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In the latest episode of Hospitality Hangout podcast, Michael Schatzberg “The Restaurant Guy” and Jimmy Frischling “ The Finance Guy” were on the road and with a special edition live from FSTEC in Dallas.
Andy Freivogel is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Science On Call. He has over twenty-five years experience in both technology and retail. He also spent years creating specialized data networks and systems for end-user support in the residential digital services arena. Freivogel stops by to talk to the guys about the show, Innovation Alley and Science On Call, a tech support platform for restaurants. Freivogel says that the theme of the show is optimism and enthusiasm, people are happy to be back.
CEO of Copia, Kimberly Smith stops by and chats with the guys. Copia’s technology allows businesses to safely donate their excess food to nonprofits and access tax deductions. Copia is helping the industry track food waste. Smith shares that Copia has just closed a Pre-Series A with Branded Strategic. Smith says from an operation standpoint they are continuing to grow. She adds that operators that are not focusing on solutions to donate their waste are missing out on tax benefits.
Stephanie Sollers, CEO at Virtual Dining Concepts, stops by and talks about the new brick-and-mortar launch of MrBeast Burger. Virtual Dining Concepts creates large virtual brands with celebrities, media companies and influencers, helping them expand their businesses into the food category. Sollers says the ethos of the company is to bring these concepts into restaurants and kitchens that have extra capacity.
Chris Keating, EVP at Winsight comes by to talk about this year's FSTEC. The show had over 700 operators. They talk about the panel CEO’s in the hot seat, and Keating says that chief executive officers are technology professionals now.
To hear more from all of the guests that stopped by to chat with Schatzberg and Frischling at FSTEC, check out this episode Hospitality Hangout.
Episode Credits:
www.thehospitalityhangout.com
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
In the latest episode of Hospitality Hangout, Michael Schatzberg “The Restaurant Guy” and Jimmy Frischling “ The Finance Guy” chat with Jay Fiske, President of Powerhouse Dynamics, a Middleby Company while in Dallas at the FSTEC Conference.
As president Fiske is responsible for leading all strategic and day-to-day company operations. He is a technology executive and investor with over twenty years of experience building businesses and innovative technology products to market.
Fiske says, “Powerhouse Dynamics, we are a Boston based technology firm and we are the folks behind the open kitchen internet of things platform. We help large multi-site restaurant operators manage their critical infrastructure more efficiently, save money on energy, reduce risk on food safety, help make sure all their cooking equipment is up and running and producing high- quality products.” He adds, “So think about this as the internet of things. The critical back of house infrastructure and you know driving those kinds of efficiency that this visibility and control and connectability suddenly affords these multi-site operators.” Restaurants can use Open Kitchen to connect, analyze, and control equipment like refrigeration, HVAC as well as a large range of kitchen equipment brands to automate essential facility functions.
The guys ask Fiske, “can you share with our listeners about what Open Kitchen is doing to help operators maintain their equipment before they even break and have issues? And the importance of what we're learning from you is the smart kitchen.” Fiske says as Open Kitchen integrates with different types of equipment and makes and models, the business case for connectivity really varies by the kind of equipment. There is a common theme across all equipment for uptime and maintenance. Fiske says Open Kitchen can give operators insights to the data and all you to be proactive on prioritizing any issues.
Schatzberg makes a point and says that what he really loves about Open Kitchen is that it can integrate with equipment from many manufactures, not just Middleby. Fiske says that when operators are integrating with Open Kitchen that their data can not be shared with anyone else.
Frischling talks about how data is a hot topic and asks Fiske, “Can you share the role that the Internet-of-Things (IoT) generated data is playing with Powerhouse Dynamics Open Kitchen and how is it helping everyone?” Fiske says that they provide the infrastructure to get all the raw data to the cloud and it is creating the business tools around the data for effective outcomes.
To hear about the foodservice feud plus Frischling and Schatzberg answer to the talking back question, where they see automation going in foodservice, check out this episode of Hospitality Hangout.
Episode Credits:
www.thehospitalityhangout.com
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
In the latest episode of Hospitality Hangout, Michael Schatzberg “The Restaurant Guy” and Jimmy Frischling “ The Finance Guy” chat with Robert Irvine, world-class chef, fitness authority, philanthropist and restaurateur. Irvine has appeared or hosted in several shows on television, including Food Network’s Worst Cooks in America, Next Iron Chef, Restaurant Express, Chopped: Impossible, Guy’s Grocery Games: Impossible, A Hero’s Welcome, Food Network Star, ABC’s Body of Proof, ABC Family’s Melissa and Joey plus more. Irvine is known for his support for our nation’s military and believes that his success would not be possible without the men and women that so bravely defend our freedoms.
