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#150 Josh sits down with Ty Wilson, co-founder and CEO of Tab Commerce, the financial management platform built specifically for restaurants. Ty grew up in his parents’ restaurants in Canada, studied finance, spent a few years in investment banking in Toronto, and landed back in the family business during the pandemic, where he saw how much money quietly leaks out of a restaurant through the expenses nobody is tracking. He and Josh get into why the local sourcing marketplace he started with never worked, what it took to move from software into regulated financial services, and why the long tail of spend (subscriptions, service contracts, repairs, and runs to Restaurant Depot) is where margin disappears. Ty explains how virtual cards, real-time visibility, and automated coding change what an operator can control, why Tab has moved more than a dozen restaurant groups off Ramp and Brex without losing one back, and how vendor-funded rewards are reshaping what a business card is worth. They dig into where operators are actually buying supplies today, the shift to ordering online, and how much the convenience of a single distributor can quietly cost. They also cover the hardest lesson of building software for operators, that respecting the switching cost matters more than being right on paper, and why hiring people who genuinely love the industry has been a bigger competitive advantage than automation. Along the way Ty tells the story of his family’s other business, the traveling Ribfest barbecue circuit that tours Ontario every summer. It closes with both of them trading favorite restaurants and an unapologetic defense of the Cheesecake Factory. Since we recorded, Tab has launched Tab Supply, an online store and AI purchasing agent that operators can use to buy 500k+ supplies from 180+ manufacturers. This includes equipment, paper goods, and supplies at great prices, fast shipping, and unlimited 5% cash back on every order when they pay with their Tab Card. It’s the same idea Ty lays out in the episode: make it faster, easier, and cheaper for operators to get what they need, while showing them where their purchasing can get better. Links and resources 📌  Visit meez: https://www.getmeez.com  Follow meez on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getmeez  Follow Josh on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshlsharkey/?hl=en  Follow Josh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-sharkey-406965b/  Visit Tab Commerce: https://tabcommerce.com/  Follow Ty on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tyedwardwilson/ Timestamps  05:50 Growing Up In His Parents' Canadian Restaurants  08:04 From Local Marketplace To Restaurant Back Office  11:45 The Terrifying Leap Into Financial Services  14:01 What Tab Commerce Actually Does Today  17:51 Life Before Tab, Petty Cash And One Shared Card  22:11 Restaurant Depot, Webstaurant, And Where Operators Really Buy  26:16 How Cash Back And Vendor Funded Rewards Work  32:53 Turning Spend Data Into Real Savings  43:40 The Hardest Lesson, Respect The Switching Cost  51:37 Olympians, Hospitality, And Canadian Ribfest

#149 Josh sits down with David Corts, CEO of Fresh Technology, the company behind Fresh KDS, now running in roughly 11,000 restaurant locations. David started his career in New York in the mid-90s as the first employee at @plan, met his wife of 25 years on a Metro North reverse commute while she was one of the first 20 employees at Priceline, and later sold a business to AOL, landing there as a VP of product under Tim Armstrong. He was also an English major, which he took to abbreviating as "ENG" once the Google transplants at AOL started asking what he studied, and now argues was his real advantage all along. He got to Fresh six years ago, a software division spun out of a restaurant holding company, walked away from online ordering in the middle of the pandemic, and bet the whole business on the kitchen display system instead. The conversation keeps circling one idea: the number most operators measure is not the thing that actually happened. David argues that the middle layer of management, the part that exists to collect what happened and report it upward, is being abstracted away, and that the new bottleneck is coordination rather than execution. He explains why he blew up his own process ceremony, why he now hires only for people who unblock themselves, and how his personal knowledge vault became a company brain running on two repos, one PR-gated and one wide open. Josh tees up the 1950 Air Force study where Gilbert Daniels measured 4,063 pilots and found zero who were average on all ten dimensions the cockpit was built around, which sets off his case against average ticket time. The guest never experiences your average. They