Episodios

  • Ep 85: Ben Jacobs / Chef, founder of Tocabe and Native local pioneer

    Ep 85: Ben Jacobs / Chef, founder of Tocabe and Native local pioneer
    Aug 1 2024

    Ben started Tocabe with his friend and business partner Matthew Chandra. Opened in 2008, Tocabe is one of the only restaurants in Denver specializing in Native and Indigenous cuisine and one of only a handful in the United States.

    Ben is a tribal member of the Osage Nation of northeast Oklahoma.

    Ben also created Seed To Soul, which creates prepared authentic Native American meals for people in need in Native American communities. In Ben’s words, Seed to Soul helps to create and develop a Native food system.

    Tocabe was featured on Diners, Drive-In’s & Dives in 2011. Before the appearance, Tocabe was struggling. After the appearance, business “skyrocketed.”

    Ben admits that operating a Native restaurant isn’t as easy as a burger or pizza restaurant because the food doesn’t have the built in knowledge and familiarity that other restaurants might have.

    QUOTES

    “Whenever someone asks me ‘What is Native American cuisine?’, I don’t know. And that’s the whole point. We’re all so different depending on the region and tribal community.” (Ben)

    “I always like to say we’re the oldest cultures on the continent but in many ways we have the youngest cuisine because it’s not clearly defined.” (Ben)

    “When we started we said we wanted to create the trend for what a Native restaurant is in America.” (Ben)

    “We started with Osage-specific recipes, but now we’re ingredient-driven. We source from native food producers from all over the country.” (Ben)

    On Tocabe’s appearance on Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives: “Guy (Fieri) was amazing. He was so fun, he was engaging. He enjoyed being there. You can tell he was into it.” (Ben)

    “For us to be a Native restaurant, we need to support the Native food system. And since it’s so spread out, we can’t always be locally made. So we say ‘Native first, local second.’” (Ben)

    “We source wild rice from the Great Lakes, blueberries from Maine, huckleberries from Washington state, olive oil from California, beans from the southwest. You name it, we source from all over.” (Ben)

    TRANSCRIPT

    “Whenever someone asks me ‘What is Native American cuisine?’, I don’t know. And that’s the whole point. We’re all so different depending on the region and tribal community.” (Ben)

    “I always like to say we’re the oldest cultures on the continent but in many ways we have the youngest cuisine because it’s not clearly defined.” (Ben)

    “When we started we said we wanted to create the trend for what a Native restaurant is in America.” (Ben)

    “We started with Osage-specific recipes, but now we’re ingredient-driven. We source from native food producers from all over the country.” (Ben)

    On Tocabe’s appearance on Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives: “Guy (Fieri) was amazing. He was so fun, he was engaging. He enjoyed being there. You can tell he was into it.” (Ben)

    “For us to be a Native restaurant, we need to support the Native food system. And since it’s so spread out, we can’t always be locally made. So we say ‘Native first, local second.’” (Ben)

    “We source wild rice from the Great Lakes, blueberries from Maine, huckleberries from Washington state, olive oil from California, beans from the southwest. You name it, we source from all over.” (Ben)
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    43 m
  • Ep 84: Audley Wilson / Shark Tank survivor & Founder of RoboBurger