Frischling asks Irvine to share how he got started in food and he says, “so basically eleven years old I started to cook in home economics class at school because there were thirty girls and me and I thought what a great way to get a girlfriend.” He adds, “I made my first Quiche Lorraine, I took it home and realized that pastry, egg, a little bacon, onion, some garlic and cheese made a meal that somebody would be really happy.” Irvine at fifteen years old said he joined the military. When Irvine was nine years old he said he had become a sailor, now he cooks. He says, “food to me is the ultimate passion job, a lifestyle, whatever you want to call it because it affects so many other people.”
Irvine for many years was involved with the Gary Sinise foundation. Schatzberg asks Irvine about the Robert Irvine Foundation which Irvine founded in 2014 to support the veterans and veteran causes that need the most help. Irvine says,” I wanted my focus to be so strategic on food fitness, mental fitness and physical fitness. So pretty much everything to do with physical and mental health. He says about the foundation “that there's just a whole bunch of things that we do but mainly to give freedom back to those that have lost it.”
Irvine talks about not being a fan of virtual kitchens but after a meeting with Robert Earl of Virtual Dining Concepts, he has converted. Virtual Dining Concepts and Irvine teamed up to create Robert Irvine’s American Heroes, a virtual sandwich brand that will have a direct impact on supporting our nation’s military heroes.
The guys ask Irvine about Irvine Spirits in partnership with Boardroom Spirits, creators of handcrafted vodka, rum, whiskey, and more. He talks about hand picking the botanicals himself for Irvine Spirits.
To hear more about Irvine’s many successful businesses, his dedication and passion for supporting the military and his FitCrunch Campaign, check out this episode of Hospitality Hangout.
Episode Credits:
www.thehospitalityhangout.com
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
This month on Hospitality Hangout, Michael Schatzberg “The Restaurant Guy” and Jimmy Frischling “The Finance Guy” are taking a break from their usual interview episodes and bringing you a Best Of season of all your favorite segments. They bring back “Best Of” old favorites such as “Which Came First” and “The Crystal Ball Moment.”
In this episode they feature a Best Of Who Would You Beat Quickfire question with special guest and Co Founder & CEO at Chowly, Inc., Sterling Douglass. Schatzberg and Frischling would ask each guest who they would choose to have better odds of beating in a selected game. Frischling says, “It is by far the funniest question, and one where I will say, I hold the record as the stronger competitor over Schatzy. We’ve had funny answers throughout the season such as Schatzy being compared to a skinny can of shaken soda waiting to pop.”
Schatzberg asks Douglass, “If you were to challenge Jimmy or I to a game of Paintball, who do you have the better odds of beating?” Douglass answers definitely Jimmy.
You can check out the best of episode to hear Steven Simoni who at the time was the chief executive officer at Bbot choose who he would have the better odds in beating at Scrabble. Michael Jacober, CEO of Blanket gets asked about Clue, Clockedin’s chief executive officer, Eric Smith’s question was a round of bowling. Smith sounds like he was going to choose Frischling but picks Schatzberg.
To hear all of the best of who would you beat answers to the questions they asked CEO of Ingest, Daniel Meth’s challenge response to Slip N’ Slide, Targetable, CEO, Andrew Nash pick his odds for Gin Rummy, Minnow’s CEO, Steven Sperry’s choice for Who Wants to Be A Millionaire, who Mighty Quinn Barbeque’s co-ceo, Micha Magid picks for Pin The Tail On The Donkey, Josh Goodman, chief executive office of PourMyBeer answer for thumb war and Dispatch Goods CEO Lindsey Hoell gets asked who she has better odds of beating at Yahtzee. Ivan Matkovic, CEO of Spendgo gets asked who he would have better odds of beating in a game of risk. Matkovic picks Schatzberg.
Tune in to hear the challenges and learn who Scott Siegel, chief executive officer from Curbit, Clayton Wood, CEO of Picnic, Rob Carpenter of Valyant AI, Kimberly Smith, chief executive officer of Copia, Taj Adhav CEO of Leascake, Zack Oates, Ovation CEO, Brandon Barton, CEO of Bite, Gary Goodman CEO of Yumpingo and Agot.AI CEO, Evan DeSantola on this best of episode on Hospitality Hangout.
