[00:00:00] Jen Kern: Hello everyone. This is Jen Kern of restaurants reinvented. I'm so excited today to announce that I did my first live in-person podcast here at Fs tech in Dallas Fs tech 2021 by one site, put on a Dallas, our first show in over 18 months. And so really excited to be here. I brought Marcus from when site with me as well as Zach.
[00:00:26] Jen Kern: Oh, from ovation. The three of us had just a great conversation. So if you're wondering about getting out to events, what's it going to be like, please listen in and tune in and as always keep the faith in our industry, we are going to prevail and there's some great stuff going on.
[00:00:48] Jen Kern: So enjoy the episode. I hope to see you all soon, have a blessed day.
[00:00:53] Jen Kern: Hello everyone. This is Jen current recording live from Fs tech. We're so excited to be here. Our first live conference in 18 months seems like it's been a lot longer than that. And today here with me, I have two guys who are very prevalent on the show circuit. Marcus was city.
[00:01:12] Marcus Viscidi: So I am the vice president of national sales working on all our restaurant conferences, as well as the national restaurant association show
[00:01:22] Jen Kern: the orchestrator of everything
[00:01:24] Marcus Viscidi: that happens here. Here There is a lot of people that obviously put this event on, but yeah, we put about 30 in person events on that range from a hundred people at the 40,000 people. And it's a, it's a good job. I mean, we've been doing this for a long time. It's obviously been a long, 18 months since we've been able to congregate together, but you know, it's been nice to be able to see friends and colleagues and sponsors and operators and, you know, be able to kind of get back together.
[00:01:46] Marcus Viscidi: See,
[00:01:47] Jen Kern: right, right. So we know you have a huge team that helps orchestrate this, but you really are very prevalent with which sponsors come, which tech companies are here getting the operator attendance here. How does that process.
[00:02:05] Marcus Viscidi: Challenging. Um, you know, obviously it's been very up and down the live events and people wanting to travel and participating, but you know, we're happy to report.
[00:02:13] Marcus Viscidi: This is our biggest Fs tech since 2017, from a sponsor perspective, as well as an operator tending number. And, you know, I think what we've just seen is that in the last 18 months, this industry is predicated on being able to congregate and everybody's social, and everybody wants to see their customers.
[00:02:30] Marcus Viscidi: They want to see their colleagues. You know, it's been a long, hard road to get here, but we're very excited about the results and, you know, very bullish and optimistic for the future.
[00:02:41] Jen Kern: Yeah. Yeah,
[00:02:43] Marcus Viscidi: yeah, yeah. So we had about 450 operators on site this year in 2019, we were about 430. So I think what we're really seeing is that operators are making big investments in their tech stack. They're looking at everything from point of sale to guest feedback, to delivery drive from. And they need to touch feel and see these products.
[00:03:02] Marcus Viscidi: They need to see what's out there. Then you just talk to their vendors, talk to their partners and you can't do that over zoom. I think what we've learned is that zoom is a very effective medium for one day events, business trips, seeing people. Um, but we don't get that into a personal relationship building opportunity.
[00:03:22] Jen Kern: Okay, so you might take this feedback. We have Zack Oates here who is the founder of ovation, desperate gun softwares that welcome to the show.
[00:03:31] Zack Oates: Yes. Your episode was so great. Um, so first of all, I think it, I think this was like a really cool event, like, you know, just because, uh, I remember the first night on Sunday.
[00:03:45] Zack Oates: We get, I get to the booth and I can get it set up and I'm sitting there. And literally there were like 24 people that came up that just like hug me, you know? Like they were just, there's so many people that you want to see. Okay. Being a startup guy. I've been startups in other industries before. And this more than any other industry is like a, Hey, like, you know, it's such a, it's such a close knit bond in the hospitality industry.
[00:04:11] Zack Oates: And I think it's because we're all hospitality. People like people in that I grew up in restaurants. And so. There is a closeness. Um, and it's an industry unlike any other, for example, Jimmy Fisher of branded, who was talking yesterday in one of the panels and he goes, he goes, you, the thing about hospitality, it's like, all right,
[00:04:35] Marcus Viscidi: we'll go back.