experience their order. They also get into whether sous vide counts as cheating, the rent-free SoHo apartment David's brother occupied for seven years, and why open beats closed in the long run. Links and resources 📌 Visit meez: https://www.getmeez.com Follow meez on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getmeez Follow Josh on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshlsharkey/?hl=en Follow Josh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-sharkey-406965b/ Visit Fresh KDS: https://www.fresh.technology Follow Fresh KDS on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fresh.kds/ Follow David on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dcorts/ Timestamps 08:40 Building A Team Of "We'll Figure It Out" People 11:11 AI, Management, And The New Coordination Bottleneck 19:08 Lessons From The Dot-Com Era: AI Is Just A Utility 23:13 Services As Software And Customization At Scale 33:09 Why A Liberal Arts Background Is An Advantage In The AI Age 39:11 Spinning Out Fresh KDS And Betting On The Kitchen 47:06 Why Averages Are Dumb 53:12 Turning Kitchen Data Into Meaning With AI 58:59 Building A Personal Second Brain And A Company AI Operating System 01:13:50 The SaaSpocalypse, Headless Software, And Why Open Beats Closed

We're revisiting one of our favorite conversations from the meez Podcast archives. As The Chef Conference continues to bring together some of the brightest minds in hospitality, Mike Traud's insights on culinary education, community, and professional growth are just as relevant today as when this episode first aired. Welcome to this captivating episode of The meez Podcast, where we explore the heart of culinary innovation and education with our distinguished guest, Mike Traud,  founder of The Chef Conference (formerly known as the Philly Chef Conference) in the gastronomic hub of Philadelphia. With a legacy spanning over a decade and 10 groundbreaking conferences, Mike has significantly contributed to the culinary landscape through this annual event, which started during his tenure as the Director of Hospitality Management at Drexel University. In today's conversation, we uncover the essence of The Chef Conference, exploring its evolution, significance, and what makes it a beacon for culinary professionals worldwide. Mike, with his rich background in hospitality law, culinary arts, and education, and his notable stint with Marc Vetri, brings a wealth of knowledge and insight into creating an event that not only celebrates but also advances the culinary industry. Our dialogue extends into the meticulous planning and sheer effort required to bring such a conference to life, highlighting Mike's dedication and passion for fostering community and innovation among chefs and culinary enthusiasts alike. The Chef Conference has become a coveted gathering, attracting an impressive roster of culinary talents and thought leaders, indicative of its prestige and impact on the culinary world. Adding a personal touch to our discussion, our CEO and founder, Josh Sharkey, shares his excitement and anticipation for moderating a panel on menu development, featuring celebrated chefs Ariel Johnson, Mr. Lyan, Rosio Sanchez, and Thomas Frebel. This opportunity not only allows for an engaging exploration of culinary creativity but also marks Josh's inaugural experience in panel moderation—a journey inspired by the conference's ethos of organic, passionate participation from all involved. Moreover, we delve into the vital conversation about the intersection of education and industry, a theme close to Mike's heart, given his extensive background in academia. This discussion sheds light on the ongoing debate regarding the relevance of culinary education and how initiatives like The Chef Conference are pivotal in bridging the gap, ensuring a symbiotic relationship between learning and practical application. As we gear up for this year's Chef Conference, taking place from April 12-15, we invite you to immerse yourself in the plethora of panels and special events lined up. Links and resources 📌 Visit meez: https://www.getmeez.com Follow meez on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getmeez Follow Josh on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshlsharkey/?hl=en Follow Josh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-sharkey-406965b/ Follow MJ on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mjtraud/ Follow The Chef Conference on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thechefconference/ Timestamps (04:53) Mike's background in law and how he transitioned to food (11:50) Where to eat in Philly (14:21) How The Chef Conference was created (16:23) The gap between education and industry (19:49) Mike's goal for the conference (22:41) Menu Development 101 panel (24:09) How Mike chooses which panels to have during the conference (30:10) What Mike loves most about the conference (37:35) Biggest challenges faced every year (44:52) The benefits of an intimate conference (52:54) Goals for future conferences

