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Today on Restaurant Tech Trends I sit down with Kevin Nemeth, EVP and Chief Commercial Officer at Church's Texas Chicken, the San Antonio original turning 75 next year and now running more than 1,400 restaurants across 25 countries. Kevin came into the restaurant space from L'Oreal, TD Bank, and HSN, walked into Popeyes in early 2020 with a digital team of three, and left with digital at nearly 20% of sales and five million rewards members. WATCH AND LEARN Why Church's splits 50/50 first party vs third party when most of the industry sits at 90/10 The T-Mobile Tuesday blowup that still shapes how he plans every promotion five years later How Church's tested AI internally and where it's adding the most value for the brand today Where he's building instead of buying and how he sees that trend evolving over the coming years His litmus test for whether tech enables hospitality or just hands your work to the guest, and why the kiosk on the counter fails it Shout outs to Qu and Olo for the tech stack love along the way. PLUS the rapid fire round, where Kevin names the most UNDERRATED tech in restaurants and finishes with "five years from now, the drive-thru is ___" Give it a watch and let me know what you think

His uncle started as a Papa John's delivery driver, then bought a single store in East Liverpool with a pile of used equipment. That business is now 275 restaurants across 10 states and they're rapidly closing in on 500. Today on 🍔Restaurant 🤖Tech 📈Trends I sit down with Eusha Bajwa, who leads technology for the Bajco Group and is Founder & CEO of Meal Dynamics. Eusha got tired of watching the back office run on spreadsheets and email, built the fix in-house, and turned it into a product he now sells to other operators. First-time founder, and his own toughest customer. 📺WATCH AND LEARN📺 👉 The one sentence his uncle uses to describe how they run 275 stores. It reframes everything. 👉 Where franchisees actually have room to move on tech — and it's not where the franchisor is looking 👉 What happened when he took his "perfect" all-in-one to his own ops teams 😬 👉 His answer on whether AI is shrinking his dev team. Most people guess wrong. ➕ PLUS the rapid fire round: the garlic sauce move you'll want to steal, the most OVERRATED restaurant tech, and how he finishes "the back office should feel like ___" Give it a watch and let me know what you think 👇

They built their own POS. For bagels. On purpose. Today on 🍔Restaurant 🤖Tech 📈Trends I sit down with Aaron LeClair, VP of Technology at Jeff's Bagel Run, the Orlando-born chain famous for bagels baked hot ALL day long, now closing in on 40 locations (and eyeing 50 by year's end). A career technologist who came up in defense, climate tech, and supply-chain startups, Aaron traded enterprise software for fresh-baked bagels and built the brand's tech stack - POS and all - from scratch. 📺WATCH AND LEARN📺 👉 How "we just need one more piece of data" snowballed into building the ENTIRE stack in-house 👉 The two-layer forecasting problem that makes bagels harder to predict than pizza or donuts 👉 How they scaled the "what's hot?" moment every regular loves - without anyone yelling to the back 👉 The thing they could easily build but flat-out REFUSE to (prepare for a controversial take) 👉 Where he thinks the next phase of franchise growth is actually won - and it's not where everyone's looking ➕ PLUS the rapid fire round: Aaron's no-diplomacy bagel order, the cream cheese schmear that actually KICKS, the restaurant tech he says is most overrated, and a coffee confession he admits is "basic." Aaron's one of the rare builders who'll tell you exactly which tech to skip - and as someone whose own daughter works a bagel counter, I loved every minute of this one. Give it a watch and let me know what you think 👇

