Hospitality Hangout | Expert Strategies & Industry Trends from Hospitality Insiders

In the latest episode of Hospitality Hangout, Michael Schatzberg “The Restaurant Guy” and Jimmy Frischling “The Finance Guy” chat with Dave Harris, chief information officer as well as chief technology officer at Shake Shack about how technology can enable and enhance the guest experience. Harris has been with Shake Shack for four years and has led technology teams across companies in retail, hospitality and consumer packaged goods. Some companies include Virgin Atlantic, Avis, JetBlue, Yankee Candle and more.Shake Shake serves elevated versions of the classics using only the best ingredients, says Harris. He adds that they are known for great burgers, chicken, hotdogs, frozen custard, beer, wine and more. Core values that Shake Shack focuses on are elevated food, made with the best ingredients, gathering and enriching their neighborhoods, and delivering enlightened hospitality at every touch point, says Harris. The original Shake Shack opened in New York’s Madison Square Park in early 2000. They have expanded to more than 400 locations across the United States and internationally. Harris talks about how Shake Shack will retrofit all locations with kiosks by the end of 2023. In 2017 they deployed their first kiosks in the Astor Place location and were able to use that data to develop the rollout program. Harris noted that about half of their locations currently have kiosks. He says that the kiosks are their highest profit margin channel and highest in check average check. Harris talks about investing in technology, he says from a guest perspective they have invested the most. He says they have invested significantly in digital products, they have custom IOS and Android mobile apps, a custom web ordering platform and the kiosk solution. Over the last two years Harris says that Shake Shack had to become more accessible, focus on multichannel delivery and make it easier for the Shack team. To hear Harris talk about the Shake Shack tech stack, including the tech that determines order wait time, plus find out what Harris’ talking back question is for the guys and the details of the foodservice feud check out this episode of Hospitality Hangout. Episode Credits:Produced by: Branded Hospitality MediaHosted by: Michael Schatzberg, JImmy FrischlingProducer: Julie ZuckerCreative Director: Adam LevineShow Runner: Drewe RaimiPost Production: Three Cheers Creativewww.thehospitalityhangout.com

In the latest episode of Hospitality Hangout, Michael Schatzberg “The Restaurant Guy” and Jimmy Frischling “The Finance Guy” chat with Nick Stone, Founder and chief executive officer and Amy Hom, chief operating officer and chief people officer from Bluestone Lane. Stone talks about Bluestone, an Australian-inspired coffee shop, cafés & lifestyle brand committed to providing a genuine daily escape for all our locals. They offer premium coffee and healthy and delicious food through an ‘Aussie’ approach to life. Stone comes from a financial background and said he created Bluestone out of necessity. Stone adds that he didn’t leave finance until he had twelve Bluestone Lane locations. Stone offered advice when starting a new business saying, “I highly recommend to a lot of entrepreneurs you don’t have to go all in." He also adds that going all in is another degree of externalities and challenges. Hom has worked for many brands including California Pizza Kitchen, Wolfgang Puck, Red Robin and Sweetgreen. Hom says she has been blessed to work with great brands. She met Nick last year and Hom says Bluestone is a sexy brand and it is all about hospitality. Frischling says that what separates Bluestone Lane they lead with hospitality and connect with their locals. He adds that you can count on your local barista to know your name and recognize you when you walk in the door at Bluestone. They talk about the importance of hospitality and how it starts with great people. Hom shares that they take care of their employees and utilize heart checks. The locals are very important but they make sure their employees are taken care of too. She says it keeps them close and helps with retention. To hear about Bluestone cafés concept, the guys talk about real estate, the answers to the Tuesday trivia questions and the technology they are using check out this episode of Hospitality Hangout. Episode Credits:Produced by: Branded Hospitality MediaHosted by: Michael Schatzberg, JImmy FrischlingProducer: Julie ZuckerCreative Director: Adam LevineShow Runner: Drewe RaimiPost Production: Three Cheers Creativewww.thehospitalityhangout.com

