MSMR 006 - Restaurant Tech Trends & What's Hot w/ Joanna Fantozzi, Nation's Restaurant News
morning Ralph morning Sam all right good afternoon everybody this is morning Sam morning Ralph and we're back yeah we're back we are back after a short break we're clocking in here today with a really cool guest but first and foremost how are you guys doing what's happening yeah I I just came back from the Prosper Forum up at the Amelia Island Florida what a what absolute treat most of the shows we go to are more selling stuff to people right and this was actually leaders from probably the top tier organizations all the tier one organiz food service organizations in the in the country getting together just to talk about how they can make the world a better place it wasn't about buying stuff it wasn't anything about you know Hawking some Goods or talking about iida or profits it was really how do we include people how do we make opportunities for people how do we open up opportunities for women and and people of color it was really just something refreshing that reminded me that there's a lot more more to this business than money yeah I Prosper Forum does amazing things it was really cool to get an invite there and doing some work with Paul Baron and the restaurant masterminds podcast yeah it was a really nice way uh to represent so good welcome back andad I got oh sorry yeah Pam and I got teased by the the CEO of yum brands because everywhere they saw us we were holding hands walking down the hall like oh you two are so cute oh that's that's really precious Chad what's up my man he's doing that I'm getting ready for FS te I'm sure our guest today is as well yeah so much going on in preparation for that Big Show it's been a lot of fun it is fsch is is massive let me uh talk a little bit about what we're going to who we're going to be talking to and with today what the topic is of course as you would expect we're staying in the restaurant technology vein and today it's all about digital solutions for restaurants and what's hot really what are the trends and today we have an awesome guest that's been at this for uh the better part of about six years at as a senior editor of nrn her writings can be found in everywhere from The New York Times to the New York Post she as a senior editor of nation's restaurant news covers everything from emerging Technologies to major industry Trends her finger is on the pulse of all of the latest digital solutions that are transforming Resturant operation so please let's welcome Joanna fantozi to our podcast my goodness thank you hi hi thank you so much for having me oh and I'm glad that we're starting off with talking about events that I know quite a bit about my colleague perhaps you saw my colleague Alicia Kelo at prosper and I will be at FST te it's actually my company informa's event and so I will be actually moderating one of the sessions wow oh which session just so we know it's actually one of the topics we'd want to talk about today I'm moderating build versus buy nice one of one of restaurant Tech closest one of the closest Tech uh topics to our hearts every day yeah it is definitely an interesting topic and actually the enemy to a lot of what our tech companies talk about stop building stuff exactly it seems like a really organic place to step off to Why Don't We Go There Joanna what is that opinion I I've been doing this for a while Paul we were working at back office companies and the moment we heard somebody go we're going to build an inventory solution good luck with that or because they have to maintain it there's a lot of implications that happen down the road what's your experience I think that's the issue here I think that there are a lot of pros and cons to building versus buying I do think that that in an Ideal World at least from an operator perspective in an Ideal World you'd have a little bit of a mix of both and I think that the building out an entire Tech stack and building out your entire POS system is not something that everyone will be able to do and so I don't think that Tech vendors have to worry too much or hold their breath too much because not everybody is Wing Stop yeah that's just and I think it's actually more unusual and I think that's why it was such big news when Wingstop kind of did an about face with Olo um it's such big news because it's unusual yeah and I think like I I wrote a story about that at the time and also talked about other brands that were interested in delving into that world like yum brands RBI there have been sweet green and so there have been a couple of other brands that have done this but none quite maybe quite as extensively Subway is another one so I I think that it's more unusual to delve into that world 100% with both feet forward what's the driver for Wing Stop on that how do they justify that is it because they want more control of the the guest experience in in that handoff or is it the the the money that changes place in in that Transaction what what do you think the real driver was there I think for them at the time they had said that what they really wanted and I think they still have this goal now this was about a year ago hopefully they still have this goal but they want to go to 100% digital transactions and so they said that they want to be in the driver seat and actually that's a phrase I've heard a few times from a few different brands I actually interviewed Marco's Pizza a few months ago about their proprietary POS system and they use the same phrase they want to be in the driver's seat and that's I think what it's about it's about not really quite finding exactly what you want off the shelf and feeling and I especially think that this and this obviously doesn't really apply to Wing Stu but I think that you'll see Brands like Pizza doing this a lot because you really want pizza specific or I guess very specific solutions