October 6, 2025 • 37 mins
In this episode of Restaurant Technology Guides podcast, host Jeremy Julian sits down with Dylan and Erica, co-founders of Foodini, a groundbreaking tech solution aimed at addressing food allergies, dietary needs, and ingredient transparency in the restaurant industry. They delve into how Foodini's platform helps restaurants seamlessly document ingredients and recipes, ensuring safety for consumers with dietary restrictions while streamlining operations. Discussion includes real-world applications, the importance of meticulous documentation, and the increasing legislative push towards allergen transparency. Also covered are benefits such as increased consumer loyalty and operational advantages gained through integrated software solutions. This episode emphasizes the value of technology in making dining experiences safer and more inclusive.
00:00 Foodini
01:09 Introduction and Guest Backgrounds
01:46 Erica's Journey in Restaurant Tech
03:56 Dylan's Unique Perspective
05:31 Introducing Foodini: Solving Menu Transparency
06:35 Challenges in Menu Transparency
07:24 Consumer and Restaurant Perspectives
13:26 Leveraging AI for Ingredient Transparency
17:49 Future of Menu Transparency and Legislation
19:41 Leveraging Consumer Data for Marketing
19:59 European Allergen Labeling Practices
20:51 California's SB 68 Bill and Its Implications
22:18 The Value of Allergen Transparency for Restaurants
25:29 Consumer Experience with Allergen Information
26:56 Technological Solutions for Allergen Management
34:35 Benefits of Documenting Recipes for Restaurants
36:06 How to Get Started with Our Service
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
This is the Restaurant Technology Guides
podcast, helping you run yourrestaurant better.
In today's episode, we're goingto dive into the game changing
innovative, food technology bythe founders of Food Dini, a
tech solution thatrevolutionizes food,
(00:24):
ingredients, allergens, diets,and all of the different things
that over half of the USpopulation, struggles with.
These guys have built a.
Amazing solution that I had noidea was such a huge challenge
within the restaurant industryuntil these guys got in and
shared all of the things that itcan help.
Not only a restaurant operator,but the technologists that are
(00:46):
behind it, as well as yourconsumers.
Lots of game changing advicethat these guys give.
And so if you're not alreadyusing a solution like theirs.
You need to check it out.
If you don't know me, my name isJeremy Julian.
I'm the Chief Revenue Officerfor CBS Northstar.
We wrote the North Star point ofSale solution for multi-units.
Please check usout@cbsnorthstar.com and now
(01:08):
onto the episode.
Jeremy Julian (01:09):
Welcome back to the Restaurant Technology Guys
podcast.
I thank everyone out there forjoining, as I like to say each
and every time.
I know you guys have got lots ofchoices, so thank you guys for
hanging out.
Today is an episode that I'mexcited for you guys to hear
about because, Dylan and Ericahave some really cool stuff that
they've been doing in this spaceand it's become more and more
prevalent, and so I'm excited tohear.
Really their take on what it isthat they're trying to solve for
(01:31):
and then how they're solving itand why they think they're
different.
But, Erica, why don't you giveus a little bit of an
introduction, who's Erica, andpass it over to your co-founder.
We'll talk a little bit aboutkind of your guys' background
and how this came to be, andthen we'll, we'll start to share
with our audience what it lookslike.
Erica Anderman and Dylan (01:44):
Yeah, absolutely.
Thank you for having us on.
so my name's Erica.
I've been in the restaurant techworld.
For about 15 years now, I got mystart, company called Campus
Food.
It was the first online orderingto come to college campuses at
the time, we were sending faxesto restaurants, but going door
to door, signing up a bunch ofthem, through that went to New
York to their kind of salesfloor.
(02:04):
a bunch of people callingcollege campuses around the
country.
had that experience for asummer.
And I met, some of the team, thefounders of.
Seamless in New York.
they had just sold Seamless toAramark and were starting a new
company called Single Platform.
so single platform, I was one ofthe, about number five, we
basically built the plumbing formenu data on the internet.
So prior, when you would look upa restaurant, you would see
name, address, phone number, andif you were lucky, A PDF of the
(02:28):
menu.
and we basically built the menuschema that we would then
syndicate out to all the searchengines, Google, Yahoo, Bing, LP
Foursquare, TripAdvisor, wholater bought the business.
But that was where I startedgoing around to all the
conferences, working with a lotof the big restaurant groups we
worked with Darden, Brinker,and, just really good experience
there.
after that, missed the earlydays, the early kind of building
days.
(02:48):
and I met the founder of Slice,local pizza app.
So joined Alliya and the Sliceteam also right around number
five.
grew that from about a millionto 60 million in revenue to
about 12,000 pizzeriasthroughout the country.
worked with a lot of mom andpops.
Premise there.
Help local chains competeagainst the big, or help local
pizzerias compete against thebig chains, economies of scale,
(03:09):
helping get better prices,better online ordering.
and then yeah, from there, a fewothers.
