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This week Chris sits down with Martin, founder of Feedelity, in London for Hospitality Tech Expo. Before starting Feedelity, Martin worked in private equity and then at Hawaiian Poké Bowl, one of the fastest-growing chains in the Benelux with 50 sites. There he saw two people trying to handle around 2,000 guest messages a week across Google, Deliveroo, Uber Eats, Just Eat, TripAdvisor, email, contact forms and surveys. They were copying and pasting complaints into ChatGPT to reply. So he built something better. Chris and Martin talk about how Feedelity pulls every feedback channel into one AI-powered inbox and categorises each message down to the dish. They cover how the data revealed that service and friendliness come up in reviews more often than the food itself. They also get into the “Wheel of Fortune” feature that gives the silent, happy majority a reason to leave a review. In this episode: How a 50-site chain was drowning in 2,000 guest messages a weekGoing live in two minutes, with no credit card and 30 days of feedback analysed straight awayWhy measuring feedback beats reading every reviewReal stories: two sites ignoring the music policy, and a supplier issue that made the corn too saltyAI replies that learn your brand’s tone of voiceThe Wheel of Fortune, which gets 8 to 12 times more five-star reviewsWhy asking for feedback isn’t annoying your guestsWhy the problem is even bigger in the UK than in BelgiumMartin’s one piece of advice: every piece of external feedback should trigger an internal actionChapters: 00:00 Intro 01:09 Martin’s background: private equity to Hawaiian Poké Bowl 02:17 The problem: 2,000 messages a week, two people 04:18 From late nights to quitting the day job 06:07 What Feedelity actually does 07:23 Using competitor data to price with confidence 08:01 Why service trumps food 10:04 Measuring vs reading: the music policy story 11:43 AI replies in your own tone of voice 13:45 Why simple is the hardest thing to build 15:09 The Wheel of Fortune 18:08 Why asking for feedback isn’t annoying 19:04 Replying to reviews: 23% more repeat delivery orders 19:29 Red flags: catching the serious stuff fast 21:03 Results: 4.8 on Google and the salty corn 22:39 UK vs Belgium 24:45 Martin’s one piece of advice 26:44 How to get in touch Connect with Martin: LinkedIn, or book a call via the Feedelity website. 🎧 New episodes every week from The Stacked Podcast. Subscribe so you don’t miss one. wearestacked.io

Guests don't just book a room anymore. They book the spa, the dinner, the round of golf, the whole weekend. Most hotel tech still hasn't caught up.This week Chris Fletcher is joined by Louise Ryan (CMO) and Joe Watkins (Head of Data and AI) from Journey, the Cheltenham-based hotel tech company helping luxury hotels drive total revenue per guest.They cover why hotels need to think more like retailers, why RevPAR is giving way to TRevPAR, and how one hotel partner moved from 50/50 OTA-to-direct to 80/20 direct. They also discuss where AI is creating real commercial value right now and why trust is still the biggest barrier to adoption.Chapters00:00 Intro01:30 Meet Louise and Joe02:08 What Journey does02:33 From digital agency to all-in-one booking engine04:06 The pressure on luxury hotels right now05:08 Thinking like a retailer: monetising every square inch07:35 Where guest data actually lives (and who just resigned with it)08:42 Hotels as multiple businesses under one roof09:22 From RevPAR to TRevPAR11:44 380 nights at The Other House and still not understood12:37 The Cotswolds spa booking that went wrong14:24 Taking back control from the OTAs16:05 Personalisation and the data flywheel17:26 AI chatbots and the adoption problem19:27 Convincing luxury operators to change20:30 Why experiences are still so hard to book online21:41 One basket, one transaction22:32 Where AI is showing real ROI today24:52 MCPs and booking hotel experiences through AI assistants25:30 Is trust the barrier to AI adoption?27:00 Grantley Hall: building an events programme from guest data28:08 Best-in-breed vs all-in-one29:28 Data consolidation and the future of hotel tech31:29 What's next for luxury hotels32:53 Where to find JourneyKey takeawaysSome properties pay 23–25% commission to OTAs. Driving direct saves margin and gives hotels ownership of their guest data.Around 66% of accommodation is booked online globally, compared with just over 30% of experiences. That gap is a revenue opportunity.The quickest AI win is often learning from the questions guests ask, like "can I charge my EV?", that your site never answered.Guests now search for an experience first, then a destination, then a flight, then a hotel.Find JourneyWebsite: journey.travelLouise Ryan and Joe Watkins are both on LinkedIn.The Stacked PodcastWhere hospitality meets technology. New episodes every week.wearestacked.io