    Ep 84: Audley Wilson / Shark Tank survivor & Founder of RoboBurger
    Jul 18 2024
    Roboburger is billed as the “World’s First Burger Chef In a Vending Format.” RoboBurger condenses the average kitchen by 99% into just 12 square feet, including refrigeration, heating, ventilation, prep line and cleaning. Burgers are automatically grilled and assembled in under 4 minutes. Roboburger RoboBurger was invented by Audley Wilson, a data scientist; Dan Braido, a Rutgers PhD grad; and Andy Siegel, a serial entrepreneur. Audley and his team have been working on Roboburger for about five years but Audley’s passion for robotics goes all the way back to his childhood. Audley has been passionate about robotics and automation from a young age, and one of his teenage years robotics prototypes got him a scholarship at Carnegie Mellon. RoboBurger was in beta phase up until SharkTank. They launched their first beta location in a dive bar in Jersey City in 2020. They launched an NSF-certified model in 2022. The units now – generation 5 – are UL certified and are launching in locations from Indiana to Missouri. Future locations for Roboburger machines include colleges, airports and rest stops. Friends encouraged Audley to take his idea to Shark Tank since the earliest days of the Roboburger process. Shark Tank producers noticed the media coverage about RoboBurger and reached out to Audley in 2022 with an offer to appear. It wasn’t until 2023 that Audley and his team decided the machine was reach for a prime time appearance. QUOTES “No one ever went bankrupt trying to feed America burgers.” (Michael) “One of the biggest challenges (with Roboburger) has been the health requirements. Getting that NSF certification was a gargantuan challenge and getting our UL certification on top of that was even more.” (Audley)“We clean the griddle after every burger. We do heat sanitization every four hours. We’ve actually got our cleaning process certified by a third party.” (Audley) “(One of our goals is to) make food service accessible for vending.” (Audley)“People are starting to shift to a higher convenience lifestyle. How can I get what I want, when I want it, wherever I am.” (Audley) “When you get to Shark Tank, it’s just one go. You’re standing on a carpet. It’s live. There are no cuts.” (Audley)“Shark Tank was a really interesting experience. I’ve done thousands of pitches over the years, but I’ve never had one (like Shark Tank).” (Audley) “We’re very happy with the (Shark Tank) deal. Those are exactly the sharks that we wanted to make a deal with.” (Audley) TRANSCRIPT 00:01.57vigorbrandingHello there to Fork Tales. Today’s guest is Audley Wilson. Now, typically, I have chefs on. Typically, I have restaurateurs. But today, we have a robotics expert. ah He is a burger expert and founder and CEO of Robo Burger, the world’s first burger chef in a vending machine. That’s right. He makes burgers within a vending machine. He also recently appeared on Shark Tank to pitch his idea to the investors. Audley, thank you so much for joining us today. 00:31.42Audley WilsonWell, thank you so much, Michael, for having me on. I’m excited to be speaking with you. 00:36.82vigorbrandingAwesome. wow You and I got to meet, I think it was a little over a year ago and I i saw you then again in LA and I got to actually not only see you, but I also saw the Robo Burger. So that’s super cool and I i got to test it. I got to have the burger and it was ah it was impressive. So let’s start with some background about rogo Robo Burger. I’m sorry, it’s like a tongue twister. ah Tell us about Robo Burger and how it all got started. 00:58.35Audley Wilsonhey five times but So, oh man. Well, so it’s a long story. I’ve been working on a robo burger for in this current incarnation for about five years, but I’ve been working on food robotics over the course of my, for my entire life and burger machines for about 20. So, uh, you know, my first burger machine, my first food machine, uh, got me into Carnegie Mellon. Uh, and like, you know, then it was really focused on. residential kitchens, right? So like, how can you make an entire kitchen, fully automated? 01:31.33Audley WilsonAnd yeah so, you know, talk about really ahead of your time. um So like, that was, that was my first machine, and it was really, could do a variety of different meals. 01:34.72vigorbrandingRight. 01:40.23Audley WilsonBut really all it can make well is rice and chicken. when Yeah, it’s ah but first i college kid that’s great. 01:44.40vigorbrandingSo, but was that something that you did before? yeah Was that something you did before school? Like before you got into the into Carnegie Mellon or was it a contest or talk about that? 01:51.97Audley WilsonYeah. Yes, I was working on this since ah when I was in high school. 01:56.90vigorbrandingThat’s crazy. 01:57.18Audley WilsonSo when I was in high school, I was there, so you know, constantly working on this crazy machine because I...
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    38 m
  • Ep 83: Craig Bernstein / Founder of Doc B’s Restaurant & Bar