Episode Credits:
www.thehospitalityhangout.com
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
This month on Hospitality Hangout, Michael Schatzberg “The Restaurant Guy” and Jimmy Frischling “The Finance Guy” are taking a break from their usual interview episodes and bringing you a Best Of season of all your favorite segments. They bring back “Best Of” old favorites such as “Top of the Tech Stack” and “Which Came First.”
In this episode they feature a Best Of Top Of The Tech Stack with special guest, Sterling Douglass, Co Founder & CEO at Chowly, Inc. Top of the Tech Stack first made an appearance in season 2 and held up strong through season 6. Branded is all about the tech stack, each guest who played “Top of the Tech Stack” was asked, what areas of hospitality technology would they recommend that operators have on the top of their tech stacks?
Episode Credits:
www.thehospitalityhangout.com
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
This month on Hospitality Hangout, Michael Schatzberg “The Restaurant Guy” and Jimmy Frischling “The Finance Guy” are taking a break from their usual interview episodes and bringing you a Best Of season of all your favorite segments. They bring back “Best Of” old favorites such as “Best of On The Road” and “Top of the Tech Stack.”
In this episode they feature a Best Of Which Came First with special guest and Co Founder & CEO at Chowly, Inc., Sterling Douglass. Frischling says, “the idea for this segment came about over a common joke that the only other industry slower to embrace technology behind hospitality is coal mining. This got them thinking, is hospitality that far behind or actually ahead of the game? Each guest on Season 6 got to take their very best guess on whether hospitality was ahead of the game, or not, in a string of fun questions.
Here are a few of the Best of Questions:
Which came first, the first online pizza hut delivery order or the first online amazon order?
Which came first, the digital menu board or the first digital billboard?
Which came first, the restaurant drive-thru or the bank drive-thru?
Which came first, the automated baggage claim at airports or the supermarket conveyor belt checkout lane?
Which came first, the ability to make a restaurant reservation online or the ability to make an airline reservation online?
Which came first, the car wash or the dishwasher?
The first question went to Evan DeSantola, CEO of Agot. Which came first, the restaurant drive-thru or the bank drive-thru? The answer is the bank drive-thru. Schatzberg says the first drive-thru in America was Hillcrest State Bank out of Dallas, Texas in 1930. It was Harry and Esther Snyder, of the In-N-Out Burger chain that built the first drive-through restaurant in 1948. Fun fact, so In-N-Out because the restaurant name promised exactly what it delivered: In-N-Out.
The guys close out the Which Came First episode with Robert Earl, Co-founder of Virtual Dining Concepts and Chairman of Earl Enterprises. Earl’s question was which came first, the clothing iron or the waffle iron? The answer is the waffle iron. The waffle iron was created in 1869, by Cornelius Swartwout of Troy, N.Y. The Clothing Iron was not invented for another 13 years when Henry W. Seely patented his electric flatiron on June 6, 1882.
To hear the questions they asked Lindsey Hoell, Founder & CEO of Dispatch Goods, Alonso Castañeda, VP of Brand Development & Strategy at Savory Restaurant Fund, Scott Siegel Co-Founder & CEO of Curbit, Tim McLaughlin, CEO of GoTab, Jon Sherman, Co-Founder and CEO of Sticky’s Finger Joint, John DiLoreto, President of Flipdish US, Danny Klein, Editorial Director at Food News Media, Scott Gladstone, SVP Strategy & Innovation at Dine Brands and Kimberly Smith, CEO of Copia , check out this best of episode on Hospitality Hangout.
Episode Credits:
www.thehospitalityhangout.com
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
This month on Hospitality Hangout, Michael Schatzberg “The Restaurant Guy” and Jimmy Frischling “The Finance Guy” are taking a break from their usual interview episodes and bringing you a Best Of season of all your favorite segments. They bring back “Best Of” old favorites such as “The Crystal Ball Moment” and “Top Of Tech Stack.”
In this episode they feature a Best Of On The Road with special guest and Co Founder & CEO at Chowly, Inc., Sterling Douglass. The guys said they have been fortunate to have been able to record the show on site at industry trade shows like Winsight, EnsembleIQ, The Spoon, Franchise Times, and Networld Media Group. Schatzberg says that the show offers a wonderful opportunity to catch up with friends and gain insights plus create new connections.
Frischling gives some takeaways for this Best Of On The Road episode, saying technology, innovation, virtual and ghost kitchens are here to stay, it is incredible to be back in person and connecting for the first time with clients and co-workers, off-premise is still a big topic plus food tech and the way we eat is heading to a new era.