Camino did something most operators would never dream of: it changed nearly every platform in its stack in a single year, while doubling its estate. The result? Staff turnover has never been lower.This week, Chris Fletcher sits down with Tyrone Delaney, Finance Director at Camino, the Basque-inspired restaurant and bar group behind Camino and Pinchito, and Jackson Versatano, Senior Director UK & Europe at Lightspeed.Tyrone explains how an acquisition became the moment to overhaul the whole stack, and why he wonders why they didn't do it sooner. Automated sales syncing into Xero removed manual weekly business sheets that used to take around 20% of the finance team's time. Card tipping added roughly 10% to tronc pots across every site, meaning better pay and people staying longer. The group also uses Tenzo to plot dishes by profitability and popularity, which turned their executive head chef into a tech enthusiast.Jackson explains why "we have an integration" isn't the same as a good integration. He covers how Lightspeed decides what to build itself and what to leave to best-in-class partners, and where AI is taking multi-site reporting. Tyrone also shares a very sensible take on using Claude: how do you mandate something when you don't yet know where its ceiling is?In this episode:00:00 Intro01:06 Meet Tyrone and Jackson01:23 Camino, Pinchito and authentic Basque cuisine02:17 A finance director who ends up owning payroll, people and tech04:25 The state of hospitality: tough, but resilient and optimistic06:54 Giving operators the freedom to choose their tools07:42 Tracking campaign ROI and menu engineering with Tenzo10:38 Integration vs good integration11:04 Why an acquisition was the moment to switch everything12:28 Fear of change, and the lowest staff turnover yet14:24 Adoption, training and the Sunday app15:51 The biggest ROI: 20% of finance time back and 10% more in the tronc17:56 AI in Lightspeed and asking questions of your data20:00 Using Claude, and how to mandate something you're still learning21:35 Operators building their own tools22:27 What's next for Camino23:09 Industry outlook and alternative funding with Shuffle24:36 Lightspeed's roadmap: Tempo, Tasks and AI25:18 Where to find Tyrone and Jackson🎧 New episodes every week. Subscribe so you don't miss one.wearestacked.io

What does loyalty really mean when you've got 80 shops, a lean team and customers who visit day in, day out?Chris Fletcher sits down with Katie Grundy, CRM & Loyalty Manager at itsu, to unpack how the brand rebuilt its loyalty programme into itsu rewards, and why its app customers now visit three times more often than non-members.Katie joined hospitality from L'Oréal and explains why loyalty feels more human in a shop than in e-commerce. She talks through the 2025 review that led to a more generous rewards structure. She shares the free gyoza campaign that sent itsu to number one in the App Store's Food & Drink chart. She also covers how the brand works with Pepper to push its own roadmap, rather than waiting for the tech to lead.In this episode:🍣 Transactional vs emotional loyalty, and why itsu aims for the second📱 How a simple rename ("itsu rewards") and tagline gave shop teams something to sell🥟 The no-catch free gyoza download campaign that drove queues and chart-topping downloads📊 Personalisation, customer personas and the city vs suburb customer🔁 Balancing rewards for super-regulars and occasional visitors🤝 Why operators should bring suppliers into their roadmap early🤖 How AI and MCP are changing day-to-day CRM work for lean teamsChapters0:00 Highlights1:14 Meet Katie Grundy2:35 From L'Oréal to hospitality4:33 What loyalty means at itsu6:17 How itsu rewards works7:46 The free gyoza campaign that hit No.110:23 Why itsu revamped its rewards12:41 Naming the app and giving shop teams a tool14:08 Personalisation and data16:22 Building customer personas17:16 Rewarding regulars vs less frequent guests19:32 Working with tech partners22:30 Operator-led roadmaps23:15 The future of loyalty24:49 AI in CRM26:07 Wrap-upLinks🍣 itsu: https://www.itsu.com🎧 More from Stacked: https://wearestacked.io🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every week#hospitalitytech #loyalty #CRM #restaurants #QSR #itsu #StackedPodcast