    Ep 83: Craig Bernstein / Founder of Doc B’s Restaurant & Bar
    Jun 28 2024
    Craig is the founder of Doc B’s Restaurant & Bar. The restaurant is named after Craig’s late father, “Doctor B,” Doc B’s was first opened in Chicago in September 2013 and is a fresh, casual dining concept. Doc B’s has 10 locations in Chicago, Tampa, Ft. Lauderdale, and Coral Gables, FL; Austin, Dallas, and Forth Worth, TX. Craig was inspired to follow a career in the restaurant industry after meeting Morton’s Steakhouse legend Allen Bernstein at a Knicks game. Craig and his dad talked to Allen at his courtside seats and he later formed a mentor relationship with Craig. Craig interviewed Allen Bernstein for a career report in the sixth grade about being a restaurant owner. Allen would later industry Craig to other restaurant industry leaders. Doc B’s started as a fast casual restaurant and transformed into a full service restaurant. That shift allowed Doc B’s to offer an elevated food offering and establish a better relationship with customers. Different layouts of each Doc B’s location provides opportunities for different design elements and features within each location. QUOTES “(Allen Bernstein) really transformed my life to a certain extent. Allen drove me to pursue a career in the restaurant industry.” (Craig) “For me, the idea of hospitality and really going above and beyond for every guest was always really innate in the philosophy of our business. That’s why we transferred to full service.” (Craig) “It’s about slow and steady growth. Not just growing for growth sake. Really trying to get great real estate, grow organically, grow from within and build the team from within.” (Craig) “I know the last chapter of our book. I just don’t know all the pages between today and then.” (Craig) “We don’t want to cut costs just to get more bodies inside the restaurant. We want to maintain our integrity, we want to maintain our value on the plate and we don’t want to trim the quality that we offer.” (Craig) “We’re traveling. We’re in our restaurants. We’re engaging with the team and engaging with guests. We’re doing constant evaluations of the food and service.” (Craig) “It really comes down to letting the general managers own their business and operate it like it was their four walls.” (Craig) “What’s fun about my job is you can have a day that’s the easiest day in the world and then you can have another day where nothing is going right.” (Craig) TRANSCRIPT 00:00.60vigorbrandingHey there hey I’m really excited today to talk to a guest ah a gentleman I met probably a couple months ago something happened there got an error message you the phone expensive fiction problems. She’s got internet connection. 00:20.20vigorbrandingIt’s still going just gonna let rather than stop it ended I think we’ll just I’ll trim this up so you let’s start over. Okay hi I’m really excited about today’s guest mainly because I love a good origin story. Our guest today is Craig Bernstein he’s the founder of dock be’s fresh kitchen restaurants Craig I really appreciate you joining us today. Um, ah you and I met like ah I don’t know a couple months ago out in l a and I got to talking to you and I just love a good story. So welcome to the show. 00:36.61Craig Yeah, thank you so much. Thanks for having me Michael and it was great to meet you and share with you. My story and tell you more about it today. 01:00.21vigorbrandingSounds great. So you know when I first heard you talk about doc bees. Um I was fascinated by it for 2 reasons. First of all as I said I’m a marker right? So I love a good story. Ah, ah, original stories or or what brands are made of so we have doc bees and also ah you know Doc Bee was your father. 01:11.97Craig Um, yeah. 01:18.23vigorbrandingAnd my dad was my best friend so the whole thing just kind of fit together for me and I was really ah, really excited. Ah for you to be on here today so can can you tell me tell me a little bit about the whole thing about your dad and and and how this whole thing about the doc bees got started. 01:19.90Craig Full I have to go way back way back? Um, you know my father was a doctor um, like you mentioned my last name is Bernstein so Doc B is ultimately where the name for the business came from but um I grew up in New York long island and me my father and I you we you know we used to go to the New York Knickscapes and we had a great you know great experiences going to madison square garden rooting on the knicks in the 90 s Patrick Ewing Charles Oakley John Starks still remember it like it was yesterday. And so if I go into the story about how Doc Bees and the restaurant started. Um, yeah I could go into that detail if that’s what you’d like yeah so so it’s it’s kind of a cool story. So I’m ten years old I’m a middle child I have ah a younger sister. 02:08.55vigorbrandingIt’s awesome. 02:13.75Craig Sarah she’s 5 an older ...
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    39 m
  • Ep 82: Martino Brambilla / President of Embassy Ingredients