for your needs and that's really I think what it's about and that duve Tails perfectly with that other article you wrote about Jeff begel in Florida right there only seven kind of surprising to me there's only seven units and they're building their own Tech stack that was such an interesting story it was a little bit confusing to to get to know exactly their history because it was an independently owned brand they had a couple of locations and it uh it's New York style Bagels in Orlando Florida and I joked with them that they need that because Florida's bagels are notoriously bad as a New Yorker I live in Florida our bagels are terrible I will test to that so they tried to they tried to bring that New York style bagel and then they were sold and then basically the new owners which was the which was their major investor which was the founder of ubreak iix and okay it's not a world that I'm in so I was like oh I have heard of ere iix I didn't really think of that as being like a but they are everywhere but anyway yeah so from the get-go they wanted to do proprietary technology stack and I think again this is more unusual they specifically saw the need for bagel shop specific spefic solutions that they hadn't really seen out there like bagels are not like a lot of other food service in that they have to be hot and fresh but you also don't want to end up with more at the end of the day because then you'll have to throw them out nobody wants a day bagel and so they just are constantly coming out with this data and analytics to figure out exactly how many bagels they need to make exactly how many bagels they have left in the back how much more let's say that they need to make and and they're communicating with the front of the house so the front of the house can see exactly there's three poppy seed Bagel left or what have you Joan do you think that with everything that AI is and Promises to be do you think that might be an impetus for some of these companies being a little bit more Bolder in their choice to go ahead and try to build something versus buy something it seems like AI could be gives you all the framework get you kind of a head start if you had the idea of creating this closed loop technology centered around I think that I think a lot of this and this is interesting because I do feel like a lot of the AI technology that specifically the software that we're seeing right right is the generative AI technology a lot of times I don't actually think I've ever asked this question but what I feel like I should ask of any tech companies I'm talking to about this is so the solution you're talking about is B basically just generative AI like chat GPT right plus some bells and whistles and so I think that because it's it AI is now this thing that anyone can access that maybe yeah it's become something that you can possibly a tool you can use as a tool to build from scratch right yeah or at least tells you the stops to make hey I want to build a solution that does I don't know inventory you'll say here are the following things it has to do and even you could ask it in Python to write a version of that rough draft it right oh yes to use AI to build these Solutions yeah that's where it's going it seems like no code no code no no code AI yeah my background is is deep in sales and the thing that screams at me when I hear this is that when companies are doing this they're not doing what everything else they're building this thing they're focusing on this thing but they're not working on moving the needle on food they're not engaging the customer they're not doing so many other things with an opportunity cost yep and and that's why I think oh sorry go ahead no just the follow-up part is that the the one you mentioned the Bagel Company that's anomaly they're very small it feels like you have to be a very significant size to be able to break off that department to focus on the energy it takes to bring something to life like that maintain it do you know Wing Stops an example because they're massive do you think there's a Delta of where you should be as a business to entertain that I think that's why it's unusual that this is why I say it's not like everybody's going to run ahe and be like I'm going to build my own Tech stack I'm we're just going to have proprietary POS system I don't think that this is going to be more unusual I think that the Jeff's Bagel run people are going to still be in the minority that being said I don't think there is a certain threshold you have to hit oh you really can't build your own Tech stack elements or POS system unless you hit a 100 units I don't it really quite works that way but I do think it's much easier if you are a Wing Stop or if you are let's say a Domino's yeah or even like I said eat they're not quite as big as those two but the Marcos Pizza that they have their own operating system and so I do think it's easier when you have those resources and if you don't I think that it's I think if if you're a smaller brand let's say 20 units and under I think it's easier to be Tech forward but more in that on that buy side of things right right one of the things just to switch gears here for a second is I wanted to talk a little bit about what we think or what you think and what you've seen uh in your journey thus far that are some of some some of the top technologies that are really Making Waves inside of inside a restaurants we keep seeing stats about three quarters of operators say that technology gives them a Competitive Edge but only around 10% or so think that the IND the restaurant industry is actually leading the way it still feels like we're a little bit behind some other Industries but what are we doing right what are we knocking out of the park and I'd be interested to hear anybody's opinion on this is there any technology out there right now that our industry can point to and be like you