The Stacked Podcast — where hospitality meets technology. Powered by Lightspeed. Tonkotsu has gone from six sites to nineteen, with a twentieth opening in Bath, opposite the Roman Baths. Mike, the brand's finance director, has been there since 2017 — and along the way he picked up the systems too, because in a business this size somebody has to. Chris sits down with him for an unusually honest conversation about what changing technology actually looks like when there's no CTO, no big central team, and no appetite for being sold a dream. Mike talks through the POS move to Lightspeed — one site, then four, then all of them — and what having live sales on every phone changed for his area managers and GMs. He explains how weekly stocktakes went from counting for counting's sake to a variance managed inside the week, how wastage got below 0.9%, and why his team still builds the rotas themselves rather than buying a platform that can't match what they've got. There's a straight answer on AI too. Mike's seen invoice automation get rebranded as AI, likes what it might do for rotas, and has one warning worth the price of admission: be careful that AI doesn't become the accountant everyone used to blame for running the business off a spreadsheet. Plus: the £1m electricity quote, the NI threshold, 20% EBITDA a decade ago versus fighting to stay flat, vibe-coded tools built by operators, and why if someone actually phones your restaurant you probably want to speak to them. IN THIS EPISODE (01:49) Six sites to nineteen, and Bath makes twenty (02:39) The Tonkotsu story: Ken, Emma and the first ramen in Soho (04:11) The systems they've never needed to replace (05:13) AI, or automation with better branding? (06:28) What Covid actually fixed (08:33) Utilities, Ukraine and a £1m electricity quote (10:12) Live sales on every phone (11:23) The weekly estimate that checks the monthly accounts (12:32) Stock: from month-end surprises to managed variance (14:14) Wastage below 0.9% — and ops fixing a blip in-week (15:50) From reporting last week to forecasting next week (17:04) Build it yourself: the rota tool that out-featured the vendors (19:36) And when to buy instead: handing ordering over (21:09) The POS journey: one site, then four, then all of them (26:14) Rolling out nineteen sites without drama (27:39) When to pilot — and when not to touch anything (28:47) Delivery after the peak (29:44) AI: self-building rotas and the accountant problem (32:02) Advice to a finance director about to change systems (34:31) The AI wave in guest comms — and why phone orders are different (36:27) Bath, opposite the Roman Baths POWERED BY LIGHTSPEED This episode is powered by Lightspeed, the platform behind the POS rollout Mike talks through. https://www.lightspeedhq.com/uk/ ABOUT THE SHOW The Stacked Podcast sits down with the operators, founders and tech leaders shaping how hospitality actually runs — restaurants, cloud kitchens, hotels, pubs and everything in between. No hype. No sales pitch. Just honest conversations about what's working, what isn't, and what's coming next. New episodes every week. Follow so you don't miss one. https://wearestacked.io