    Ep 82: Martino Brambilla / President of Embassy Ingredients
    Jun 10 2024
    Embassy Ingredients combines creativity and science to provide its customers with the very best innovative flavors and bakery ingredients available. Embassy Ingredients has an on-site flavor lab and full bakery test kitchen staffed with certified flavorists, food scientists and bakery specialists.They formulate, test and manufacture a wide range of flavors and bakery ingredients ensuring that taste, quality and performance are built into every product.Natural ingredients and colors have taken over, with nearly 80% of flavors and ingredients being natural. Using high quality, natural ingredients is something Embassy Ingredients has been focused on for many years. It is possible to have indulgence AND clean labels. Many products that are indulgent and taste great have clean labels. The technology today allows for the use of natural ingredients that taste as good or better than the artificial ingredients of the past. The typical Embassy customer takes 12-18 months to launch a new product. For that reason, tracking trends that are in the earliest stages and will still be relevant a year from now is important. QUOTES ]“When I started, I was the only employee. I got the orders in the morning, made them in the afternoon, delivered them the next day and got more orders.” (Martino)“As a 17 year old kid I found out that persistence and perseverance were the personality traits you need as an entrepreneur.” (Martino) “In the 90s I’d say about 80% of the flavors that were sold were artificial and 20% were natural. Right now it’s about 80% natural and 20% artificial.” (Martino) “We’ve always tried to keep the junk out of mixes. Just because you’re buying something you want to indulge in, doesn’t mean it has to be completely unhealthy for you.” (Martino)“If it’s not needed inside the product, why put it in?” (Martino) “When you indulge, it better be good. You don’t want something that’s being made as inexpensively as possible.” (Martino) “Every crisis you face you learn some new business skills you didn’t know you had.” (Martino) “During a crisis (like COVID), people eat more sweets than in a non-crisis.” (Martino)“If you taste test new recipes for a living, you get really good at tasting without eating.” (Martino) TRANSCRIPT 00:01.76vigorbrandingToday’s guest is someone who knows a lot about ingredients a lot about flavor trends and a lot about baked goods. He’s Martino Babila and he’s the founder and president of embassy ingredients welcome to show Martino and thank you very much for joining us. So. 00:13.47MartinoThank you Michael thanks for being glad to be on the show. 00:18.41vigorbrandingYep, So tell everyone you know a little bit about Embassy ingredients. What’s your mission and what do you guys? do. 00:21.59MartinoSo embassy ingredients is centered on the bakery trace so we supply ingredients to large scale bakeries. So we have a side of our business that makes flavors and a side that makes the industrial version you might say of a Duncan hides cake mix. So when you go off to your supermarket or to Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks you’ll find our ingredients and a lot of the baker that you’re going to be buying at those qsars or supermarkets. 00:47.54vigorbrandingFantastic I like in forktails we talk about food and beverage right? So restaurants you know cpg all of the like. But what’s really kind of cool about you and your businesses is you make the flavors and the reasons we go to restaurants reason we buy Cpg is because we like the way stuff tastes we like the way they prepare their food and you guys are. Kind of the secret ingredient if you will ah in in behind it all. So my first question I’ve known you for a long time but I actually found this out and did not realize it so I think this is fantastic and a great way to start I love I love stories. Um, you know I started my agency. Ah my first advertising agency when I was 27 I thought that was really young. Ah, but you took over your father’s company as owner and president when you were seventeen years old ah you know and when I was 17 I was probably getting in trouble for speeding with my my new driver’s license. So I mean I can’t imagine ah starting and running a company at that point in time. Can you can you tell tell us that story how how does someone start a company or take over a company at 17. 01:45.63MartinoBut it started actually 2 years before that my dad pulled me out of school when it was in grade eleven. So technically I never graduated high school and I started a company with my brother and I and my dad so the 3 of us started up a business that was mostly distribution. My dad had a hobby of. Bringing in these flavors from italy diluting them with simple syrup which is water and sugar and we used to sell them to bakeries up and down the street. All these small italian bakeries that were all over toronto. These toronto is a large italian community Two years ...
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    31 m
  • Ep 81: Benjamin Calleja / CXO of Livit Design