Time for the next 🍔Restaurant 🤖Tech 📈Trends!! Today I sit down with John Lucas, VP of Brand and Franchise Development at Farmer Boys, the farm-to-table brand that serves breakfast all day with full table service at QSR prices. John has spent 30+ years in hospitality with stops at Marriott, Starbucks, and Boudin, and hit his goal of executive chef by 30 (a goal he set at age 12). Most memorable part of this interview for me was when John said "No machine will ever out-hospitality a human." He made that case better than just about anyone I've had on and shares how you can lean into AI without losing the human touch. 📺WATCH AND LEARN📺 👉 How a brand founded by five brothers from a farm in Cyprus grew to 108 restaurants (with ~15 more in development) without a dollar of PE 👉 Where John lands on build-your-own vs. off-the-shelf software and why he's "solidly in the middle" and the POS decision he's still working through 👉 Why "native capability vs. active integration" is the question reshaping his whole tech stack 👉 Where kiosks and drive-thru AI REALLY are today and why he's not convinced the AI is "green" yet Shout out to PAR Punchh for the loyalty love in the shout-outs. Give it a watch and let me know what you think 👇

He doesn't golf... but he rebuilt the tech behind Topgolf! Today on 🍔Restaurant 🤖Tech 📈Trends I sit down with Ted Hardy, Senior Director of Technology Transformation at Topgolf - the entertainment destination where gameplay, food, beverage, and events all run under one (very loud) roof. Ted spent two decades at the forefront of restaurant tech before this, with senior product and engineering roles at KFC and digital strategy at Papa John's, plus his own consulting firm and early days at Oracle and Lexmark. 📺WATCH AND LEARN📺 👉 Why the "point-of-sale project" he was hired for turned out to be something WAY bigger 👉 Why a Topgolf venue has to network more like a PHONE than a PC - and what that ruled out 👉 The counterintuitive fix that made thousands of order line items just… disappear 👉 The daily admin grind he killed at every venue - one employee literally teared up 👉 His contrarian 5-year bet: the tech everyone's hyping that he says is oversold (and the vendors he thinks are in trouble) Shout out to Toast for the tech-stack love along the way (plus Toptracer, Topgolf's own in-venue tech). ➕ PLUS the rapid fire round, where Ted names the most OVERHYPED tech in restaurants, his build-it-or-buy-it gut instinct, and the operator mentor he still texts every few months. Ted and I discovered we're both former music students who wandered into restaurant tech - and it turns out "helping other people be great" is the same job in both worlds. Give it a watch and let me know what you think 👇

Tech debt isn't a liability to wipe out. It's leverage to manage - like debt on a balance sheet. Too much and you're bankrupt; too little and you can't move. That's the idea Dr. Ken Knapton literally wrote the book on. Today on 🍔Restaurant 🤖Tech 📈Trends I sit down with Ken, Chief Information Officer at WIN Brands, the parent company of Costa Vida, Fresh Mexican Grill and FatCats Entertainment. Ken took the scenic route into restaurants - two decades in the CIO seat across enterprise software, banking, and security - and it shows in how clearly he thinks about the why before anyone writes a line of code. 📺WATCH AND LEARN📺 👉 How he runs IT for two brands that could not look more different - a made-to-order burrito line and a 70,000-square-foot cinema-bowling-arcade - and where he found economies of scale everyone told him weren't there 👉 Tech debt as LEVERAGE, not liability - the ~20% "sweet spot," and why your org will never (and shouldn't) hit zero 👉 The "have the WHY conversation first" rule - and how a simple Fat Cats CRM request turned into a single customer-data foundation across both brands 👉 Why he's NOT chasing all-in-one nirvana - his four-vendor, best-of-breed, plug-and-play philosophy 👉 Where customer-facing AI is genuinely READY vs. still on the cusp - and why "watching your burrito be born" down the line is a brand promise he won't automate away Shout outs to Toast, Olo, Snowflake, Tableau, and Sparkfly for the tech-stack love along the way. ➕ PLUS the rapid fire round, where Ken breaks the one-word rule twice, names the most OVERRATED tech in restaurants and reveals the best money he spent on tech this year. Give it a watch and let me know what you think. Full episode linked in comments 👇