know what we're the gold standard in consumer so we're getting there but I hate to STP the right now but delivery listen so delivery is something that is so incredibly complex but yet and with all of the problems that it has all of the inherit problems with this the so many different moving parts of getting a burger paid for prepared and handed off to the customer in a way in which it's still hot and fresh and on time and doesn't cost a million dollars I think that we should be able to look at this is a major step forward for the co for the industry that's been able to put this together for in a very short period of time but there are some major challenges that have come with that Innovation yeah I think when it comes to delivery I would say that if you're going to be ranking companies or Industries I think that that food service comes in at number two because I think that Amazon's number one but okay but I do think that you're right that really delivery even if it's imperfect even if we get frustrated at the fact that from the consumer standpoint that you log in and you put together an order and then you're like wait why is it double it's because of all these fees and whatnot all of that aside food delivery has become a part of our culture in a way that I don't think people anticipated um and I think even a few years ago people were saying I wasn't but people were saying that uh this was a pandemic era thing and that uh we're really not going to hear As Much from the third party delivery apps once the pandemic dies down and I that's clearly not the case and so I think that Just For Better or Worse even with all the challenges and issues that come along with it I do think that third-party food delivery is incredibly important for the consumer and also for the operator have you seen any kind of data talks about the economic impact on delivery channels by Merit of what the economy looks like that people are say there's not there's not enough money going around and clearly they're paying a premium for these items that are purely convenience and eventually your wallet's going to dictate you your buying habits right has there been some kind of movement in that based on the because we're all hearing economy all the time and I'm curious is that something that's come across your desk not specifically that but I will say that just a little bit tangentially to that is we actually just I just we just put together a report uh for our latest issue on delivery and it was based on mystery shopper data and so it was basically all these things that consumers are ranking and thinking about in terms of their delivery experience and what I specifically focused on in my story which we don't have to get into that much because it's a little bit more in the weeds is comparing the three major delivery companies but yes one of the things that they spoke about was the prices and the the menu prices and also the delivery and service fees and it was just it was surprising to see some of that that some of the delivery companies just really had very high fees and I do think that's something that people are seeing is more of a luxury yeah I think that again I don't really have too much in the way of data to back this up but I do think that the third party delivery is a little bit more of a luxury right now because yeah it our family does well and we don't eat out anymore we don't order in that much anymore just because it costs a lot it really does yeah oftentimes what my husband and I will do is we'll go through the process of putting together an order and then we'll just be like you know what do they do take out just call and then we'll just go and drive and pick it up and pick it up but yeah but it's so funny because you look at all the different channels now for which uh a consumer can order their food right you have the restaurant's own app you have the thirdparty delivery apps you have in some instances you might still be able to phone in an order you have a drive-thru you have a kiosk in in in the restaurant you have the point of sales system in the restaurant there's literally five six seven eight nine different channels for which you can order your food for a lot of restaurants and that I think is it's becoming more and more about the phone essentially as this is this the new POS for example we know that paying at the table is a is a huge there's a a huge segment of the PO population that wants more convenience inside the restaurant to pay for their food yep I think I read something recently about firstat has there something super simple they basically have a QR code on on the receipt so you're able to pay right at the table with a simple QR code I just think it's really interesting and I'd like to Vibe on that for a second with regard to you does technology have to be complex no it shouldn't be should be really simple like that wait yeah technology should done well should almost be invisible right exactly very good way of putting that yeah yes I think that tableside payment I think has a couple of ways you can do it and one of which is yes that QR code payment whether it's through the receipt or just maybe you download their app and something that I've also seen some restaurants are offering is that you can let's say download an app or you scan the QR code and then that's with you throughout your eating Journey right so you can use it to order another round of drinks you can use it to add a tip you can use it to say okay I'm G to close out my tab yeah so it's more interactive than than your typical payment experience the other thing but really I'm not seeing that like personally I haven't experienced that as much really what I'm seeing more in just from a consumer perspective is the is bringing that tableside P that handheld POS over and everyone hates that because then you have to put in the tip in front of server yeah yeah that is again