The Late Night Restaurant Podcast Show

What if finding your next favourite restaurant was as easy as sending a text message?

On this episode of The Late Night Restaurant Show, Jay Ashton and Domenic Pedulla welcome Mario Gomez-Hall from Zest, an AI-powered restaurant discovery platform changing how people find restaurants, explore local food scenes and decide where to eat.

Forget scrolling through hundreds of online reviews. Zest combines artificial intelligence, recommendations from friends, verified restaurant visits and personal dining preferences to help people find great places to eat.

And the best part? You don't even need to download an app to experience its text-based restaurant concierge.

In this episode, we explore:

• How Zest uses AI to recommend restaurants based on your tastes
• Why recommendations from friends matter more than anonymous online reviews
• How verified dining visits help address fake restaurant reviews
• Finding hidden gems, trending restaurants and local favorites
• Planning date nights, group dinners and restaurant reservations through text
• What AI-powered restaurant discovery means for restaurant owners and operators
• How restaurants gain visibility as consumers change the way they search for food

We even put Zest to the test in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, and Thunder Bay, Ontario, with some surprising results.

For restaurant owners, chefs, hospitality professionals and food lovers, this conversation offers a look at where restaurant search, AI technology and guest experiences are heading.

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Guests came in. They ate. They paid. What gives them a reason to return?

Preston Lee, founder of Thirty Percent, joins Jay Ashton and Domenic Pedulla on The Late Night Restaurant Show to talk about guest loyalty and the work behind a consistent restaurant experience.

The conversation covers:

• How training, systems and leadership work together.

• Auditing the guest experience, from the parking lot to the table and back.

• Why having regulars doesn’t tell you your guest retention rate.

• Building daily habits, including pre-shift meetings and recognizing your team.

• Focusing on the parts of your business you control.

Preston shares his approach to helping restaurant teams improve hospitality, develop leaders and give guests a reason to come back.

There are plenty of laughs, too, especially when Preston gets drawn into Jay’s 10% rule.

Before you spend thousands on restaurant equipment, this conversation deserves a listen.

Tyrone Ho from Econolease joins Jay and Dom on The Late Night Restaurant Podcast to talk equipment financing, cash flow and choosing equipment for the business you’re running today.

From testing a slushy machine to outfitting a full kitchen, they discuss:

• Buying outright versus leasing or renting.

• How Econolease’s Rent-Try-Buy program works.

• Why operators sometimes buy more equipment than they need.

• Questions about upgrades, returns, warranties and maintenance.

• Keeping working capital available during the first months of operation.

Tyrone also shares his perspective on Canada’s restaurant industry, including why openings and opportunities deserve attention alongside closure headlines.

Expect practical questions, honest discussion and plenty of laughs with Jay and Dom.

Free meals are common. Are they the benefit your team values most?

Jay Ashton and Domenic Pedulla welcome Jordan, founder of 7shifts, to The Late Night Restaurant Show to discuss findings from a survey of more than 1,000 restaurant workers.

The conversation covers why understaffing ranks as the biggest workplace stressor, how poor management drives employees away, and where restaurant benefits miss the mark.

You’ll hear practical ways to improve scheduling, spot early signs of disengagement, recognize good work, and match benefits to your employees’ needs. Jordan also shares how helping his dad manage restaurant schedules grew into 7shifts.

If you’re struggling with turnover, start with a simple question: Have you asked your team what would make them stay?

What does fresh citrus actually cost your restaurant? Beyond the price of lemons and limes, you’re paying for prep labour, waste, spoilage and inconsistent juice yields.

Zack Lister, Calgary entrepreneur and founder and CEO of Bodega Brands, joins us to discuss citrus sourcing, cocktail mixers and the hidden costs facing Canadian foodservice operators.

Zack founded Well Juicery in 2014, taking it from his home kitchen to thousands of retail locations across Canada. Today, he leads Bodega Brands, developing beverage brands and helping partners bring products to market across North America.

Its flagship brand, Drink Arté, works with producers in Mexico to supply premium juices and cocktail mixers to Canada’s hospitality industry.

In this episode, we explore the citrus supply chain from Mexico to Canada, Mexico’s influence on cocktail culture, and the operational tradeoffs between fresh squeezing and prepared juices. Zack also shares lessons from building and scaling beverage businesses.

If you own a restaurant, manage a bar or oversee food and beverage purchasing, this conversation offers a closer look at your citrus costs, prep time and margins.

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Every unanswered restaurant call puts a reservation, private event, takeout order, or future guest at risk.

Jay and Dom sit down with Randall and Vanessa from Hostie to explore how AI is changing restaurant communication while protecting the human side of hospitality.

Hostie answers calls and texts, books reservations, handles guest questions, supports multiple languages, and gives restaurant teams more time to serve the guests in front of them.

The numbers make missed calls hard to ignore. One restaurant receives 40 per cent of its calls outside business hours. Cactus Club Cafe recorded more than 100,000 calls across its locations in three days, with 60 per cent resolved by AI.

You’ll hear where restaurant AI is heading, how operators retain control of every guest interaction, and how Hostie gets a personalized virtual host running in about an hour.

If your phone keeps ringing while your team is in the weeds, this episode is worth hearing.

Jay Ashton and Domenic Pedulla welcome Australian direct response marketer John Dwyer, JD, founder of The Institute of Wow, for a blunt, funny, and practical conversation about restaurant marketing.

JD breaks down why restaurants lose revenue when they fail to collect customer data. He shares how one seafood restaurant built a 92,000-person database, filled empty seats with simple text messages, and used direct offers to drive real sales.

The episode covers Facebook contests, customer databases, high-value incentives, strong calls to action, and why random social posting is not a marketing plan.

With classic Late Night chaos, NEXT Food Expo talk, and a few wild ideas from Jay, this episode gives restaurant owners smart ways to bring guests back, increase visits, and build marketing systems that work.

Your food might be exceptional, but if your communication isn't, your customers never get the full story.

This week on The Late Night Restaurant Podcast, Jay Ashton and Domenic Pedulla sit down with Joshua from Beltway Media to explore one of the most overlooked areas in hospitality: strategic communications.

From building trust and shaping customer perception to branding, storytelling, AI, and the future of restaurant marketing, this conversation dives into why communications is no longer optional for restaurants and hospitality businesses.

Joshua explains the difference between marketing and communications, why authenticity outperforms perfection, and how every customer interaction, from your website and social media to your menu, music, and dining experience, shapes your brand.

If you're a restaurant owner, hospitality leader, marketer, or entrepreneur looking to strengthen your brand and build lasting customer trust, this episode is packed with practical insights you can apply today.

What does it take to walk away from a successful corporate career and risk everything to build your dream?

This week on The Late Night Restaurant Podcast, Jay Ashton and Domenic Pedulla sit down with Brandon McCraney, Owner and Master Blender of Old Raleigh Distillery in North Carolina.

Brandon shares the incredible story behind launching a distillery during the height of COVID, surviving construction setbacks, nearly losing everything, and building an award-winning whiskey brand through grit, creativity, and relentless determination.

The conversation explores entrepreneurship, hospitality, customer experience, government regulations, distillery operations, importing whiskey, and why telling your story matters as much as the product you create.

Whether you're a restaurateur, beverage professional, entrepreneur, or someone thinking about taking the leap into business ownership, this episode delivers honest lessons from someone who's lived every challenge.

Listen now and hear why persistence often becomes an entrepreneur's greatest asset. The Late Night Restaurant Podcast Brandon.