What kind of restaurant brand closes every location at 2:30 on purpose? The kind that wants its people home for dinner. Today on 🍔Restaurant 🤖Tech 📈Trends I sit down with Marita Swift CFE, VP of Strategic Growth at The Big Biscuit, the nostalgic, all-American breakfast and lunch concept out of Kansas City that Franchise Times named a top breakout brand in 2024. Marita's path is unlike almost any growth exec I've had on: she spent 10+ years as a working executive chef in high-end scratch kitchens before pivoting into brand strategy, so she sees this business from the line cook station all the way to the franchise development deck. 📺WATCH AND LEARN📺 👉 The chef-to-C-suite pivot: how a decade on the line (plus a psychology degree and a love of data) became a career building brands - and why she built an in-house agency instead of hiring one 👉 What "sustainable growth" really means when you're scaling a corporate footprint and a franchise base side by side and why she cares more about WHO she franchises with than WHERE 👉 Why the highest-quality franchise lead she gets is simply a guest who walks in already loving the product 👉 How Placer.ai became her company-wide superpower for site selection -plus the Momos guest-sentiment bet they sat on for three years before it finally clicked 👉 Her AI vision, fresh off the QSR Summit stage: closing the gap between the question and the decision, so teams spend more time building culture and less time guessing which way to go Shout outs to Momos, Placer.ai, Restaurant365, DoorDash, and Tiphouse for the tech-stack love along the way. ➕ PLUS the rapid fire round, where Marita settles knife skills vs. spreadsheet skills, names the one food trend she'd happily retire, and tells us in a single word what a great breakfast is really about.

"You can't put ketchup on shawarma" became a global rallying cry, and the brand behind it is now blitzing past 50 locations. Today on 🍔Restaurant 🤖Tech 📈Trends I sit down with Andrew Kirkwood, VP of Technology at Shelby's Legendary Shawarma, the Canadian brand turning authentic Middle Eastern flavors into North America's next big fast casual category. Andrew came up on ops, ran business development, and now owns the tech stack he is rebuilding for scale. 📺WATCH AND LEARN📺 👉 How a viral social media character (and a very illegal bottle of ketchup) built a global fanbase before the brand had 5 stores figured out 👉 What it really takes to standardize a menu that never stops changing when your CEO loves to experiment 👉 The shift from best-in-breed vs all-in-one, and why AI is finally tipping that debate 👉 Why he wants POS to stop being the foundation and start being the data hub 👉 The AI vision that turns demand forecasting into real-time, dollars-and-cents actions a franchisee can actually see Shout outs to Bikky, Gravy, Toast, and MYR for the vendor love along the way. ➕ PLUS the rapid fire round, where Andrew names the most overrated tech trend in restaurants This one is packed with the real, in-the-weeds truth about scaling a brand people fall in love with online before they ever walk through the door. Give it a watch and let me know what you think 👇

She showed up in Vegas with $800, slept on a mattress off the back of a truck, and turned a theater degree into one of the sharpest marketing tech voices in restaurants. Today on 🍔Restaurant 🤖Tech 📈Trends I sit down with Erin Levzow, consulting CMO across the CapitalSpring portfolio, co-host of the Bite-Sized and Bossy podcast, and the rare leader who can make the marketing side and the IT side actually speak the same language. Named CMO of the Year and a global MarTech Leader of the Year, she has built stacks and loyalty programs for Wingstop, Del Taco, Freebirds, and more. 📺WATCH AND LEARN📺 👉 What restaurants can steal from gaming and hospitality, industries that were doing real personalization years before we were 👉 How she re-platformed an entire MarTech stack and launched Del Taco's first loyalty program in nine months 👉 Why most loyalty programs fail the moment the conversation shifts from the customer to the cost 👉 Where AI creates the most value today, and where the "creepy" line really sits on personalization 👉 Best of breed vs all in one, and why one platform to do everything means you're building it yourself Shout outs to Chowly, Hang, and Bikky for the analytics and reporting love along the way. ➕ PLUS the rapid fire round, where Erin names the single MarTech tool she cannot live without (it is not the one you would guess). Erin and I have been trying to make this one happen since RFDC last November, and it was worth the wait. Give it a watch and let me know what you think 👇

