The Tech Chef, Restaurant, Hospitality and Hotel Technology Business Podcast

MURTEC is next week, April 13th and 14th. Can you believe it is here already? You can register online right now at murtech.com.  

Pulling out the big guns today and digging in deep into some futuristic technology with my good friend, Joe Tenczar.  Joe is a founding partner of Restaurant CIOs, a strategic advisory company where he and his CIO partners collaborate to help hospitality companies see their restaurant business through the eyes of seasoned CIOs.  

Joe is one of those Rockstar guests that you can only hope you get a chance to spend that much time with.   Luckily, I have known Joe long enough to convince him to spend some quality time with us.   I LOVE his futuristic view…. I can’t think of anyone more appropriate to have that type of conversation with.

Joe Tenczar is a founding partner of Restaurant CIOs, a strategic advisory company where he and his CIO partners collaborate to help hospitality companies see their restaurant business through the eyes of seasoned CIOs.  

Joe Tenczar also acts as the Chief Strategy Officer for Sonny’s BBQ, one of the largest and most popular barbecue restaurant companies in the country.  Tenczar has also led the Technology, Marketing, Finance, and Purchasing areas for Sonny’s.

Before Sonny’s BBQ, Tenczar was the global CIO for Hard Rock International, where he led the R&D and rollout of many innovative technologies that still affect Hard Rock guests and staff members. 

After beginning his career as a programmer and manager for financial software companies, Tenczar was a senior technology leader for the second largest arm of the Marriott Corporation.  

His specialties include a strategic focus on emerging technology’s place in hospitality.  Tenczar holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Telecommunications and Computer Science from the University of Florida and a Masters of Business Administration from the Crummer Business School at Rollins College.  He sits on the executive advisory boards for many industry groups, conferences, and cutting-edge hospitality technology companies.

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Next week I will be coving the MURTEC online conference and will have back to back episodes to cover both days….. Super stoked for next week’s events!

MURTEC is less than a month away and it will be virtual this year, scheduled on April 13th and 14th. You can register online right now at murtech.com.  This will certainly be an event that you don’t want to miss. Normally we would be at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas for this but obviously, this year needs to be different. I am fully confident we will be back in action in the very near future! Once again, to register online right now, go to murtech.com

This is a big episode today as we talk to TWO Rockstars from Brinker International that have made such a splash in our industry recently I can’t imagine NOT having them on this podcast! What Brinker has been able to accomplish in the virtual brand side of the industry is truly amazing.  Both of the guests today have some great insight to share regarding a successful launch if you are considering doing this with your own organization.

Wade Allen is senior vice president of innovation at Brinker International, Inc. where he oversees culinary innovation, engineering, strategic growth and the development and execution of virtual brands. His team develops creative ways for Brinker and to leverage the consumer, social, economic and technological changes that are disrupting the restaurant industry for the good of Brinker’s Guests, Team Members and shareholders. 

During his tenure, Wade has held several leadership roles in technology, analytics and digital marketing, most recently as chief digital officer. He began his Brinker career in 2014 as vice president of digital Guest experience and analytics for Chili’s where he led the implementation and continued advancement of tabletop devices, My Chili’s Rewards and Chili’s mobile app and website. Prior to joining Brinker, Wade served as president of CouponFactory, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rockfish Interactive. He held positions as vice president of retail for Rockfish Interactive and as an account director/solution lead at the integrated marketing agency, RAPP, where he worked on a number of Brinker brands. 

Wade enjoys spending time with his wife and four children, reading about emerging technology, politics and history and stays active through participating in water sports, snow sports and other athletic activities. 

Wade serves on the digital innovation advisory council for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital® and is an active member of his church. He holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Brigham Young University and a master’s degree in integrated marketing communications from Northwestern University. 

Pankaj Patra serves as senior vice president and chief information officer at Brinker International, Inc., where he oversees information technology and data security for Brinker and its restaurants brands. 

