May 8, 2024 • 22 mins
Preferabli is a pioneer in sensorial AI for wine, spirits and food. Pam Dillon, Co-founder and CEO, tells the story of why Preferabli was built and how the patented software works like a human expert at scale. Dillon explains how the software helps retail and hospitality businesses provide truly personalized discovery and recommendations, one person at a time. Dillon shares how consumers can use the Preferabli app to learn the nature of their own individual preferences. https://preferabli.com
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The Connected Table is broadcast live Wednesdays at 2PM ET and Music on W4CY Radio (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com).
(Show Name) Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:03):
Welcome to the Connected Table SIPs oniHeartRadio. We are your insatiably curious culinary
couple, Melanie Young and David Ransom. We bring you the dynamic people who
are front and center and behind thescenes in food, wine, spirits,
and hospitality. Ours is a deliciouslife and we want to share it with
(00:23):
you. Artificial intelligence, in short, AI is a buzzword throughout many businesses,
including the wine industry. You mayhave heard or read stories about wine
businesses embracing AI to streamline finance andmarketing and viticultural production. Well. AI
(00:45):
is also being used to help retailand hospitality businesses better serve their customers.
Joining us on the Connected Table SIPsto discuss how sensorial AI is helping wine
and spirits businesses is Pam Dylan,co founder and CEO of Preferably, the
leading B to B and B twoC product discovery and recommendation software for wine,
(01:10):
spirits and food. Pam has overtwenty five years of experience in technology
focused on the retail and hospitality industries. A named inventor on eleven patents,
she was honored by Goldman Sachs isone of the one hundred most Intriguing Entrepreneurs
and by venture Beat as an AIEntrepreneur nominee. Pam Welcome Our pathsive crossed
(01:34):
a number of times in the wineindustry. Congratulations on your latest venture.
Preferably, Thank you so in theexploding AI world, Where does preferably fit
in and how does it work?So? Preferably is a software platform.
Our business model is with enterprises,with those in the wine and spirits industries,
(01:57):
across specialty retail, grocery, retail, travel, hospitality, distribution,
any kind of consumer platform. Ourservice to the industry is product discovery and
recommendations. We do have a consumerapplication. It's free to consumers. We
originally released it to be able toexplain to businesses how AI can work for
(02:23):
wine and for spirits, and overtime it's gotten a following all its own.
It's now being used in seventy countriesactively around the world, and we're
able to get a real line ofsight on the nature of human preference and
wine and spirits across the world.It's been a very exciting endeavor. Well,
we spent a lot of time onthe app just free and we did
(02:45):
the consumer free part, and youhave a lot of human intelligence to work
on artificial intelligence. The team isfilled with PhDs, masters som liais,
masters of wine, very impressive.Many we knew why the name preferably what
is it meant to evoke? Well, we were formerly known as Winering when
(03:07):
we started about ten years ago,when artificial intelligence AI was really the bastion
of academics. AI has been aroundsince the end of World War Two,
but really really in very deep developmentwith mathematicians and scientists, and my co
founder Andrew Susman and I realized inworking together about fifteen years ago, very
(03:30):
very shortly after the first iPhone wasreleased, that software that could work in
a smartphone hardware walking around wherever youwere was going to be a really really
powerful element of how people were goingto live and making living better. And
so from our very earliest days weimagined software that could work like a human
(03:53):
expert. This was before AI wasa thing. We started writing our first
patent years ago. We now haveeleven patents in the field of artificial intelligence.
And the whole idea from the verybeginning was software that behaved like a
human expert, initially in wine andthen across spirits, but always with this
(04:14):
idea that if you could make itwork for the most complex consumer products on
planet Earth, which our research hasshown live in the wine and spirits industry,
then it could work really across anyconsumer product, any product that requires
a sense that goes beyond site andbeyond sound. And what's really interesting with
(04:35):
taste, smell, touch is thatyou can work across wine, across spirits,
across beers, across really any sensorialproduct and connect all of those dots.
So when we started, well,if we were going to write code
that behaved like a human expert,we certainly had to have human experts.