They kick off with Wade Allen, SVP Head of Innovation at Brinker International and Derek Canton, Founder of Paerpay for the first on the road episode at 2021 FSTEC. Allen, when asked about what he is looking to learn from the show replies he is looking to find inspiration and to see who is doing something different. He is also looking for the evolution of tech and how it changes his environment. Canton says how it is like being in the middle of the action being on the floor of the marketplace with innovation alley.
Next Schatzberg talks about the 2021 Food on Demand Conference in Las Vegas where they ask Trish Giordano, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at Earl Enterprises what she has learned from the show and what’s everyone talking about. Giordano says, the big thing is relationships. She said that the most important thing is all of the new technology companies that have come to market, especially with the labor shortages. Through tech you can create efficiencies for restaurants. She added, everyone is talking about virtual brands.
In this Best Of Talking Back Series you hear from Steve Heeley, CEO of Poke Works and Dirk Izzo, President & GM of NCR Hospitality at the the 2021 Restaurant Leadership Conference, Michael Wolf, Founder & CEO & Editor in Chief at The Spoon from CES show, Phil Crawford, CTO at CKE Restaurants and Astric Isaacs, CTO at Bloomin’s Brands both judges of the MURTEC Start-Up Alley all offering insights to the shows. Plus check out what Laura Rea Dickey, of Dickey’s BBQ and Josh Halpern, CEO of Big Chicken and Beer Park have to say from the Restaurant Franchise and Innovation Summit.
They wrap up the On The Road episode with Alyssa Abraham, Digital Innovation Lead at Cargill and April Rogers, Director of Off-Premise and Guest Relations at Ruby Tuesday. To hear all of the insights and recaps from the industry trade shows, check out this best of episode on Hospitality Hangout.
Episode Credits:
www.thehospitalityhangout.com
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
This month on Hospitality Hangout, Michael Schatzberg “The Restaurant Guy” and Jimmy Frischling “The Finance Guy” are taking a break from their usual interview episodes and bringing you a Best Of season of all your favorite segments. They bring back “Best Of” old favorites such as “Top of the Tech Stack” and “The Branded Quickfire.”
In this episode they feature a Best Of Talking Back with special guest and Co Founder & CEO at Chowly, Inc., Sterling Douglass. When Schatzberg and Frischling started Hospitality Hangout podcast to talk to people in the industry, they quickly learned that their guests had questions for them as well. They created Talking Back to give their guests the opportunity to ask them questions.
This episode shares several great questions from many industry leaders. David Bloom, Chief Development and Operating officer at Capriotti’s and Wing Zone had a three part question. He asked, “What are you the most excited about for the future of tech?” Frischling answered he was most excited and loves the optionality and the large “menu” of tech available to operators. Bloom also asked, “What is the biggest lever a brand can pull to position themselves ahead of the curve?” Frischling said that the biggest lever would be to leverage AI and automation to address the issue of labor shortage and that he’s interested in a combination of data and analytics dominated decision making.
Marty Hahnfeld, Chief Customer Officer at Olo was a guest on season 4 and he asked, “What is one thing that is a normal part of the restaurant experience today that will be gone in 5 years?” Schatzberg answered, Handwriting menus and written reservation books will be a thing of the past. Everything will be done on mobile. Also the idea of walking into a McDonalds and an employee asking what you would like, that will become fully automated.
When Anand Gala, Managing Partner at Gala Capital Partners asked, “What does Branded think about restaurant companies buying tech companies?” Frischling believes no one size fits all and that there are opportunities for restauranteurs to be good investors in tech companies, as well as good clients in tech companies. It depends on the company goals. Schatzberg said being a good customer is key, but maybe as a defensive measure, a restaurant could invest in a company to stop it from going exclusively to a competitor.
To hear Dan Rowe, CEO of Fransmart ask about trends, CEO of Piestro, Massimo Noja De Marco’s question about helping smaller operators and Steven Elinson, Head of Worldwide Business Development, Restaurant, Catering and Food Service Industries for Amazon Web Services ask about opening a new restaurant during the pandemic plus get the guy’s answers, check out this best of episode on Hospitality Hangout.