Pankaj is a longtime BrinkerHead and has served in multiple information technology leadership roles to help transform Brinker into a leader in restaurant technology. While his proudest moment is taking on his current role leading technology, he will always remember starting his IT days in a small closet developing software. 

Pankaj officially joined the Brinker family in 2012, but has a much longer history of about two decades working with the company through his previous roles at On the Border and Cognizant Technology Solutions. 

Pankaj and his wife have one son and the rest of his family resides in India, so he leverages technology to call them on the way to work every day. In his spare time, you can find him watching any sport – he loves them all! 

Pankaj earned his undergraduate degree from the National Institute of Technology, Rourkela and went on to attain his MBA from Southern Methodist University. He is a member of the Dallas chapter of the International Food and Beverage Technology Association. 

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New week we are continuing with our Rockstar series with Joe Tenczar, CIO and partner in Restaurant CIO’s and also, at the same time, Chief Strategy Officer for Sonny’s BBQ. If often wonder how he accomplishes so much and still has time to share his innovative ideas with others. If you have ever heard him speak before you certainly don’t want to miss this upcoming episode as we dig into futurisci and alternative delivery methods. We are going to dig into drone delivery, robots, autonomous cars and so much more. I have never met more of a forward thinker than Joe and I am super stoked he took the time to talk to us so I can share our conversation with all of you.

As a reminder, MURTEC is only about a month away and it will be virtual this year, scheduled for April 13th and 14th.  I had somebody that was new to the industry ask me what MURTEC meant…. It is short for the Multi-Unit Restaurant Technology Conference.  You can register online right now at murtech.com.   If you go online you can check out the schedule of events and start planning on attending sessions that peak your interest and don’t’ forget about the interactive happy hour at the end of the day on the 13th!

Today is another addition to my Rockstar Series.  Toby Malbec manages the day-to-day operations for ConStrata and works personally with many of ConStrata’s top clients to help them leverage their technology investments and bring measurable results to the company’s business operations.

We have some interesting topics we will be talking about today from virtual kitchens, where restaurants are headed from a technology front, loyalty, 3rd party delivery and we will even touch on the current hiring landscape and what it looks like from a restaurant technology professional.    As always, Toby has great insight and perspective and I am so happy he took the time to share his ideas with all of us today.

Toby manages the day-to-day operations for ConStrata and works personally with many of ConStrata’s top clients to help them leverage their technology investments and bring measurable results to the company’s business operations. 

Toby Malbec is an “operational technologist” who brings over thirty years of technical and operational expertise to his clients. He began his career in the hotel industry coming up through the operations ranks before getting into the technology domain as hotels were first beginning to embrace the value of technology as a mainstream affordable operational tool. He was responsible for the design and development of some of the first PC-based Property Management Systems for small to mid-sized hotels as well as working on the design of early touchscreen-based POS systems. After ten years in hospitality, Toby was recruited into retail by Saks Fifth Avenue to head up their CRM initiatives and was responsible for designing and managing the development of several key applications including Saks Trak and their E-Client Book.

In 2004, Toby assumed the role of Vice President of Business Development for Springer-Miller Systems, one of the premier hotel software companies in the world with applications designed for the resort and high-end luxury properties. In 2008, he joined the IPC (Independent Purchasing Co-Operative), the franchisee-owned arm for Subway restaurants, and was responsible for building and managing the team to build the in-house proprietary restaurant technology platform that would create a standard POS and technology platform for all restaurants worldwide. Subway is the world’s largest restaurant chain with over 35,000 units in over 100 countries. 

Malbec is a 1985 graduate of the University of Vermont and is completing his MBA at the Isenberg School of Business at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

• Comment hotline: 954-302-0851
• Website: https://SkipKimpel.com (show notes will be posted here)
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Another big, big episode next week as I have my friends from Brinker International on the show to talk about their virtual brand initiatives.   Brinker hit the headlines pretty heavily when they launched this back towards the end of June.  When all other companies were struggling to figure out their next move, Brinker announced this was going to bring in an additional 150 million dollars to their organization! Talk about headlines!  Joining me on the show to talk about this will be the CIO, Pankaj Patra and the SVP and Head of Innovation, Wade Allen.  Like a said, a very big show.