    Ep 81: Benjamin Calleja / CXO of Livit Design
    May 23 2024
    Livit Design is the leading design firm specialized in creating unique guest experiences in the Food & Beverage and all areas of Hospitality, Fitness and Retail sectors. For over 20 years, Livit has worked as strategic advisors to investors and global brands on design, operations, guest journey and guest experience with the focus on improving efficiency, profitability and increasing growth potential.Livit Design bills itself as “a perfect mix of foodies, architects, interior designers, guest experience specialists, chefs, kitchen consultants, operations experts, entrepreneurs, graphic artists, DJ’s, visionaries and restaurant operators.” One of the projects Benjamin and Livit Design is working on is called The Line. Located in Saudi Arabia by the Red Sea, The Line is billed as the future of urban living. The 105-mile long structure is just 650 feet wide and will eventually be home to more than nine million people. It has no roads, cars or emissions and runs on 100% renewable energy. All great restaurant design has to touch the emotions of diners, but there’s not a magic wand that does that. Doing that requires great design and so many other touchpoints and factors. According to Ben, the hospitality industry is divided into two sides. One side focuses on convenience and the other is focused on experience. The Livit team is helping restaurant staff focus on hospitality by creating systems that automatically adjust sensory factors like scent and sound (music) to create better diner experiences. QUOTES “I believe that one of the biggest differences between what we do and a regular design firm, but what’s really challenging is understanding the operations. How do you make sure that you create designs that are profitable? That’s where design really matters.” (Benjamin)“It could be the scents, it could be the sounds, it could be the thickness of the menu. There are so many small details in creating that holistic experience.” (Benjamin) “Consumers are getting picky. You go out less. The bland experiences – trying to be everything to everyone – those are the brands that are really suffering. You need to be niche, you need to create a phenomenal experience and you need to be a driver.” (Benjamin) “Restaurant design is an investment, not a cost.” (Benjamin) “Brands that try to be everything to everyone – they’re audience is literally dying. That’s a struggle in a world where everything is becoming more specialized.” (Benjamin) “We’re going to see a lot more artificial intelligence (in restaurants and design). It’s going to be better than humans at a lot of the repetitive tasks. Whether that’s comps and analysis, restaurant layouts, optimization of spaces, etc.” (Benjamin) “I’m a lighting freak. I think lighting and acoustics are the two things that designers will often overlook and they’re not well taught in design schools.” (Benjamin) “The things you touch – the cutlery, the table, the chairs, the glassware, the plateware – those are the most important things.” (Benjamin) TRANSCRIPT 00:00.00vigorbrandingWell hello today’s guest is someone at the forefront of restaurant design. His name is Ben Kaa I probably pronounced it wrong even though I practice and he’s the founder and chief experience officer at design the what’s amazing is every 8 hours a new live design restaurant opens somewhere in the world. 00:07.00BenAre. 00:19.87vigorbrandingEvery 8 hours a new live at design restaurant opens somewhere in the world. It’s amazing which means he’s a pretty busy guy I think he traveled as much as any human being on earth and anyway so Benjamin welcome. Thank you so much for joining us I’m fascinated by what you do and your story. 00:24.68BenIf that. 00:36.43BenThanks Michael thanks for having me um I can I can maybe start with an anecdote. My daughter has an app that tracks my flights and she said hey dad. You know that you flew from the earth to the moon last year 00:47.81vigorbrandingWow, that’s right’s right? and your back probably hurts. You know I did 2 cities you know I was I started in in New York City yesterday afternoon I went to Atlanta for the. 00:50.10BenAnd then I said yeah honey. But next year I have to fly back. 00:57.81BenThe. 01:06.23vigorbrandingThe rest of the day flew back to Harrisburg waiting day and I thought I did something which was ah nothing compared to what you’re doing there so but anyway, ah, but but but through your travels. Not only do you do brilliant work that I was able to witness some in person with you. 01:16.81BenUm, yeah, are. 01:21.00vigorbrandingAh, but we get to see and learn about a lot. What’s going on in the world. So just first of all, tell us a little bit about live it design. You know how you started about you the whole beginnings. 01:32.40BenYeah, absolutely so I’m an architect by trade and started this company 98 which is what twenty seven years ago or ...
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    42 m
  • Ep 80: Dan Rowe / CEO of Fransmart