We were at seeded, one of theearly players in dynamic
pricing.
and then ecco, which is similarto Slice, focused on coffee
shops, more on the back of housesupply side.
but it was while I was therethat I met Dylan.
Dylan, why don't actually passit over.
Good.
Good.
Yeah.
Jeremy Julian (03:28):
Yeah, before, before you go, Dylan, I, there's
probably some level of therapy.
You're not only startup, butstartup in restaurant tech.
there's something there, Erica,that, that probably, I'm teasing
just'cause I've been inrestaurant space for, almost 30
years on the tech side and thepeople that keep going back to
not only restaurants butrestaurant startups there,
they're a special breed.
Erica Anderman and Dylan M (03:45):
Ly, there's something wrong with,
but at the same time,
Jeremy Julian (03:48):
like I said, I could probably be a
multimillionaire if I was just atherapist for, for, restaurant
people that tried to get outthat couldn't get out.
all Sorry, Dylan.
you wanna introduce yourself toyour audience?
Erica Anderman and Dylan (03:56):
Yeah, sure.
my background is quite differentto Erica's in that I wasn't in
restaurant tech at all before.
I before this endeavor and my,as you can tell from accent
Irish, corporate lawyer bytrade.
So I worked for a top tiercorporate law firm.
Had, the apples, Googles,Facebooks of the world as my
clients initially, ended upspecializing in investment
funds.
And then that took me toAustralia, which is actually
(04:17):
where I initially started thebusiness.
My angle and where I came at, itwas the consumer side.
So Celiac diagnosed when I was10.
And so experienced a consumerproblem of trying to navigate
dining out for most of my life.
And just over time was gettingmore and more frustrated with
how is it still so difficult tounderstand what is in a menu
item in a restaurant?
(04:38):
Like why is that so hard?
Why is that information notavailable?
and Initially started it, thecompany, through that consumer
lens in terms of trying to solvethe problem, purely for the
consumer, but then over timerealized that you can't solve
for the consumer without solvingit for the restaurant, because
the data just doesn't exist.
And that's when I suppose when Iconnect with Erica, we that
(04:59):
puzzle together and realize,okay, we think we understand how
we can actually solve thisproperly at scale.
and yeah, that's my whistle stopbackground.
Jeremy Julian (05:07):
I love it.
I guess share what did, I don'tthink either one of you guys
during that brief intro, sharedthe name of the product and kind
of what is it?
So why don't we, why don't wetake a step back?
I love that background.
I love the history and I knowwhat, why don't we clear our
listeners in, that's great.
they're now, sleuthing out.
Okay.
He's.
Celiac, she's in restauranttech.
Tell me more.
what exactly have you guyscreated and what is it?
(05:27):
What is the big problem thatwe're trying to solve for?
Erica Anderman and Dylan Mc (05:31):
Do you wanna take that or?
I, the company's called Foodini,like Foodini, but food, and so
we essentially are poweringingredient level transparency
across the entire foodecosystem.
So we have a multitude ofdifferent solutions.
We work directly withrestaurants, hotels, to take
their menu data.
Tag it with the correctingredients and then allergens
(05:51):
and dietaries, and then power adigital personalized menu for
consumers across over a hundreddifferent diets and allergens.
So a consumer can scan a QR codein on the menu, or they can
click a button on the websiteand say, gluten-free, peanut
allergy vegan.
Shellfish allergy save, and itinstantly will be told, here are
the 10 items you can eat.
Here are the 10 items you caneat with a modifier and what
(06:13):
that modifier is, and here arethe 10 items you can't eat and
why.
So personalized menu experience.
We also can work with, and we dowork with stadiums and broader
environments.
We call them micro environments.
Schools, universities, that kindof, vertical.
And also we have APIs that canpower personalization for online
ordering as well.
so those are the three mainsegments that we work in.
Jeremy Julian (06:35):
I love it.
and I know we talked prior tohitting the record button, it's,
it feels like a burgeoning spacethat, that more and more people
are coming into.
I guess I'd love for you to walkour listeners through, what do
you guys traditionally see whenyou guys engage with a
restaurant brand?
Last night I happened to behaving dinner with a partner.
He just went through this wholelike food thing where.
he's trying to, migrate his dietto something that's healthier
(06:56):
for him.
And he was struggling to figureout what was in, because he had
certain, they weren't quiteallergies that were gonna make
him sick, but they were gonnamake him not feel good the next
day type of thing.
And so we were talking throughthat and, literally it was just
a conversation over dinner lastnight and he's unfortunately I
can't really tell.
And so I'd love for you guys towalk through, Most of our
listeners out there are gonna berestaurant owners or people that
are in the restaurant leadershipspace.
(07:18):
How do people do it today?
And then let's talk about howFINI can help bridge that gap to
where people are at.
Erica Anderman and Dylan M (07:24):
Let me, I'll just mention on the re
on the consumer side first andthen I'll pass to you on the
restaurant, but just to on thatpoint, when we started this,
initially we were had just thebig nine allergens and the
initial hypothesis was that willcover, that will cover nearly
everything.