Greetings, my Tech Chef family and welcome to another weekly dose of restaurant, hotel and hospitality technology information and updates.  We talk weekly to industry influencers and vendors that are making a difference in our industries.  Thank you so much for taking the time to listen to today’s show and if you are joining us for the very first time, please go ahead and hit that SUBSCRIBE button anywhere you are finding this show. We literally are on every possible podcast channel you could think of including a spot on the HospitalityTech.com website, thanks to our partnership with Hospitality Network and the Restaurant Technology Network.

Ready for MURTEC? Well, MURTEC is ready for you so it is time to sign up today! CLICK HERE register now. This year it will be held April 13th and 14th as a virtual event. Restaurant technology moved swiftly from business enabler to operational savior, as the pandemic forced the foodservice industry to innovate overnight. In the wake of rapid digital transformation, MURTEC is helping restaurants fully embrace the potential of new technologies.

How have the strong survived, and which changes are here to stay? How can restaurants shed the shadows of stagnation in favor of innovation as the new industry benchmark? These are the questions MURTEC will answer for restaurant technology leaders as we explore THE BIG SHIFT. 

The Restaurant Technology Network, today is announcing a project we have been working on for quite a while now, the Menu Synchronization Standard. They encourage anyone in the restaurant industry whose solutions share or consume menu data to join us and embrace the industry’s newest standard to ease system integration and facilitate smooth communications.

Register Now

Mike Vichich is Wisely’s CEO and Co-founder. Wisely enables restaurants to personalize every aspect of their guest experience in the restaurant and online. Wisely’s solutions —waitlist & reservations, table & order management, CRM & marketing automation, guest sentiment, and CDP — have attracted innovative brands both large and small, including bartaco, California Fish Grill, Chuy’s, First Watch, Global Franchise Group, Lazy Dog, P.F. Chang’s, Sonny’s BBQ, Wings Etc., and many more. 

Mike was also recently named one of the most influential solutions providers in the country according to Nation’s Restaurant News readers (Feb 2021). Mike grew up as a server, and after college worked on customer acquisition and retention at Accenture, where his clients included American Express and Microsoft. 

He lives in Ann Arbor, MI with his wife and two sons.

Twitter: @mikevichich

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikevichich/

Wisely Website & Social Handles

www.getwisely.com

LinkedIn: @WiselyInc

Twitter: @WeAreWisely

Facebook: @WiselyHospitality

• Comment hotline: 954-302-0851
• Website: https://SkipKimpel.com (show notes will be posted here)
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Next week I have a very good friend of mine and a well known name in the industry, Toby Malbec. I know most of you know him but if this happens to be the first time you are hearing his name, you are in for a treat and in either case, you won’t want to miss next week’s show. Not only is he a good friend an colleague, his is an amazing thought leader with some great insight to our industry.

I don’t know if you saw it this week but the National Restaurant Association decided to postpone their show, yet again. This means that the soonest they will be getting together as a conference will be 2022.  Who would have guessed that one year ago!  

On the flip side, living here in Orlando, White Castle is in the process of building their largest “castle” and before they opened, they decided to launch a ghost kitchen to feed the need of everybody craving their food. In just a few hours they had to shut it down due to demand. A few days later, they opened it up again only to permanently close down their ghost kitchen until their restaurant fully opens. They are going to KILL IT here in Orlando!!!

We had Mike and Susan from White Castle on a couple of months again and they are both rock stars in the industry. Speaking or Rockstars, let’s get into today’s episode.

Karen Bird, Chief Information Officer for Hooters of America is accountable for the strategy and execution of technology systems and services for multiple Brands and all functional areas within the company. She has responsibilities for both corporate and franchised departments within the overall organization. Karen joined the Hooters of America executive team in July 2017.