Josh sits down with Sean Josephs, founder of Pinhook Bourbon and the new subscription-only Old Joseph's, for a conversation that traces two decades in restaurants and spirits. Sean didn't find the industry until he was 30, after five directionless years in fashion and beauty account management, before landing as a food runner at Tia Pol, the Chelsea restaurant his wife Mani opened in 2004. From there he trained under master sommelier Roger Dagorn at Chanterelle, then went on to build Char No. 4 in Brooklyn, Maysville, and Kenton's in Manhattan, all before relocating to New Orleans. Along the way he became one of the earliest people to treat bourbon the way sommeliers treat wine, pouring small tastes at a time and eventually founding Pinhook, a brand built around buying young barrels on lineage and being transparent about where the whiskey actually comes from. The conversation moves through the mechanics of the bourbon industry that most drinkers never think about: why big brands dilute their whiskey down to 80-86 proof and chill filter it to hide inconsistency between barrels, how scarcity turned Pappy Van Winkle into a cult bottle despite sharing a mash bill with Weller 12, and how vintage bottles that sold for $58 a decade ago now go for $10,000. Sean and Josh debate what connoisseurship actually means, identifying quality even in something you personally dislike, argue about when homemade beats store-bought (can you really beat Heinz), and dig into why bourbon barrels aging in Kentucky have tripled since 2012, helped along by private equity speculation. It closes on Sean's bet for what comes next: the best bourbon hasn't been made yet, and it won't come from a single distillery. Links and Resources📌  Sean's website: https://pinhookbourbon.com  Follow Sean on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theseanjosephs/  Follow Sean on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-josephs-a1126573/ Visit meez: https://www.getmeez.com  Follow meez on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getmeez  Follow Josh on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshlsharkey/?hl=en  Follow Josh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-sharkey-406965b/

#146 Josh sits down with Jason Anello, better known as Janello, at Da Nico on Mulberry Street in Manhattan's Little Italy. Janello is an experience strategist on a mission to bring back dinnertime. That inspired him to create The Red Sauce Map and the Forking Tasty supper club so others can experience dinnertime through his Italian-American lense. They trace how Italian immigration and New World abundance turned scarcity cooking into stacked, saucy, unmistakably American plates, and why chicken parm has no Parmesan in it at all. Janello defines what actually qualifies a restaurant as a red sauce joint, from the antipasto and the tiramisu to the photos on the wall and the bottle of cheap Chianti, and runs down his top chicken parms and lasagnas across the country.  The conversation moves through fresh versus dried pasta, the ricotta dishes he can live without, and a segment called In Memory Of, where the two of them eulogize the neighborhood spots that have closed. From there it turns to the new generation of chefs reinterpreting the genre, what Carbone understood about theater and hospitality, and the three reasons Janello thinks these restaurants really close. It is a warm, opinionated look at a category of restaurant that is equal parts food, memory, and cultural preservation.    Links and resources 📌 Visit meez: https://www.getmeez.com Follow meez on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getmeez Follow Josh on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshlsharkey/?hl=en Follow Josh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-sharkey-406965b/ Red Sauce Map: https://www.theredsaucemap.com Follow Janello on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/forkingtasty Follow Janello on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janello/ Timestamps  02:07 The History Of Red Sauce Joints In America  04:23 How Janello Defines A Red Sauce Joint  06:49 The Chicken Parm Origin Story 1 1:16 Janello's Top Five Chicken Parms In The Country  13:03 What Makes A Great Chicken Parm  14:45 Lasagna, Manicotti, And The Ricotta Debate  20:50 The Checklist Every Red Sauce Joint Should Meet  22:45 In Memory Of: The Closed Joints He Misses Most  25:51 Old School Versus The New Red Sauce Joint  33:50 The Three Reasons Red Sauce Joints Close