(04:58):
So very very early on, sittingwith our lead masters of wine, master
Samalias, and we asked them todo something that was both super fun and
super crazy, which was to tastethrough the entire world of wine and spirits
one at a time. And theidea was to capture the presence in the
absence of over eight hundred different characteristics, and then our algorithms would be able
(05:26):
to take those characteristics and understand thenature of human preference really easily in dialogue
with the consumer. It was simplya matter of tasting something, telling us
if you liked it or not.Love like so so dislike is the categories
that we use, and then thealgorithm would use the combinations of all those
(05:46):
characteristics together to be able to predictthose wines and spirits that you would love
the most. And so that wasthe idea from the very beginning. And
that's really how you described and sorialartificial intelligence. It's enveloping the senses to
create customization for consumers or B tob you know, with that in mind,
(06:11):
as we know, it has beenwidely reported that wine consumption has been
on the decline. Younger generations aregoing to seltzers and other kinds of products.
Do you think preferably could help addressthat issue and bring consumers back and
in what way? Absolutely? Firstof all, our software is impartial.
(06:34):
It's impartial wine to wine, Spiritto spirit, RTD cell seor or to
Seltzer. Our goal is to findwhat you're going to love, wherever it
is across the industry. What's reallyimportant as to how we can help consumers
(06:55):
rediscover their love for wines is tomeet them on their terms. I think
that the industry has been well shallwe say, talking to itself now for
many generations, and I think consumerstoday are far less interested in having a
dialogue like that, and they're showingtheir displeasure with their wallets the most fundamental
(07:18):
way that they can do that.Just as we it preferably taste through each
wine, spirit beer RTD one ata time, we evaluate individual consumer preferences
one at a time. So mostpeople would be familiar with crowdsourcing popularity contests
(07:38):
around lines. So if all ofthese people love this one line, that
means you should too. Our premiseis one hundred and eighty degrees away from
that. Our premise is that yourpreferences are singular. And indeed, with
all of the consumer users that wehave both in our consumer app and on
(08:01):
behalf of the businesses that we serve, we're looking at tens and tens of
millions of consumer users. We havenever seen the exact same profile twice.
So when we say that each personis truly an individual, truly singular,
that is the data speaking and sobeing able to capture individual preference in this
(08:22):
way, one person at a timeis what creates the opening. Because there
are about a million lines in theworld extant at any given point, Really,
is there not one you're going tolove? Are there not ten?
Or one hundred or one thousand,or even ten thousand, and our software
connects you with those wines, speersand spirits that you will love. So
(08:43):
I think the door is opening upwide now with enterprises, with businesses to
re welcome in consumers and to welcomethem in on their terms, which is
what are they going to like,not what does the crowd say that they
should like. We went on andwe looked for wines that we knew,
and what's interesting, preferably is youcan go in, you can rate your
(09:05):
wine. You can also look whereto buy it. So let's take it
to how it helps the retailers linkthose curious consumers, because we agree it
is overwhelming for many consumers. Wewatch consumers at the grocery store where it's
the same wines everywhere we travel,and I want to go up to all
of them and help them because theyall look have that same lost look on
(09:26):
their face. How does preferably thenconnect the consumer with the retailer and help
both ends, whether it's retail specialtyretail, grocery retail or hospitality travel restaurants,
hotels. There are two basic areasthat we can help enterprises businesses.
(09:48):
So that they can help their shopperstheir guests. So the first basic way
that we do that is all ofthat rich content asters of wine, master
smels, tasting through the entire worldof wine and spirits. Because someone's got
to do it. All of thatcontent up to eight hundred characteristics can then
(10:09):
be used to describe a given wineor spirit. So if we look at
a retail platform, for example,when a shopper goes to an e commerce
page or when they're in a storeand they use a QR code with our
web app, they can get allthe information about a given wine or spirit
(10:31):
very very easily, and it's comingfrom a data source that's trusted, that's
impartial. It's not about somebody else'sopinions. It's just as an absolute matter,
what does this actually taste like?And when you come down to it,
those are the things that people reallycare about. They can make judgments
as to whether or not they wantsomething crisp, they can make judgments as
to whether or not they want somethingearthy. Just tell them what's inside the
(10:54):
bottle. Because the labels aren't doingit. There's no shelf talker that's doing
it, there's no other source that'sdoing it, and they're certainly not doing
it with the accuracy, the impartiality, and the consistency that we're doing it.