From late 2011 through July 2017, Karen served as the Vice President, Information Technology for Buffalo Wild Wings. In this role, Karen was responsible for establishing the technology architecture and framework that delivered all core business information to the Buffalo Wild Wings Enterprise. She was instrumental in the development of the strategic plan that delivered a unified technology platform for over 1200 company-owned and franchised restaurants and the delivery of an enterprise service platform for the automation of data integrations. 

Prior to joining Buffalo Wild Wings, she served as the technology executive for a number of casual dine and quick service restaurant chains. Her prior history includes CIO for Whataburger Restaurants, VP of Restaurant Information Solutions for Brinker International, Vice President of Business Systems for Advantica Restaurant Group, and Director of Retail Technology Solutions for Dunkin Brands. Karen started her career as a restaurant-level employee at Burger King. After two years in restaurant operations there, she moved into store accounting services and ultimately into various roles within the Information Systems department that helped build her technology expertise.

Karen received a B.S. in Business Management and graduated with Honors from the University of Phoenix, Boston in 2006. She currently serves on the Board of the International Food & Beverage Technology Association (IFBTA) and has previously served on the North Memorial Healthcare Foundation Board of Directors in Minnesota, the NCR Technology Advisory Board, and co-chaired the Franchisee Technology Subcommittee for Buffalo Wild Wings, North America. 

• Comment hotline: 954-302-0851
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As always, next week we have another great show lined up for you… you will have to watch social media to find out who our surprise guest is going to be. So in the meantime, stay safe, stay healthy and stay hungry my friends!

For those of you joining us for the very first time, you are in the right place if you want to learn more about these industries from a technology perspective.  Season 1, we had a blast and had some many awesome guests on the show, Season 2 we are stepping up our game and it will not disappoint.  

If you have not done so already, please hit the subscribe button in your favorite podcast listening software now.   This will make sure you don’t miss a single episode and you are always on top of the latest topic and news.

Our guest today has been in the news quite a bit lately.   If you have been at ANY restaurant technology conference over the past couple of years, you have probably seen him speak.  

Alex is a restaurant industry innovator, in-demand speaker, and passionate advocate for restaurant operators and workers. He was raised in the kitchen of the world-famous Canter’s Deli in Los Angeles, where he and his team invented Ordermark.

A fourth-generation restaurateur, the restaurant business has been in Alex’s blood for over 85 years. In addition to being the visionary and leader of Ordermark, Alex is active with the Techstars network and enjoys mentoring other restaurant technology entrepreneurs and occasional angel investing. He is a 2019 recipient of the Forbes 30 Under 30 and Fast Casual Executive’s Top 25. 

Alex previously led several technology ventures and most recently, Ordermark announced the close of its $120M Series C funding round led by Softbank and returning investor, Act One Ventures.

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Next week is a special treat as I have one of our Rockstars guests, Karen Bird, CIO for Hooters of America.  If you don’t know her name, you either are brand new to the industry or instead of knowing who the Rockstar’s are, you have been living under a rock!  

She is always a sought-out speaker at conventions and there is a reason for that, obviously.   I can’t wait to share with you our conversation about their new fast casual concept, Hoots.  By the way, this is the first podcast she has every done so there is reason alone to listen to next week’s show.

I made a promise to you last year about digging more into the hospitality and hotel side of the equation and today is the start of that. For those of you joining for the first time, please go ahead and hit the SUBSCRIBE button right now so you don’t miss a single episode.  If you are joining us for the first time or have been listening to us since the beginning, please consider leaving us a positive review on your podcast feed, wherever you listen to us.

Today we talk about moving away from your main brand to survive through these times of COVID and beyond. Flexibility is so important during these times.  Some of the areas we will cover to begin the conversation of bridging the gap between restaurants and hotels are food lockers, virtual kitchens and ghost kitchens.  These are all items that a hotel may not have thought about and maybe might also give some thought to a restaurant that might have a connection with a hotel to dig into the concept of utilizing their kitchens.

