The Simmer
The Simmer
The Simmer explores and explains hot topics in restaurant technology and the future of hospitality. It's led by two industry veterans with a lot of opinions. Kristen Hawley has spent over a decade covering the beat for her newsletter Expedite and top titles including Fast Company, Business Insider, Bon Appetit, Eater, and Food & Wine. Brandon Barton is CEO of Bite, an industry-leading intelligent kiosk ordering software provider with nearly two decades of experience in restaurant tech. Each episode, the hosts interview some of the smartest people in hospitality to dissect what's happening now
Episodes
Mentioned books
Oct 21, 2025 • 47min
Elizabeth Tilton, Founder & CEO, Oyster Sunday and OS Benefits
Elizabeth Tilton started her career cooking in New Orleans before moving to join the marketing team at Momofuku in New York City. Years later, she’s translated that back-of-house experience to her own consultancy, Oyster Sunday, which acts as a back office for restaurants across the country. That led to a second company, OS Benefits, which provides ACA-compliant health insurance and wellness benefits to independent hospitality businesses across the country. In this episode we talk through all the facets of dining out in 2025, and what we’re all excited for in the future.
Oct 7, 2025 • 52min
Justin Falciola President, Americas, Deliverect
Former restaurant executives make great restaurant technology executives. Why? They’ve seen the full picture. Before Justin Falciola joined Deliverect, he was a prospect, spending years working in tech at Papa John’s and later CKE Restaurants, parent company of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s. In this episode, we talk pizza, drive-thrus, AI, and new opportunities — plus, of course, DoorDash’s big reservations news!
Sep 23, 2025 • 47min
Eli Feldman, Co-Founder & Partner, Shy Bird
Eli Feldman, co-founder and partner at Shy Bird, operates vibrant restaurants in Boston while embracing technology. He discusses his recent AI hackathon aimed at solving industry challenges and how AI can unify systems, providing actionable insights for restaurant operations. Eli shares innovative uses like menu GPTs and event forecasting. The conversation also delves into important issues like data ownership, privacy concerns, and the future of restaurant discovery through AI.
Aug 19, 2025 • 41min
The Simmer’s Summer Wrap-Up
It’s a Kristen-and-Brandon summer special! The Simmer checks in on what Brandon dubs “reservation wars 3.0” as the biggest restaurant tech companies in the space — reservations and beyond — choose sides. In this episode we talk DoorDash, SevenRooms, Uber, OpenTable, Toast, Resy, Tock and more. The Simmer will return after Labor Day with more industry guests and insight.
Jul 22, 2025 • 44min
Cindy Klein Roche, Chief Growth Officer, ezCater
Restaurant catering — and the tech that powers it — is hot, hot, hot. At nearly 20 years old, ezCater is poised to take advantage of the renewed interest from office workers and the restaurants that serve them. In this episode we talk about the evolution of catering, the tech that supports it, and why a little reassurance and hand-holding goes a long way with corporate clients.
Jul 18, 2025 • 43min
Rob Edell, GM & Head of DashPass, DoorDash
Before Rob Edell was DoorDash’s head of DashPass, he was a restaurant tech founder building a business he eventually sold to Resy. Rob joined DoorDash years before it became the market leader it is today, and after almost a decade of the company, he’s had a front row seat to the evolving restaurant business. In this episode, we talk about DoorDash’s growth and evolution, how DashPass encourages loyalty, and what’s coming next.
4 snips
Jul 1, 2025 • 43min
Ilir Sela, Founder & CEO, Slice
Ilir Sela, the Founder and CEO of Slice and a champion of independent pizzerias, delves into the challenges and innovations of the restaurant ecosystem. He discusses the evolution of Slice from an online ordering platform to a comprehensive tech solution for pizzerias, offering tools like point of sale and loyalty programs. Sela also shares insights on the dynamics of first-party versus third-party delivery, the importance of community in local business, and what truly defines a great pizza.
Jun 17, 2025 • 37min
Fred LeFranc, CEO, Results Thru Strategy
In this pre-recorded summer special, Kristen and Brandon ask Fred to predict the future. Lucky for us, he’s good at it. In this episode, we talk about the current state of casual dining (tl;dr: Chili’s is killing it), all those restaurant bankruptcies, and the importance of making an emotional connection with diners.
Jun 3, 2025 • 49min
Kelly Esten, CMO, Toast
We’re deep in an (unintentional) point of sale system theme at The Simmer. This week, Toast’s chief marketer Kelly Esten joins us to talk enterprise restaurants, artificial intelligence, and maybe accidentally perpetuate a rumor that Brandon really wants to be true.
May 27, 2025 • 43min
Lindsey Irvine, CMO, Square
Brandon got stuck on a plane, so Kristen flies solo in this interview with Square’s top marketer, Lindsey Irivine. In this episode, we talk about big marketing initiatives and activations, and how Square sees itself as both a restaurant and consumer brand. Plus, Lindsey shares details of Square’s new San Francisco corner store, a consumer and small business play all in one.