it's definitely simplifies and feels really seamless but awkward absolutely it's awkward that that has to be improved there which Speaking of awkward you have something now that is becoming we're starting to see signs of it and that's robotic kitchens and automation all right so I think this is absolutely fascinating I so I'm in Boston and I remember maybe four or five years ago walking through downtown crossing in Boston and this new restaurant opened up and it was called spice oh yeah and spice was it and you walk in it was like maybe 10 blocks away from our building it was nothing but kiosk where you order your food and then you just wait in line and in front of you you had all of these different robots with mixing bowls and and creating these creations that which I think were actually Jose Andre's recipes and they had one person behind the counter which essentially took the stuff out of the robot and put it into a a container and hand to you and it was like this is crazy and you remember this and it was like this is this has to happen and I think like maybe 10 months later sweet green came in and and bought them so we're now finally starting to see what the the grand idea of this might be are we gonna see more robots in the kitchen Joanna I guess this not a long way there so yes and no I think that when it comes to robotics I have mixed feelings towards robotics because while I I do think much like a couple of other much like people operators building their own POS systems I think it's not for everyone I think that 100% or mostly automation is not for everyone and I think that glad you mentioned sweet green because their goal is to go 100% automated and I think that most brands that's great I think that most brands won't do that I think that where I am I think that what's interesting is that in my research what I've seen a lot of Automation in is in pzas so I think that's interesting is I think that's because it's assembly line style yeah and that's where you're seeing a lot of the robotic technology and then of course there's flippy chippy dippy fpp a lot of Upp a lot of ippies and I think it there's a fine line between uh novelty and actual usefulness and when it comes to automation I do think that much like Michael was saying is that the best automation for the largest percentage of operators will be invisible technology and so automating things in the back that isn't going to be like a cute robot flipping burgers or the little the what is the robot on on the floor that has like the kitten face I don't remember which that might be robotics but I want to find out what is it it's either or vooo maybe but yeah they have the little the kitten face because I think it's a Japanese company and it comes out for food but I don't think again that's not going to be for everyone and I think op what it will be most useful to operators is those invisible workhorses in the back of house automating your financial bells and whistles and and and bits and pieces things that people don't want to do right tallying your employee work hours and to figure out the best schedule things like that and so I think that's where we're going to see more Automation and less of the cool fun robots I saw a barista not too long go P I can't remember where airport but it was like a very tightly compacted space and it was a bot it was a robot doing all the pouring mixing and grabbing things and dropping it off and one it had a nice effect for visual when people walk by to see this thing but I think in a Comm space actually makes sense that you could put somebody in like a a Dutch Brother's coffee in a small footprint and really efficiently just start cranking out but then you got to ask how much that device costs right how much does it cost to maintain and can we and should we always enters the question yeah I will never forget and now this was now over a year and a half ago so it's probably an outdated sentiment but I on the floor at the napom I listened to a conversation between a couple of operators just walking past one of the giant it was actually a barista or a bartender robot maybe it was really big and they just walked past and they were like this is cool but why would this be useful for me yeah and was always stuck with me because like I said there's a fine line between novelty cool and actually useful and affordable for op if you're using like a chuckecheese almost hey look at our robot fooks your food and that's the attraction I guess really interesting topic with regard to novelty which this feels like a novelty at first until you actually use it and you're like oh my God this is amazing and that is spatial AI so there there are companies out there right now that are utilizing spatial AI as as tools inside of a restaurant so for example inventory counting and inventory management Michael we we've seen this stuff uh firsthand yeah mind-blowing you and I have both slogged around the concept of dated inventory that hasn't really largely changed since the Babylonians did cuniform on clay tablets to mark down sheaves of wheat the only difference is now it's digital right and new phones modern iPhones new Android phones have lar built in no right yeah that's the anchoring part so you marry lar plus AI plus augmented reality and now I can look look at my inventory and just go I just counted it that is an amazing utility right no but it's some automation but it's really piecing together the technology in a way that empowers our people to do the less menial the menial work less frequently right just if they're going to do it let's get them in and out fast so they could do one thing we all care about was just the guest service I think yeah right I also like to add into that to that list of items there is internet of things which I didn't know it was a couple of years ago it's a terrible name can we just against that how about inore technology