Chris is joined by Ally Fraser, SVP and GM for EMEA at Fourth, a business that has been building back of house systems for hospitality for over 25 years. Ally spent 15 years on the frontline before joining Fourth, where she started out implementing purchase to pay and inventory at operators like YO! Sushi and now runs the region.The conversation lands on one uncomfortable number. Research Fourth ran with Peter Martin and the team at Peach found an average 11% margin gap between the top performing and bottom performing site inside the same brand. Same brand. Same systems. Same menu. Ally's argument is that the gap is behavioural, not technical, and that adoption data is the thing that closes it.They also get into the UK legislation squeeze, including operators seeing sick pay costs rise 40 to 50% off the back of the day one change, why forecasting took hospitality 20 years longer than it took the supermarkets, how automated scheduling actually works, and why nobody wants a machine placing their food order just yet.Chapters01:10 Intro and Ally's route from frontline to Fourth02:54 Fifteen years, six roles, one company03:34 What Fourth actually does, and why the demand forecast sits at the centre04:55 Why hospitality trailed retail on forecasting by two decades06:21 QSR forecasting at SKU level in 15 minute increments07:36 The UK legislation squeeze: day one sick pay, VAT, the Fair Work Agency09:09 Why compliance failure gets blamed on the tech supplier11:38 Where AI actually shows up in the product12:50 How automated scheduling works, step by step14:20 The bit nobody talks about: humans have to trust the schedule15:26 Sweat your tech, before you sign another contract17:15 What best in class operators do differently18:04 Adoption by sector: QSR strong, pubs and casual dining around half, hotels lowest20:24 Benchmarking every click, and what good actually looks like21:47 The 11% margin gap between top and bottom site in the same brand23:12 Vibe coded dashboards, and why operators should not become developers26:08 Suggested ordering, safety stock, and keeping a human in the loop28:08 Quickfire: competitive socialising, the reMarkable, and the one thing she'd fix overnightKey takeaways1. The gap is inside the brand, not between brands. An 11% average margin gap between best and worst site in the same estate means the playbook already exists somewhere in the business. It just isn't travelling.2. Adoption is measurable now. Fourth is capturing every click and benchmarking behaviours. If shift swaps at one site run at 20 a week and another runs at five, that variance can be correlated to site performance and flagged before it shows up in the P&L, not after.3. Legislation is the cost story of 2026. Day one sick pay has pushed some operators' sick pay costs up 40 to 50%. Ally's view is that operators should not have to become legislation experts. That is the supplier's job.4. Rollout of automation stalls on trust, not capability. Fourth could auto send the order. Operators don't want it sent. Same with the schedule that says a 10 to 3 rather than a 10 to 4. The tech is ahead of the confidence.5. Adoption maturity varies by sector. QSR is strongest because the model is repeatable. Pubs and casual dining are sitting around half of what they could be using. Hotels and complex operations are furthest back.6. The best operators resource adoption properly. Change managers, productivity managers, whatever the title. Someone owns it, gathers feedback and iterates.

Brava Hospitality just hit 103 sites, posted its record sales week, and acquired Riding House Café. Underneath it sits a loyalty and subscription engine most operators are still arguing about internally. David Broom, CIO at Brava Hospitality (Prezzo Italian, Jamie's Italian UK, Pronto Pasta), joins Chris Fletcher to open the numbers up.What we cover: • Over 500,000 app members in 14 months, growing 5,000 to 10,000 a week • 8 to 10% of weekly revenue now driven by a loyalty offer, and still climbing • Why app customers convert on a shallower discount than any other channel, and what that does to margin • The kids subscription at £1.99 a month, 7,500 subscribers, and why it drives three to four times the visit frequency • Order and pay stuck at 5% of covers, and why David is relaxed about it• Running all of this on an ageing till estate without saying no to marketing once • Gifting subscriptions, Father's Day prepaid pints, and treating hospitality like proper commerce • Ship a good first version, operationalise it, then build it bigReach out to David on LinkedIn if you want to dig into how they did it.The Stacked Podcast. Operator first, vendor agnostic, no commissions.

This week Chris sits down with Ruth Carpenter, Sales and Marketing Director at Black Rock Restaurants, the Brighton based collection behind Burnt Orange, The Salt Room, Coal Shed, Tutto and new pub concept The Crazy Goose. Ruth rejoins the show (she was number 32 in the harem, now back at 210) fresh from three and a half years at Pizza Pilgrims, where she helped grow the business from 16 to 31 sites. They get into what it actually takes to market six premium brands at once, why the Pizza Pilgrims one big campaign model does not translate, and how Ruth has gone properly old school by building a network of the 100 most loyal customers per site and getting under the skin of what they want. The tech chat is a good one. Ruth talks through inheriting the stack, why Airship does the CRM job, and how bringing in EDGEY took cost per customer from £55 down to £11 in three months, all trackable and wired into SevenRooms so there is no arguing about ROI at board level. Plus why she picked Glu for gifting and loyalty, and the recurring theme of the episode: you are buying into people, not just tech. Elsewhere they cover the £2 million Salt Room refurb (driven by data showing the audience had aged with the brand), making premium dining accessible without a race to the bottom on price, merging sales and marketing into one team, and a proper honest take on AI. ChatGPT as the hardest working colleague on the team, but everything gets a human lens on top, and stay curious. Closes on the best sign off this podcast has ever had. Chill out, follow the plan, stay true to who you are. Topics Marketing six premium brands with a small teamThe 100 loyal customers strategy and guest segmentationPaid social done right and proving ROI (£55 to £11)The tech stack: Airship, EDGEY, GlewMerging sales and marketingThe Salt Room £2m refurb and repositioning for a younger audienceAccessibility versus priceUsing AI without losing the human lensGuestRuth Carpenter, Sales and Marketing Director, Black Rock Restaurants. Say hi on LinkedIn (Ruth Carpenter) and check out Black Rock Restaurants.