So that is a way that doesn'trequire any shopper information, It doesn't
require a rating, it doesn't requireany purchase history, and that works of
(11:16):
course on premise as well with restaurantsand hotels. If you want to sauce
it up a bit, though,then the consumer application, which is keeping
track of the things that you've likedand as importantly the things that you haven't
liked, because remember the algorithm reachesfor both. So if you want that
kind of personal dialogue, you canhave it, and you can have it
(11:37):
either using your ratings or using someother source, say your purchase history or
your search history. We can takeany kind of group of information on behalf
of enterprises or for that matter,consumers, and we can rationalize it in
the context of then truly personalized recommendations. And these are not, you know,
crowdsourced opinions. This is just basedupon what you've liked, what you've
(12:01):
bought, whatever you want us toconsider, we make those recommendations. So
there are a whole series of waysthen we can do that on premise as
well in a restaurant setting or ahotel setting, as well as in an
e commerce aren on within a store, within a retail or a grocery store.
So I am with you in termsof watching people either in a store
(12:22):
or with that list, you know, the sort of we all know that
thud, you know, with ithitting the table or it's always being passed
to one person, as if thatperson somehow can sort of, you know,
come down from on high and sortof tell you all what you should
be drinking. You know, thisis a very different approach. This is
a very different approach, It reallyis. Many have expressed concerned that AI
(12:46):
could replace human jobs, especially inthe restaurant industry, where some lia's kind
of are walking a tightrope these days, because there are many restaurants that have
started to do away with some lia's. What's your take on this? Here's
my I owed to Somalia's. AIcannot replace you. We will never replace
the stories, the table side manner, the excitement where you've traveled, what
(13:11):
wine regions, what you've tasted,what you've smelled, what it was like
meeting those winemakers. We will neverreplace that, at least as I see
it in my lifetime. This isan experience. This is very, very
different from the nature of what softwaredoes. What software does is it extends
(13:33):
this expertise. It makes it somuch better, so much more efficient for
a smallie to come to your tableknowing you know your Pam Dylan, and
I can see that you've been drinkinga lot of wines from saying northeastern Italy
recently, or tell me where you'vebeen drinking wines, or tell me the
(13:56):
kinds of wines that you're digging thesedays, Pandela and I will tell you
I am digging textured whites. Iam loving textured whites. All of a
sudden, the dialogue becomes completely different. It can be enhanced in the context
of using our software. And let'ssay you're a consumer that doesn't really know
how to describe it what you're tasting, because even experts struggle to enunciate what
(14:22):
it is they like and what theydon't like. And software just provides that
platform. It provides that point ofdeparture for a conversation, and it allows
the samaalia to come to a tableto properly assist in the most efficient way
possible. And I think people likethat as well as the somalia liking that,
making it very very efficient. Butultimately the storyline, the experience.
(14:46):
That's how I felt for wine.I fell for wine table side where someone
described where they went, how theyfound the line. When it comes to
that, that's it small as Iam not here to replace you. I'm
here to make what you do faster, easier, and more enjoyable. Well
let's talk about that. And firstof all, that's good to hear because
that storytelling and that human touch shouldnever be replaced, whether you're a somier
(15:09):
or a journalist or anyone. Butlet's get to the nuts and bolts.
The consumer active is free, butpreferably also makes money licensing its intelligence to
hospitality businesses. So why don't yougive an example of how that works for
let's say a restaurant business. Sowe have a whole group of different solutions,
(15:35):
modules different ways to put together theexperience that the hospitality platform, the
restaurant or even you know, somebodyin retail whatever they want to create.
And so we start by asking wherethey are in building their business, what
are their strategic objectives, what aretheir guests looking for? Because ultimately,
(15:56):
good businesses are where you can helpyour clients do what they want to do,
so that's where we start most ofthe time. Within hospitality, we
start with a very very simple application. So there's a QR code that sits
printed on a wine list, orit could be on the table. It
(16:17):
depends upon the nature of the concept. Some concepts very elegant and so you
want to keep it very low keyon the list. Others are much more
wine spirits forward and they want toreally present it to their guests, and
so the guest snaps a QR codeand they go to a hosted web app
so it doesn't require anything download.This is just like you're looking at a
(16:38):
menu, but instead of just lookingat the menu with no direction, there
are a bunch of different ways tointeract. So the main way that people
interact is I'm looking for red orwhite. I'm looking for this price point.