    Ep 80: Dan Rowe / CEO of Fransmart
    May 9 2024
    Fransmart is a global leader in franchise development. For over 20 years, they’ve excelled at turning emerging concepts into national and global brands. Led by company founder Dan Rowe, Fransmart is known throughout the franchising community for spotting and growing brands like Five Guys Burgers & Fries and Qdoba Mexican Grill, from single unit businesses to the powerhouse chains they are today. Fransmart has built restaurants in all of the top 150 media markets in North America. Fransmart’s success stories include Five Guys, Qdoba Mexican Grill and Halal Guys – a franchise that started from a success food cart in New York City. Today, Halal Guys is the most successful Middle Eastern restaurant in America. Dan’s success stems from his knowledge of each market and the potential franchisees in each market. With that knowledge, he can often predict whether a restaurant will find franchisees and be successful. The biggest mistake a lot of franchisees make is picking the wrong brand to invest in. Another mistake franchisees make is not following the system put in place by the brand they’re investing in. QUOTES “A good franchisee wants to follow somebody else’s system. A bad franchisee buys a franchise and tries to do everything different.” (Dan) “In every market, we know where the best operators are, we know where the best intersections are, where the best projects are, the best architects, contractors, food distributors, so we just sort of developed this knack for understanding the best way to do everything in these markets.” (Dan) “I want to be relentless about getting the right site (for a new restaurant). For any concept, there’s 10 or 15 or 20 potential sites. But there’s really only three or four first sites. You have to be very careful when you’re building a brand in a brand new market. There’s something very strategic about using real estate and real estate’s role in marketing.” (Dan) “You have to be really good at knowing exactly where your bullseye’s are and coming up with some logic around what order you should be growing.” (Dan) “You have staff for the sales you want and you have to staff for the company you’re trying to build.” (Dan) “I’ve never seen a concept that I can’t figure out how to drive sales and lower costs.” (Dan) TRANSCRIPT 00:00.00vigorbrandingHello if you’re a restaurant looking to become an an international restaurant chain or if you’re um, you know I’m gonna start over I’m sorry it’s kind of fumble that all just yeah, hello if you’re a restaurant looking to become an international restaurant chain or if you’re an entrepreneur who wants to own a franchise today’s episode is for you. My guest is Dan Rowe he’s the Ceo and founder of fransmart and he takes emerging restaurant concepts and turns them into national and international franchises. He’s been called the chainmakerr and we’re gonna talk to him today about his process. Dan. Thank you so much for joining us. 00:32.74dan_fransmart_comUm, yeah, thanks, thanks for having me. 00:36.52vigorbrandingWell let’s just jump right in. Let’s start with Fransmart tell me a little bit about it How you started maybe a little bit about your history and where you got your start. 00:44.96dan_fransmart_comsure sure I I started washing dishes and cooking got into technology if id never went to college so barelegged out of high school. So I but I was lucky enough when I was like nineteen eighteen and a half nineteen for about 5 years I got into technology. Worked for a guy that grew software companies made some money and what do I do go right back in the restaurant business I bought a franchise of a bagel bakery and it was a 6 unit bagel chain in Washington d c I lived in California the idea originally was to bring the franchise to California ah, because there’s no bagel shops near me. And I went into business with a buddy mine and his wife and they wanted to move to Denver so we opened up our first franchise in Denver I had negotiated a deal I said hey if we’re successful with this I want to also do your franchising and because I’m proving you outside of Dc where all your stores are. We were very successful and I was 23 I think he was 25 enty five or 26 and we were more successful than most of the stores that they had in Dc so we did their franchise development and we grew them from 6 stores to around 200 in about 4 years sold the company. 01:51.64vigorbrandingWow. 01:57.90dan_fransmart_com1 of my shops in Denver was across from the first Chipotle we tried to get him to franchise. He wasn’t interest in he did just fine without us but somebody who copied him was ah Kudoba Kudoba mexican so we approached Kudoba we got involved with Kedoba when they were only open a couple months. 01:59.35vigorbrandingI. 02:13.86dan_fransmart_comHelped him put together the whole franchise program grew that to think about 100 open and few hundred in ...
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    48 m
  • Ep 79: Jason E. Brooks / Founder of HospiVation