Remember, the success behind any brand that is trying to launch a ghost or virtual kitchen is the proximity and the radius of their kitchen to their ideal target group. More than likely, hotels fit that criteria, therefore, are a perfect criteria for this type of concept.

Today is unusual due to the fact I am being interviewed instead of me interviewing somebody else. This was recorded for the Hotel Next conference that went live in the early part of December. I just receive permission to release this to all of you so I wanted to share it because there is good use case scenarios on both sides of the business.

The world may have changed, but the spirit of hospitality is still driven by trust, comfort and excellent service. Technology is now more important than ever beforein fulfilling that mission as we work together to incorporate new paradigms for health and safety into those core beliefs. 

This years HT-NEXT presented HOTEL NEXT, a simulated hotel experience built for the “new normal” complete with operational areas like a lobby, guest room, back office, plus an exhibit hall, auditorium and more. 

HOTEL NEXT featured smart sessions with the most well-respected technology titans in the industry. They cover today’s hottest industry topics including touchless experiences and transactions, safety and cleanliness, data analytics and so much more! 

Produced by Hospitality Technology in partnership with HTNG, HT-NEXT brings together top hotel IT leaders and technology solutions, plus executive research, and industry work groups. 

HOTEL NEXT is not just another video call or webinar. You’ll be able to fully interact with attendees in real-time and have meaningful one-on-one conversations. 

You never know who you will meet at HOTEL NEXT, but it is guaranteed to make an impact.

For more information, visit: https://www.ht-next.com

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I have a great lineup coming out for your starting off next week with Alex Canter where we will discuss his main business, OrderMark, and his plans for the equity influx he just received and what that will mean for them as a company and what it will mean to YOU as a user of their product and services.

This is the first time we are speaking in 2021 and I am hoping you are all hanging in there. So much has happened since the last time we spoke but I am so excited you decided to join me today for season 2 of the Tech Chef. Those of you joining for the first time, please go ahead and hit the SUBSCRIBE button right now so you don’t miss a single episode.  The Tech Chef Podcast has become the best and hottest new place to get all of your restaurant and hospitality technology information and has been doing so since early last year

Looking at this year’s production schedule, I have so many amazing guests lined up for you including some celebrity appearances.  Once again, unless you hit the subscribe button, you have a chance of missing some pretty awesome subjects and great giveaways…. That’s right! Anybody listening to this show knows that I love to give things away!

So let’s start of season two with a heavy hitter, shall we?

Tom Bené is President & CEO of the National Restaurant Association—the Washington, D.C.-based trade association representing the nation’s restaurant and foodservice industry—and CEO of the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation.

Prior to assuming this role in June 2020, Tom served as Chairman, President & CEO of Sysco Corp., the world’s largest foodservice distributor, where he had previously served as COO, President of Foodservice Operations, and Chief Commercial Officer.

Prior to Sysco, Tom served as President of Pepsi-Cola Foodservice and held a variety of senior leadership roles over his 23-year career with the company, including President of PepsiCo North America and SVP of Sales & Franchise Development.

Tom earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Kansas and currently serves as a member of the University of Kansas’ Business School Advisory Board. He is Past Chair of the American Beverage Association and has served on the Executive Committee of the Women’s Foodservice Forum.

Today he is going to give us the status of the state of the industry and what we can expect in 2021, especially from an advocacy point of view.  What Tom has to say affects all of us so this is a show you don’t want to skip through.

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Next week, we have yet another great guest lined up for you, so you must toon in to find out more but in the meantime, stay safe, stay healthy and stay hungry my friends.

What a year it has been! This episode covers the best of the best over the past 6 months since this podcast started. It is filled with a star studded array of industry professionals not only talking about COVID but the industry as a whole including strategy moving forward which should not be missed! Thank you so much to all of our guests this past year along with our podcast sponsors who made this show the success it has been.