that does stuff it's turning it all it is turning dumb things smart and and Internet of Things is just not yeah it's not anyway my fridge is cold my warmers are warm yeah right but that technology also goes hand inand with yeah the inventory management and all of the nerdy nitty-gritty stuff that a lot of your employees won't want to do anyway yeah actually there's a utility something he turned me on to recently and I'd never even heard of it before so A friend of mine has a a radio show and he's in like big restaurants the individual operators he built restaurants and for celebrities did Mick fleetwood's restaurant in Hawaii he's doing for John C just really cool stuff but things I never thought of so he's he talked about technology that moderates the volume of the radio playing in the place to make sure that the this the Peaks and valleys of the conversations aren't too high because the volume of radio will dictate that marries that to the temperature of the room to keep the room optimal the entire time to really make sure it's monitoring the entire guest experience that is wild that is wild I mean those are like voids in the industry that need to be filled yeah because great managers go oh I got to get the thermostat got to turn the volume this whole butterfly thing that a manager have to do and it actually can help regulate that atmosphere in a very optimized level it's amazing right and and those are things that let's call it Spade here those are things you don't necessarily think about uh but are so important to the dining experience right I want to be comfortable I want to be able to hear the person I'm have I'm dining with and I wanna and I don't want to have to wear a sweater or a winter coat while I'm sitting there uh great stuff I just jump in and we're going to be at FS Tech all of us here pretty soon and we know AI is going to be a big topic I I and this is probably firmly in that camp of not novelty firmly in the camp that most operators will be using it in one way or another and Joan I'm curious like how has that this AI wave changed you in your role in how you approach the industry because you would remember before all that and you'd remember what it's like now where it's part of everything what does that look like from your Vantage Point I hate to burst your bubble but I will say although I'm making myself sound less expertise than I am but um I although I started at nrn in 2018 and and I have been I have been covering restaurants since I graduated grad school in 2012 I actually only have been covering technology for a few years because I started with being a jack of all trades and then our te our former Tech reporter left and I filled her shoes and so I feel like I've started when AI was starting we grew up together you guys are BFFs it's we are what a time to start my God uh speaking of we didn't even uh mention the redheaded stepchild in the room uh blockchain Chad you're our resident I'm gonna put you Chad on the spot here and Chad our our resident blockchain web 3 expert in the house here's something that I found that really we have actually have a a client that's a major food distributor and they also happen to be a borsh head distributor and they recently had to go they had if you've watched the news with the leria outbreak and Bor said it was crazy what was going on there and just the turmoil that has caused everybody in that space to fulfill on the recall one of the things or one of the promises of block chain is this concept of supply chain transparency and Chad oh my God if if this was ever a topic to nerd out on yeah how do you can we use technology like blockchain to actually ensure traceability on on food from various vendors yeah so my take on that is absolutely as long as it's easy and with blockchain that's the big caveat and some people are figuring that out how to make it easy enough relative so that the value you're getting plus the easiness maybe if it's not as easy as it normally would be but it's easy enough plus it's way better in some ways because the blockchain does have a lot of benefits but if it all adds up sure I think it's going to take a lot of time for that application and others to really mature yeah but yeah it's certainly it's definitely something that will happen inevit it will it's just when you talk about tech it's it it touches on so many different facets of our industry and certainly supply chain is a major area for everyone and you can remember 10 15 years ago RFID was going to be the big the big solution never really got a firm grip I've never seen anybody roll it out in food successfully the ones want to keep getting stuck on the subject and they keep saying it's too expensive yeah or hard to main even though the tags are like less than a penny a pop and there it's still it's you're still speaking Greek I think to so many people about it so you know what guys let's let's take a break right now and when we get back we want to ask Joanna about some misconception she might have seen inside the industry with her with her little segment called hate to tell your butt hate to tell your butt nice hate to tell your butt we we'll be right back in in a couple seconds okay God let me popcorn all right we're back uh with Joanna and Joanna we're going to talk about this segment we like to do called hate to tell you but and and we want you to share some misconceptions you've encountered in the industry that this is your chance to set the record straight and what comes to mind what do people need to reorient their thinking around something that i' been thinking about which we touched on a little bit but is that you really don't have to be a large chain or have a million several million dollars to invest in and be a good leader in technology in the Food Service space you really can prioritize technology without building your own operating system or having a dedicated Tech Team