#145 Josh sits down with chef, restaurateur, author, and television pioneer Rocco DiSpirito for a wide-ranging conversation about how dramatically the path of a chef has changed. Recorded at Bar Rocco, the episode begins with Josh realizing that Rocco actually judged a cooking competition he entered 25 years ago, before the two revisit their shared connection to legendary chef Gray Kunz. Rocco traces his own path from earning 50 cents an hour at a Queens pizzeria to culinary school, Europe, Lespinasse, Union Pacific, television, health and wellness, and eventually back into restaurants. Along the way, they unpack what young cooks once had to endure to gain access to culinary knowledge and whether today's chefs really need the same years of repetition and classical training now that so much information is instantly available online.   Rocco and Josh also get into the realities of building a sustainable career as a chef, from why great food alone may no longer be enough to why Rocco's former business partner taught him to balance "perfecting" with "promoting." They discuss social media, chef IP, restaurant ownership, licensing and management deals, and why Rocco believes younger chefs shouldn't become overly protective of a name or trademark. Rocco shares how triathlon training transformed his approach to health and led to nine health and wellness books, names some of the cookbooks that shaped him, and gets deep into the technique behind cooking with black truffles. The conversation closes with what's ahead: more Bar Rocco, a new book blending recipes and stories, his work with CookUnity, and, above all, a desire to keep cooking.   Links and resources 📌 Visit meez: https://www.getmeez.com Follow meez on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getmeez Follow Josh on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshlsharkey/?hl=en Follow Josh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-sharkey-406965b/ Follow Rocco on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rocco-dispirito-27125916/ Follow Rocco on Instagram: @roccodispirito Visit Rocco DiSpirito: https://www.roccodispirito.com/ Visit Bar Rocco: https://www.barroccony.com/ Timestamps 00:00 Reconnecting 25 years after Josh first met Rocco 06:42 Rocco's early career, culinary school, and Gray Kunz 14:11 How a Queens pizzeria changed Rocco's life 18:02 Why the traditional path to becoming a chef has changed 23:42 Training cooks when fundamentals are no longer assumed 27:26 Why chefs need media to build sustainable careers 37:46 Protecting chef IP and rethinking restaurant ownership 41:45 How health and triathlons transformed Rocco's cooking 49:52 The cookbooks that shaped Rocco as a chef 53:17 Black truffles, flavor, and the value of hands-on experience

We’re revisiting Part Two of Josh’s conversation with legendary chef Wylie Dufresne, continuing their fireside chat from the annual meez team summit at the Tarrytown Estates outside New York City. After exploring the story and philosophy behind wd~50 in Part One, Wylie tackles some not-so-quick-fire questions, shares the unexpected inspiration behind Stretch Pizza, and takes questions from the audience. Chef Wylie reveals how stumbling upon a Breville pizza oven during the pandemic sparked an obsession with pizza-making. His desire to understand every lever and variable behind the perfect dough became a source of stimulation and happiness during a difficult period and ultimately helped inspire the opening of Stretch Pizza. The conversation also explores the difference between copying a recipe and truly mastering a craft. Wylie explains why great cooking comes from years of practice and repetition, the importance of seeking honest feedback, and learning to recognize when a dish is truly balanced. It’s a thoughtful continuation of Part One and a look at how curiosity keeps chefs and creators learning, experimenting, and pushing their work forward. Links and resources 📌 Visit meez: https://www.getmeez.com Follow meez on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getmeez Follow Josh on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshlsharkey/?hl=en Follow Josh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-sharkey-406965b/ Follow Wylie on X: https://x.com/wyliedufresne Follow Wylie on Instagram: @wyliedufresne Timestamps: (2:13) Lightning round  (7:15) Why American cheese is so good (11:37) Funny moments at wd~50 (18:00) Du’s Donuts flavor hits and misses (19:16) Why pizza saved Wylie  (24:35) How to identify talent (26:37) When it’s time to stop iterating (28:17) Is imitation really the greatest form of flattery (31:00 ) What wd~50 was all about (32:50) When to take a pause on ideation (35:41) Innovating on equipment and ingredients