Jeremy, the amount of emails wewere getting from like day one
in terms of, but I have astrawberry allergy.
I have a kiwi allergy.
(07:44):
What about, I'm trying to go on,take keto diet.
I'm actually doing low FODMAPnow because I've got health
issues, like how do you help medo that?
that was the trigger to realize.
It's not just about people withfood allergies that are the big
nine.
It is, it's about half thepopulation that has some form of
dietary requirement, be that anallergen be that an intolerance
be that a lifestyle diet thatthey want to follow.
(08:06):
The TAM is just so much biggerthan most people realize.
And there is a malt, like foodis medicine movement.
Like all these different reasonswhy people just want to
understand what is in theirfood.
And so the consumer problem hasjust continued to grow and grow
even, since we started this dayone.
So that's the consumer side.
I'll pass you on the restaurantside.
And on the restaurant side, Ithink ultimately this problem
(08:26):
has been something that,continues to grow and continues
to just be handled, mainlythrough manual.
So training your staff and orlabeling your menu.
And not just physical menus, butalso online ordering, right?
So most of the major onlineordering platforms have you have
the ability to tag your menu.
(08:47):
But what restaurant witheverything else going on has the
time to go in and manually tagevery single one of your menu
dishes.
And not to mention, it'sactually very limited because
not only is it limited to, let'ssay the top eight allergens, but
it's also limited from a howthis actually needs to work
correctly because it's tied tothe menu item and not to the
(09:07):
modifier.
And the modifier is ultimatelywhere it's most important
because.
If you can easily not put thecheese on that sandwich, then we
wanna know that information.
But if the cheese is cookedwithin the, say the girl,
whatever, if it's in there andyou can't prepare that dish
without it, then it can't bemodified.
And ultimately, that's reallywhere we realize that all of
(09:31):
these kind of solutions on therestaurant side are all short
term.
They're putting a ton ofpressure on the staff.
Jeremy Julian (09:37):
that was where I was going with it.
'cause last night, again, we gota twice baked potato.
Somebody at the table got atwice baked potato, but in the
twice baked potato, it had greenonions.
And the staff member said, areyou allergic to the green
onions?
'cause they're mixed into the,to the deal.
Or do you just not?
Do you have a preference?
And it turned into this wholediscussion tableside, which.
Was great, quite frankly.
(09:57):
'cause most times they'd belike, yeah, and they probably
would just deliver you thattwice.
Baked potato, or they'd tellyou, I'm sorry, you can't have
the twice baked potato, or, andso there's a lot of potential
there.
This happened to be a highdollar, there's four of us and I
think we spent$500 for dinner.
So it wasn't a cheap meal.
So it was a, it was a higher enddining, vendor dinner.
But I promise you at some ofthose other brands you were
(10:18):
talking about, you're notgetting these staff members that
are able to do this.
and the other piece, I guessDylan, is my son grew up playing
baseball with somebody that hadCeliac and Chase was never able
to go out with us to team meals.
Like his mom just wouldn't lethim go with us.
So he wouldn't go on traveltournaments.
He wouldn't, because she neverfelt comfortable enough that he
as a consumer could consume,product while he was out.
(10:41):
I guess.
is that, a typical experience?
Experience that you hear aboutpeople?
Erica Anderman and Dylan Mc (10:45):
To a hundred percent.
And like the super users on theconsumer side are always the
moms of kids with foodallergies.
'cause those are the people thatabsolutely care about this u
this issue on the consumer sidethe most.
But, in one way, you can't, likethe moms times, I've got sick
after eating and rest like somany over the years.
Even when you, there's a statthat came out I think in a
(11:06):
report earlier this year, whichsaid that.
54% of the time when an allergyincident occurs, it's after the
staff have been notified.
So it's not just a case ofthey're not communicating, it's
like they're telling the staff,but there's two main reasons the
staff can't deal with it.
One is the restaurant don't havethe information documented in
the first place that staffmember has no way of, no, of
actually answering the question.
(11:27):
'cause it's not documented.
What, like, how are theysupposed to know?
Or secondly, the stat, as is thecase with a lot of, chains and,
it's.
It tends to be staff that arepart-time casual, not properly
trained.
They just don't understand thatit even matters in the first
place, and they don't understandthe consequences of.
Guessing or not making sure thatthey do give accurate
information and that's why, Ithink there's been a 400%
(11:50):
increase in food allergylawsuits in the last few years.
'cause these incidents keephappening.
What I do also though, wannaadd, because I know your
audience is a lot of restaurantowners who are probably like, I
care, but the part that I don't,people don't talk about as much.
That is really challenging.
It's not that easy to documentthis data, right?
So a lot of the back of housesolutions, the more we dug into
(12:11):
this and we were hoping thatokay, we work with, and we do
partner with some of the greatinventory solutions like Swell
mes, margin Edge.
But when you look in, in theback end of a lot of these
solutions, it's still on therestaurant to properly document
your recipes and make.