Highlighted in this episode:

Episode 10: Rom Krupp, CEO of onedine : https://bit.ly/3oEl4fE

Episode 19: Carol Dover, CEO & President of Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association : https://bit.ly/2MUsgGp

Episode 35: Phil Crawford, CTO for CKE Restaurants, Inc. : https://bit.ly/3sjYz1W

Episode 15: Susan Carroll-Boser / Michael Guinan of White Castle: https://bit.ly/3scT0lE

Episode 12: Charles Guzzetta, President of BurgerFi : https://bit.ly/35vOiFW

Episode 26: Motivational Speaker, Jim Knight, : https://bit.ly/35zEM4A

Episode 29: Mike Wills, CEO of Apex Supply Chain Technologies, LLC : https://bit.ly/3bBm4gO

Episode 18: Doug Smith: https://bit.ly/38CNJMH

Episode 21: Celebrity Chef Robert Irvine : https://bit.ly/2XyT7tL

Thank you to all of our guest and sponsors in 2020. 2021 we are going to kick butt with some great guests and amazing contest. Thanks for being a faithful fan!

Now, you know this show is driven by industry technology topics, today is a little step out of the ordinary as we begin to finish out this year. When I started planning a few months ago about who I wanted on the show for my Christmas Episode, I couldn’t think of any person I would rather join me more that John Rivers, the Founder and CEO of 4R Restaurant group, more well known under the 4Rivers BBQ name. Just by coincidence he also happens to be my boss and fearless leader.

You have all heard me talk, multiple times, about this amazing company and this electric brand. I am hoping that after today, you will begin to understand the passion and success behind what it is today. And make sure you stick to the end of the interview as John has a very special holiday recipe to share with you.

Retiring as president of a $1.5 billion dollar company, John Rivers left a career of twenty years in Healthcare to pursue a lifelong dream of opening a restaurant. In 2009 John created his first concept, 4 Rivers Smokehouse, which quickly became one of the fastest growing restaurants in the southeast. With seventeen locations in Florida and Georgia, the success and popularity of his 4 Rivers Smokehouse and his second and third concepts, the Southern-inspired COOP, and Latin influenced Cantina Barbacoa at Disney Springs have garnered national recognition. MSN named 4 Rivers as the #1 BBQ restaurant chain in the country, Southern Living dubbed 4 Rivers as the top BBQ in the South, and Nation’s Restaurant News recognized 4 Rivers as a top five breakout brands. Restaurant Business named John as one of the Power 20 Leaders in the restaurant industry, Orlando Magazine included him among Orlando’s “50 Most Powerful, 15 to Watch”, the OBJ named John the Philanthropist of the Year, and John has twice been named a finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. 

John has twice been invited to cook at the prestigious James Beard House in New York City and has enjoyed participating in Food Network’s South Beach Wine & Food Festival for the last 8 consecutive years. He has appeared on numerous television shows and has been featured in national publications including Food & Wine, Bon Appetit, USA Today, Business Insider and Cooking Light Magazine. John authored his first book, “The Southern Cowboy Cookbook” and launched a line of retail and manufactured products currently enjoying shelf space at Publix & Costco and being distributed nationally by partners such as Sysco & US Foods.

A graduate of Florida State University College of Business, where he serves on the Board of Governors, John chairs both the 4R Foundation and the 4Roots Farm and is co-founder of Winter Park’s largest culinary festival; “Cows ‘n Cabs”.  John lives in Winter Park with his wife Monica and two children, Jared and Cameron where he serves on the boards of numerous school, church, and charity organizations. 

• Comment hotline: 954-302-0851
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I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah or whatever holiday you are currently celebrating. I will talk to you one last time this year, next Tuesday to say farewell to 2020 and open the door with great glee to 2021… a year that will turn all things around in our industry. I am positive of it.