We’re revisiting one of the standout conversations from the meez Podcast archive. In this episode, Josh sits down with legendary chef Wylie Dufresne for a conversation on creativity, leadership, and the tension between making great art and building a sustainable business. It’s a conversation that remains just as relevant today, and one well worth bringing back for another listen. Chef Wylie Dufresne joins host Josh Sharkey for a fireside chat at the Tarrytown Estates outside New York City for the annual meez team summit. Chef Dufresne is a true pioneer and craftsman in the culinary world, having won James Beard Awards and Michelin stars, and his restaurant, wd~50, was voted one of the 50 best in the world. In this interview, Chef Wylie discusses his struggles with balancing art and commerce. He reflects that he did not regret choosing art over commerce but wishes he had worked more thoughtfully at finding a better balance. As the conversation continues, Chef Wylie touches on the importance of timing in business. He discusses how he created a new paradigm of cooking when he opened wd~50 and how he developed a culture of creativity there, emphasizing how creativity cannot be taught, but it can be planned for and hunted for. Dufresne's goal for wd~50 was to create a place where anyone interested in learning about cooking could continue to do so. With this philosophy, Dufresne created a restaurant that not only pushed culinary boundaries but also fostered a culture of learning and curiosity. Links and resources 📌 Visit meez: https://www.getmeez.com Follow meez on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getmeez Follow Josh on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshlsharkey/?hl=en Follow Josh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-sharkey-406965b/ Follow Wylie on X: https://x.com/wyliedufresne Follow Wylie on Instagram: @wyliedufresne Timestamps: (02:06) Chef Wylie’s background (12:12) The intersection between art and commerce (15:14) The importance of timing in business (23:29) The origins of innovation (26:02) When to filter ideas and establish boundaries (28:18) The iconic wd~50 eggs benedict  (29:39) When to stop iterating (39:29) Baker’s percent versus standard percent (44:23) Learning when to not buck and system (49:35) How to maintain high standards among your team (55:06) Picking the right people

Revisiting Viral meez Episodes — we're bringing back one of the most-listened-to conversations in meez Podcast history. This episode originally aired October 31, 2023. Have you ever wondered who is behind all of the new and exciting flavors at Shake Shack? Meet John Karangis, Executive Chef and VP of Culinary Innovation, leading R&D, menu development, and chef collaborations for the brand.  John's culinary journey kicked off in the nineties at Union Square Cafe, winding through Paris and San Francisco, before settling back in New York City at Gramercy Tavern. A detour into the corporate kitchen of Goldman Sachs honed his skills in delivering top-notch restaurant-style food in unconventional settings. Prior to Shake Shack, John spent seven years at the helm of Danny Meyer's Union Square Events, fine-tuning his ability to execute high-quality food on a large scale. In this episode, join CEO Josh Sharkey and John as they discuss the intricacies of R&D and innovation at Shake Shack. Discover the secrets behind producing restaurant-quality fare on a grand scale, and get a glimpse into John's passion for endurance training. Links and resources 📌 Visit meez: https://www.getmeez.com Follow meez on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getmeez Follow Josh on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshlsharkey/?hl=en Follow Josh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-sharkey-406965b/ Follow John Karangis on LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-karangis-470379a3/ Follow John on Instagram: @john_Karangis Timestamps 02:11 John's culinary background 06:48 Endurance training 13:12 How endurance training relates to working as a chef 17:41 R&D for Shake Shack 25:07 R&D Customer feedback  29:36 Shake Shake chef collaborations 33:50 When dishes don't make it past testing 42:36 Union Square Events and producing food at a large scale 46:31 How to create high quality food at a large scale 54:36 Working with Delta and seasoning food at high elevation 57:18)Advice on how to start on a fitness journey