In the latest episode of Hospitality Hangout, Michael Schatzberg “The Restaurant Guy” and Jimmy Frischling “The Finance Guy” chat with R.J. Melman, President of Lettuce Entertain You, a fifty-one year old restaurant group that is privately held with over one hundred and twenty restaurants across the country in thirteen different states. It is based out of Chicago, Illinois. Melman’s dad, Rich Melman started the company back in 1971 when he opened a restaurant with his best friend Jerry Orzoff. Melman’s siblings Jarrod and Molly are both part of the Lettuce Entertain You Restaurants team. The guys share breaking news and say that Lettuce has just opened their first restaurant in Florida. It is Aba, a Mediterranean restaurant that brings cooking influences from the Mediterranean, including Israel, Lebanon, Turkey and Greece. Also the group is opening RPM Italian in West Palm Beach and Summer House in Orlando. In Chicago in 2023 Melman talks about the new collaboration between Tao Group Hospitality. The partnership will bring a new private members club. The guys also talk about the Lettuce loyalty program that has been around for more than three decades. Now the program is free through the app. Recently they announced that Lettuce has partnered with DoorDash for a first of its kind loyalty program. The program powered by DoorDash will now allow guests to receive loyalty points and redeem gift cards for takeout and delivery. Melman’s goal when he became President was to use tech to transcend hospitality in dining rooms, bringing hospitality and technology together. Melman says they are in the process of switching over our general ledger, HR solution and more. Melman shares how the company continues to keep things going well with all of the expansion. They have been consistent on expansion over the last thirty years and said that the team has played a role in the growth. To hear more about Lettuce’s tech strategy, the foodservice feud and the talking back segment plus get the answer to the trivia question, check out this episode of Hospitality Hangout. Episode Credits:Produced by: Branded Hospitality MediaHosted by: Michael Schatzberg, JImmy FrischlingProducer: Julie ZuckerCreative Director: Adam LevineShow Runner: Drewe RaimiPost Production: Three Cheers Creativewww.thehospitalityhangout.com

In the latest episode of Hospitality Hangout, Michael Schatzberg “The Restaurant Guy” and Jimmy Frischling “The Finance Guy” chat with Aaron Noveshen, Founder and CEO of Starbird and Founder and Chairman of The Culinary Edge. The Culinary Edge is a food and beverage innovation firm that was started by Noveshen over twenty years ago and Starbird is a fast-casual chicken chain that their team created after identifying chicken was about to grow significantly. The guys talk to Noveshen about the success of marketing Starbird’s limited time offers, better known as LTOs including the Cali Bacon Dutch Crunch. The Dutch crunch bread is baked in house and the chicken sandwich has made it to the menu. Novenshen says that their secret sauce is their Star Sauce. Starbird earlier this month made QSRs best brands to work for list. The company is known for developing talent and its people first culture as well as provides incentives and educational programs for their employees as well. “Good food can come and go, restaurant concepts can come and go but the people are what it’s all about,” says Noveshen. He adds, “our tagline is positively delicious chicken, it’s our goal everyday to create positivity, not only in the lives of the people walking in the door everyday but also the people who are working there everyday. We want to make a difference in their lives.” Noveshen asks the guys how they prioritize everything they need to do everyday during the talking back segment. Frischling says how he loves to create lists and loves what they do. Schatzberg and Frischling both feel strongly about their hospitality community and said that their village helps them do what they need to do everyday. To hear more about Starbird’s values and the foodservice feud question plus Noveshen's Tuesday Trivia story about being a Lyft driver check out this episode of Hospitality Hangout. Episode Credits:Produced by: Branded Hospitality MediaHosted by: Michael Schatzberg, JImmy FrischlingProducer: Julie ZuckerCreative Director: Adam LevineShow Runner: Drewe RaimiPost Production: Three Cheers Creativewww.thehospitalityhangout.com