Episode Credits:
www.thehospitalityhangout.com
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
In the latest episode of Hospitality Hangout, Michael Schatzberg “The Restaurant Guy” and Jimmy Frischling “ The Finance Guy” are bringing their listeners a “Best Of” season series with all of your favorite segments. Frischling says, “ We are bringing back Best OF old favorites such as Top of the Tech Stack and Which Came First as well as tried and true favorites Talking back and The Crystal Ball Moment. And of course – we can’t leave out the most popular segment (at least according to Schatzy…) The Branded Quickfire.” This episode features the Best of The Crystal Ball moments, with special guest, the Amazing Kreskin. They ask their guests to put on their “Kreskin Hat” and predict the future as it relates to hospitality and technology. And now I’m going to ask you the same question. Where do you see hospitality and technology in 2 years from now?
Hospitality Hangout kicks off the Best Of with Brian Anton, Managing Director at Citi, who was the first official guest to get the official Crystal Ball moment on season one, episode ten. Anton’s response to the question was, “People will want to go back to dining in person… and experience more valuable 2 years from now. People will want to be with their friends and share terrific experiences. BUT behaviors for dining in person will shift as customers now value convenience and technology. Friction points around health and speed will shift – fewer menus will be printed… it will be easier to pre-pay… and more menus will be on the phone.”
The next guest Andrew Smith, Managing Director of the Savory Fund, answered the question and said, Restaurants will strengthen their foundation, have a better tech stack, more touchless, less interaction with humans. On the menu side…food qualities will improve and we’ll see more foreign ingredients. On the experience side…. People will enjoy being together in person…. He believes everyone wants to get back in person and restaurants will thrive better than ever.
Kimberly Grant who is now with Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts as the Global Head of Restaurants and Bars at the time of the episode she was with FAST Acquisition Group, said during her crystal ball moment, there will be continued blurred lines between fast casual and dining. Think of a food hall with a diverse business model. Her prediction is that hotels, movie theaters and retail are going to move to new models in how they serve food – whether that is operating something similar to food halls, or host virtual kitchens or allowing outside food via delivery. Lines blurred in how we consume and source our food and experiences. Also hopefully that restaurants can still provide beverage experiences through delivery.
To hear all of the guests' crystal ball moments, including Robert Earl owner of Earl Enterprises, Brita Rosen Partner at Culterra Capital and Bryan Solar, General Manager of Restaurants at Square check out this best of episode on Hospitality Hangout.
Episode Credits:
www.thehospitalityhangout.com
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
In the latest episode of Hospitality Hangout, Michael Schatzberg “The Restaurant Guy” and Jimmy Frischling “ The Finance Guy” chat with Taj Adhav, chief executive officer at Leasecake, a platform that lets tenants, brokers and landlords manage location-related services, ranging from lease management to lease accounting to insurance agreements.
Adhav shares his background and says, “So you know, first generation kid, youngest son of an immigrant family. My parents said hey you better get into business so I was a CPA for fifteen years, big four, spent a decade at Disney as an imagineer being involved in lots of large scale commercial projects, hotels, restaurants and business launches. One of them was the Disney Cruise line billion dollar project and launching a couple of cruise ships with that business. A phenomenal kind of experience and I decided I needed to repot myself so I joined a small tech company.”
Leasecake was started over a cup of coffee at a diner, says Adhav. “After a great ride of successes and failures in life I met a gentleman in the commercial real estate space and he looks at me and he's managing this really large commercial real estate portfolio $50 million probably 50 tenants and nine buildings and he said to me, he's like listen you're a business guy and you're a tech guy, I'm losing track of things. I'm losing track of rent increases and lease expirations renewals and month-to-month rents. And he's like we should build an app,” Adhav shares. Jim Banks, the co-founder and Adhav’s idea while meeting over coffee created Leasecake, an operating system for location management and the reason it’s called Leasecake is because it is so easy.
Frischling says, what they love so much about Leasecake is that Adhav was highlighting the fact that they have applied a tech solution to an otherwise antiquated model. He adds, “So many small and mid-sized property owners for all intensive purposes forgotten about when it comes to creating a solution to organize tenant leases and get ready folks. Nearly 80% of the one trillion dollar global rental market falls into that category.”
Adhav is asked about how Leasecake is truly a solution for the multi-unit restaurant and food service operator. He says, “It's having the most accurate accessible answers in something that's easy to use and that allows them to stay focused on running an amazing restaurant experience not to be sidetracked by some time wasting effort because some permits have not been established or understanding.”
To hear more about managing your commercial lease portfolio, learn about the other tools Leasecake offers and winning Techstars, check out this episode of Hospitality Hangout.
Episode Credits:
www.thehospitalityhangout.com
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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