup.com/gb/en

This week, Chris is joined (again!) by Christian Mouysset, Co-founder of Tenzo, the “glue” that brings sales, labour, inventory, reviews and reservations into one real-time view. We talk actionable KPIs over vanity metrics, why speed of feedback beats perfect dashboards, and how “performance ops” helps GMs move the needle on today’s shift, not next quarter’s report.

Highlights

From data overload to action: pick 3–5 KPIs and shine a light—things improve.

Real-time or it’s too late: feedback after lunch beats a board pack next week.

Shift-level impact: targets part-timers can act on within a three-hour window.

AI done right: ML for forecasting, LLMs for summaries, automation for delivery—different tools, different jobs.

Integrations that work: human relationships + solid APIs matter.

Best-of-breed vs all-in-one: choose your four dimensions (geo, sub-vertical, toolset, segment) and make trade-offs on purpose.

Hotels turning F&B inside-out: untapped revenue if ops and insight align.

Key takeaways:

Start with one KPI (e.g., spend per labour hour) and prove a win before adding more.

Put mobile, real-time insight in the GM’s hand; avoid 15 logins and 28-page PDFs.

Separate ML, LLMs and automation; don’t lump everything under “AI”.

Build integrations at the right granularity (hour, site, revenue centre).

Timestamps

01:45 – Tenzo in one line: the “glue” for restaurant data

04:50 – Data drowning vs focusing on what matters

06:40 – “Shine a light and it gets better” (Hard Rock lesson)

08:50 – Real-time targets teams can act on today

12:30 – Why mobile matters for GMs (and part-timers)

14:50 – AI: forecasting, summaries and automation—what’s what

18:30 – Trust, accuracy and adoption

20:45 – Integrations: people, APIs and the right granularity

24:30 – Best-of-breed vs all-in-one (choose your sacrifices)

26:55 – Industry pulse: cautious optimism and real ROI

28:40 – Hotels & F&B: new momentum

29:55 – How to reach Christian

Guest

Christian Mouysset – Co-founder, Tenzo

Web: gotenzo.com

Email: [email protected]

Sponsor

Lightspeed — POS and payments built for busy service. Close the year strong.

Connect

Host: Chris Fletcher

Subscribe, rate and share if this helped your operation.

Got a stack worth talking about? Share your tech stack and help build a better-connected industry.

This series, Business in Better Shape, was born from new research by Tech on Toast and Square, The Long-Term Case for Smarter Tech Investment.We spoke to more than 150 hospitality leaders across the UK, uncovering an industry stuck between ambition and hesitation. Most hospitality teams buy tech only when something’s on fire - Square’s research shows just 6% plan purchases, while 94% react. That insight inspired this series, real conversations with operators who are finding ways to move forward, to simplify, to modernise without losing what makes hospitality human.Download the research here;https://www.techontoast.community/researchIn our third epsisode Jonny Bramwell, Regional Ops at Rosa’s Thai shares the operator’s view from the floor, pick tools that give time back, fit the brand, and lift service - not add noise.Episode HighlightsBrand-first fit: tech must support the Rosa’s experience (fast, fresh, friendly) without forcing guests down paths they don’t want.FSR: in full-service, tech should facilitate the theatre and human touch, not replace it.Test & learn (hard): run real trial sites, stress-test with frontline teams, and involve the partner directly in fixes.Time back for teams: main buying lens - does it reduce workload, protect work-life balance, and free GMs to plan (not just cover shifts)?Operator dashboard: mornings start with covers, like-for-like, delivery, and guest sentiment to decide where to lean in.Adoption signals: happier teams, lower turnover, stronger reviews, rising spend/head = tech is actually used and valued.Buying criteria: brand fit, guest experience, time back, scalable rollout (roadmaps alone are not enough).Work with reality: mistakes happen - what matters is a partner who stays to tweak and land it properly.Message to vendors: do the homework, tailor the pitch, and focus on the two outcomes that matter: enhance guest experience + coach/develop teams.This series is powered by Square - helping hospitality operators put their business in better shape through connected commerce, payments, and restaurant technology.https://squareup.com/gb/en

💡 Connectivity in hospitality is no longer optional — it’s as important as gas, water and electricity.