Sure that you have all of yourinventory in that recipe form
(12:31):
and you, unless you have therecipes and then you have the
specific products.
And so it's critically importantfor us to do our jobs correctly,
to know, for example, in theaioli what type of mayo you use.
Because if that mayo has soybeanoil, that's important to someone
who has a soy allergy.
some don't.
And so just writing Mayo.
(12:53):
Doesn't get the job done.
And so we've taken shortcuts andI don't blame restaurants like
it's ultimately, it's a lot ofreasons, right?
It's the software that's builtit, you didn't necessarily need
the product or the product.
Skews change frequently, and soit's too difficult to keep that.
And so we've taken theseshortcuts as an industry that
has left us in this situationwhere.
You just don't have the data inone place.
(13:15):
And so that's really what wefocus on is how do we help
restaurant operators make thismuch, much easier by going and
going where the recipes existtoday, where the products and
ingredients, where they'rebuying their products.
And we tie that together,leveraging AI to be able to make
this a much more seamlessprocess for them to document it
by ingredient so that we're ableto get that information to the
(13:36):
consumer.
Jeremy Julian (13:37):
So I'd love for you to talk a little bit more
about that, Erica, then.
So how does that even function?
Going back to this restaurantthat, again is making this twice
baked potato.
It tastes fantastic by the way,but at the same time, I don't
know what was in there and if Ihad a food allergy and there was
potentially some form of,something I was allergic to it.
I promise you it didn't say iton the consumer level, menu,
(13:58):
there might have been four orfive, it was twice baked potato
with green onions and cheese andbacon.
But if they had mixed in sourcream or butter or something
else into that twice bakedpotato, it didn't show it in the
recipe because that was justpart of what they do.
And so a lot of times, at least.
I've been in the restaurantspace for a long time.
They will do these things'causethis is how they've always done
it.
Nobody's ever told them thatyou've gotta, you've got to
(14:19):
ensure that you're using andthat you're even using the
proper mayonnaise.
'cause sometimes they're gonnagrab whatever's available or
they're gonna get theirbroadliners gonna drop off
whatever's available on thetruck.
'cause they did a substitutewithout talking to them about
it.
And so I'd love for you to talkthrough.
As you guys engage withrestaurant brands, AI is
fantastic.
I'm glad we didn't get more than15 minutes into the show before
we started talking about howAI's gonna solve all of the
(14:41):
world's problems.
But at the same time, it stilltakes humans and it still takes
creating these recipes.
So I'd love for you to walk usthrough what does that look
like?
Is it, I guess talk us through,what does that look like when
you engage with a brand to startwith?
Erica Anderman and Dylan (14:52):
Yeah, absolutely.
and I will caveat the AI side ofthings.
People always say it's oh, likewith AI you can easily take a
picture of food and know what'sin it.
You can take a picture of thatsweet or that potato you had
last night and it should, andI'm always like.
In what world?
Like AI is built off of data andultimately that's what we're
building out is this datainfrastructure layer.
So the way it works is when wework with a restaurant, there is
(15:14):
a very big difference betweenlarger chains and the smaller,
small businesses, unfortunately,and a lot of it just makes
sense, right?
A chain is a chain becausethey've got replicated recipes,
they've got.
Control on their supply chain.
So it's typically a lot betterdocumented.
They typically have the exactrecipes, they've got the same,
suppliers, which they're buyingfrom.
(15:35):
And so there usually they dohave an inventory management
system, either a crunch time ora restaurant 365.
they'll have that.
Recipe documented, typicallypublished, they'll have PDFs.
There's laws, obviously for thelarger chains that they have to
disclose more information thansmaller restaurants.
So we'll basically take thatinformation, their product list,
what they're buying, their menu,the recipes, and then we break
(15:58):
that down.
And so we ingest that data.
We basically break down recipesinto Subres.
So to specifically speak to thatexample on that.
Potato, the twice baked potato,most likely there's a sub recipe
in there, which is like they,what they do to, make it
delicious.
Adding in the scions, the salt,the sauce.
Yeah.
Jeremy Julian (16:16):
Yeah, the sauce, the salt, the pepper, all of it.
Yeah.
Erica Anderman and Dy (16:19):
Exactly.
And so that's where we will pullthe information so that we, and
that sometimes if it's a morefine dining, smaller restaurant
that is part of the work is theyhave to document that.
and it's okay, like the changesthat can happen, it makes sense.
But ultimately where we say itis, the industry's so scared
because.
It's not perfect to document it,but by not documenting it at
(16:40):
all, people are literally dyinglike we are.
This is a health issue at thispoint, and so what we encourage
is let's document it and then asyou make changes or there are
substitutions that happen, wehave recurring checks that we
make sure in case there are anychanges, but ultimately we give
the, here is what is intended tobe in this dish, the reflection
of as it is today.
(17:02):
And that is what we tag on thebackend.
And that's important because theother thing most chefs also say
to me is I don't want my recipe,every, and we don't share that
information.
We tag it in the backend and allthe consumer sees is if that
dish contains an ingredient thatthey can't have just so that, or
they can modify.