In the latest episode of Hospitality Hangout podcast, Michael Schatzberg “The Restaurant Guy” and Jimmy Frischling “ The Finance Guy” were on the road at the Restaurant, Finance and Development Conference in Las Vegas with guests Andrew Smith, Managing Director of Savory Fund, Andy Wiederhorn, Chief Executive Officer of Fat Brands and Tim McLaughlin, Chief Executive Officer of GoTab. Smith is Managing Partner of Savory Management, a Mercato Partners value-add management company, that focuses on delivering outsized returns through strategic growth and replication strategies. They partner with high-potential restaurant concepts to deliver necessary capital, industry knowledge, and operational prowess to facilitate growth into multi-unit brands and they specialize in taking fast casual and polished casual food and beverage concepts with between 2 and 8 locations and scales them into 30 plus units. Smith talks about growth, brands and shares breaking news with the guys. Wiederhorn has served as a director and Chief Executive Officer of FAT Brands Inc. since its formation. It is a global franchising company that acquires, markets, and develops fast-casual, quick-service, casual dining, and polished casual dining concepts around the world. They own seventeen restaurant brands including Round Table Pizza, Fatburger, Marble Slab Creamery, Johnny Rockets, Fazoli’s, Twin Peaks and more. Wiederhorn talks about growth and acquisitions and buying 9 new brands. They talk about Fat Brands looking at new acquisitions and having a one thousand store pipeline of stores to be built. The idea of GoTab was started when co-founder McLaughlin started his first restaurant and brewery in 2015. GoTab, Inc., is a Restaurant Commerce Platform helping large and mid-sized restaurants, breweries, bars, hotels and other venues run lean, profitable operations while making guests even more satisfied. Recently the brand made Inc. Power Partner Awards. McLaughlin talks about the importance of integrations and what is next for GoTab. To hear more from all of the guests that stopped by to chat with Schatzberg and Frischling at RFDC and Branded Quickfire, check out this episode Hospitality Hangout. Episode Credits:Produced by: Branded Hospitality MediaHosted by: Michael Schatzberg, JImmy FrischlingProducer: Julie ZuckerCreative Director: Adam LevineShow Runner: Drewe RaimiPost Production: Three Cheers Creativewww.thehospitalityhangout.com

In the latest episode of Hospitality Hangout, Michael Schatzberg “The Restaurant Guy” and Jimmy Frischling “The Finance Guy” chat with Carin Stutz, president and chief executive officer at Native Foods. Stutz has been in the industry for five decades and worked with brands such as Red Robin, Wendy’s, Cosi, Applebee’s and more. Stutz said looking back at her career and her early start at McDonald’s, she loved being in the restaurant business. Native Foods, the plant-based fast-casual brand launched back in 1994 before the plant-based restaurants were popular. They have twelve restaurants in three states, Colorado, California and Illinois. Stutz says that the brand is really leaning into vegan comfort food, delicious, nostalgic food with a twist. Recently they hired a new chef to bring innovation to the brand. Frischling talks about plant-based foods and says, in the U.S. alone plant-based foods are a $7.4 billion dollar market and are growing three times as fast as overall food sales and grocery retailers nationwide. He says despite these numbers there are still some wary customers. Stutz talks about soy benefits as a protein and the myth around it as well as the innovation around vegetable proteins. Stutz offers advice for operators that may not have plant-based foods on their menu, to introduce consumers to plant-based foods. She says, operators need to go all in to vegan if they are adding a plant-based menu item. Stutz says it is an easy sustainable message. She adds that there are usually three reasons you see the guest come to your restaurant for plant-based options, one is health, second is environment and lastly is animal compassion. In addition to Native Foods, Stutz sits on several boards including Kura Sushi and Checkers & Rally’s Restaurants. She says it is an honor to be on a board and she looks at board service as her giving years. She wants people to look at the foodservice industry as a real career. To hear more about Stutz’s insights on the industry, technology and innovation and her answer to her Trivia Tuesday question about George Clooney, check out this episode of Hospitality Hangout. Episode Credits:Produced by: Branded Hospitality MediaHosted by: Michael Schatzberg, JImmy FrischlingProducer: Julie ZuckerCreative Director: Adam LevineShow Runner: Drewe RaimiPost Production: Three Cheers Creativewww.thehospitalityhangout.com