Your team doesn't think about ops, people and culture as separate problems. They just want to know when they're working and where to find stuff. So why do most hospitality businesses still run their workforce across six or seven different apps? This week Chris sits down with Gregers Knudsen, founder of Monotree, the employee "front door" app that pulls comms, learning and operations into one place for multi-site hospitality. Gregers came up through Planday and built Monotree off the back of watching businesses with 1,000+ employees run their entire company on Facebook groups and WhatsApp. They get into why that's a problem, how you actually move a workforce off WhatsApp, and what changes when your engagement data finally lives in one place. Plus the open API, customers building reports straight into Claude, and a smart idea on capturing what people know before they walk out the door for good. Honest, operator-first chat about the bit of the stack everyone has and almost nobody has properly fixed. A few lines that stuck: "Good tech is just when you don't really think about it." "We want to be the heavy use guys." "If your providers don't have an open API, switch them now. Your data is your precious thing." Find Gregers and Monotree at monree.com, on LinkedIn, or just at dinner. He eats out a lot. This episode is supported by Lightspeed. EPOS and payments built to keep service flowing when the patio's packed and the game's on every screen.

Chris sits down with Shamik Mojaria, who marks his first year at Crunchtime, to dig into what it really takes to run consistent, efficient operations across a hospitality estate. They get into why years of grabbing the best available tech has left many operators with fragmented, disconnected systems that create more problems than they solve, and why the conversation is shifting firmly toward unified back office solutions. With the World Cup as a backdrop, they talk through what unpredictable demand actually looks like on the ground, why that 15 minute halftime window can make or break a venue, and how good forecasting changes everything. They also get into what practical AI means in a hospitality context, why ROI is still the hardest question in the room, and how brands like Cafe Nero have used Crunchtime for nearly a decade to digitise and scale their operations. If you're running multiple sites and still logging into six different systems to get a picture of your business, this one's for you.

Lorraine Copes, Founder of Be Inclusive Hospitality Chris sits down with Lorraine Copes, founder of Be Inclusive Hospitality, for a proper chat about the people side of the industry. From bringing Shake Shack to the UK to procurement boards at Gordon Ramsay Group and Corbin & King, Lorraine has built a 24-year career, then walked away from the "proper job" to build something with purpose. Six years on, BIH has trained 2,000+ leaders. We get into the data on who makes it up the chain, why confidence beats everything, and the gap between what boards say about people and what they actually do. From logistics to leadership. The "safe" degree, falling into hospitality supply chain, and pushing into procurement for the wins and the impact.The Shake Shack effect. Danny Meyer, "Setting the Table" as her ops bible, and the lesson that stuck: take care of your people and they take care of your guests.Why she pivoted. Not away from procurement, but towards purpose. She never once said "I want to be an entrepreneur." She wrote the plan in her garden, took redundancy, and went for it.Be Inclusive Hospitality, six years in. Launched June 2020 into a sector finally ready to listen. Two halves: training leaders on inclusion and belonging, and an upward social mobility arm running mentorship, scholarships and education.The Better Hospitality Campaign. An industry-wide survey looking at the consequences of what's happening, plus a leadership committee building a set of standards. Report drops end of September.The numbers. Entry level is the most diverse part of the industry, the boardroom rarely reflects it. Hospitality has the ingredients to be the best, if it builds real career pathways.Confidence, courage, clarity. The three things that show up when Lorraine coaches leaders, with confidence at the top. Why she refuses to call it "imposter syndrome."The board-level gap. It always comes back to people. Investing in them costs little and lifts every KPI you sweat over.Restaurant: Akoko on Berners StreetTech that earned its place: Fixr (the expense tool Chris put her onto)Best advice: Find your tribebihospitality.co.uklorrainecopes.co.ukLinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok: Lorraine Copes and Be InclusiveThis episode is powered by Lightspeed. The EPOS and payments platform built to keep service flowing when summer gets busy. Don't just keep up with the rush, own it with Lightspeed. What we coverQuickfireFind Lorraine