and I've seen it done like we we talked about the bagel shop but there's also I actually interviewed this is a couple years ago now about a kebab chain that at the time they had six units and they had their own app they had their own digal menu board they had their own analytics like the whole nine yards wow and I think that the key to being good at technology but not being a giant organization with a dedicated Tech team is is prioritization from the get-go it's easier to build something from scratch rather than to try and redo everything that you're trying to do so ideally you would be a tech forward restaurant or Food Service Company from day one so it's that and also Simplicity I think you don't have to have all the bells and whistles necessarily but on the other hand I feel like we associate mom and pop restaurants with the the waitress with a notepad and a pencil behind her ear you don't have to have do that either yeah there is like core technology that I think almost every restaurant should have there if you had to call out if you had to call Technologies table Stakes uh certainly the point of sale is one the back office or the inventory management system is another you would have to have some ways and means in which to have online ordering I think nowadays you really got to be plugged in with a 3PO right yeah monitor reviews probably is an important if you're not if you're not measuring and improving you're probably dying You' got to be engaged with your guests and if that means being staying on top of your reputation when you look at the growth in the industry and so much sales now is coming from the digital channels it's at least this guy's opinion that the tech that you need to concentrate on should be in that vein because that's where the sales are coming in and that's where all the operations are centering themselves around so any way to gain efficiencies and should all be invisible but any way in which you can gain efficiencies in that space just to make those channels that are already very expensive a little bit more profitable yeah absolutely and I think that maybe one thing that you don't have to check off your list is surpris you're GNA think it's surprising that I'm saying this is an app I think that late that lately everybody and their mother has an app and I do think for a lot of smaller startups that NE is not necessarily the direction you want to go in I will I'm going to use this as an example Duck Donuts which isn't a super tiny brand no I spoke with Betsy ham and she's super smart and she was talking about how they I think they used to have an app but then they changed it to being like text based loyalty and it was probably a lot more efficient for them and I can see how for an even smaller brand that it's a lot easier to do a text based a a text based loyalty program and maybe you'll have a mobile wallet application as well and you don't have to have an app well I think apps app fatigue is a thing now right there's so many damn apps on our phones like I was literally trying to figure out how to unlock my front door remotely and I had to Surf like because I couldn't remember the name of the app that the people that made my lock called it it wasn't anything to say lock on it like I gotta let my kid in the house I don't there's hundreds of apps on my phone like hundreds so how many more can you add on I'm gonna have one little that has all my different restaurant loyalty apps inside that tile a there's another fatigue too that that you guys have to be experiencing this like it's you remember years ago it was like wallet fatigue where you had every sing every player's card in there loyalty card George castanza wallet like a George castanza wallet where you have like lower back pain from s sitting on your ass all day on that thing and then you had and then it transferred now into app fatigue where there's too many food apps and now everybody's trying to figure out a way to we got it never mind the app let's get into the wallet let's get into the Apple wallet so right next to your CVS card and your Marriot bonvoy card is your Starbucks your Duncan your jersey M that's the that's like the next space another massive dimension of this and the recent industry report that you shared with me Paul that put this in their Key summary and Joan I'd love your take is how much do operators need to think about choosing their Technologies based on their demographic that they serve their consumer their geography how much variability is there in consumer appetite to inter the coveted gen Z yeah yeah forget about gen Z gen Alpha is gonna be coming of age yeah yeah yeah have money soon yeah I definitely think that when it comes to I'm not sure about other types of demographics but I do think that age obviously takes takes into account a lot I think that we did data recently oh my goodness I think it might have been technomic I forget which data company it was that just we talked to a a baby boomer Millennial jenzy Etc and they found that the older Generations Boomers for to a certain extent Gen X they don't want to deal deal with the digital technology at all they're slow to bypass that kiosk yeah yeah yeah or they'll just be like Oh I'm not dealing with that app I'll just pick up the phone y yeah whereas yeah the younger you go the more digitally native they are so that's I think the most important demographic to take into account yeah absolutely I think all of the data is pointing towards the Gen Z folks and forget when Alpha I would assume would be going the same direction is the social interaction is really not important to them it's not so important that if they could order everything on their phone sitting down at a full service restaurant and order everything from their phone pay from their phone like the whole B Taco experience which they've got to be on to something right it's got to be i' love their