[00:04:35] Marcus Viscidi: It's a good Jeremy.
[00:04:36] Zack Oates: Thank you. So, so he was like, look, what other industry are they like? Hey, you know, take a couple of gallons on me when you're, when you're, you know, getting some gas or like you go to the chiropractor and they're like, oh, these next few sessions, like, don't, don't worry about paying for it.
[00:04:52] Zack Oates: It's like, this is such a, uh, a service driven, you know, tight-knit industry and people really care about people in this industry. And so these trenches. Uh, our really cool to get back and really connect with people. And I'm so glad the attendance was up because
[00:05:11] Marcus Viscidi: yeah, no, it's great. I mean, I think you bring up a good point.
[00:05:14] Marcus Viscidi: It is a service-based industry and people really are here to serve. They're here to serve their customers, their employees, their communities. And it's been a hard Brexit months for our industry for conferences and trade shows. And I think, uh, there was an excitement in the air that people could really feel that, you know, things are.
[00:05:33] Marcus Viscidi: Sort of getting back to normal. I don't know what is the new normal, but I think we will see less events in the future, but the events that do happen are going to be more impactful because there's just going to be less opportunities to congregate. And, you know, I just think. Earn a unique position to really serve the industry and in an environment where operators and suppliers can connect.
[00:05:52] Marcus Viscidi: And you know, like you guys do all the great things you do.
[00:05:55] Jen Kern: Well, listen, that's what it all comes back to. At the end of the day, I've been thinking about this a lot. It's like connecting with others and serving others. How can we be of service to the next person in front of us? Whether that's an operator, whether it's a fellow.
[00:06:09] Jen Kern: Person, whether it's immediate company in this space, like how can we help each other out? And that is the foundational fabric of this industry. You're so right. And for me too, I mean, getting those hubs, seeing these people, so many people that we've met over soon, like in the pandemic and never met. We got a chance to meet here.
[00:06:29] Jen Kern: We just met
[00:06:30] Zack Oates: know
[00:06:36] Jen Kern: for me it was phenomena. Like it was really phenomenal, like honestly, and I'm just going off my gut. Like it exceeded my expectations. I think what happened to all of us as humans in the pandemic is we sort of lost our way a little bit. Like, and a lot of us went on very deep journeys to like, you know, a lot of us went through stuff we just did.
[00:07:06] Jen Kern: Um, and so to come out of it and we're all, we're all tentative about. What's it going to be like, How many, do you have? How many people renting a room or wearing a mask? And, you know, I think we're all like vaccinated, whatnot, but it ended up just exceeding expectations. Seeing people, I think I forgot like that energy that who can't make up over a screen, a screen communication is like a transaction.
[00:07:33] Jen Kern: It's not a real in-person thing. So for me getting to see those people to take those relationships to the next level, cause you can build a relationship by risk like we did, but then take it to that next level of Anthony in person. And for us to be able to we'd see each other in person, like it's been almost two years and then all three phone on zoom for the last year.
[00:07:54] Jen Kern: And then again, it's like richer relationships, right? How well,
[00:07:59] Zack Oates: like we sat next to each other dinner last night, that was like four hour dinner. Right. You just can't do that on zoom, but we sit around, there's eight people around the table, you know, for four hours, we're having great conversation and. That connection that they feel like, and this goes beyond obviously, uh, trade shows and the restaurant industry, it goes to like, what do humans want?
[00:08:24] Zack Oates: Right. People want this connection? I think we lost our
[00:08:27] Jen Kern: way. There are a lot of people that are still very tentative.
[00:08:37] Jen Kern: Go ahead. Like get, do you want to try. C like let's stop living off of speed. Do you know what I mean? Like a life run on fear. Oh gosh. I don't mind a life run on clear. It's not a good, like, that's not a good way to live. Like we need to all step back out a little bit. Like how do your
[00:08:55] Marcus Viscidi: comfort zone? I mean, for me, A leap of faith for me for nine years, every 10 days I was getting up plan and go into a concentration.