    Ep 79: Jason E. Brooks / Founder of HospiVation
    Apr 18 2024
    Through his company, HospiVation, Jason coaches restaurant executives how to make their goals real in the restaurant and teaches restaurant managers how to transform their patterns of management to improve their hospitality leadership.HospiVation helps restaurants through coaching, speeches, workshops and books. They try to meet managers where they are and dive deep in the restaurant’s team to help them build better teams. Jason has wanted to work in the restaurant industry since a very young age and got his first job as a restaurant dishwasher at the age of 15. He’s worked for 20 different restaurant brands during his career. One of the biggest mistakes restaurant managers make when it comes to leadership is trying to do everything by themselves and not learning to delegate. It’s important for managers to understand a restaurant’s KPIs, but it’s also important for EVERY member of the team to understand the KPIs and how success is measured.In an effective meeting, the meeting organizer and leader should talk 20 percent of the time and the rest of the attendees should talk 80 percent of the time. QUOTES “I came in through the side door. I started out washing dishes at a very young age. My mother didn’t even know I got a job.” (Jason) “I’ve worked for 20 different restaurant brands and six of the top 100 brands in the U.S. This has given me the ability to see the Mona Lisa painted 20 different ways. All of those learnings helped to shape my company, HospiVation.” (Jason) “Ask any social media manager. It’s very hard to get people to follow you and it’s even hard to keep them.” (Jason) “It’s not just managing, leading and coaching – it’s knowing the difference between the three. We use managing more than anything else in our day as a hospitality leader. Leadership is different. Leadership is understanding the overarching items about the industry and where to move the brand next.” (Jason) “Coaching is the mastery of small groups and one-on-ones. Coaching is you creating a space of 30 minutes to listen to your team.” (Jason) “When it comes to mastering your meetings, you have to understand that if you aren’t sitting down to make a decision, you probably shouldn’t be there.” (Jason) “You should never stop training, even when someone puts in a notice (and are departing soon).” (Jason) TRANSCRIPT 00:00.00vigorbrandingHello everybody today’s guest is Jason Brooks he’s a motivational speaker an expert in restaurant management and the author of the book every leader needs followers 10 keys to transform restaurant managers into hospitality leaders Jason. Thanks so much for being here. Um, I’d love to start off with just you talking a little bit about your past like some of the places you’ve been and some of the things you’ve done. 00:26.34Jason BrooksThank you Michael ah, it’s a pleasure being on forktails in amazing podcast. Your listeners are full First they know their business. They know what they’re talking about so I am honored. Um, you know my past is like many. Pasts of coaches of speakers meaning that I came in through the side door and and I started out washing dishes very young age 15 first job. My my mother didn’t even know that I got a job. Ah, she just came home one day after three weeks of working and there were a lot more groceries in the fridge than when she went to work and she’s like Jason where did all this food come from and like mom I promise I didn’t do anything bad I got a child. But cooking has been something that has stuck with me even up to this day I still find different recipes. You could find me on the weekends breaking out the smoker I have a traeger whether it’s brisket or some chicken or some ribs and. I am getting down but I’ve been in this business I’ve been in this industry for thirty plus years and I’m known as what some may call a restaurant lifer. Um, even though I’m a restaurant lifer I had some odd jobs. 01:53.21Jason BrooksIn between here and there because people that get in the restaurant business. They don’t typically wake up at the age of 7 and say I want to work in restaurants. You know they actually say I want to be a fireman or I want to be this? Um, so there was a time there that although I was good. In the restaurant business I fought it and I found that most people fight being in this business at some point because they think it’s trying to change them. They think that it’s trying to change themselves from being authentic. And it takes having that right mentor that right person that you lean on or your spouse or friend saying what are you doing you are you are good at this. You need to do this or you to then say? Okay I’m going to now truly invest my time in this. Um, but I’ve worked for 20 different restaurant brands 6 of the top 100 brands in the us and I always say this has given me the ability to view the Mona Lisa painted 20 different ways. Some of them...
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    41 m
  • Ep 78: Emily Rugaber / VP of Marketing for Thanx