I'm looking for it to have thesetaste characteristics. This is what I
want it to taste like. Ifthey want to have it paired with something
on the menu, certainly we cando that. But really, when it
(17:00):
comes down to it, the threethings that we find people are most focused
on is just the basics, redwhite, roset, sparkling, fortified spirit
price. They want to know whatthey're in for and then ultimately what does
it taste like? Because that isthe one thing. Like I can order
a steak on the venue, Iknow a steak is going to taste like
I can order sabin on the menu. I know what it's going to taste
(17:21):
like. But do I really reallyknow what this particular sordinay from Burgundy is
going to taste like? I probablydon't. So this is how we can
really help people. And so youlicense intelligence to businesses, which creates some
efficiencies for the sonia when they're workingwith their customers, because time is of
the essence when you're serving customers aswell. Exactly turning tables is really important
(17:45):
for the hospitality trade. And evenas a guest, you don't want your
time at the table to be takenup by the administrative stuff. You don't
want it to take a long timeto do things that you consider to be
utilitarians. So ultimately, the hospitalityplatforms that we're working with are looking for
true personalization. Though, so Melaniewalk in and you're connected to preferably the
(18:10):
hospitality platform is connected to preferably,and we know that you just had this
fabulous textured white with Pamdyllan, andso guess what, We've got something for
you. And that way, theSmilia comes to the table and can have
a conversation in a very very differentway. That's how it gets exciting,
and that's how the efficiency becomes trulya personalized experience. And that's really what
(18:34):
we're trying to do, is we'retrying to cut through all the utilitarian stuff
so that the experience can be enjoyedpretty fascinating. Pam, what's your long
term vision for preferably? Our longterm vision is to connect really across the
world of specialty retail, grocery,retail, travel, hospitality, throughout the
(18:56):
supply chain, through the prism ofpreference, individual taste preference. There are
certainly other things that are always importantand they're all part of our software platform,
but ultimately the vision is to connectpeople to whatever they're going to love,
whether it comes down the road orhalf a world away. That is
(19:18):
the vision Sensorial AI. All elevenof our patents were granted in the context
of going beyond wine, going beyondwine and spirits, really going beyond those
things and crossing over the nature ofpreferences because the old factory system your sense
of smell and taste, your senseof touch. Even with wine people,
(19:41):
wait, it's not just textured whites. It's also you know, champagne or
heavier, lighter bodied wines, crispwines that really cut through your tongue.
You know, the nature of feel. All of this is really important.
What other areas are you there forthe asking? Well, certainly cheese is
one of them, and all offood because we work with grocery retailers and
hospitality platforms with nature of all oftheir menu items. So this is where
(20:06):
we live, we work, welove with respect to since oial Ai.
It's an area we created, it'san idea we created, and we're very
excited to be bringing it to marketafter many years of very long hard work
where nobody knew what AI was andwhat we were doing. Well, as
we said at the beginning of thisconversation, you have gathered together a very
impressive team. Any of them weknow of master som Ways and masters of
(20:30):
wine to work with you. Well, as we said, there's a lot
of human intelligence behind artificial intelligence.So it's an exploding industry. We love
learning about it and we really enjoyedthis conversation with you. So where can
our listeners learn more about Preferably andsign up and the consumer in or the
business in to learn about the licensingPreferably dot com is our site for businesses.
(20:52):
Certainly for consumers, we have aniOS app, We have an app
on Android by very strong demand.Our consumers asked us for some that spoke
more directly to them, and sowe are responding. So buckle in.
Well, of course, this isa connected table SIPs podcast. So what's
in your glass at the end ofa long day when you want to kick
back and have a cash dinner.I'm drinking cross culturally these days, I
(21:15):
guess again, not all in thesame night. But that's the fun of
this because you get the world ofwine and spirits and other libations at your
fingertips and you can create your preferencesPrefably. So I think it's very very
cool. Yes, our conversation hasbeen fabulous. We must continue it.
(21:36):
There's so much more to talk about. But we've been speaking with Pam Dylan,
who's co founder and CEO of Prefably. It is free for consumers restaurant
and hospitality industries and travel can discussgreat business solutions and we look forward to
hearing more about what you're doing,but thank you, I look forward to
sharing it. Thank you. You'vebeen listening to The Connected Table SIPs with
(22:03):
Melanie Youung and David Ransom. Tolisten to more in depth features with the
movers and shakers who shape the wine, food spirits and hospitality industry, tune
into our companion show, The ConnectedTable Live. You can tune into the
live broadcast on Wednesdays at two pmEastern Time on W four CY Radio,
easy to find at ww dot Wfourcy dot com, or listen to all
(22:27):
our shows anytime at iHeart dot comand on the iheartapp. Connect with us
on Twitter at Connected Table, andfollow us on Facebook and Instagram under the
Connected Table. And remember always stayinsatiably curious.