In the latest episode of Hospitality Hangout, Michael Schatzberg “The Restaurant Guy” and Jimmy Frischling “The Finance Guy”chat with André Vener, partner and co-founder of Dog Haus. Dog Haus is known for its signature all beef Haus Dogs and handcrafted proprietary Haus Sausages, as well as its 100% genetically tested, humanely raised, hormone- and antibiotic-free Black Angus beef from Creekstone Farms. The founding partners are three friends who share a passion for creativity, quality and commitment to community. They are Hagop Giragossian, Quasim Riaz and Andre Vener and they opened their first Dog Haus in Pasadena, California in 2010. Frischling starts out the episode by asking the Trivia Tuesday segment question, “Was Vener a guest at Michael Jackson’s funeral?” Where the answer will be revealed at the end of the show. Vener talks about Dog Haus and says they have about sixty locations in twelve states and the restaurant is known for dogs, sausage, burgers, hot national chicken sandwiches, plant-based foods, a kick-ass bar program and their virtual brands. Vener is asked about his foresight to create virtual brands prior to the pandemic and the launch of The Absolute Brands. Vener talks about breaking down the Dog Haus menu to create five different companies by looking at items that were ordered for take out. During the pandemic Dog Haus was able to give their franchisees the opportunity to offer brands that had been created only for ghost kitchens. They would be able to have five concepts to offer for delivery since the bars and restaurants were shut down. Dog Haus went from minus 45% in April to being up 12.5% in the second half of the year with all of the shutdowns. The virtual kitchens started running solely within their stores but have since partnered with Kitchen United, Kroger and CloudKitchen to grow their reach. Vener talks about the convenience of having Kitchen United brands in a grocery store. He shares how you are able to order from multiple brands all in the ease of placing one order. This is also a great way to introduce the name of brands to grocery store customers. To hear Tuesday's Trivia answer and how Vener is bringing Bad-Ass Breakfast Burrito concept to a brick-and-mortar, check out this episode of Hospitality Hangout. Episode Credits:Produced by: Branded Hospitality MediaHosted by: Michael Schatzberg, JImmy FrischlingProducer: Julie ZuckerCreative Director: Adam LevineShow Runner: Drewe RaimiPost Production: Three Cheers Creativewww.thehospitalityhangout.com

In the latest episode of Hospitality Hangout, Michael Schatzberg “The Restaurant Guy” and Jimmy Frischling “The Finance Guy” chat with Mani Kulasooriya, Co-Founder & CEO of Cut+Dry plus the guys introduce a new segment, Trivia Tuesday and share a fun trivia question about their guest at the end of the show. Cut+Dry is an all-in-one commerce enablement platform for foodservice distributors. It was created to provide distributors, their customers, and their suppliers with a single digital platform to make food commerce a more enjoyable, more profitable, and less wasteful experience. Kulasooriya has been working in tech for over twenty plus years. He started in consumer internet and fintech before fintech was even coined. Before founding Cut+Dry, in 2019, Mani co-founded CAKE, a restaurant technology startup, which was acquired by Sysco. All founders start a company based on some experience they had, positive or negative. Kulasooriya shares how he took specific experiences from Citigroup, Yahoo and CAKE before he developed Cut+Dry. Kulasooriya says that Cut+Dry has the largest structured data base in the industry. He adds that the big problem that they are solving can have significant benefits to the foodservice ecosystem and also to humanity in general. Kulasooriya notes that 30% of food getting thrown out has environmental and social consequences. They talk about the role that data plays for the operators, distributors and the manufacturers. Cut+Dry does the heavy lifting with the data then gives the operators, manufacturers and distributors the applications that make their businesses run better. To hear more about how the data can positively impact the total business, the use case for the restaurants and Kulasooriya’s Trivia Tuesday answer, check out this episode of Hospitality Hangout. Episode Credits:Produced by: Branded Hospitality MediaHosted by: Michael Schatzberg, JImmy FrischlingProducer: Julie ZuckerCreative Director: Adam LevineShow Runner: Drewe RaimiPost Production: Three Cheers Creativewww.thehospitalityhangout.com