Just so that they have thatinformation.
And we still encourageconsumers, if you have an
(17:23):
allergy, you still need to letthe chef know because we're not
trying to, cause any sort offalse sense.
We still wanna make sure thatconversation occurs, but it
should be after they're justverifying.
I saw that.
I just wanna make sure I have anallergy.
We're much faster.
The operations aren't sloweddown.
We're not having, it's justgonna make us a lot faster as an
industry.
and I think consumers will feela lot more comfortable included,
(17:47):
and hopefully safer when theydie out.
Just the other thing to add overthe top of that is this is
coming anyway, right?
Jeremy Julian (17:53):
that was where I was gonna go next is just, I'm
sure I, unfortunately, andagain, I've spent my entire life
in the restaurant industry,oftentimes it takes legislation.
Or it takes something in orderto get them to move off the mark
because there's what, 700,000estimated restaurants just in
the United States, outside of,nationwide, worldwide, all of
that.
And so is that, Dylan, is thatwhere it's going?
(18:16):
Is it going to a place where,you know.
A long time.
you guys happen to be based inCalifornia, I believe.
they had the whole, foodlabeling and kind of the calorie
counting thing.
If you had a certain size, and Iknow that's also a big piece of
what's coming to try and gettransparency in, in restaurants
is the same thing happening.
Are they going to be forced todo this?
outside of the fact that it'sjust good business to what you
(18:37):
said, Erica, you're not killingpeople, you're not hurting
people.
You're not sending them homesick because they ate something
that they didn't know.
But is that really where it'sgoing, Dylan?
Erica Anderman and Dylan Mc (18:45):
It is and even just before I go to
that, like over the top of that,those are obvious kind of
benefits that you justmentioned, but what we've
actually seen the benefits ofhaving this information
documented and can and met clearto the consumer.
It's also you're attracting inall these consumers that
previously would not go to yourrestaurant, they didn't trust
you, could cater to them.
And then it's not just them,it's their families, their
(19:06):
friends, their coworkers.
Now the, all of a sudden theteam dinner can be at that
restaurant'cause the celiac andthe nut allergy person feel safe
going there.
It's also the data.
When you have a digital solutionthat manages this, instead of
that table site conversationthat you referred to, where that
allergen that your, your friendhad, that was, that's a lost
data point.
(19:26):
If someone puts this into adigital solution at the end of
every month, you can look at itas a restaurant chain and say,
ah, we had 20,000 gluten-freeand 10,000 vegan and 4,000 keto.
We actually have no ketofriendly option on our menu.
That's something we should goand look at.
And we can also tie those.
Dietary profiles to loyalty, andnow we can market to those
consumers.
We know Dylan is Celiac, it'sworld gluten-free day.
(19:48):
It's 10% off.
Like these are all the thingsyou can do with that data as
well.
So it's more even than just theops and the risk mitigation.
But to your questionspecifically, that's what's
happening.
So Europe now, most European
Jeremy Julian (20:00):
Yeah, I was gonna ask about Europe'cause I, my
parents had traveled there andthey said that there's some,
there was something on thebottom of the menu they were
trying to explain to us.
So I'd love for you guys toeducate our listeners on that.
Erica Anderman and Dylan (20:09):
yeah, regs, it's and let's take
Ireland, the UK as just an easyexample, 14 major allergens in
the, in those countries versusnine here.
Every menu, every.
Org that serves food, even ifit's a food truck, has to label
for the top 14 allergens.
And how they've typically doneit is they have a key at the
bottom, one gluten, two wheat,three eggs, four shellfish, and
(20:31):
then every menu item will havethe numbers beside it if it
contains that allergen.
So it's messy, I would say It'snot like aesthetically pleasing.
and obviously every timeanything changes, they have to
reprint the menus and the menuboards or whatever.
But it is accurate and it istransparent.
And that's I suppose been thestarting point without going
down the digital route.
What's been happening here, andI suppose the most advanced is
(20:53):
in California with the SB 68bill that's been going through
the kind of legislative processhere for the last several
months.
It passed the Senateunanimously, I think it was 32
to zero about two months ago.
It went through assembly health.
It went through assemblyappropriations.
It's in the main assembly rightnow.
I think it's due to be heard bythe end of next week.
(21:14):
And then it goes to GavinNewsom's desk.
And what this bill mandates isthat every restaurant in
California, labeled for foodallergens effective one July 26.
our perspective on this, similarto what happened with the gig
economy drivers, when DoorDashand Uber Eats and, that kind of
got pushed back for a while andthen, e eventually it, it
passed.
But this is coming.
(21:34):
this is going to be required.
It'll either happen right now orit will happen in six months or
12 months, but it is.
it's the trend.
It's popping up in other statesas well.
Like I said, California is themost advanced, but the
beginnings of this are nowhappening in some other states.
On the east coast you have, Mahais also pushing through all
sorts of stuff that relates tolike food dyes and chemicals and
(21:57):
additives.