Welcome to the Connected Table SIPs oniHeartRadio. We are your insatiably curious culinary
couple, Melanie Young and David Ransom. We bring you the dynamic people who
are front and center and behind thescenes in food, wine, spirits,
and hospitality. Ours is a deliciouslife and we want to share it with
(00:23):
you. Artificial intelligence, in short, AI is a buzzword throughout many businesses,
including the wine industry. You mayhave heard or read stories about wine
businesses embracing AI to streamline finance andmarketing and viticultural production. Well. AI
(00:45):
is also being used to help retailand hospitality businesses better serve their customers.
Joining us on the Connected Table SIPsto discuss how sensorial AI is helping wine
and spirits businesses is Pam Dylan,co founder and CEO of Preferably, the
leading B to B and B twoC product discovery and recommendation software for wine,
(01:10):
spirits and food. Pam has overtwenty five years of experience in technology
focused on the retail and hospitality industries. A named inventor on eleven patents,
she was honored by Goldman Sachs isone of the one hundred most Intriguing Entrepreneurs
and by venture Beat as an AIEntrepreneur nominee. Pam Welcome Our pathsive crossed
(01:34):
a number of times in the wineindustry. Congratulations on your latest venture.
Preferably, Thank you so in theexploding AI world, Where does preferably fit
in and how does it work?So? Preferably is a software platform.
Our business model is with enterprises,with those in the wine and spirits industries,
(01:57):
across specialty retail, grocery, retail, travel, hospitality, distribution,
any kind of consumer platform. Ourservice to the industry is product discovery and
recommendations. We do have a consumerapplication. It's free to consumers. We
originally released it to be able toexplain to businesses how AI can work for
(02:23):
wine and for spirits, and overtime it's gotten a following all its own.
It's now being used in seventy countriesactively around the world, and we're
able to get a real line ofsight on the nature of human preference and
wine and spirits across the world.It's been a very exciting endeavor. Well,
we spent a lot of time onthe app just free and we did
(02:45):
the consumer free part, and youhave a lot of human intelligence to work
on artificial intelligence. The team isfilled with PhDs, masters som liais,
masters of wine, very impressive.Many we knew why the name preferably what
is it meant to evoke? Well, we were formerly known as Winering when
(03:07):
we started about ten years ago,when artificial intelligence AI was really the bastion
of academics. AI has been aroundsince the end of World War Two,
but really really in very deep developmentwith mathematicians and scientists, and my co
founder Andrew Susman and I realized inworking together about fifteen years ago, very
(03:30):
very shortly after the first iPhone wasreleased, that software that could work in
a smartphone hardware walking around wherever youwere was going to be a really really
powerful element of how people were goingto live and making living better. And
so from our very earliest days weimagined software that could work like a human
(03:53):
expert. This was before AI wasa thing. We started writing our first
patent years ago. We now haveeleven patents in the field of artificial intelligence.
And the whole idea from the verybeginning was software that behaved like a
human expert, initially in wine andthen across spirits, but always with this
(04:14):
idea that if you could make itwork for the most complex consumer products on
planet Earth, which our research hasshown live in the wine and spirits industry,
then it could work really across anyconsumer product, any product that requires
a sense that goes beyond site andbeyond sound. And what's really interesting with
(04:35):
taste, smell, touch is thatyou can work across wine, across spirits,
across beers, across really any sensorialproduct and connect all of those dots.
So when we started, well,if we were going to write code
that behaved like a human expert,we certainly had to have human experts.
(04:58):
So very very early on, sittingwith our lead masters of wine, master
Samalias, and we asked them todo something that was both super fun and
super crazy, which was to tastethrough the entire world of wine and spirits
one at a time. And theidea was to capture the presence in the
absence of over eight hundred different characteristics, and then our algorithms would be able
(05:26):
to take those characteristics and understand thenature of human preference really easily in dialogue
with the consumer. It was simplya matter of tasting something, telling us
if you liked it or not.Love like so so dislike is the categories
that we use, and then thealgorithm would use the combinations of all those
(05:46):
characteristics together to be able to predictthose wines and spirits that you would love
the most. And so that wasthe idea from the very beginning. And
that's really how you described and sorialartificial intelligence. It's enveloping the senses to
create customization for consumers or B tob you know, with that in mind,
(06:11):
as we know, it has beenwidely reported that wine consumption has been
on the decline. Younger generations aregoing to seltzers and other kinds of products.
