On this episode of The Late Night Restaurant Podcast, Jay Ashton Canada's Restaurant Guy and Domenic Pedulla sits down with Elias Hage, Founder and CEO of App8 and the force behind Rally Catering.

This is a deep, practical conversation about how restaurants, caterers, and foodservice operators use technology to move orders faster, cut admin time, and grow revenue without burning out.

Elias breaks down:

• How digital ordering replaces handwritten catering forms
• Why catering adds real margin when done right
• How schools now manage lunch programs with online ordering and government subsidies
• What operators miss when they ignore catering
• How systems create leverage across kitchens, staff, and sales
• Why speed, accuracy, and repeat orders matter more than ever

You’ll also hear how App8 evolved from solving table payments to powering catering, events, and K–12 food programs across North America, plus how operators unlock hidden sales sitting in their inbox right now.

If you run a restaurant, catering business, bakery, commissary kitchen, or foodservice brand, this episode gives you clear insight into:

• Building repeat catering customers
• Reducing order errors
• Saving hours each week
• Turning operations into growth engines

Real talk. Real tools. Real ways to scale.

👉Learn more about Rally Catering... https://www.rallycatering.com/

On this episode of The Late Night Restaurant Podcast, Canada's Restaurant Guy and Domenic Pedulla sits down with Michael Westhafer from Restaurant Rebellion to break down one hard truth...

Most restaurants are losing guests because they cannot be found online.

This conversation cuts straight to what matters right now for independent restaurants across Canada and North America.

You’ll learn:

• Why Google decides your traffic, not social media
• How PDF menus kill your visibility
• How AI now answers phones, texts guests, and replies to reviews
• Why Google Business Profiles drive real foot traffic
• What GEO and SEO mean for your menu, website, and reviews
• The first three fixes every operator needs to make

If you run a restaurant, cafe, bar, or food business, this episode gives you a clear playbook to get discovered, earn more 5-star reviews, and bring guests back through your doors.

learn more about Michael Westhafer: https://restaurantrebellion.com/

Jay Ashton, Canada's Restaurant Guy sits down with Sylvain Charlebois, host of The Food Professor Podcast, to unpack the hard numbers behind Canada’s restaurant correction.

They break down:

• Why more than 7,000 restaurants likely disappeared last year
• How labour changes, alcohol decline, tipping fatigue, and rising costs hit margins
• What GLP-1 drugs mean for appetizers, desserts, and dining habits
• Why independents face the biggest risk
• What operators need to change right now to survive and grow

No fluff. Real data. Real talk.

A must-listen for anyone in foodservice trying to stay ahead of what’s coming next on The Late Night Restaurant Podcast.

This episode features John Rebagliati, a 26-year food service brokerage veteran at IPS, in conversation with Jay. John started his career in restaurant operations before making the leap to the brokerage side in the spring of 2000, the same week he learned he was expecting his first child. He shares the culture shock of going from managing restaurants (where he assumed distributors stocked everything) to learning that roughly only 10–20% of SKUs are actually stocked at broad-line distributors.

The conversation covers how John built his career from cold-calling out of the Yellow Pages with a bag phone in his Mazda, to becoming a seasoned broker navigating complex manufacturer-distributor-operator dynamics. Key themes include the irreplaceable value of having worked in restaurant operations, how broker-operator trust is built over years, the misconceptions operators have about distribution, and how technology and AI are reshaping the industry.

John also shares personal insights on mentorship, morning routines, reducing screen time, and the importance of stepping away to recharge. The episode wraps with mutual appreciation between two long-time industry friends who've known each other since 2004.

Jay and Dom welcome Greg from GP Hospitality Partners for a deep dive into the biggest challenge facing restaurants today: building and retaining great teams. With his new book "Loyal AF: How to Build a Ride-or-Die Team That Grows Sales, Wows Guests, and Never Leaves" dropping soon, Greg shares hard-earned wisdom from working with 200+ restaurants on what actually makes employees stick around.

In This Episode:

• The real difference between calling your staff "family" vs. "team" (and why it matters)
• Why every restaurant supports mortgages, families, and dreams beyond just the owner
• How helping one restaurant improve creates a ripple effect in the entire community
• Why guest experience is impossible without the right people in place
• The truth about restaurant consulting (it's not like the TV shows)

Guest Bio:Greg is the founder of GP Hospitality Partners and author of "Butts and Seats: How to Create Raving Fans Who Come Back Again and Again." He's worked with over 200 restaurants, helping them build teams that actually stay and cultures that actually work.

Key Takeaway:Small improvements compound into major changes. If you can get one thing right with your team, it changes everything.