That all kind of ties into thisas well.
So all the legislative trendsshow this is going to be
required very soon and it'sgonna be required, probably
across the board over the nexttwo to three years.
Jeremy Julian (22:10):
No, and I think, and we talked about it again
before we hit the record button.
I love that, that you guys areon the leading edge of this and
there's gonna be more and morepeople that are gonna be trying
to do this.
The other thing that I want to,double click on is for those
restaurant owners out there,Erica, I'd love for you to
share.
It's a value add to yourconsumers.
You become a restaurant ofchoice when you do this.
(22:30):
Yes.
It's hard work.
Yes.
You've gotta have discipline.
Yes, you've gotta do thesethings.
Yes.
You've gotta pay for software tohelp you with it, and it pays
off.
The increase in volume frompeople that are wanting to dine
here because of it is prettysignificant.
I'd love for you to share alittle bit about what you're
seeing.
The value to the restaurateursas they implement this solution
(22:52):
and kind of how not only is ithelping give confidence to the
staff, but it's also giving conconfidence to the consumers and
ultimately driving top linesales.
Erica Anderman and Dy (23:01):
Exactly.
I think what you've seen now isevolution of everyone is looking
up the restaurant before they'regoing in.
at this point, now you'relooking up the menu.
It's, if you don't, it's the newveto vote.
I think it was the vetovegetarian back when everyone
added a, vegetarian option onthe menu.
Just so that in case you aredriving by, it's the same thing
now with if you don't have anoption for someone who has an
(23:22):
allergy or dietary need, or theydon't know that there's
something there that they caneat.
They will choose another option.
I deal with it every day gettinglunch with him.
my brother growing up, it wassimilar.
It was, we had to look at themenu and see if there were
options and so the reality is ifyou give this information
upfront, you are going toattract more people to come in
(23:42):
who know that they have option.
once they come in, you are now,instead of bogging down your
staff, waiting for them to cometo the table, you are able to
give them this informationupfront.
They're ready when the waitercomes over, if it's full service
or they're able to see what theycan have.
If it's a kiosk or it's a.
Digital board will have QR codesso that they don't wait until
(24:05):
they get to the register.
If you're a fast casual or QSRto now, ask the question.
The amount of times.
We've also seen this at lunch atsome of the biggest chains out
there, that I'm horrified thatthey don't have the answer and
they're having to hold up awhole line behind us because
they have to ask.
Jeremy Julian (24:19):
my favorite is they'll have to go get this
binder out of the back to figureout.
It's really?
This is the way that we'reworking in 2025.
Erica Anderman and Dy (24:25):
Exactly, and sure there are some annoying
consumers out there who lovebeing the center of attention
and they like the chef and themanager and everyone there.
And the tableside conversationyou said, but the reality is
most people, and myselfincluded, I just wanna order my
food like everyone else.
I don't wanna fuss, I don't wantthis Hubble Lu.
I just want them to give me thefood that I can eat.
And so for most consumers, wesee as well, they appreciate the
(24:48):
fact that they have theinformation now.
And sure, I'm still gonna say,and by the way, I'm Celiac, just
so you know, so you can let thekitchen know, but it's not the
five minute conversation beforethat to figure out what I can
even order in the first place.
And then over the top of that,Erica talked about the
attracting consumers.
There is no more loyal consumerthan a food allergy consumer.
(25:08):
They find it so hard to findplaces that they can trust that
when they do find someplace,they just keep going back again
and again.
And you could probably vouchthat wheat in the same three
places.
Like when we go for, becausethey're the places around here
that, it's me, dry me it,because I'm like, the three of
them can cater for me perfectly.
They know what they're doing.
We're going back, and that'swhat happens.
Jeremy Julian (25:29):
and so I'd love for you, Dylan, since you've
been talking about the consumerside.
and I think Erica just alludedto it, we talked about what,
what happens within therestaurant, but how is a
consumer do you most oftenengage with these things?
So that's great.
You've got these three placesthat are near your office or
near your home or whatever.
And now I'm in a different city.
Now I'm at a trade show.
Now I'm traveling.
(25:49):
As a consumer, talk me throughwhat is the consumer, experience
to go find these types ofallergens out on the menu if
they're on your guys' platform.
and then what does it reallyeven look like when they're not?
'cause it's probably prettymiserable for you to travel and
have to go eat out when you'retraveling.
Erica Anderman and Dylan Mc (26:05):
So if you take the standard
consumers, so take us out of itfor a second, right?
I'll tell you what consumersnormally do.
There's a few things.
One, they don't eat out.
They decide we're gonna cook,we're gonna go to Whole Foods
and buy, and we're gonna bringit to the hotel or with Airbnb,
and that's what we're gonna dobecause it's just, it's hard.
One, two, they ring or emailbefore to and get someone on the
(26:26):
phone to try and get thatinformation before they go.
Same when I, yeah, in my oldcareer, I remember having to do
it a few times in a workcapacity where there was a 20
person team lunch and my ma mypartner was like.
there's four different allergieshere.