Do you think preferably could help addressthat issue and bring consumers back and
in what way? Absolutely? Firstof all, our software is impartial.
(06:34):
It's impartial wine to wine, Spiritto spirit, RTD cell seor or to
Seltzer. Our goal is to findwhat you're going to love, wherever it
is across the industry. What's reallyimportant as to how we can help consumers
(06:55):
rediscover their love for wines is tomeet them on their terms. I think
that the industry has been well shallwe say, talking to itself now for
many generations, and I think consumerstoday are far less interested in having a
dialogue like that, and they're showingtheir displeasure with their wallets the most fundamental
(07:18):
way that they can do that.Just as we it preferably taste through each
wine, spirit beer RTD one ata time, we evaluate individual consumer preferences
one at a time. So mostpeople would be familiar with crowdsourcing popularity contests
(07:38):
around lines. So if all ofthese people love this one line, that
means you should too. Our premiseis one hundred and eighty degrees away from
that. Our premise is that yourpreferences are singular. And indeed, with
all of the consumer users that wehave both in our consumer app and on
(08:01):
behalf of the businesses that we serve, we're looking at tens and tens of
millions of consumer users. We havenever seen the exact same profile twice.
So when we say that each personis truly an individual, truly singular,
that is the data speaking and sobeing able to capture individual preference in this
(08:22):
way, one person at a timeis what creates the opening. Because there
are about a million lines in theworld extant at any given point, Really,
is there not one you're going tolove? Are there not ten?
Or one hundred or one thousand,or even ten thousand, and our software
connects you with those wines, speersand spirits that you will love. So
(08:43):
I think the door is opening upwide now with enterprises, with businesses to
re welcome in consumers and to welcomethem in on their terms, which is
what are they going to like,not what does the crowd say that they
should like. We went on andwe looked for wines that we knew,
and what's interesting, preferably is youcan go in, you can rate your
(09:05):
wine. You can also look whereto buy it. So let's take it
to how it helps the retailers linkthose curious consumers, because we agree it
is overwhelming for many consumers. Wewatch consumers at the grocery store where it's
the same wines everywhere we travel,and I want to go up to all
of them and help them because theyall look have that same lost look on
(09:26):
their face. How does preferably thenconnect the consumer with the retailer and help
both ends, whether it's retail specialtyretail, grocery retail or hospitality travel restaurants,
hotels. There are two basic areasthat we can help enterprises businesses.
(09:48):
So that they can help their shopperstheir guests. So the first basic way
that we do that is all ofthat rich content asters of wine, master
smels, tasting through the entire worldof wine and spirits. Because someone's got
to do it. All of thatcontent up to eight hundred characteristics can then
(10:09):
be used to describe a given wineor spirit. So if we look at
a retail platform, for example,when a shopper goes to an e commerce
page or when they're in a storeand they use a QR code with our
web app, they can get allthe information about a given wine or spirit
(10:31):
very very easily, and it's comingfrom a data source that's trusted, that's
impartial. It's not about somebody else'sopinions. It's just as an absolute matter,
what does this actually taste like?And when you come down to it,
those are the things that people reallycare about. They can make judgments
as to whether or not they wantsomething crisp, they can make judgments as
to whether or not they want somethingearthy. Just tell them what's inside the
(10:54):
bottle. Because the labels aren't doingit. There's no shelf talker that's doing
it, there's no other source that'sdoing it, and they're certainly not doing
it with the accuracy, the impartiality, and the consistency that we're doing it.
So that is a way that doesn'trequire any shopper information, It doesn't
require a rating, it doesn't requireany purchase history, and that works of
(11:16):
course on premise as well with restaurantsand hotels. If you want to sauce
it up a bit, though,then the consumer application, which is keeping
track of the things that you've likedand as importantly the things that you haven't
liked, because remember the algorithm reachesfor both. So if you want that
kind of personal dialogue, you canhave it, and you can have it
(11:37):
either using your ratings or using someother source, say your purchase history or
your search history. We can takeany kind of group of information on behalf
of enterprises or for that matter,consumers, and we can rationalize it in
the context of then truly personalized recommendations. And these are not, you know,
crowdsourced opinions. This is just basedupon what you've liked, what you've
(12:01):
bought, whatever you want us toconsider, we make those recommendations. So
there are a whole series of waysthen we can do that on premise as
well in a restaurant setting or ahotel setting, as well as in an
e commerce aren on within a store, within a retail or a grocery store.