[00:09:05] Marcus Viscidi: So after 18 months of not doing it, I was a little nervous. You know, I had a little bit of trepidation, but. It's like nothing changed. You know, the community still here, partnerships are there, the energy is there. Um, and I just think, you know, this industry, especially, um, stars for that connection and, you know, to your point, you just can't do it over zoom.
[00:09:25] Marcus Viscidi: You can't do over video calls and as great as we all like that, you can, you can create that base and that foundation. Um, but I do agree that, you know, to move forward in a way that is safe in a way that is equitable and, you know, good for all our businesses and our industries and our communities, um, the best way to do that.
[00:09:44] Jen Kern: So I'd like to hear from both you guys, how you solve for each of your letters. The experience of what happened here at this conference versus I had my own opinion versus pre COVID. How did you see the, like the level of content that was delivered? How did you see how our brands were showing up and looking at and thinking about technology?
[00:10:05] Jen Kern: What changes had did you witness
[00:10:07] Marcus Viscidi: there? Yeah, I mean, from my perspective and content and sponsors, it used to really be. Looking to the past, what are other brands doing? What are they implementing? What are best practices, best stories. And I think what we've really tried to impart, not only in this conference, but with our sponsors is how can we look ahead?
[00:10:27] Marcus Viscidi: What's in the pipeline, what are new companies investing in? What are the things that they should be looking at? What are their blind spots? You know, everyone's business has changed dramatically. Everyone's operators, suppliers, restaurant companies, media companies. And if you're not continuously looking at all aspects of your business, you're going to be forgotten.
[00:10:48] Marcus Viscidi: You're going to be involved in the dust and. What we're seeing from the operators and the reason why they're still coming to these things is because they are forward thinking and there are more nimble and they're making investments and they're changing their models and they're opening new stores and different designs.
[00:11:02] Marcus Viscidi: And that
[00:11:04] Zack Oates: is.
[00:11:06] Marcus Viscidi: Good. That's good. I mean, I think obviously the past 18 months have been devastating. The restaurant industry, a hundred thousand plus locations closed. Uh, but it's also given us a chance to realize that we need to be nimble. We need to be agile. We need to fail fast. We
[00:11:20] Zack Oates: need to try new things.
[00:11:21] Zack Oates: And this is an old school
[00:11:23] Marcus Viscidi: industry. It's slow. It's not as fast moving as retail and direct to consumer. And, you know, it's the brands that embrace that agileness and nimbleness that will, I really think when the consumer share. You know, be the brands that are really successful, but also on the supplier side and the media side, I just think it's forced us to all really look at our businesses in a very different way.
[00:11:44] Zack Oates: I think that as you're looking at the openness to technology right. Of people that are saying, Hey, let's, let's try that. I think there's a, there's so much more willingness to do that. Now. I granted, you know, ovation where we're a startup we've been around for three and a half years. We, so we started, working with a lot of restaurants and really, it was like, what is the lightest weight thing that we can do to just kind of like drop this on top of a restaurant.
[00:12:13] Zack Oates: And that was how people were open to it. And now what I've seen, especially in this conference, the word integration has been used over and over and over again, because it's no longer about. You know, from, from my perspective, you know, three years ago, it was like, oh, I'm taking this guest feedback tool and I put it on top of your restaurant.
[00:12:34] Zack Oates: Right? Well, as it should a step back. And as I looked at, you know, really got more involved in the industry. It was like, that's what everyone is doing. Which means that this restaurant, all of a sudden has all these little things dropped on top of it. And they're like drowning in one thing. And one thing I'm going to go away.
[00:12:52] Zack Oates: And now that they're now what's going on. There's such an openness of integration, right? Like human elevation. We would never even like needed to talk to each other three years ago. And now it's like, no, let's figure out how do we work together? Let's like, make it easy for, uh, for mutual customers. And I think that that's, that's where things are going.
[00:13:13] Zack Oates: It used to be, you know, one company that does it all. Uh, let's go find that because. There wasn't a lot of one-offs that were good enough to really matter. But now that there's, now there's like a lot of different technology that's entering the space. It's like, how do we work together to find the solutions that are going to fit your guests journey?