I have a clue where we got,like, how are we gonna figure
out where we can bring the 20people?
And so it's email and blah,blah, blah.
And then the restaurant'sobviously having to deal with
that.
Or else it's as you said, whenyou're there in person, getting
(26:48):
the manager, getting whoever inthere and having the
conversation.
So that's the like how you dealwith it today in, or, without
Jeremy Julian (26:54):
In our non technologically advanced areas.
Erica Anderman and Dylan (26:56):
with us.
How again we manage it is youwalk in off the street to a
restaurant you like have neverheard of FINI before, but
there's a QR on the menu borderon the, OR on the physical menu
saying allergy dietary needsscan.
Here.
You scan the qr, pops up a URLto create your dietary profile.
We've over a hundred differentselections.
You create your dietary profile,picking whatever is unique to
(27:18):
you.
And it shows you thepersonalized menu instantly,
five seconds, and that, that isthe experience equally as I, I
think I, I alluded to earlier,we put a digital button, on the
website as well, which says,allergies, dietary needs clicker
triggers the same experience sothat someone knows before they
can go there.
And with the online orderingside of things, we're try, we're
in the process of powering thatsame solution within their
(27:41):
ecosystem as well.
So that wherever you're comingto the menu from, you can still
get that same level oftransparency and personalization
so that you just have confidenceplacing your order.
cause that's what happens to alot of consumers.
I go on.
Or I go on GrubHub or DoorDashor, and I'm scrolling and I'm
clicking.
I'm like, I really want this.
And I'm just, I just don't know.
I just don't know.
(28:02):
It's suitable.
So now I'm not gonna order, I'mgonna walk down to the grocery
store again instead.
And these are like, it's just somuch lost revenue for online
ordering and for therestaurants.
Jeremy Julian (28:11):
and you talked about it, the fact that it's
such a large percentage of thepopulation that has some form,
again, somewhat ignorant.
I do have a, have one of my fourkids doesn't have any allergens,
but.
But struggles to eat certainthings and doesn't care for
certain things.
And so he has preferences andhis is more about preference
than it is even about anything.
And so we do end up, when he isin town, he happens to be in
(28:31):
college now.
So our palate expands quite abit when he's gone, but when he
is home, it's like that we eatat the same four or five
restaurants'cause that's wherehe'll eat.
and I know that
Erica Anderman and Dylan M (28:39):
but it's bigger.
Again, even, I remember thefirst time I dug into this
properly, like the number, likeif I break down the half the
population that I referred toearlier, you have 33 million
Americans with a diagnosed foodallergy, so that's one in 10
straight away diagnosed allergy.
You have another 50 million thatfall into the intolerance
bucket.
Dairy intolerant, lactoseintolerant, wheat intolerant,
gluten intolerant.
(28:59):
They're, it's not a, an allergytechnically, but they feel
unwell if they eat it.
And then you 70 million, whichfall into the vegan, vegetarian,
keto, low fodmap, paleo, lowcarb, lacto, like you name it,
right?
And so again, I think it's justmuch, much bigger than most
restaurateurs realize.
the other stat that I was prettysurprised by that, impacts the
(29:23):
way we handle this is 40% ofpeople who have an allergy have
more than one.
And so that is one of the mostsignificant reasons why the
current solutions are just.
Really not effective, these PDFallergen matrixes.
So now you're telling consumers,you're holding up the line
handing them this binder or thismatrix and now they've gotta go
down.
Okay, I've got egg here andthen, but I also need to look at
(29:46):
the row that ha and it, andthat's where it's just you're,
it, we're
Jeremy Julian (29:49):
It's hard enough to pick a menu item anyway, and
then you figure out that youcan't eat it.
Erica Anderman and Dy (29:53):
Exactly.
So that's why, and a lot of itthough is also advancements in
technology.
Like the fact that we're able tomake this a bit more easy for
the restaurant to be able to letus work with your back of house
or work with the existingdocumentation you have and the
documenting on the backend andjust exposing what the consumer
needs to know, we think is theright balance here, where we
cover 150 plus.
(30:14):
Constantly growing differentdiets and allergens.
Ultimately, as long as we'redocumenting the ingredients, our
ability to cater to differentneeds, preferences, and, diets
can continue to grow and grow,especially as all these consumer
health tech platforms aretelling everyone what you should
and shouldn't eat based on yourbiometrics and your blood and
all of that.
(30:35):
I
Jeremy Julian (30:35):
That was this guy last night he was telling me
about, he did his blood work andhis stool sample, and he's this
is what I have to eat.
I'm like, okay, dude, what youdo?
You, I don't, there's greenonions in that, but, I'm teasing
about it.
Erica, one last thing.
You mentioned it earlier, butI'd love for you to dig in a
little bit.
there's obviously the main Iingredient, but then you've got.
The components that go alongwith it, the modifications, the
(30:56):
sides.
I'd love for you to talk.
How do you solve that?
Because you know what?