So I am with you in termsof watching people either in a store
(12:22):
or with that list, you know, the sort of we all know that
thud, you know, with ithitting the table or it's always being passed
to one person, as if thatperson somehow can sort of, you know,
come down from on high and sortof tell you all what you should
be drinking. You know, thisis a very different approach. This is
a very different approach, It reallyis. Many have expressed concerned that AI
(12:46):
could replace human jobs, especially inthe restaurant industry, where some lia's kind
of are walking a tightrope these days, because there are many restaurants that have
started to do away with some lia's. What's your take on this? Here's
my I owed to Somalia's. AIcannot replace you. We will never replace
the stories, the table side manner, the excitement where you've traveled, what
(13:11):
wine regions, what you've tasted,what you've smelled, what it was like
meeting those winemakers. We will neverreplace that, at least as I see
it in my lifetime. This isan experience. This is very, very
different from the nature of what softwaredoes. What software does is it extends
(13:33):
this expertise. It makes it somuch better, so much more efficient for
a smallie to come to your tableknowing you know your Pam Dylan, and
I can see that you've been drinkinga lot of wines from saying northeastern Italy
recently, or tell me where you'vebeen drinking wines, or tell me the
(13:56):
kinds of wines that you're digging thesedays, Pandela and I will tell you
I am digging textured whites. Iam loving textured whites. All of a
sudden, the dialogue becomes completely different. It can be enhanced in the context
of using our software. And let'ssay you're a consumer that doesn't really know
how to describe it what you're tasting, because even experts struggle to enunciate what
(14:22):
it is they like and what theydon't like. And software just provides that
platform. It provides that point ofdeparture for a conversation, and it allows
the samaalia to come to a tableto properly assist in the most efficient way
possible. And I think people likethat as well as the somalia liking that,
making it very very efficient. Butultimately the storyline, the experience.
(14:46):
That's how I felt for wine.I fell for wine table side where someone
described where they went, how theyfound the line. When it comes to
that, that's it small as Iam not here to replace you. I'm
here to make what you do faster, easier, and more enjoyable. Well
let's talk about that. And firstof all, that's good to hear because
that storytelling and that human touch shouldnever be replaced, whether you're a somier
(15:09):
or a journalist or anyone. Butlet's get to the nuts and bolts.
The consumer active is free, butpreferably also makes money licensing its intelligence to
hospitality businesses. So why don't yougive an example of how that works for
let's say a restaurant business. Sowe have a whole group of different solutions,
(15:35):
modules different ways to put together theexperience that the hospitality platform, the
restaurant or even you know, somebodyin retail whatever they want to create.
And so we start by asking wherethey are in building their business, what
are their strategic objectives, what aretheir guests looking for? Because ultimately,
(15:56):
good businesses are where you can helpyour clients do what they want to do,
so that's where we start most ofthe time. Within hospitality, we
start with a very very simple application. So there's a QR code that sits
printed on a wine list, orit could be on the table. It
(16:17):
depends upon the nature of the concept. Some concepts very elegant and so you
want to keep it very low keyon the list. Others are much more
wine spirits forward and they want toreally present it to their guests, and
so the guest snaps a QR codeand they go to a hosted web app
so it doesn't require anything download.This is just like you're looking at a
(16:38):
menu, but instead of just lookingat the menu with no direction, there
are a bunch of different ways tointeract. So the main way that people
interact is I'm looking for red orwhite. I'm looking for this price point.