[00:13:36] Zack Oates: Right. And I think that's been what I've been hearing a lot here. Working working together, the vendors,
[00:13:43] Marcus Viscidi: the, you know,
[00:13:44] Zack Oates: the tech, the partners, the restaurants, the guests let's like put all that together as opposed to look.
[00:13:52] Jen Kern: Yeah. And one thing that, and you're touching on some themes that I heard in my, my favorite, um, breakout was the panel that Donna Joseph's and spoke on with, um, data delivers, I believe.
[00:14:02] Jen Kern: And then a gentleman from Coolgreens and it was all about like guest demands and, and meeting the guests and figuring that out. And they talked about simplicity and convenience. So the integration, I mean, it can get overwhelming I'm sure for operator, it gets very overwhelmed with all of that. Right. But having that openness and that integration, if it's lending towards simplicity and convenience, it's, it's gonna, at the end of the day, be a win.
[00:14:26] Jen Kern: Right. And they talk about that a lot with simplicity. Like that's still very important. And I don't think that was important. Pretend. The simplicity
[00:14:37] Zack Oates: factor. I think there's, there's been, uh, a much bigger shift to less let's adapt with the guest behavior. Right. And let's make it, how do we make it more convenient for the guests?
[00:14:50] Zack Oates: And like, you know, I look at the, uh, you know, I'm very involved obviously in the feedback space. Well, who wants to take a 70 question receipt survey? Like I, I don't know anyone that doesn't, I'm sure. I'm sure there's a great sponsor. And I think that, I think that there there's a way that things have been done and there's a way that things need to be done and going forward.
[00:15:12] Zack Oates: I mean, you're talking about simplicity. With a rep CNC or solvent choice, 16 handles. And we were talking about loyalty, like what, what is loyalty? And I wish that the whole loyalty industry, uh, were renamed data industry because that's really the heart of what a loyalty program is, is it's about gathering data.
[00:15:35] Zack Oates: What is loyalty? That's about, uh, once you have the table stakes of product service and convenience, right? Cause it's gotta be convenient. You know, we were talking about how, if somebody could go to Starbucks or Dunkin for the coffee, and one of the biggest factors is going to be, which one's closer, which was more of the way.
[00:15:54] Zack Oates: Right. So, but that being. Once those three things are there. Then loyalty is about trust. Loyalty is about, do I trust? Do I trust I'm going to have a good experience. Right. Do I trust that as I'm, um, that I'm going to feel safe here and that you're, you know, that you're doing these practices? Do I trust it?
[00:16:17] Zack Oates: As I step out of my car? That I want to walk into your store and it's going to feel like my community. Right. And I think that, um,
[00:16:27] Jen Kern: tech not meeting expectations, that's where one of my guests said, yeah.
[00:16:31] Marcus Viscidi: And I think consumers want to gravitate towards brands that make them feel good about the experience, you know, does the order-taker get my name?
[00:16:40] Marcus Viscidi: Like, do they, you know, welcoming with a smile? Smile and a mask. But I just think as a consumer, in my own personal life, you know, I want to gravitate towards brands with experiences that reward me for my loyalty. Listen to me here. If I have an issue address when issues are coming up and they arise. Um, and those are the brands that are going to get the frequency.
[00:17:03] Marcus Viscidi: Those are the brands that are going to get me to come back and spend more money. And you don't feel good about the experience. And I think everything that we've seen learned over these past few days is that. We've gotta be customer obsessed. I don't
[00:17:16] Jen Kern: think we talked about that enough.
[00:17:18] Marcus Viscidi: We will.
[00:17:22] Jen Kern: I actually talked to a gentleman who was at another conference last week and was all about menu and things like that.
[00:17:27] Jen Kern: And he said that was all focused on. The customer, the flavors and the secret and that, and then he said, he came here and it felt like all like tech up tech up and taking the customer kind of like bit out in the human account. And so I'm curious what some of the other themes are that you guys heard over and over, and we talked about integrations, you know, obviously, you know, obsessing about the customer needs to be,
[00:17:48] Zack Oates: it gives you.