#144 Josh and Mike sit down with Kenny Warner, VP of Data Science and Engineering at meez, for a conversation that starts with Kenny's unlikely path into tech leaving college after his sophomore year to launch a cause-marketing startup and winds up deep inside the machinery of modern AI. Kenny breaks down what actually happens when a language model reads your data, explaining tokens, embeddings, attention, and inference in plain terms, and why you can't simply point a chatbot at a hundred-million-row database and expect good answers. He and Josh dig into the real difference between building a model and fine-tuning one, why clean and trusted data is the true competitive advantage, and how smaller, purpose-built models can beat the giants at specific jobs. They also get into where this is all heading for restaurants, from turning recipes, costs, and margins into something a system can reason about to the rise of MCP and agentic tooling, with a detour through Nobu, a Miami chef tour, and a few fun facts along the way. It's a rare, jargon-free look under the hood of AI from someone who builds it every day. Links and resources 📌 Visit meez: https://www.getmeez.com Follow meez on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getmeez Follow Josh on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshlsharkey/?hl=en Follow Josh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-sharkey-406965b/ Follow Kenny Warner on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennywarner/ Visit Blanket: https://www.blanket.app/ Follow Michael on Instagram: @michaeljacober Timestamps 08:04 Kenny's Path From College To Startup Founder 12:01 Raising Capital And Hitting Hard Times 15:01 Building A Model Versus Fine-Tuning One 16:11 What Tokens And Embeddings Really Are 18:45 How Attention Works In Language Models 26:01 Why Clean, Trusted Data Wins 29:05 The Case For Smaller, Purpose-Built Models 41:03 How AI Reads A Hundred Million Rows 43:21 MCP And The Rise Of Agentic Tools 50:01 What All This Means For Restaurants

#143 Josh sits down with Cameron Mitchell, founder and CEO of Cameron Mitchell Restaurants, to explore the leadership philosophy behind one of the country's most respected independent restaurant groups. Cameron shares the remarkable journey from high school dropout and dishwasher to building more than 100 restaurants, reflecting on the goals he set at 18 years old that ultimately shaped his entire career. Together they discuss why culture always outweighs strategy, the importance of promoting from within, and how creating opportunity not just jobs has helped his company retain leaders for decades.  The conversation dives into Cameron's approach to goal setting, accountability, leadership retreats, and maintaining values through economic downturns, rapid growth, and even the sale of part of his business. He explains why restaurants succeed or fail based on people rather than concepts, why family and work must thrive together, and how his commitment to long-term relationships has become the foundation of both his business and his life. It's an insightful conversation about entrepreneurship, resilience, hospitality, and what it really takes to build a company that lasts. Links and resources 📌 Visit meez: https://www.getmeez.com Follow meez on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getmeez Follow Josh on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshlsharkey/?hl=en Follow Josh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-sharkey-406965b/ Visit Cameron Mitchell Restaurants: https://cameronmitchell.com Follow Cameron Mitchell Restaurants on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cmrcolumbus Follow Cameron Mitchell on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/camsaysyes Learn more about Cameron Mitchell's book Yes Is the Answer. What Is the Question?: https://cameronmitchell.com/book/ Timestamps 03:54 Scaling From One To Ten Restaurants In The Nineties 07:01 From Dishwasher To Restaurateur 14:14 Opening The First Restaurant Against The Odds 18:59 Where The Drive Came From 29:19 Making The Hard Decisions Vision Demands 36:18 Fear Of Failure Versus Fortitude 42:02 Reputation, Trust, And Accountability 49:10 Retreats That Invigorate The Team 55:19 A Sous Chef, A Disney Trip, And Generosity 1:04:38 Selling The Company And Protecting The Culture

#142 Josh sits down with Drew Nieporent, one of the most influential restaurateurs in American dining and the man behind Montrachet, Tribeca Grill, Nobu, Corton, and Bâtard. Over four decades he opened 40 restaurants and has partnered with some of the world's best chefs, from David Bouley to Paul Liebrandt to Marcus Glocker. Recorded at Nobu Downtown, the conversation centers around Drew's belief that the restaurateur is the director, and the chef, the wine, the service, and the room are the cast. His new memoir "I'm Not Trying to Be Difficult" traces the whole arc. Drew digs into the complicated relationship between a restaurateur and the chefs he builds alongside, why he refused to name a restaurant after a chef ("if it fails, you can never use your name again"), and what actually keeps a restaurant alive for decades: affordable rent, replicable quality, a comfortable room, and gentle prices. He breaks down naming Nobu over Matsuhisa, pruning the menu to a core that has barely changed in 32 years, and how a teenage job at McDonald's led