Show Notes
"Tech doesn't create a reason to visit. Its job is to remove the reasons NOT to visit." My very first guest ever is back for round two. 🔥 Today on 🍔Restaurant 🤖Tech 📈Trends I sit down with Randy Barnett, former CTO at The Melting Pot, the fondue brand built around one of the most experiential nights out in casual dining. Over 9+ years Randy moved every Melting Pot, corporate and franchise, onto one POS, built the data warehouse behind it, and put a voice AI reservation agent on the phones. He has served on the Toast Customer Advisory Board and the FS Tech Advisory Board, and (full disclosure) he advises us here at Incept AI. 📺WATCH AND LEARN📺 👉 What it was like being one of Toast's first enterprise accounts, and keeping the rollout alive when COVID hit with the system roughly halfway there 👉 Why franchisees sat on the selection committee from day one, right through a unanimous go/no-go vote 👉 How bringing POS, reservation, and guest data together unlocked a 360-degree view of the guest, from the loyals to the once-a-year anniversary crowd 👉 What REALLY surprised him about voice AI for reservations, and why there was "no middle ground" with guests 👉 Why cutting costs without reinvesting just makes you "efficiently smaller" Shout outs to Toast, Polly AI, Servai, and Cubbly for the tech-stack love along the way. ➕ PLUS the rapid fire round, where Randy names the most overhyped AND most underrated tech in restaurants, picks kiosk vs. human at the counter, and finishes the sentence "Five years from now, the restaurant phone is ____" (I like where his head is at 😉) ➕➕ PLUS PLUS: his favorite date night meal that isn't fondue 🧀 Randy has been in Incept's corner since before this show even existed, and I'm so grateful. Can't wait to see what he does next. Give it a watch and let me know what you think 👇
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The exec who took TGI Fridays from dine-in only to ordering through Alexa is now running a 90-plus-year-old ice cream brand where 20%+ of sales are digital. Today on 🍔Restaurant 🤖Tech 📈Trends I sit down with Sherif Mityas, CEO of BRIX Holdings, the Dallas-based platform behind Friendly's, Clean Juice, Orange Leaf, Red Mango, and more (~250 units in all). Before BRIX, Sherif was Chief Experience Officer at TGI Fridays and was named one of the industry's top innovators by Nation's Restaurant News. Before that he ran Hollywood Video as CEO through the streaming disruption, and he's still applying some of the lessons learned during that stint in the restaurant world today.
Today on Restaurant Tech Trends I sit down with Kevin Nemeth, EVP and Chief Commercial Officer at Church's Texas Chicken, the San Antonio original turning 75 next year and now running more than 1,400 restaurants across 25 countries. Kevin came into the restaurant space from L'Oreal, TD Bank, and HSN, walked into Popeyes in early 2020 with a digital team of three, and left with digital at nearly 20% of sales and five million rewards members. WATCH AND LEARN Why Church's splits 50/50 first party vs third party when most of the industry sits at 90/10 The T-Mobile Tuesday blowup that still shapes how he plans every promotion five years later How Church's tested AI internally and where it's adding the most value for the brand today Where he's building instead of buying and how he sees that trend evolving over the coming years His litmus test for whether tech enables hospitality or just hands your work to the guest, and why the kiosk on the counter fails it Shout outs to Qu and Olo for the tech stack love along the way. PLUS the rapid fire round, where Kevin names the most UNDERRATED tech in restaurants and finishes with "five years from now, the drive-thru is ___" Give it a watch and let me know what you think
His uncle started as a Papa John's delivery driver, then bought a single store in East Liverpool with a pile of used equipment. That business is now 275 restaurants across 10 states and they're rapidly closing in on 500.
They built their own POS. For bagels. On purpose.