Connect with Greg:gphospitalitypartners.com

Book: "Loyal AF" (coming soon) | "Butts and Seats" (available now on Amazon)

Running a restaurant means juggling hiring, onboarding, scheduling, compliance, payroll, and people problems—all in a single week. This episode confronts a hard truth: fragmented systems waste time, create errors, and cost you real money.

We dig into why an all-in-one people management platform transforms the operator experience. One system. One source of truth. Hiring through payroll.

You'll hear where operators lose track, where the hidden costs pile up, and how simplicity improves compliance, saves hours, and actually supports your team on the floor.

No theory. Just real operations, real pressure, and solutions built for restaurants.

Learn more: https://www.pushoperations.com/

In this episode of The Late Night Restaurant Podcast, Jay and Dom sit down with Greg Farineau, Co-Founder of Headhunters Canada, to challenge the most common excuse in the industry: “We can’t find good people.”

Greg brings a refreshing, human-first perspective on recruiting, leadership, and retention. He explains why most hiring feels transactional, why throwing resumes at a problem never works, and why people do not leave jobs, they leave environments.

The conversation goes deep into what today’s workforce actually wants.
Being heard.
Being respected.
Being supported by real leadership.

This episode covers:

• Why hiring feels broken across restaurants and hospitality

• The difference between transactional recruiting and relationship-based hiring

• How culture, not wages alone, drives retention

• Why AI will never replace human connection in hiring

• What restaurant leaders miss when developing future managers

• Burnout, leadership blind spots, and the warning signs operators ignore

• Why foodservice remains one of the best training grounds for life and business

Greg also shares his personal burnout story and explains why pushing the brain past its limits is different than pushing the body, a message every operator and leader needs to hear.

If you are a restaurant owner, operator, manager, or hospitality leader who wants stronger teams, better retention, and real leadership impact, this episode will change how you think about hiring.

Listen in.
Because the talent is already out there.
Leadership decides whether they stay.

Join Jay and Dom on The Late Night Restaurant Show as they sit down with Sharyar from Clara AI at 7 AM Pakistan time to explore how artificial intelligence is transforming the restaurant industry. Discover how Clara AI is helping over 100 restaurants in Australia recover millions in lost revenue through intelligent call handling and automation.

AI Call Management Revolution

• How Clara AI has answered 425,000+ calls and recovered $3.2 million in revenue
• The power of 24/7 automated phone answering that never misses a reservation or order
• Why the average missed call costs restaurants $35-50 in lost revenue
• How Clara handles 20 concurrent calls with 30-second average order times

Beyond Phone Calls: The Four Pillars of Clara AI

1. Inbound Call Management - Taking orders, answering queries, and booking reservations around the clock
2. Outbound Marketing Calls - Personalized promotional calls to segmented customer lists
3. Staff Training Innovation - AI-powered verbal assessments that reduce pressure and identify knowledge gaps
4. Voice-Activated Inventory - Save 5+ hours weekly by simply speaking your inventory counts

Game-Changing Insights

• Why AI training feels less judgmental than human evaluation
• How multilingual support (70+ languages) breaks down communication barriers
• The 18-day ROI that's disrupting traditional restaurant staffing models
• Integration strategies with POS and booking management systems

Perfect For:

• Restaurant owners struggling with missed calls and staffing challenges
• Operators looking to reduce labor costs while improving customer service
• Food service managers interested in AI-powered staff training solutions
• Hospitality professionals exploring inventory management automation
• Anyone curious about practical AI applications in the restaurant industry

Episode Length: 48 minutes

Featured Guest: Sharyar, Founder of Clara AI (Pakistan)

Learn More: GetClaraAI.com

On this episode of The Late Night Restaurant Show, Chef D joins us from a cruise ship to talk about his newest project Something Different, a one-seating-per-night restaurant already making waves in Cambridge and across Toronto. With decades of experience in the industry, Chef D offers sharp insights on innovation in the kitchen, the value of mentorship, and how to build something that lasts in a fast-changing food economy. Whether you're a chef, restaurateur, or someone who understands the pressure behind the pass, this episode brings clarity, honesty, and a real look at what it takes to lead in hospitality today.

Check out Something Different: https://chefdtv.com/something-different?

In this energizing episode of the Late Night Restaurant Show, Saawan Logan, founder of North Water, shares the story behind Canada's cleanest bottled water brand and what it really means to lead with authenticity. From serving water at the G7 to redefining what it means to be a modern leader, Saawan speaks openly about challenges, clarity, and why being real matters now more than ever. It's a conversation about values, vision, and the future of food and beverage in Canada.