Ben Leventhal’s impact on the restaurant business can not be overstated. The serial founder successfully launched (and exited) restaurant editorial network Eater and reservations service Resy. Now he’s back with Blackbird, a loyalty and payments platform for the restaurant industry. In this episode we talk about evolving restaurant loyalty, the so-called “reservations wars” and, of course, some really great restaurants.
Big reservations news from American Express this week: this summer, restaurants on Tock will transition to Resy, marking the end of the Tock brand. On the first Simmer episode with a second-time guest, Pablo Rivero, Resy CEO / SVP and Head of Amex global dining, talks us through what’s changing at Resy — and what’s not.
It’s been a minute (actually, years) since ghost kitchens and virtual brands dominated conversations about restaurant delivery. While those businesses have largely fallen out of view (with a few notable exceptions), restaurants still need a viable digital strategy. In this episode, we talk to Maxx Freedman, founder of Spice, a growth and marketing agency for restaurants, about what restaurants are asking for — and what they need — now.
In this special edition of The Simmer, Kristen and Brandon talk through that viral Reddit delivery post (and its aftermath), look back on what they got wrong (and right!) about 2025, and offer a few thoughts on the year ahead.
It’s a good time to be a chicken chain. New concepts are taking off and legacy brands, like the 50-year-old El Pollo Loco, are poised for serious growth. The fire-grilled chicken brand, currently open in eight states, is planning a larger expansion. In this episode, Jill Adams, the brand’s chief marketer, talks customer expectations, AI for better and more efficient marketing efforts, and why she’s optimistic restaurants will have a good 2026.
It’s been almost a decade since Avi Goren launched Marqii to help restaurants get found on the internet. That challenge remains, but search and discovery methods and technology have changed… a lot. In this episode, we talk about discovery in the age of generative AI and the continued challenge of reputation management for restaurants.
Longtime restaurant exec and OpenTable advisory board member Chris DeSaye knows the bookings business as well as anyone and has a clear view of what comes next. In this episode, we talk DoorDash, artificial intelligence, and, of course, the always-evolving reservations biz.
Rachael Nemeth runs a technology company, but she thinks like a hospitalitarian. Opus Training is a training operating system designed for multi-unit restaurants, helping empower front-line restaurant workers, including managers. In this episode, we talk about modern restaurant training, AI, and why the human touch is still supreme, even if the bots are helping.
Elizabeth Tilton started her career cooking in New Orleans before moving to join the marketing team at Momofuku in New York City. Years later, she’s translated that back-of-house experience to her own consultancy, Oyster Sunday, which acts as a back office for restaurants across the country. That led to a second company, OS Benefits, which provides ACA-compliant health insurance and wellness benefits to independent hospitality businesses across the country. In this episode we talk through all th...
Former restaurant executives make great restaurant technology executives. Why? They’ve seen the full picture. Before Justin Falciola joined Deliverect, he was a prospect, spending years working in tech at Papa John’s and later CKE Restaurants, parent company of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s. In this episode, we talk pizza, drive-thrus, AI, and new opportunities — plus, of course, DoorDash’s big reservations news!
Eli Feldman runs Shy Bird, a restaurant with three locations in Boston. He’s also a tech early adopter and excited (and curious!) about how AI can reshape restaurants. In this episode, we talk about Eli’s recent AI hackathon for restaurants, what tools he finds especially useful, and how we might all reimagine the future of restaurants.
It’s a Kristen-and-Brandon summer special! The Simmer checks in on what Brandon dubs “reservation wars 3.0” as the biggest restaurant tech companies in the space — reservations and beyond — choose sides. In this episode we talk DoorDash, SevenRooms, Uber, OpenTable, Toast, Resy, Tock and more. The Simmer will return after Labor Day with more industry guests and insight.
Restaurant catering — and the tech that powers it — is hot, hot, hot. At nearly 20 years old, ezCater is poised to take advantage of the renewed interest from office workers and the restaurants that serve them. In this episode we talk about the evolution of catering, the tech that supports it, and why a little reassurance and hand-holding goes a long way with corporate clients.
Before Rob Edell was DoorDash’s head of DashPass, he was a restaurant tech founder building a business he eventually sold to Resy. Rob joined DoorDash years before it became the market leader it is today, and after almost a decade of the company, he’s had a front row seat to the evolving restaurant business. In this episode, we talk about DoorDash’s growth and evolution, how DashPass encourages loyalty, and what’s coming next.
Ilir Sela has been helping local pizzerias with purpose-built tech for over a decade. Slice got its start as an online ordering platform for independent pizzerias and now offers much more: Point of sale, loyalty, delivery, and even supply chain support, printing custom pizza boxes and delivering them to customers. In this episode, we talk about first-party and third-party delivery, the newest crop of ovens, and (of course!) what makes really great pizza.
In this pre-recorded summer special, Kristen and Brandon ask Fred to predict the future. Lucky for us, he’s good at it. In this episode, we talk about the current state of casual dining (tl;dr: Chili’s is killing it), all those restaurant bankruptcies, and the importance of making an emotional connection with diners.