[00:17:52] Zack Oates: Joe's Italian deli, right? Like whatever in Sheboygan. Why is that? Why is that still around? But why, why is it still there? Because Joe's there at the restaurant Joe's connecting with people and the pandemic really hurt because all of a sudden people like, you know, going to the convenience thing, unfortunately, convenience to precedent.
[00:18:15] Zack Oates: And I'm going to order from someplace that has online ordering and then Joe scrambling to get something up. How do you still build that, that, that connection? I think that, especially as people are coming back in and whatever happens in the next, you know, six months year with the pandemic and regulations, it's like, you've got to maintain that, that human connection, uh, in all your channels.
[00:18:40] Zack Oates: Right. Regardless. I think that that's something that good, your point of like technology being customer service. What would you do if that guest in your four walls and how do you, how do you like get that same feeling from the guest when it's not regardless of,
[00:18:59] Marcus Viscidi: yeah. I mean, that was the most interesting thing that I saw and heard from operators.
[00:19:03] Marcus Viscidi: I mean, we're basically where retail was that 10 years ago we have shifted from a straight brick and mortar business to an omni-channel experience. And how do you control that? Digital experience third party, the first part of the catering pickup, and eventually that in-store experience because how do you ingrain hospitality throughout that entire process and experience?
[00:19:25] Marcus Viscidi: And it's exciting. It's exciting. I mean, there's going to be a lot of changes. There's going to be more changes. Um, but I do think there will be some good that
[00:19:31] Zack Oates: comes out all of this. And to your point, like you can't take the humans out of hospitality, you can use technology to augment them, but. You know, we were talking about, um, talking about there's certain kinds of technology that people have put a lot of money to have done.
[00:19:49] Zack Oates: A lot of research on are like really trying to get going with the end of the day. Like humans still want that
[00:19:55] Jen Kern: connection. And yet we still want to take. Yes. And I had one customer here that I talked to on the floor and they were walking around, looking out, and it was the CML here with the CTO and they were walking around together, looking at all these different innovations.
[00:20:10] Jen Kern: And one of the things they were talking about is the robots. And if they could use them successfully or tests using one of those as sort of an entertainment value, And the one of the restaurants to attract the younger generation, you know, and I was like, wow, that's really interesting. That's an interesting use case and thought I thought to test, right.
[00:20:30] Jen Kern: Like, and having a human, like it's not taking the human out, but it's how do we, again, balance and add some of these things and bring them together. Um, but I want to talk about another strength that I noticed, and this is a podcast that started for marketers. We talk obviously about other things and marketing is not an island, obviously.
[00:20:47] Jen Kern: So. There was a trend this year that I noticed over two years ago at 2019, which is there were more marketers at this conference. They talked about in the last, there was actually a session today with CMOs, a panel, um, and the moderator picks it off saying marketing attendance is up. And I heard Marvin, we talked about a lot more, um, as a key part of the equation, you know, obviously I'm a little biased and think it's always been the case.
[00:21:16] Jen Kern: But it definitely has become more front and center and there's a lot more discussion now that discussion we had earlier this morning, I think it got a little heavy around just the data side of it, which I think depending your most swift up slit shift over there for a bit. And you know, like it is a combination of creativity and data needs to be that bad.
[00:21:36] Jen Kern: But what did you guys observe? And that standpoint for the marketers that may be listening, did you see a
[00:21:41] Marcus Viscidi: difference? Yeah. Oh yeah, no. I mean, this event is historically been it finance and operations. And in the past 18 months, you know, we made a much more deliberate effort to try and ramp up the marketing titles, because what we're seeing is these brands and these divisions are commingling ever more than ever before.
[00:21:58] Marcus Viscidi: You know, guest feedback is. A function of it. You know, it's a function of rolling out a product, but what do you do with that feedback and how do you make it? Who Romans, who owns it? How do we make improvements on those feeds? How do you disseminate that feedback? So I think the best thing that I've seen from some of these brands is the silos are breaking down.
[00:22:18] Marcus Viscidi: The walls are breaking down. They have to work together and it just gets back to this whole conversation around partnerships. It comes through working through. Challenges problems, identifying opportunities, identifying issues, and realizing that, you know, it takes a village and you can't do it on your own.