food but it's but that seems to me like the perfect gen z type of experience where you walk in and you are the master of your own destiny yeah it's it I definitely think that Baco is doing it really doing it right when it comes to this but yeah I I think that the younger G speaking as a millennial I probably prefer a little bit of both which I guess makes sense kind of being in between the last non-d digitally native yeah generation so I think that I I would probably want a little bit of both I don't think I would just want to sit down and just order on my phone and basically never see anybody I me it's kind of sad isn't it yeah it's like why are we even out but hey that's just the [ __ ] old gen xer here hey before we wrap up Joanna because I'm really curious you work for a fantastic publication what are the folks over there buzzing about that's coming out of the pipe is there's got to be some scuttlebut internally right outside of the shiny button there's something big the thing that I don't I feel pressured to be like the next big thing but I feel like the thing we're we're talking about a lot right now there's two things is I touched on this a little bit before but apps I feel like we're just making jokes all the time about how I think we get three to four emails a week about how this or that company is doing a loyalty app makeover it's usually not like they've never had an app before it's they're making over their app and I always think it's funny that I get pitched like this like three or four times a week and then I'm just like I can't write about all of them and it's that we're talking about that a lot and we're talking a lot about pricing uh yeah are we over is is everybody I think I saw the headline not that long are we over uh Dynamic pricing is that actually what's interesting is that yes I saw that headline too that was actually my colleague at our sister published application who wrote that a couple of days ago and it was based on the fact that juicer decided they were big on Dynamic pricing they decided to drop it I actually spoke to this's a little bit of a preview although I don't know when this is coming out here's your teaser folks I am going to be writing this next week after the Labor Day holiday and I spoke to Ashwin kamani over at juicer and he said that yes they're dropping that but he does think that Dynamic pricing has a role yeah in this and here is my theory on this and you heard this here first is that my theory is that I think that Dynamic pricing has a PR problem right now and has been because of the whole Wendy's thing yep and I think that we should instead call it variable pricing and pricing tools and I think that in general pricing tools are going to be maybe that's going to be the next big thing because I think that I spoke to the folks at juer they're focused on competitor pricing that's also a different type of dynamic pricing because it's pricing that they'll respond yeah but you're just not doing it based on time of day or traffic you're doing that based on what you're the guy you're learning it's reactionary exactly it's reactionary and then I also spoke with a uh someone from a different app who said that they are working on a pricing tool that will be able to give you suggestions on what your menu price should be based on your supply chain costs and so I think that variable pricing as I'm calling it is the new Dynamic pricing and it has it's an umbrella more of an umbrella term and more palatable to Consumers and I'm I'm with you on pricing tools I think pricing tools is is is the right category if we had to put it inside of a category pricing tools right and and every good business should understand their pricing and understand it well so tools to help you do that this has been an awesome conversation Joanna my my goodness Round of Applause for Joanna guys come on thank you thank you for having me we a round of applause round is it okay if I tell your readers that they should come to our conference absolutely do matter fact yeah thank you this is where we say Joanna where can we learn more about you and find you on see where will we see you next yeah um well uh you obviously should should uh subscribe to the nn.com newsletters go to our website and we also I have our my tech tracker column that comes out monthly I look at all the tech news and Analysis of things that are happening that month and then coming up in the fall the thing that you can see me at create our create conference is in Nashville for the first time this year I want to go sorry I want to go what's the date of that event Nashville it's October uh 8th through 10th um we are going to have um a lot more Tech focused things than we had in the past so basically create is for emerging Brands um we've kind of rebranded the conference over the years um and it's become it's a lot of fun it's we we call it the anti-c conference because it's more about the food and drink and fun and talking to people music and music at Nashville yes I know we're gonna make you don't have music at Nashville you're wrong we we're having a live I don't remember the band off the top of my head but we are going to have live live country music at our conference at some point on the agenda I think that's great Jo this has been absolutely fantastic and so you're going to be at FS coming up you got create coming up like they can find you on LinkedIn they can find you your website nation's restaurant news correct where else can is if we covered all the Gambit all the great ways to get to you and connect and and engage yes I think so I also you should check out our sister application Restaurant Hospitality which covers more the independent space boom love it well you've been a fantastic thank you so much we'll see you on we'll see you on the circuit morning Ralph morning Sam we're clocking out that's a w clocking out baby see you
2024-09-11 21:25