Loyalty used to mean a stamp card and a prayer. Not anymore. This week Chris sits down with Rubén Recio Nogales, VP of Business Development at Como (now Como Sense), to unpack what modern customer engagement really looks like, and why most operators are sitting on a goldmine of data they're not using. Como describes itself as a data company that specialises in customer engagement. It sits between your operational side and your CRM, pulls in every transaction (identified or not) and surfaces the insights that actually move the needle. Think 3,000 lapsed members targeted in two clicks, or spotting the customers one stamp away from a reward who'll react to almost anything you send them. Rubén and Chris get into penetration rates (why 15 to 30 percent is normal and how one client hit 80), why loyalty members consistently outspend everyone else, and the frontline staff who quietly make or break the whole thing. They also look ahead at WhatsApp marketing, automated segmentation, AI driven reporting, and the holy grail Live Nation are chasing: card tokenisation that identifies the guest with zero friction at the till. Honest, practical and refreshingly free of hype. If you're an operator with data you don't know what to do with, this one's for you. Key talking points: Why "loyalty" got a bad name, and what's changedPenetration rate explained, and why 80 percent is wildThe two click campaign and reading customer behaviourWhatsApp marketing: massive in the Middle East, heading to the UKCard tokenisation and frictionless loyalty (the Live Nation play)Where AI fits: segmentation, reporting and machine learningWhy your GM matters more than your softwareWhen to change systems, and when to leave a good thing aloneGuest: Rubén Recio Nogales, VP of Business Development, ComoFind Rubén: LinkedIn (Rubén Recio Nogales). Como are also on the Stacked marketplace. Chapters: 00:00 Intro and Lightspeed01:05 Meet Rubén, single parenting and 19 year old cucumber dramas02:18 Spain to the UK, an ice cream stall in Westfield03:01 What Como actually does04:25 Acquired by Global Payments, what the name means05:09 The state of hospitality tech08:06 Why the old loyalty schemes failed09:24 The value exchange and the Starbucks lesson11:00 Penetration rate and business insights in two clicks12:29 The Nando's chilli effect15:31 AI and machine learning in the product16:11 Como across 50+ countries17:26 WhatsApp marketing and cultural differences21:02 Loyalty members spend more, and why23:07 Penetration rate explained, and the 80 percent client24:52 The frontline staff who make loyalty work27:20 Should you switch systems? An honest answer30:47 Live Nation, tokenisation and the frictionless holy grail32:47 How to get hold of Rubén33:41 Chris leaves his daughter at the vets