[00:22:35] Marcus Viscidi: And you've got to work with your division, your coworkers, your colleagues, you got to do it through integrations with your tech providers. Um, because again, you gotta be customer obsessed and they're the ones who are going to dictate and determine, you know, what type of brand experience they want. It all comes back to feedback.
[00:22:56] Zack Oates: But I think that when you think about marketing, right, there's marketing is about, uh, it's so much more than just getting more, getting new people in the door, right? It's about what do they see where they're going? I started off my career at a marketing agency, integrated marketing communications agency.
[00:23:11] Zack Oates: And so when, when we worked with Dunkin donuts, one of the things that we did was they don't have a good, how do we get more customers back in? And we said, well, we need to update your policy about. And they were like, or when, when, uh, king did the 50th anniversary of the Whopper, they painted the parking lot lines, right.
[00:23:32] Zack Oates: They use part of their marketing budget to paint, parking lot lights, because we need to realize that everything communicates. Yeah, it really does. I think that when you take that step back and you realize, okay, this is the brand that someone is getting on the website, it's like, okay, that's cool. But then when I get the packaging and it's like different packaging, or it's just like a brown paper bag and it's like, well, why am I having to, why is this a different experience?
[00:23:59] Zack Oates: And I think that marketing, um, there, CJ Ramirez with doghouse, like incredible guy, and one of the things that doghouse does, they have some. Mark operations, where they realize that it's not about the opposite. It's not about the Martin. How did you disseminate it? You put it together, right. And you make sure that those two things are equal on.
[00:24:21] Zack Oates: If, if I'm saying, Hey, we have a really healthy dog food. And then when the consumer buys Sharina and they go
[00:24:32] Zack Oates: and they go home and they look at the ingredients, then it's like, oh, why is there aluminum in this? Like, you know, you have to, you have to marry those two things together. Because to the guest lead, you realize is there's not online guests, there's not drive-through guests, there's not in-person guests.
[00:24:48] Zack Oates: There are guests and I will have the experience that I want to have at the time. I want to have it as the guests and what the brain needs to do is make sure that everything is in sync. And so I'm really glad that marketing. No ramped up the voice because it's so easy to
[00:25:05] Jen Kern: keep ramping up. You guys have to help me keep ramming.
[00:25:07] Jen Kern: Yeah. Yeah. Cause they sat on that panel this morning. One of the, one of the women who spoke to see him, I said it used to be, she didn't say arts and crafts, but like colors and pictures is what, what they thought marketing was, you know, three pandemic, colors and pictures, pretty fast. And, you know, graphics on the website, right?
[00:25:26] Jen Kern: So it's, it's a lot more than that. And, um, I think that coming into the. Event like this is really exciting, pivot it. And hopefully it'll just go off
[00:25:38] Marcus Viscidi: from here, right? Yeah. No, that's the goal. I think to your point, you know, it's much more than just what's the brand name, what is the science look like?
[00:25:45] Marcus Viscidi: What's the website look like? It's that entire customer holistic experience. And so
[00:25:53] Zack Oates: I have a
[00:25:54] Marcus Viscidi: question for you. What can we do to improve on for future years? Cause I always get good feedback, honest feedback from Jack. Very honest. What can we do to make you guys feel more comfortable, feel safe, feel like this is worth your time and resources.
[00:26:13] Marcus Viscidi: Um, you know, because we try to be as close as possible as well.
[00:26:19] Zack Oates: Uh, I think that personally, I felt that. Very safe at this event. Um, I dunno, we have these green wristbands and it was like, you need to go through a security check to make sure that that everything was tested or yeah. Right. And you always like this.
[00:26:41] Zack Oates: Um, this was great. And I feel like the, the whole concept of like, look, you have to be back to. Or here's, here's an alternate route. I think that, that makes a lot of sense. Um, and then politics aside, it's like the people who, you know, don't want to get vaccinated, they don't really, they don't care if you're vaccinated, the people who really do the care, the feeling do get vaccinated.