    Ep 78: Emily Rugaber / VP of Marketing for Thanx
    Apr 4 2024
    Thanx is a leading loyalty and guest engagement platform for restaurants. The company, founded by Zach Goldstein in 2011, helps businesses embrace digital purchasing, capture greater customer data, and take action on that information to personalize guest engagement.Thanx builds digital UX – mobile apps and web ordering experience – that help restaurants differentiate themselves. Thanx also offers dynamic self-service loyalty programs that help restaurants break free from cookie cutter loyalty programs. Before joining Thanx, Emily was a business intelligence consultant.Restaurants face many challenges when it comes to data, including not having resources to analyze and take action on data available to them. They also don’t have a good way to centralize the data and make it useful. Restaurants also struggle to capture enough data. Many loyalty programs fail to capture enough data because the programs are difficult to sign up for (often requiring an app) and they make customers jump through hoops to use the app or program. Thanx loyalty programs think outside the “Spend X, Get Y” box to offer unique loyalty programs that don’t rely on discounts. That includes offers of special food items or LTOs to loyalty members or all day happy hour for loyalty members. QUOTES “There’s problems associated with getting data and then there’s the problem of doing something with the data (after you get it) that’s meaningful to the business.” (Emily) “Restaurants generally don’t have the resources in house to help them make sense of the data that they have.” (Emily) “Far and away the most common challenge (for restaurants) is that they’re not capturing enough data.” (Emily) “Most revenue is still flowing through in-store channels. This is where loyalty comes in.” (Emily)“Loyalty is the only proven mechanism for broadly capturing data and driving repeat purchasing from it. And yet, most loyalty programs don’t capture enough data.” (Emily) “There are a few restaurants doing loyalty really well. For the rest of restaurants, those loyalty programs are all very similar ‘Spend X, Get Y’ programs. Thanx allows you to build unique, differentiated, bespoke loyalty programs.” (Emily) “Not only do non-discount programs work better, they also cost less.” (Emily) “If you look at why restaurants aren’t personalizing (programs), most of the time it’s not because people think it’s not important or it’s not going to drive results. It’s because it’s really hard to do.” (Emily) TRANSCRIPT 00:00.00vigorbrandingHello Today’s guest is someone who knows a lot about data and loyalty programs which are two extremely important topics for restaurants and any brand for that matter. Our guest is Emily rugabier and she is the Vp of marketing for thanks with an x. So thanks for joining us Emily Rut Gaber I’m sorry I practiced it three times. So. 00:19.99Emily Yeah, happy to be here and you almost got it rugeber very close. Um. 00:27.57Emily So um, yeah, very happy to be here. Thank you so much for having me. Thanks is a guest engagement and retention platform for restaurants. Ah so that’s kind of a mouthful so I’ll tell you what that means? um. We build digital ux so we build mobile apps and web ordering experiences that help restaurants sort of differentiate themselves their first -party ordering from their third parties as I’m sure this audience knows all too. Well, the third -party platforms are higher margin. They don’t get a lot of data shared with them about the customers. And they’re actually being served ads potentially from competitors on that platform and so there’s a lot of reason to want to have your customers order directly which we help brands do we also offer really dynamic self-service loyalty programs that help restaurants sort of bake. Break free from these cookie cutter programs. You know that they launch and then they never change and many of them don’t drive measurable results and then lastly we’re a complete crm and marketing automation platform really sort of differentiated in terms of ease of use. So. There’s a lot of platforms like ours on the market. We really focus on trying to make marketing as easy as possible. We know that every single restaurant that I talk to when I talk to their marketing team. They say they’re bandwidth constrained and they sort of laugh when I talk about this because it’s so true. 01:51.36Emily And they don’t have time to waste on the mechanics of creating campaigns. They want to do personalized marketing but they want to do it in a way that’s really easy so that they can get it done and prioritize it. 01:59.89vigorbrandingvery cool. very cool so okay so let’s talk data last year nation’s restaurant news said customer data is the Holy Grail of restaurant success and you know we have a data analytics company. We know that mining data is super important. We can learn everything that ...
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