Host Chris Fletcher chats with Andy Maynard (Head of IT services and Solutions Caffè Nero) and Joe Strudwick (Head of National Accounts, Sky Business) about why reliable networks now power everything from card payments to coffee machines — and how smart operators are treating connectivity like a true utility, not an afterthought.

☕ How do you keep 600+ stores online?💸 What’s the hidden cost of downtime?🔐 And how do you build resilience that protects your brand, your teams and your guests?

Powered by: Sky Business

⏱️ Chapters00:00 – Why connectivity is as vital as gas, water & electricity ⚡01:24 – Meet Andy & Joe02:09 – Inside Caffè Nero’s global network05:08 – Every SaaS tool depends on uptime08:01 – When Wi-Fi drops, operations stop10:02 – Fibre, EPOS, IoT & SD-WAN explained12:58 – Creating one “gold-standard” store setup16:59 – Downtime = money on the floor 💷17:42 – Staff experience and tech frustration24:03 – Treating connectivity like a utility30:04 – 4G failover & real-time monitoring35:03 – The future: security, resilience & smarter sites43:56 – Wrap-up & next steps

✨ Key Takeaways

• ​⚙️ Connectivity is as essential as your utilities
• ​🚀 Uptime = revenue, morale & guest loyalty
• ​📶 Standardise, monitor & build in resilience
• ​🕓 Match support to trading hours — not office hours
• ​🔐 Cyber security is now a board-level topic

🎙️ Guests

• ​Andy Maynard – Head of IT services and solutions
• ​Joe Strudwick – Head of National Accounts, Sky Business

👋 Host: Chris Fletcher🎛️ Production: Tech on Toast🤝 Series Partner: Sky Business

AI isn’t here to replace ops, it’s here to amplify it. Laure Joyeux (Expansion & Partnerships, Inpulse) and Italo Vendramini (Head of Operations, La Maritxu) share how AI-driven forecasting powers inventory and purchasing, cutting order-building time, lifting availability, and reducing waste. We cover trust on the shop floor, onboarding and support, supplier integrations (incl. EDI/email), and what changes as you scale from one site to many.
Presented by Lightspeed Restaurant.

Guests
Laure Joyeux — Inpulse
Italo Vendramini — La Maritxu (Basque cheesecake bakery, London)

Key takeaways
• ~90%+ production accuracy trending to ~95% as models learn
• Pre-filled orders save ~50% time; managers keep final say
• Better availability, less spoilage, clearer supplier comms
• Two years’ sales history = day-one accuracy; new sites settle in ~2–3 months

Chapters
00:00 Intro & sponsor
02:00 Meet Laure & Italo
06:30 What Inpulse does
12:00 Trusting AI on site
18:30 Purchasing & suppliers
25:00 Onboarding & support
31:00 Scaling to multi-site
36:00 Final takeaways

This week, Chris sits down with Frederick Szydlowski, Co-founder of Embargo, to unpack how an all-in-one, best-in-class approach to loyalty, ordering and CRM can actually move the P&L—without burying teams in complexity.

Freddy’s story runs from professional basketball in Poland to JOE & THE JUICE on King’s Road, to building one of the UK’s highest-rated food & drink apps (4.9★).

We dig into why hospitality still loves loyalty but hates complexity, why first-party data beats data scrapbooks, and how Embargo’s product philosophy (own the journey end-to-end) drives adoption, repeat visits and higher direct sales, operators are reporting ~60% higher delivery volume via their own channels versus marketplaces.

We also cover Embargo’s expanding toolkit (web & table ordering, kiosks, payments), rapid onboarding (often live in 5–10 minutes per channel), and how their new AI models turn weather, behaviour and lookalike patterns into recommended campaigns you can run in minutes, not months.

Brought to you by Lightspeed. This festive season, let your tech do the heavy lifting. Close the year strong with Lightspeed Restaurant.