[00:27:09] Zack Oates: I really care about that. They really do care it vaccinated. And so it's a matter of like, all right, then why don't we just go to the, get back to get the grout. It's going to, you know, the one world care, the other does care and so great. Right. But I didn't see a lot of people still with masks who were vaccinated and that's, that's totally fine.
[00:27:27] Zack Oates: Like there's nothing. Um, I'm not, uh, all I'm saying is that I felt like this was, you guys handled that really well. In terms of what can be better. I mean, I think that, uh, as a vendor, there's a lot of sessions that I can get to attend because you know, I'm still down there. Right. I don't. And, uh, and I get that.
[00:27:48] Zack Oates: You want to keep the, the vendor count. I would've loved to have like one more person to enjoy some of the sessions.
[00:28:13] Zack Oates: Did you have
[00:28:17] Jen Kern: a balance? Like I was saying, the tech has done this fairly well. Like you wanted to keep a balance and not have it be too, because the brands don't want to come here and be swapped. They say they are a lot of times there's just too many partners or supply. And I just do, but because I'm not a machine and we don't sell something that you can buy a machine.
[00:28:37] Jen Kern: So, I mean, it's like, I think keeping that back. Working on, I know these guys, they lost a lot of money and the fact that they couldn't afford it to like go cheap. I mean, anyway, so not to jump on the defendant and Marcus knows, I usually have a lot of feedback and pretty opinionated feedback. And for me to start out saying like, I think it exceeded my expectations is a big kudos to your whole team.
[00:29:03] Jen Kern: Um, I think, I mean, there's several things that I. Went better than expected. Like I think people felt relatively safe. I noticed that people do what they need to do to feel safe and that's. Um, I think it's a pay to play industry. Sure. And so I think that affects the content and I think the content and I think us staying true to educating people and staying on that cutting edge.
[00:29:28] Jen Kern: Like you talked about earlier on like, what is in the future, staying that step had done and talked about that. Like we're all now more focused on what's what's the future and what's next and how can we get to what's next? And we're implementing faster. We'd like so many good things have come at. Yeah.
[00:29:43] Jen Kern: But how do we keep pushing the envelope with really good content and really bringing some of the young and up and comers, whether it's the CEOs of new tech companies I was talking to, you know, lunchbox big is a big deal. You know, these guys and, you know, bringing some more diversity to it. I know you try to do that, Marcus, but I mean, I sat.
[00:30:06] Jen Kern: Almost three hours. And I heard one woman speaking with a three hour time period. And for me, and I shared that as a woman, like, it's not about, are you guys, girl, are you a scholar? That, to me, it's about who resonates with you for me? When I hear women speak, I just listen a little bit. And just having that, you know, juxtaposition of different voices to it just keeps things more library, keeping that energy.
[00:30:29] Jen Kern: Um, listen, there's, you know, there's new people coming into the industry and like let's frontline. Some of that, like how can we get, you know, you have to make money. We need to keep on the paper play model, but can we bring up some other new ideas and new thinking into how you guys organize these? Who you really putting up down stage, you know, who's speaking and who's delivering on that content.
[00:30:52] Jen Kern: I think there's always going to be room for improvement there. So I'd like to see you guys, like not sitting on your laurels and really challenging yourself to also do things differently. And we talked about riding this wave of change. Like how are we staying on top of this wave of all of us staying on top of this wave of change without the such a good metaphor for our industry.
[00:31:10] Jen Kern: Like not drowning, we're going to crash a couple of times. We're going to get back on the floor. We get back in the ocean. You gonna ride the next. Yeah. And like, I believe RDD not service for the industry is to stay on top of that way. Help the restaurants, right. Girl, the headway for crack, right. For the next crash crashes,
[00:31:28] Marcus Viscidi: you know?
[00:31:32] Marcus Viscidi: In all aspects of our business, you know, we've got up number one, obviously producing an event where people feel safe and feel comfortable, but you're right. We all should be pushing the envelope. We all should. And trying things and testing and iterating and family faster. And we're grateful for what we've been through.
[00:31:48] Marcus Viscidi: But I do think we, as a company, way more than we'll way more agile way, we're willing to try things and new things. And, um, you know, I think that's just really whatever.