The dirtiest corner of any restaurant tells you everything about how it's run, and Kimmie Dunlay has built a career on the infrastructure nobody sees to keep 'em clean. Today on 🍔Restaurant 🤖Tech 📈Trends I sit down with the Senior Director of Food Service Strategy and Growth at Kept Companies, the nationwide self-performing facility partner keeping restaurant and grocery brands clean, safe, and open. Kimmie came up through restaurant ops and never lost the belief that what happens behind the line matters as much as what happens on it. 📺WATCH AND LEARN📺 👉 Why "self-performing" service is the whole ballgame for national consistency 👉 How AutoMist brings real technology to the very antiquated world of hood cleaning, and actually lowers insurance premiums 👉 The shift from reactive to preventative, and why the facilities function has to stop being seen as a cost center 👉 What "facilities intelligence" really means + data on your operation you probably don't have access to today 👉 The AI vision for turning 800 before-and-after job photos into instant answers on whether the work got done Shout outs to CarePro Painting, Restaurant Technologies, and Ecolab for the help along the way. ➕ PLUS the rapid fire round, where Kimmie reveals the hidden talent nobody on her team knows about This one opened my eyes to a corner of the industry I knew close to zero about, and Kimmie made it fascinating. Give it a watch and let me know what you think

Eric Knott spent a decade as COO of PDQ scaling 40+ stores from Tampa to New York, and he'll be the first to tell you he learned as much from what went wrong as what went right. Now CEO of Kansas City's Tiki Taco, he joined me on 🍔Restaurant 🤖Tech 📈Trends to talk about the growth discipline he earned the hard way, the founder partnership that keeps him honest, and where AI actually pays off. 📺WATCH AND LEARN📺 👉 Why Tiki opens every restaurant 5-6 days BEFORE the grand opening 👉 How catering went from zero to ~12% of sales in under a year 👉 The "brand protector" model: how Eric actually partners with 3 founders without ego wars 👉 The Tiki Bucks playbook that turns local fundraisers into hundreds of first-time guests 👉 Where Eric lands on all-in-one vs best-of-breed across his 20-piece tech stack (shout outs to Toast, Restaurant365, Incentivo, Bikky, Byte and more) ➕ PLUS Eric and I get into a great back-and-forth on voice + kiosks, whether the "ordering guilt" factor goes away when you have to say your order out loud, and why he runs AI at 80/20 on scheduling. We also riff on how he uses Claude to turn ~100 restaurant publications a week into one Monday-morning brief. Eric is one of the sharpest, most genuine operators I have had on the show, and you can tell community is in his DNA. Give this one a watch and let us know what you think.

On today's 🍔Restaurant 🤖Tech 📈Trends we go inside the wild world of virtual brands with Adam Robin, Chief Operating Officer at Virtual Dining Concepts: the company behind some of the most talked-about names out there, from MrBeast Burger to Man vs. Fries. 📺WATCH AND LEARN📺 👉 What it actually takes to build a virtual brand that breaks through the noise, and why so many of them flame out fast 👉 The hard lessons Adam carried over from his Reef Technology days about ghost kitchens, delivery economics, and what really moves the needle for operators 👉 How VDC thinks about pairing the right celebrity or creator with the right concept, and why star power alone is never enough 👉 Where Adam sees the next wave of virtual brand growth heading, and which pieces of the model are finally maturing after the early hype 👉 What separates a flash-in-the-pan concept from one with real staying power, drawn from Adam's 20+ years in food and beverage ➕ PLUS: Adam's take on where tech fits into the future of virtual dining, and the one thing he wishes more operators understood before jumping in. 🍟 Thank you Adam for the behind-the-curtain look at how VDC is reinventing what a virtual brand can be. 🚀

