Hospitality Hangout | Expert Strategies & Industry Trends from Hospitality Insiders

In the latest episode of the Hospitality Hangout podcast, Michael Schatzberg “The Restaurant Guy” and Jimmy Frischling “The Finance Guy” sit down with Solomon Choi, the founder and chief executive officer of 16 Handles, to explore the digital side of hospitality.16 Handles is a frozen dessert chain that specializes in innovative frozen yogurt, ice cream, and smoothies. Established in 2008, the New-York based chain offers a wide variety of fresh, quality, better-for-you flavors and toppings.“Discovery for our brand in our markets was being made online. It was a digital experience first,” says Choi. “I realized this is huge—it’s not just the billboard that’s driving people in… I realized we needed to start investing into our digital presence. The entire guest experience could live online only.”Over the past decade, 16 Handles has expanded to over forty international locations. The chain prioritizes expansion, menu development, and meeting the needs of a millennial lifestyle. Right now, Choi is focused on rebuilding the business as the pandemic comes to an end.“We’re just trying to manage consistency across the brand. We don’t have real people out there visiting stores—it’s been over a year since we’ve had that,” adds Choi. “I do think Times Square will be busy this summer… I do think domestic travel to New York City will go up.”Click here for more recovery and relief information for restaurant, hospitality and food service operators. And to keep listening, check out The Hospitality Hangout podcast on Spotify!This syndicated content is brought to you by Branded Strategic Hospitality. 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 the Hospitality Hangout podcast, Michael Schatzberg “The Restaurant Guy” and Jimmy Frischling “The Finance Guy” sit down with Steven Sperry, the founder and chief executive officer of Minnow, to explore the ins and outs of food safety.Minnow is committed to creating a better food delivery and pickup experience. Established in 2017, the company offers contactless Pickup Pods to ensure the process is safe, secure, and convenient for everyone.“Minnow is solving the last-mile problem in food delivery,” says Sperry. “There’s nothing to prevent food from being picked up [late] when it’s no longer safe to consume, or someone with a food allergy could easily pick up the wrong order with potentially disastrous consequences. Minnow gives our customers complete control over access to the food.”All orders through Minnow are given a pickup window. The default time is two hours, but it can be customized to a longer or shorter time. Customers are notified via text or by email when their food is ready. If you do not pick up your food in that window, you will receive two reminders before your order is discarded for food safety reasons.“Over the course of the pandemic, there has been an 80 percent increase in deliveries to multi-family locations. It’s restaurant and grocery deliveries, and it’s the most immediate pain point that the Minnow Pickup Pod can solve,” adds Sperry. “We believe there is an opportunity to make food delivery more efficient and less expensive by making it look more like packaged delivery… we’re working with other companies so that food can be more accessible and more affordable for more people.”Click here for more recovery and relief information for restaurant, hospitality and food service operators. And to keep listening, check out The Hospitality Hangout podcast on Spotify!This syndicated content is brought to you by Branded Strategic Hospitality. 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 the Hospitality Hangout podcast, Michael Schatzberg “The Restaurant Guy” and Jimmy Frischling “The Finance Guy” sit down with Kelly MacPherson, the chief technology officer of the Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG), to explore technology strategy in the restaurant and hospitality industry.Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group is best known for creating some of New York’s most acclaimed restaurants, cafes, and bars. The company is committed to providing outstanding food with exceptional warmth and hospitality services. Since its founding in 1985, USHG has added operational consulting services and built a catering and events business.“The connected restaurant is a robust ecosystem that enables a seamless flow of data to all the components of the restaurant,” says MacPherson. “There’s all these pieces that enable a restaurant’s operation. The connected restaurant is making sure that they all talk to each other in the same language—otherwise everything is disjointed and draining from a managerial perspective.”For USHG, communication is key. For your staff, make sure to explain both the what and the why behind any changes you make. And know your customer—build out a robust CRM that reflects your customer’s priorities.