So we've talked a lot about the changing industry. We've talked a lot about like the event coming back to your first live person, events, people in person, which has been oh, snow sweets and, you know, website delivering a great, uh, a great show for coming out of a pandemic and all of us not being used to join us in everyone being a little bit uncomfortable.
[00:33:48] Jen Kern: And so as we now get ready to go back to our zoo, And our home offices and our home offices. Um, what are your thoughts? What are your closing thoughts? What do you what's, what's going to stick with you through the next week, as you transitioned back into it from, from these last 36 hours.
[00:34:07] Zack Oates: So first of all, like boy bands and QR codes,
[00:34:17] Zack Oates: I think that there's, there's an awesome opportunity here too. Uh, I'm excited about the next events are going to right. I mean, I've got probably an event every other week for the rest of the year, and I'm excited about that. I think there's a safe way to do it. I think you guys did a great job with that.
[00:34:34] Zack Oates: And I think that, you know, it's all, it's all about end of the day, everything is about the guest experience, everything that's, that's why the food, it's all about the guest experience. We in this case are part of your guests. Right? And I think that, um, my experience, the show was awesome. I think I'm excited about the future.
[00:34:57] Zack Oates: I'm excited by technology. I feel bullish about what's 20, 22. We get a brain. I think that, you know, when you look at the economy, as you look at the job market, as you look at what's happening in the restaurant and tech, I feel like there's a lot of this, this confluence of, of energy, and going back to the very beginning.
[00:35:17] Zack Oates: There is a surge of need for like this, this interaction as the ability to, you know, in the words of the famous Neil diamond hands, touch your hands. That's what the world
[00:35:32] Marcus Viscidi: that's good. Yeah. Uh, for me, it's two things gratitude. And so I'm just grateful that you guys are supporting us. Trusting us partnering with us, working with us, investing in us, um, that we were able to do this safely able to congregate.
[00:35:50] Marcus Viscidi: Um, obviously there are a lot of challenges and headwinds and obstacles, but I think my team and company has navigated them wonderfully and just very grateful that we're at this exact moment in points and I'm optimistic, you know, I think, um, It's been tough. It's been tough for a lot of reasons and for a lot of different scenarios, but, um, I'm hopeful.
[00:36:10] Marcus Viscidi: I'm excited for the future. I'm optimistic that things are going to continue to get better at. Um, I would never bet outlaw the restaurant constraint. I've never bet against it. So I'm, I'm a believer in it. I love it. I'm passionate about it. And, uh, I'm excited for the future. That's
[00:36:26] Jen Kern: such a great way to close.
[00:36:28] Jen Kern: I mean, I love what both of you guys just said, and he gave me a lot of encouragement as they're saying that. I mean, I think going back to leading into believing in ourselves, I'm trying to temper the fear mentality, right? Like trying to push that down on ourselves and stepping out a little bit, staying open and staying open to that innovation.
[00:36:47] Jen Kern: But the excitement that you shared Zack around, like, yeah, there are a lot of shows. We have like five shows at the end of the year. There are a bunch there's like a lot of more shows. And so for our listeners, please go ahead and consider getting out to a show. If you need help, getting to a show, reach out to me, reach out to Zach, reach out to Marcus.
[00:37:04] Jen Kern: We can help. You can help you get passes. We can tell you about our experience here at Fs tech and down. We can help you walk through it. Like we want to walk through this together and we do want to come out stronger and we are coming out stronger and I do believe we will come out stronger. So, um, I'd like to thank everybody guests here for a very impromptu live first ever apply task in person.
[00:37:27] Jen Kern: And it's a great way to culminate. And our first in-person
[00:37:30] Marcus Viscidi: show.
[00:37:35] Marcus Viscidi: September 19th
[00:37:43] Zack Oates: or whatever. Tell me about this place,
[00:37:50] Marcus Viscidi: but there's also a waterpark.
[00:37:59] Jen Kern: Yeah, getting in lots of steps,
[00:38:04] Jen Kern: but anyway, thanks everyone. Thanks for listening. Love you all. Stay safe. Stay believers in the restaurant industry, and we will continue to prevail. So have a wonderful day. Peace out.