We’re deep in an (unintentional) point of sale system theme at The Simmer. This week, Toast’s chief marketer Kelly Esten joins us to talk enterprise restaurants, artificial intelligence, and maybe accidentally perpetuate a rumor that Brandon really wants to be true.
Brandon got stuck on a plane, so Kristen flies solo in this interview with Square’s top marketer, Lindsey Irivine. In this episode, we talk about big marketing initiatives and activations, and how Square sees itself as both a restaurant and consumer brand. Plus, Lindsey shares details of Square’s new San Francisco corner store, a consumer and small business play all in one.
Fiserv recently unveiled a new point of sale system designed to serve “upper market restaurants,” or restaurants that do more than $1 million in processing volume annually, according to Fiserv head of restaurants, Krystle Mobayeni. Krystle, also the co-founder and CEO of BentoBox, a restaurant technology company acquired by Fiserv in 2021, joins The Simmer to talk reservations, point of sale systems, and what Fiserv’s brand new POS, dubbed Clover Hospitality, offers restaurants.
It’s our first emergency podcast! On Tuesday, the biggest day for the restaurant technology business in years, a string of major announcements had our heads spinning. But one piece of news stands out: DoorDash plans to acquire reservations and customer relationship management service SevenRooms for $1.2 billion. What does it mean? Listen as Brandon and Kristen work it out in real time.
Is the POS dying? What even is a modern point of sale? Can it shed its old image and become what it always wanted to be: the true hub of modern restaurant operations? Niko Papademetriou runs sales and business development at Qu, a point of sale system that’s thinking through what the true future for restaurants looks like. In this episode, we talk POS (a lot); restaurant work, and the tools operators can access now that were just a dream a decade ago.
Tammy Billings has worked in marketing and biz dev for decades and has plenty of experience with restaurant technology. In this far-ranging conversation, we talk about the past, present, and future of the industry. Plus: Want to get Kristen fired up? Talk about ethics in podcasting.
Suzie Tsai spent over a decade at restaurant powerhouse Brinker International, leading programs that included Chili’s white-hot beverage business, before landing the top role at Bonchon. In this episode, Suzie explains how a concept that launched (and then failed) in South Korea has found its footing in the US, growing over two decades. But this growth isn’t without challenges; Bonchon’s restaurants range from seated full service to kiosk-friendly fast casual, leading to tough choices about how ...
Kernel made a splash when it opened its first New York City restaurant in early 2024. The then-vegan restaurant’s star employee was a robotic arm tasked with moving food in and out of the oven, assisting human workers by handling much of the heavy lifting. But the robot, along with Kernel’s name and one-time signature green paint in stores, have been retired. Instead, Kernel Foods is working on a new sandwich concept: Counter Service. Chief operating officer Tom Cortese, also a co-founder of hit...
This episode starts with a lawsuit and an upset: Uber sues DoorDash in San Francisco, and New York Magazine declares all the cool restaurants are on OpenTable now. The drama! (Kind of.) Then, Michael Osanloo, president and CEO of Portillo’s — now a fast-growing, publicly traded restaurant company — joins the Simmer to talk marketing, loyalty, third-party delivery, and Chicago street food.
We’re back on the restaurant loyalty beat this week with Abhinav Kapur, who’s led Bikky for nearly a decade. In this episode, we talk about developing loyal diners, email (and text!) marketing, and “tendies” from a new KFC spinoff, whatever those are.
Finally, Resy CEO Pablo Rivero joins The Simmer, completing our trifecta of interviews with leaders of the country’s largest reservations providers. In his role as SVP of global dining, he also oversees Tock, the reservations and ticketing platform Amex acquired last year for $400 million. It was a smart acquisition: American Express cardholders spent a staggering $100 billion (!!!) on dining in 2023. In this episode, we discuss artificial intelligence, bots, exclusivity, and the future of the r...
Zach Goldstein is optimistic about the year ahead for restaurants. As founder and CEO of Thanx, a leading guest engagement platform for restaurants, Zach is known for his honest and sometimes provocative takes on the future of the industry. In this episode, we tackle hot topics in restaurant loyalty including personalization, advertising, guest retention, and AI.
Here’s something different: for the first time, Kristen and Brandon aren’t hosting a guest on The Simmer. Instead, we’re talking trends — good, bad, and ugly — that continue to shape restaurants. In this episode we talk about restaurant tech consolidation, restaurant robotics, and what a new US administration might mean for restaurants and the people who work in them. Thanks for helping to make 2024 a success for The Simmer, see you next year!
Wow Bao started two decades ago as a brick-and-mortar restaurant in Chicago. Since then, it’s grown through modern channels like vending machines, deals with airports and sports stadiums, ghost kitchens, and frozen, packaged goods in grocery stores. In this episode, Geoff talks about his tech philosophy (tl;dr: it’s good to be first!), Wow Bao’s growth over time, and the challenges of selling one brand in lots of places.