to the Daily Burger at Madison Square Garden, 2,000 a game. There are detours through Danny Meyer, Keith McNally, Robert De Niro, and Muhammad Ali, and it closes on the hard truth of his own metaphor: they can make a movie about your life, but the director never gets to walk up and take the award Links and resources 📌 Visit meez: https://www.getmeez.com Follow meez on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getmeez Follow Josh on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshlsharkey/?hl=en Follow Josh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-sharkey-406965b/ Follow Myriad Restaurant Group in LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/myriad-restaurant-group/ Visit Myriad Restaurant Group: https://www.myriadrestaurantgroup.com Follow Drew on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drewnieporent Timestamps 02:49 The Kitchen In The Window 06:49 The Restaurateur As Director 07:54 Growing Up In 1960s New York 12:52 Danny Meyer And The Rise Of Shake Shack 14:51 Losing Chefs: Boulud, Liebrandt, And Corton 24:30 What Makes A Restaurant Last 39:15 Signature Dishes And Naming Nobu 43:28 The Daily Burger At Madison Square Garden 51:56 Coppola, De Niro, And A Life Around Film 57:44 What He's Most Proud Of

#141 Josh sits down with Maddy Shannon, Head of Product Strategy at SpotOn, who has spent her career making independent restaurants more profitable. From a start at Bain, to the business team at The Alinea Group under Nick Kokonas, to the finances at SingleThread Farms in Healdsburg, to a Stanford MBA and now leading SpotOn's reporting, Profit AI, and analytics teams, Maddy sits at the rare intersection of hospitality and product. The conversation keeps circling one idea: great hospitality and great product design solve the same problem. Both anticipate what someone needs before they ask, and both disappear when they work. She calls it the invisibility problem, and it reframes everything from how a point of sale should feel to why diners undervalue what a restaurant gives them. The two dig into what a restaurant meal is really worth, and why pricing a plate off the cost of the prawns misses the wine glass that gets refilled and the person clearing your crumbs. Maddy floats David Nayfeld's idea of billing a meal the way a plumber does, materials, labor, total, so guests see what they are paying for. From there it turns to leadership, where she sets Nick Kokonas's clarity of vision against Kyle Connaughton's prove me right approach at SingleThread, and Josh on unlearning twenty years of knowing every station when he moved into tech. On AI, they land on the line that anchors the back half: data is plentiful, attention is scarce. Both agree the real unlock is not another dashboard but software that tells an operator what to do, the way a doctor diagnoses rather than asking where it hurts. It closes on mastery, the donabe rice pot Maddy treasures, and the tension that restaurant economics rarely leave a chef room to master one thing. Her parting advice: next time you sit down to eat, take a beat, look around, and do not look at the prices so closely. Links and resources 📌 Visit meez: https://www.getmeez.com Follow meez on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getmeez Follow Josh on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshlsharkey/?hl=en Follow Josh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-sharkey-406965b/ Visit SpotOn: https://www.spoton.com Follow Maddy Shannon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maddyshannon Timestamps 03:29 From a Bain Offer to a Life in Restaurants 13:37 Scaling Impact From Fine Dining to SpotOn 17:38 Jobs to Be Done and Building Profit AI 20:40 Why the Best Hospitality Is Invisible 27:56 Why Guests Undervalue Restaurants 34:58 Rethinking How Restaurants Price the Experience 38:39 Leadership and the Nightly Grind of the Kitchen 48:32 Journaling, Therapy, and Building a Second Brain 59:46 Data Is Plentiful, Attention Is Scarce 1:06:29 Mastery, Craft, and Going Against the Grain

#140 Josh sits down with Deirdre Auld, CEO and partner of Coda Restaurant Group in Boston, whose portfolio includes SRV, Baleia, Gufo, The Salty Pig, and the soon-to-open Celine. Deirdre traces her circuitous path into hospitality leadership, from an early love of architecture and a stint in private equity to years running restaurants and eventually stepping away to earn a master's degree and a leadership coaching certification from Northwestern. She and Josh dig into the coaching philosophy she's built her career around: assuming people are whole and complete, leading with curiosity instead of trying to fix, and helping leaders ask better questions rather than hand out answers.  