In the latest episode of Hospitality Hangout, Michael Schatzberg “The Restaurant Guy” and Jimmy Frischling “The Finance Guy” chat with Rajat Bhakhri CEO and Co-Founder of Boston-based Incentivio, Inc.Incentivio is a fully automated intelligence-driven guest engagement platform for restaurants and virtual kitchens that increases retention, maximizes revenue and enhances the guest experience for both first-time visitors & loyalists.Bhakhri is a graduate of Purdue University with a degree in electrical engineering. He delivered pizza for a short period of time until his first job as a software engineer. Bhakhri moved to Boston and worked for a startup. He then started Aeturnum, a technology services company with 250+ engineers and offices in the U.S. and Asia focused on building platforms for startups in the U.S. and Europe. “We should build a single stack solution where we can capture all the guest data,” says Bhakhri . He adds, to help increase check sizes and help restaurants retain guests. The idea was how to democratize tech for all of their customers. Frischling says, I love that you use the democratization of. I think that’s really important and I think long time listers of the podcast know the 2/3 of the restaurants in this country are small to midsize businesses, they are mom and pop, there’s a lot out there for the big boys and God bless, we love the big boys, we respect the big boys but I do love what Incentivio is doing for everyone else or almost 2/3 of the market.They talk about Incentivio and Uber joining forces to offer restaurants first party ordering and commission free delivery. Uber will provide delivery drivers to restaurants using Incentivio’s order-ahead solutions. Restaurant guests can order delivery directly from a restaurant’s website or mobile app, and the Incentivio platform dispatches an Uber driver for the delivery. To hear about Incentivio’s artificial intelligence product and more, check out this episode of Hospitality Hangout. Episode Credits:Produced by: Branded Hospitality MediaHosted by: Michael Schatzberg, JImmy FrischlingProducer: Julie ZuckerCreative Director: Adam LevineShow Runner: Drewe RaimiPost Production: Three Cheers Creativewww.thehospitalityhangout.com

In the latest episode of Hospitality Hangout, Michael Schatzberg “The Restaurant Guy” and special host, Rev “The Marketing Guy” bring you this episode on the road from the Fast Casual Executive Summit in Indianapolis. They chat with Kathy Doyle, President and Publisher at Networld Media Group, Jim Bitticks, President and COO at Dave's Hot Chicken, Zack Oates, Founder and CEO at Ovation and André Vener, Partner at Dog Haus. Kathy Doyle stops by to talk about the Fast Casual Executive Summit that is now in its seventeenth year. When they started this model it was about bringing fun networking and learning together to the industry. Doyle says, “I mean I don't care what you do for a living no matter how much you love it. Some days are longer than others. So when you can throw some fun in there and people are having a good time, a lot of things get done and deals get done and people learn and they move forward when they're on the road.” She adds, "so that's the real mission of the Fast Casual Executive Summit.”Dave’s Hot Chicken president and chief operating officer, Jim Bitticks stops by to talk about the brand and its start. He says, “Dave's Hot Chicken is a concept that started in a parking lot just five and a half years ago with three guys, nine hundred dollars, an igloo ice chest, an E-Z Up and a portable frier.” Bitticks adds, “They got strategically lucky that a Farley Elliot, a blogger from Eater LA came in on the third day and loved it, posted a blog article on it. The next day they were wrapped around the block and it never stopped.” Dave’s Hot Chicken has 84 locations today. Oates, the founder and CEO of Ovation, stops by to chat about the show and The Perfect Pitch, which was a global contest like Shark Tank for fast casual brands. Oates said the winner was Flake Pie, out of Utah. When asked why Oates comes back to Fast Casual Executive Summit each year he says, “This is such a good place to not just meet people but reconnect with people and this is something that's really fun, as I was looking through the agenda last night it's like every single panel has an Ovation customer on it. Which is really cool to see because when we came here two years ago we did not have a single customer that was here.” André Vener, Partner at Dog Haus shares what to expect in his session, he says they will be talking about ghost kitchens and what is going on in that space including Dog Haus’ Kroger partnership they have with Kitchen United. They talk about it being a unique opportunity in a grocery store. Dog Haus was created by three friends in 2010 with a passion for hot dogs. Vener says they have about 75 locations, in 20 states. To hear the branded quickfire with the guests, technology that Dave’s Hot Chicken has added and more check out this episode Hospitality Hangout. Episode Credits:Produced by: Branded Hospitality MediaHosted by: Michael Schatzberg, JImmy FrischlingProducer: Julie ZuckerCreative Director: Adam LevineShow Runner: Drewe RaimiPost Production: Three Cheers Creativewww.thehospitalityhangout.com