I'm looking for it to have thesetaste characteristics. This is what I
want it to taste like. Ifthey want to have it paired with something
on the menu, certainly we cando that. But really, when it
(17:00):
comes down to it, the threethings that we find people are most focused
on is just the basics, redwhite, roset, sparkling, fortified spirit
price. They want to know whatthey're in for and then ultimately what does
it taste like? Because that isthe one thing. Like I can order
a steak on the venue, Iknow a steak is going to taste like
I can order sabin on the menu. I know what it's going to taste
(17:21):
like. But do I really reallyknow what this particular sordinay from Burgundy is
going to taste like? I probablydon't. So this is how we can
really help people. And so youlicense intelligence to businesses, which creates some
efficiencies for the sonia when they're workingwith their customers, because time is of
the essence when you're serving customers aswell. Exactly turning tables is really important
(17:45):
for the hospitality trade. And evenas a guest, you don't want your
time at the table to be takenup by the administrative stuff. You don't
want it to take a long timeto do things that you consider to be
utilitarians. So ultimately, the hospitalityplatforms that we're working with are looking for
true personalization. Though, so Melaniewalk in and you're connected to preferably the
(18:10):
hospitality platform is connected to preferably,and we know that you just had this
fabulous textured white with Pamdyllan, andso guess what, We've got something for
you. And that way, theSmilia comes to the table and can have
a conversation in a very very differentway. That's how it gets exciting,
and that's how the efficiency becomes trulya personalized experience. And that's really what
(18:34):
we're trying to do, is we'retrying to cut through all the utilitarian stuff
so that the experience can be enjoyedpretty fascinating. Pam, what's your long
term vision for preferably? Our longterm vision is to connect really across the
world of specialty retail, grocery,retail, travel, hospitality, throughout the
(18:56):
supply chain, through the prism ofpreference, individual taste preference. There are
certainly other things that are always importantand they're all part of our software platform,
but ultimately the vision is to connectpeople to whatever they're going to love,
whether it comes down the road orhalf a world away. That is
(19:18):
the vision Sensorial AI. All elevenof our patents were granted in the context
of going beyond wine, going beyondwine and spirits, really going beyond those
things and crossing over the nature ofpreferences because the old factory system your sense
of smell and taste, your senseof touch. Even with wine people,
(19:41):
wait, it's not just textured whites. It's also you know, champagne or
heavier, lighter bodied wines, crispwines that really cut through your tongue.
You know, the nature of feel. All of this is really important.
What other areas are you there forthe asking? Well, certainly cheese is
one of them, and all offood because we work with grocery retailers and
hospitality platforms with nature of all oftheir menu items. So this is where
(20:06):
we live, we work, welove with respect to since oial Ai.
It's an area we created, it'san idea we created, and we're very
excited to be bringing it to marketafter many years of very long hard work
where nobody knew what AI was andwhat we were doing. Well, as
we said at the beginning of thisconversation, you have gathered together a very
impressive team. Any of them weknow of master som Ways and masters of
(20:30):
wine to work with you. Well, as we said, there's a lot
of human intelligence behind artificial intelligence.So it's an exploding industry. We love
learning about it and we really enjoyedthis conversation with you. So where can
our listeners learn more about Preferably andsign up and the consumer in or the
business in to learn about the licensingPreferably dot com is our site for businesses.
(20:52):
Certainly for consumers, we have aniOS app, We have an app
on Android by very strong demand.Our consumers asked us for some that spoke
more directly to them, and sowe are responding. So buckle in.
Well, of course, this isa connected table SIPs podcast. So what's
in your glass at the end ofa long day when you want to kick
back and have a cash dinner.I'm drinking cross culturally these days, I
(21:15):
guess again, not all in thesame night. But that's the fun of
this because you get the world ofwine and spirits and other libations at your
fingertips and you can create your preferencesPrefably. So I think it's very very
cool. Yes, our conversation hasbeen fabulous. We must continue it.
(21:36):
There's so much more to talk about. But we've been speaking with Pam Dylan,
who's co founder and CEO of Prefably. It is free for consumers restaurant
and hospitality industries and travel can discussgreat business solutions and we look forward to
hearing more about what you're doing,but thank you, I look forward to
sharing it. Thank you. You'vebeen listening to The Connected Table SIPs with
(22:03):
Melanie Youung and David Ransom. Tolisten to more in depth features with the
movers and shakers who shape the wine, food spirits and hospitality industry, tune
into our companion show, The ConnectedTable Live. You can tune into the
live broadcast on Wednesdays at two pmEastern Time on W four CY Radio,
easy to find at ww dot Wfourcy dot com, or listen to all
(22:27):
our shows anytime at iHeart dot comand on the iheartapp. Connect with us
on Twitter at Connected Table, andfollow us on Facebook and Instagram under the
Connected Table. And remember always stayinsatiably curious.
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