Who the F@*% Doesn’t Love Toast? | Sam Zien (Sam the Cooking Guy) and Howard Solomon (Solomon Leaders) | DH066

Sam the Cooking Guy would like to propose a Toast. 

Sam "The Cooking Guy" Zien has nearly 2.4 Million followers on YouTube. He's got tons to share about cooking, digital media, and creating a food empire. But for fellow restaurateurs he has one big piece of advice. It’s to invest in Toast.

No, we’re not talking about avocado toast, forgoing flatbread or any menu changes at any of Sam’s properties. Instead, we’re talking about Toast Point of Sale software.

“This technology will change how restaurants work,” forecasts Sam The Cooking Guy on this episode of the Digital Hospitality podcast. “There's no question about that. The time to be thinking about this if you're a restauranteur is now.”

Over the course of quarantine, Sam the Cooking Guy and his trusty business partner (and member of Team Cali BBQ Media) Howard Solomon have continued to march toward the future of food sales by integrating Toast’s terrific operating system.

Both Sam Zien and Howard Solomon are repeat guests on our Digital Hospitality podcast. We're huge fans of both and happy to call them friends.

For Sam and Howard, Toast POS is not just the future, it’s very important to survive in the now. That's why Cali BBQ also replaced its longtime Aloha POS setup with the Toast POS system in 2020. It was a forward-thinking business decision that we couldn't be happier about.

Toast helps you be both Digital and Hospitable.

https://youtu.be/YWEuYnBoUI4

A Toast to Toast POS:

Sam Zien started thinking about Toast and pivoting his business in every way needed once the pandemic began. While Sam The Cooking Guy's outspoken personality and charm has made him a star on YouTube (as well as a monthly guest on The BBQ Central Show), both traits remain the key ingredients Sam and his staff deliver in person.

Due to lockdowns and restrictions, Sam and Howard had to rethink just how their staff could connect with those customers from a distance.

“When COVID first hit, one of our biggest challenges was trying to offer a server that was sweet and kind and really cared but now with a mask on their face, you can't see a smile,” recalls Sam. “So, we had to work on the staff. I mean, everybody's had to learn how you can still have your personality come through, even though most of your face you can't see.”

Thankfully for Sam and Howard, using technology like Toast allowed them to offer their same signature service in a manner that was safe and savvy.

By learning Toast inside and out, Sam and Howard were able to plug in personality for a checkout process both in person and online that was fun and functional.

Having a mobile-first ordering and payment platform is essential to becoming an e-commerce company. Toast provides your restaurant with an easy way for customers to conveniently order from you online. And the guest experience is just as fluid on a smartphone, as it is on a computer or tablet.

At Cali BBQ Media, we believe all businesses should be Hospitable and all businesses should be Digital. It’s why we call this podcast ”Digital Hospitality.”

“Eats by Sam would be a very different experience had it not been for Toast,” Sam Zien shares on Digital Hospitality. “It really would have. We can be quippy and we can be funny with Toast. We can make it feel more like us if it was us actually doing it.”

Excelling on Toast didn’t happen overnight. Sam and Howard spent eight hours a day early on in the pandemic learning the software for their staff and making it personal for their customers.

This learning curve should be noted, but it shouldn’t keep you from learning.

“For somebody that's saying, ‘Oh, I like the idea of it,’ don't expect that you will get it and it will integrate seamlessly to your business and you're going to be a wizard with it tomorrow,” warns Sam. “That's not going to happen. You've got to learn. Your staff has got to learn and then you have to teach your customer.”

Howard agrees with Sam’s sentiment.

“We all say it's tough to catch up with technol...