Own the guest relationship or get rented out to the highest bidder. That's part of what we dive into on today's 🍔Restaurant 🤖Tech 📈Trends. On this episode I sit down with Zach Goldstein, Founder & CEO of Thanx. Zach has helped restaurants turn first party data into lifetime value since 2011. Watch for a masterclass in loyalty, data, and how AI agents are transforming the guest retention game. 📺WATCH AND LEARN📺 👉 Zach's take on the SaaSpocalypse and what actually makes software defensible 👉 Where AI is REALLY changing loyalty plus the three bets Thanx is all-in on. HINT: big news this summer... 👉 The digital ratio every operator should track and why letting third-party marketplaces outgrow your first-party channels means losing your guests AND your data 📉 ➕ PLUS: the "warm hug vs. $7 discount" psychology of changing guest behavior, and why loyalty may be a restaurant's best weapon to steer the coming wave of AI ordering agents back to first-party ➕➕ PLUS PLUS: Rapid fire 🔥 - the most OVERRATED restaurant tech (you'll never guess this one), the most underrated, his one-word advice to 2011 Zach, and whether the Sacramento Kings are making the playoffs next season 🏀😂 Thank you Zach for the clinic on loyalty and LTV!

Brilliant biscuits + the boring work that builds a brand? Yes, please. Today on 🍔Restaurant 🤖Tech 📈Trends I'm talking with Amanda Kahalehoe, COO of Vicious Biscuit, the Southern comfort breakfast and brunch concept scaling fast across the Southeast on the strength of over-the-top biscuit builds and a hospitality-first culture. Amanda came in from outside the industry and just helped open restaurant number 12 (with 5 more in construction). 📺WATCH AND LEARN📺 👉 Why getting the boring/infra work done first is the real key to helping emerging brands scale - and which projects she tackled before moving into franchising 👉 Her counterintuitive move for earning operator trust on technology - the opposite of what most brands do when a tool isn't working 👉 The one thing Vicious Biscuit owns instead of renting - and why it's making her skeptical of agentic AI tools flooding the space ➕ PLUS: Amanda's reframe that some guest experience friction is GOOD - and some excellent insight into how the brand achived positive comp sales two years running and a 6% traffic lift while the industry trended ➕➕ PLUS PLUS: Rapid fire gold - savory vs sweet biscuits, which coffee gets the day started, the Vicious Biscuits dish she'll defend to the death, and the career she'd have if not for restaurants Thank you Amanda for teaching us how to lay the foundation for scaling - and I'll wear that biscuit T-shirt religiously. 🚀

On today's 🍔Restaurant 🤖Tech 📈Trends I sat down with Atul Sood, Fractional Chief Business Officer at Curry Up Now. Atul co-founded Kitchen United as its first employee, raised over $100M, struck the Kroger deal that put ghost kitchens inside grocery stores, and launched McDonald's global delivery partnerships before that. Now he's helping the pioneer of Indian fast casual gear up for its next chapter. First came Mexican, then Mediterranean... Atul says Indian is the next wave, and Curry Up Now is the next brand. 🌯🔥 📺WATCH AND LEARN📺 👉 How Curry Up Now built a powerful 15-unit brand in the Bay Area and why franchisee interest is now heating up across the country - including in Birmingham, one of my favorite recent stops! 👉 How catering is poised to become an even more monster channel than it is today (~20% of sales - including delivery for up to 250 people on less than 24 hours' notice 😮) 👉 Where Curry Up Now is placing its AI bets and where it's holding the line. 👉 Atul's take on point solutions: "I don't think they're products. I think they're features." And why platform plays like Ovation can be so compelling for brands at Curry Up Now's stage of growth ➕ PLUS: Where Atul sees capital flowing in restaurant tech this year, some hard-won founder advice from someone who's lived it, and some protips for founders to keep mental health operating at its peak ❤️ T'was great meeting you Atul and I'm excited to see where Curry Up Now is a year from today! 🚀