“We’ve made strides in tech in the restaurant industry, but consumer tech has outpaced the other industries,” adds MacPherson. “We’ve really underinvested as an industry, and I think the pandemic exposed that in a big way… there’s been so many advances in forecasting and analytics. There’s a huge opportunity in forecasting. Machine learning should be driving forecasts. Let technology do most of the science.”Click here for more recovery and relief information for restaurant, hospitality and food service operators. And to keep listening, check out The Hospitality Hangout podcast on Spotify!This syndicated content is brought to you by Branded Strategic Hospitality. 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 the Hospitality Hangout podcast, Michael Schatzberg “The Restaurant Guy” and Jimmy Frischling “The Finance Guy” sit down with Phil Crawford, the chief technology officer of CKE Restaurants, to explore the ongoing digital revolution in the restaurant industry.CKE Restaurants is a Tennessee-based, privately held company that runs and operates Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s. The two regional brands combined represent over 3,800 franchised or company-operated restaurants in 44 states and 43 foreign countries and U.S. territories.Crawford moved from New York City—having previously served as the chief technology officer for Godiva—to Nashville to join CKE in the fall of 2020.“Nashville and New York City are two parts of the spectrum. But the exciting part is that when it comes down to hospitality and technology, there’s a lot of synergies within both cities and corporations,” says Crawford. “They both have a desire and drive to be the best they can possibly be… it’s all about scale and size, and ensuring that we have the guest experience in mind.”Restaurants—looking to adapt to evolving operational and consumer needs—are moving away from POS systems. Most systems and processes have entered the realm of mobile technology, leading to the creation of more cloud-based systems, direct-to-consumer interactions, analytics, and artificial intelligence to better reach customers.“Any kind of digital ecosystem that’s out there that you can infuse the guest experience is where everything’s going,” adds Crawford. “It’s all about trying to bridge that gap between what we think our consumers know and what they do know, and making it a personalized journey. That’s the kind of tech incorporation that we need to be thinking of to become technology evangelists and to have that competitive edge in our industry.”Click here for more recovery and relief information for restaurant, hospitality and food service operators. And to keep listening, check out The Hospitality Hangout podcast on Spotify!This syndicated content is brought to you by Branded Strategic Hospitality. 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 the Hospitality Hangout podcast, Michael Schatzberg “The Restaurant Guy” and Jimmy Frischling “The Finance Guy” sit down with Victoria Vaynberg, the chief marketing officer of Resy, to explore how the company is rethinking and revolutionizing the hospitality experience with technology.Resy is a global dining platform that leverages state-of-the-art technology to better the restaurant and hospitality industry. Established in 2014, the app services over 5,000 restaurants globally in over 200 cities, overseeing restaurant reservations via back-end management software. The company was also acquired by American Express in 2019.“The product is built by restaurants and for restaurants—what we built is informed by our partners. It truly comes from a place of how we can best provide what restaurants need to thrive,” says Vaynberg. “Restaurants shouldn’t have to pay for the guests who are trying to come to them.”Resy endeavors to be an ally to restaurant operators. According to recent Resy data, this past April was the strongest month for reservations since before coronavirus hit. The company was determined to help Resy operators survive the financial troubles of the pandemic and get back on track.“Fee relief was no question in our minds. Being part of American Express helped make that a reality very quickly. It wasn’t a debate. We’re here for the industry, and the most important thing we can do first is alleviate them of things they can’t do right now,” adds Vaynberg. “It was all about, what can we do to help your restaurant not go out of business?”Click here for more recovery and relief information for restaurant, hospitality and food service operators. And to keep listening, check out The Hospitality Hangout podcast on Spotify!This syndicated content is brought to you by Branded Strategic Hospitality. 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 the Hospitality Hangout podcast, Michael Schatzberg “The Restaurant Guy” and Jimmy Frischling “The Finance Guy” sit down with Mike Bell, the chief executive officer of Miso Robotics, to explore how robot technology is transforming the restaurant and hospitality landscape.Miso Robotics is a robotic restaurant platform powered by artificial intelligence. The platform was created to support high-volume restaurant operators by making back of house processes safer, simpler, and seamless. Clients include CaliBurger, White Castle, and Levy Restaurants at Dodger Stadium.