The conversation moves through Dierde's approach to running one-on-ones and leadership meetings at Coda, her mental models for hiring, firing and performance improvement plans, and where she sees restaurant technology and AI heading over the next several years. Deirdre is candid about both the promise and the risk of leaning on AI as a thought partner, why she still believes human connection is the ohardest thing to replace in hospitality, and what it took to build a leadership culture that can absorb constant change. It's a wide-ranging, thoughtful conversation about leadership, mentorship, and what it really takes to develop people well. Links and resources 📌 Visit meez: https://www.getmeez.com Follow meez on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getmeez Follow Josh on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshlsharkey/?hl=en Follow Josh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-sharkey-406965b/ Visit Coda Restaurant Group: https://www.codarestaurantgroup.com/ Follow Deirdre Auld on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deirdre-auld-b40666162 Follow Deirdre Auld on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/deirdreauld/ Timestamps 01:19 From architecture and private equity into restaurant leadership 08:59 The story behind naming a restaurant Celine 15:11 Growing up in Raleigh and moving to Chicago for school 18:17 Finding her way back into restaurants after stepping away 20:54 Choosing to go back to school for a master's and a coaching certification 29:54 Building a coaching product for restaurant leaders 35:01 Where coaching ends and therapy begins 44:18 Using AI as a thought partner without losing critical thinking 50:07 Skill thinning, governance, and the hollowing out of middle management 59:43 One-on-ones, team structure, and weekly rhythms at Coda 1:06:30 Do performance improvement plans actually work 1:12:00 Closing thoughts and an invitation to visit Coda's restaurants

#139 Josh and Mike sit down with Xavier Mariezcurrena Vega, co-founder of Over Easy Office and ChouxBox to trace the winding road that took him from busing tables as a teenager to running a 400-person back-office operation spanning Philadelphia, Bogotá, and Manila. Xavier shares the story of opening and losing a restaurant in Dallas, the friendship with his business partner Tony that grew out of a failed concept in Philadelphia, and how their shared frustration with messy invoices and unreliable financial reporting led them to build a company designed to bring transparency and accountability to restaurant operations. The conversation digs into how Xavier and Tony built their Philippines-based team from scratch, the early days of scanning invoices by hand to win over skeptical operators, and the cultural and logistical challenges of training a team to understand the chaos of restaurant data. Xavier offers a candid take on why he believes bookkeepers and the human-in-the-loop will remain essential for the foreseeable future, even as AI tools improve, and explains the difference between administrative bookkeeping and the deeper financial insight that helps operators actually run their businesses. He also weighs in on the limits of automation and robotics in restaurants, the realities of working with razor-thin margins, and what keeps him optimistic about the future of independent restaurants. The episode closes with a lighter detour into wine, corkage fees, and the debate over whether a good bottle can ever really be bad for you. Links and resources 📌 Visit meez: https://www.getmeez.com Follow meez on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getmeez Follow Josh on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshlsharkey/?hl=en Follow Josh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-sharkey-406965b/ Follow Xavier on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/followxavier/ Follow Xavier on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/winepeopleproblems/ Follow Overseasoned (Xavier and Tony's podcast) on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/overseasoned.us/ Visit Over Easy Office: https://www.overeasyoffice.com Follow Michael on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-jacober-713104124/ Visit Blanket: https://www.blanket.app/ Follow Michael: @michaeljacober Timestamps 08:24 Xavier's Path From Busboy To Restaurant Owner 13:39 Meeting Tony And The Failed American Oak Concept 17:16 The Idea Behind Over Easy Office And ChouxBox 21:01 Building The Team In The Philippines From Scratch 24:38 Winning Over Skeptical Restaurant Operators 32:01 Landing Early Clients And Learning The Hard Way 41:23 Are Bookkeepers Going Extinct With AI 48:01 Defining What A Bookkeeper Actually Does 56:31 The Limits Of Automation And Robotics In Restaurants 01:02:43 Rising Costs, Shrinking Margins, And The Future Of Restaurants 01:07:24 Wine, Corkage Fees, And Closing Thoughts