Welcome to Part 2 in our "Best of" Series.  This episode doubles down on data (not for) dummies as we explore the transformative power of data in the connected restaurant.  Our esteemed guests dive into all aspects of data beyond the numbers⸺specifically, its strategic role in driving innovation from the kitchen to the customer experience. Top takeaways include:  How API ecosystems impact data collection and strategies   Innovative approaches for data storytelling  Presenting the data … Is the dashboard dead?! The skinny on data lakes, data models, and analyzing dat ..read more

This is the first of a short 3-part series with top 2023 sound bites that are resonating deeply in 2024: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Data, and Platforms. This first episode delves into one of the year's most talked-about subjects: Artificial Intelligence (AI). The guests paint a hopeful picture of technology as a tool for enhancement, efficiency and automation--rather than displacement. Join Jen as she is accompanied by industry luminaries: Phil Crawford, former CTO at CKE; Darien Bates CEO of Fourtop Solutions; Richard Shank, Sr. Principal & VP of Innovation at Technomics; and Bobby Yaz ..read more

Get ready for a blockbuster episode that's been cooking up for years! We've got the incredible Bobby Yazdani, the mastermind behind Cota Capital and lead investor in Qu, joining the party on Restaurants Reinvented with Jen Kern. Jen and Bobby take a  ride through the thrilling intersection of restaurant tech and investment, following Bobby's epic journey from Tehran to the tech capital of Silicon Valley and Oracle.  Bobby delves into his investment playbook, sharing the criteria and principles that guide him, learned from over 200+ investments from Uber to Google and Dropbox. They u ..read more

Get ready to hear all the juicy data and trends that came out of Technomic's "State of Foodservice Technology" report. Our guest, Richard Shank is the Sr. Principal & VP of Innovation at Technomic and he shares all the leading insights from the report with us. We focus on three main pillars defining the future of restaurant tech:  1) the kitchen as the nucleus of the restaurant 2) the role of AI/ML - separating hype from reality 3) the evolution of customer loyalty programs Moments to listen for: Richard  emphasizes that all systems, from front-of-house to back-of-house, must a ..read more

In the latest episode of Restaurants Reinvented, Jen Kern dives deep into the current frazzled, tenuous state of POS and tackles head-first the broad misconception that “POS is Dead.”  Jen clarifies market confusion by clearly stating that POS isn’t dead but is instead going through a massive transformation and evolution. POS is no longer the main dish, it’s the side dish. POS is neither Hero nor Zero. Jen articulates the current evolution of POS as simply one of many order channels stemming off a data-driven and unified foundational platform. At Qu, this is what we call the Unified Co ..read more

Join our special guest Kelly MacPherson, from the mega-James Beard award winning Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG). More than a trailblazer, she's been a Game Changer for her entire career.   Kelly shares her remarkable journey in hospitality and retail, from configuring her first POS network to becoming one of the early female CTOs -- and she continues to revolutionize how restaurants operate. Despite plans for retirement, she canceled them to join USHG and lead their Technology and Supply Chain division, driven by the brand's core pillars of "Enlightened Hospitality," a term coine ..read more

Two-time authors, Meredith Sandland and Carl Orsbourn, join Restaurants Reinvented for the second time! Hear their predictions about the next big restaurant concept > the digitally native restaurant and key snips from their new book “The Path to Digital Maturity.”  Moments to listen for: The key phases in the path to digital maturity How to better drive first-party data ownership The next new concept category to hit restaurants  SVB's influence on the startup tech scene Improving efficiency through AI Innovative approaches to off-prem dining through ghost kitchens Related Episo ..read more

In this episode of Restaurants Reinvented, host Jen Kern from Qu invites Andrew Glantz, the founder of GiftAMeal, and Dan Sokolik, Vice President of Marketing at Lee's Famous Recipe Chicken, to discuss their partnership that aims to fight hunger and support local communities.  GiftAMeal is a mobile app that enables users to provide meals to those in need by simply taking a photo of what they're eating at participating restaurants. The app has already facilitated the donation of 1.3 million meals and continues to expand its reach. Moments to Listen for:  A unique solution to food in ..read more

Josh Boshard, the COO of Savory, leads the Operations & Technology teams for their 10-brand portfolio. Since their first location in 2008, Josh + Savory have amassed a wealth of best practices that he shares openly in this episode.  Key Moments to Listen for:  A solid foundation of data ownership & APIs  Integrating systems to drive local store performance  Partners must share the data  A/B testing best-of-breed systems  Growth playbooks, benchmarks, and KPIs  Restaurants must continually innovate and right now it’s all about AI State-of-the-art tech ..read more

If you’re wondering how to make sense of that ocean of data your restaurant is trying to make sense of, Darien has some answers! Darien’s new company, Fourtop Solutions, is all about helping restaurants organize and activate their data -- while encouraging humans to do the discovery of data and using technology to automate that discovery. Top Moments to Listen For:  Technology is not a pre-packaged meal, it’s a set of ingredients with overlapping capabilities and core components Start by centralizing your data, or you’ll constantly be back-tracking Dashboards are where data go ..read more