“There hasn’t been any real automation since the dishwasher,” says Bell. “Computer vision… is now available to the restaurant industry and it performs really well. The next wave of adoption for this technology is upon us.”“Flippy” is the platform’s autonomous robotic kitchen assistant. At present, the latest iteration of “Flippy” is a robotic arm that hangs from a frame right over a fry station at an existing restaurant, managing the dirty, repetitive, and often dangerous tasks that humans generally do not want to do.The goal for Miso Robotics was to humanize the robot for restaurant staff and make it like a colleague.“Flippy does a lot more than flipping burgers,” says Bell. “It is really hard for operators to recruit and retain people to do this job. It’s just not a job people generally want to do… it’s about $2500 for one shift—for one human being to stand over a fry station. So we thought, we’re going to provide our robots for the same amount of money.”Click here for more recovery and relief information for restaurant, hospitality and food service operators. And to keep listening, check out The Hospitality Hangout podcast on Spotify!This syndicated content is brought to you by Branded Strategic Hospitality. 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 the Hospitality Hangout podcast, Michael Schatzberg “The Restaurant Guy” and Jimmy Frischling “The Finance Guy” sit down with John Rigos, the founder and co-chief executive officer of Aurify Brands, to explore the culinary, marketing, and technology behind building a brand.Aurify Brands is committed to conceiving, building, and growing original concepts that last for the long-term. Their brands include Melt Shop, Little Beet, Table, Fields Good Chicken, and Five Guys. The goal is to foster brands with a great culture and lasting value that stay true to each business’s mission.“One of the nice things about how we’re structured as a platform is that we can pretty readily do a bolt-on acquisition to leverage the platform and integrate it into our portfolio more readily than a typical restaurant company,” says Rigos. “A typical restaurant company has a management team that supports the growth of the brand. We have that at each of the brand levels, but we also have this platform above them that supports the brand.”Aurify recently secured a major acquisition: Le Pain Quotidien. The popular chain was going to go bankrupt before the purchase.“We did pivot very strategically… we proactively started looking in the marketplace for brands that were great brands but were struggling on the liquidity side,” adds Rigos. “The company was sold to a private equity firm in 2016. In the ensuing years, some of the decisions at the management level crushed a lot of what made the brand special.”For Aurify, the bankruptcy was an opportunity for them to acquire the brand.“Either the company was going to go bankrupt or the company needed capital to take it through the bankruptcy process,” says Rigos. “The beauty of the bankruptcy process is it enables you to revisit your contracts. We started negotiating with all the landlords, as the bankruptcy process enables you to shed all the leases you don’t like… we felt really good being part of the solution that was going to be bringing back jobs and paying landlords and start paying suppliers.”Click here for more recovery and relief information for restaurant, hospitality and food service operators. And to keep listening, check out The Hospitality Hangout podcast on Spotify!This syndicated content is brought to you by Branded Strategic Hospitality. 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 the Hospitality Hangout podcast, Michael Schatzberg “The Restaurant Guy” and Jimmy Frischling “The Finance Guy” sit down with Corey Manicone, the co-founder and chief executive officer of Zuul, to explore the growing popularity of ghost kitchens.This syndicated content is brought to you by Branded Strategic Hospitality. 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 the Hospitality Hangout podcast, Michael Schatzberg “The Restaurant Guy” and Jimmy Frischling “The Finance Guy” sit down with Troy Henikoff, the managing director of MATH Venture Partners, to offer best practices for investing, as well as advice for young entrepreneurs fundraising for their new business.This syndicated content is brought to you by Branded Strategic Hospitality. 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 the Hospitality Hangout podcast, Michael Schatzberg “The Restaurant Guy” and Jimmy Frischling “The Finance Guy” sit down with Jordan Boesch, the chief executive officer of 7shifts, to explore how the restaurant and hospitality industry has evolved over the course of the pandemic.This syndicated content is brought to you by Branded Strategic Hospitality. 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