Visha Kudhail has spent nearly two decades in marketing across Channel 4, Thinkbox, Google, Pinterest and Square, where she and Chris first crossed paths on the hospitality side of the business. Now she has written a book on authentic marketing, and this episode digs into what authenticity actually means once you strip away the buzzword. We get into the difference between being truthful and being authentic, why trust is the connecting thread through everything, and how operators can stand out in a climate of rising misinformation, AI fatigue and a cost of living squeeze. Visha makes the case that brand is not just the marketing team's job, that you have to earn the right to be in the room with a customer, and that AI should be your sparring partner, not your content machine. Plenty here for marketers, founders and tech vendors alike. What we cover 02:01 Visha's career path from TV and Thinkbox to Google, Pinterest and Square06:20 The book reveal and why she wrote it08:11 Why authenticity matters now: misinformation, political noise, cost of living and only 38% of people eating out10:17 What authentic really means: your words matching your beliefs as an operating principle11:38 Truthful vs authentic, and why even honest brands can feel fake13:32 Keeping authenticity intact as you scale a business14:03 The rise of content creators like Topjaw and why operators lean on them16:37 AI as a sparring partner, and why critical thinking cannot be outsourced18:47 The three tests of a great insight: brand truth, relatability, actionability19:50 Why none of it works if your data is not clean20:51 Building trust, with real examples from Google and Pinterest23:48 Why brand belongs to the whole business, not just the marketing room27:58 Earning the right to be in the room with the customer29:34 The Bread Ahead story and the power of one great piece of customer-led content31:26 Will AI make fake authenticity easier? The Coca-Cola Christmas ad cautionary tale32:47 AI rejection, dumb phones and the cultural shift back to analog and craft34:29 What Visha would build first if starting a brand from zero35:16 Profitable authenticity, with Patagonia, Nike, e.l.f. and Pieminister37:30 Book launch plans and what she hopes it changes40:30 Where to find VishaA few takeaways Truth is being factually accurate. Authenticity is the feeling you create. Brands can be honest and still come across as fake.A strong insight passes three tests: is it baked into your brand truth, does it relate to your product, and can it actually shift behaviour.Use AI for productivity and efficiency, not as a cost cutting exercise that strips out the people doing great work.You always have to earn the right to be in the room with a customer, no matter how big you are.Authentic brands that stay true to their values can still drive profit. Patagonia, Nike and e.l.f. are the proof.About the book Visha's book on authentic marketing is out 3 June in the UK and the US. It is built as a reusable, practical guide drawn from real strategies and frameworks she has applied day to day, with several chapters on data and a deep dive on how to think about AI. Links Pre-order and find the book via Visha's websiteConnect with Visha on LinkedIn

In this episode, we're joined by Tim from Caffè Nero, Andy from SSP, and John from CrunchTime for a no-nonsense conversation about AI in hospitality. What's actually delivering ROI, what's failed, and what the future looks like for operators on the ground. Less LinkedIn hype, more real talk. What's Actually Working AI forecasting is the clearest ROI win — CrunchTime saw adoption jump from ~1% to 50% of locations in 12 months Caffè Nero is piloting AI-driven stock availability and assisted ordering SSP is using AI for labor forecasting, trading hour optimization, and upsell recommendations The Data Problem Bad data kills AI results — CrunchTime's own support AI was 3% accurate until they cleaned up their data sources The sweet spot for forecasting data: 400 days (more doesn't meaningfully improve accuracy) 82% of UK operators use tech forecasting, but average accuracy is only 62% Change Management is the Hard Part John: The #1 reason implementations fail isn't the tech — it's change management in operations Andy: SSP is shifting from technology-led to business transformation-led change Keep humans in the loop — let GMs enrich AI forecasts, not just override them What's Coming Voice-based AI for managers: ask your phone for stats or tomorrow's forecast, no back-office report needed Managers move from the back office to the floor — John's timeline: 5–7 years for widespread adoption One Piece of Advice Each John: Pick a small pilot with engaged managers and start there Andy: Understand the business problem first — don't implement tech for tech's sake Tim: Find an internal AI subject matter expert; you don't need a Head of AI

Rod returns to the podcast after two years to discuss what has genuinely changed in workforce management, and what is simply being repackaged. A familiar pattern is playing out across the industry: leadership sees AI-branded software, decides it looks promising, and tasks an operations manager with finding it. One layer deeper, the desired outcome is rarely defined. The brief drives the purchase, rather than the problem. In this episode: The Workforce.com origin story, from a university bar with questionable timesheet accountability and 30,000 pound punch-card scanners to a cloud-based product built around that problemWhy multi-region European payroll is so difficult, and how being built in Australia, home to some of the most complex earnings rules in the world, became a genuine competitive advantageThe decline of the detailed RFP, and why discovery conversations uncover the real requirement that documents cannotThe cost of poor alignment: mis-bought and mis-sold software, and how the sale gets celebrated while the operator's problem remains unsolvedA measured view on AI: bullish on accessibility, sceptical of "world first" claims for capability that has existed for yearsThe open question for the category: customisation in the operator's hands, or hardcoded into the systemA practical, operator-first conversation for anyone evaluating workforce technology or trying to translate a vague AI mandate into a real outcome.