A chicken sandwich that's on apea, on a, on flatbread that
doesn't have a gluten, not thatbig of a deal.
But then I happen to get friesthat happen to have, flour on
them or whatever, Whatever itmight be.
I'd love for you to talk throughhow do you guys solve for that?
Because it is a very complexmatrix when you have an
ingredient and it's not just themain, it's the main plus the two
(31:19):
sides that come along with itthat also need to now be
included in this conversation.
Erica Anderman and Dylan McD (31:24):
I think best way to give you an
example, a restaurant weonboarded last week that, it was
a single location, that, does apretty good job.
I will say in terms of how hedocuments his recipes.
He uses, craftable and inCraftable has recipes documented
Within those recipes.
Those I also tied to inventory.
And so with us, basically wetook his menu.
(31:45):
and I guess I'll break it downfrom the top.
So menu, it comes first withmenu.
We want the data from the POS asmuch as possible because that's
where we also will take yourmodifiers.
And so toast was his POS and sotoast menu.
And then we could see themodifier data in there.
And that way to your answer yourquestion, we know what can be
added or removed because that'salready set up in your POS.
(32:09):
We then layer on the recipes,and so the recipes were pulled
from Craftable.
If they're not in Craftable,they can also be documented.
We'll get Excel files all thetime.
That's okay.
Jeremy Julian (32:19):
Hopefully that's where you use AI to filter
through that stuff.
But sorry, I'll let you guyskeep going.
Erica Anderman and Dy (32:23):
Exactly.
That is exactly, we try to getsome help, but ultimately we
take it from where it exists.
And so the recipes, then webreak that down into the
products.
products can either be aingredient, a raw ingredient,
lettuce, or it can be acomposite ingredient or a
product that has sub recipe.
And so that would be a productthat can buy Hans ketchup or,
(32:44):
like a branded product inessence.
Yeah.
So we then break that down.
And so the good part of whatwe've been building is a product
database that allows us to makethis really easy, where you tell
us you're buying Heinz ketchup,we know the ingredients in Heinz
ketchup because we've built upthat product in our database.
So we automatically tag it forall those ingredients, and then
we automatically tag each one ofthose ingredients for all the
(33:06):
relevant diets and allergens.
And so really with therestaurant side of it, it's just
that menu, recipes andinventory.
And then we take it from thereand we show them the dietary tag
menu.
we test it out.
Obviously, we, a lot ofrestaurants also use it to train
the staff.
That's another
Jeremy Julian (33:23):
No, I think that once you've got it documented,
now being able to go back andeducate those staff members, not
only on sharing with theirguests, but also, from a safety
perspective,
Erica Anderman and Dylan Mc (33:31):
It was funny, one of the first, our
first customers, the, when wewere going through feedback in
terms of how it was beingreceived by customers and staff,
it was already positive, but oneof his inputs was that his
biggest surprise unlock wasculturally, he was like, the
fact that this now lives on themenu and that we, like all the
staff know it's consumer facingand the chefs, et cetera.
(33:51):
Means that they just implicitlyare taking it more seriously and
they're double checking thingswith it in mind.
It like, it just culturally metit important in a way.
'cause it was front of mind now
Jeremy Julian (34:03):
no different than when you throw a camera in the
kitchen.
You're like, people are gonnabehave, even if you never look
at the film.
They're gonna behave betterbecause they know that
somebody's watching.
Erica Anderman and Dy (34:11):
Exactly.
Exactly.
Jeremy Julian (34:12):
Yeah.
No, I love that.
we're getting close to time.
I guess what, is there anythingI missed, guys, that you guys
would want to share with ouraudience?
it feels like we've gone fromboth consumer restaurant side.
Erica, you talked about thiswhole fear that people have,
that my recipes are gonna getout to the world.
I know you guys hold, hide thatbehind the firewall to make sure
that it's just the ingredients.
It's not how do you make it?
And that's the secret sauce ishow do you all put it together
(34:33):
and whatnot.
But is there anything else wemissed?
Erica Anderman and Dylan McD (34:35):
I think just if I was to surmise
it, it's something thatsometimes restaurateurs can find
a bit daunting, especially ifthey haven't gone to there for,
to documenting this before.
And I suppose we've spent timemaking sure that our approach
makes it as simple as possiblefor them.
all we typically ask for is giveus the data you have.
We will review it all, packageit, and come back with the
(34:57):
queries that we ha need answersfor.
It's typically one onboardingcall to like verify that
information and we're good.
So it's not this convoluted longprocess for a restaurateur
that's gonna take them days.
It typically is.
An hour or two of their time toactually get to the point that
we have it fully verified.
We can work with SMB, we workwith mid-market, we can work
with Enterprise.
As I mentioned, we can work withstadiums, with universities,
(35:18):
with schools.
So anywhere that food is served,our service, works.
And again, we've spent the timemaking sure that it's as
seamless as possible for thecustomers.
That's, I think, just somethingworth pointing out.
other thing from a restaurantoperator perspective is by doing
this work, if it's not somethingthat you already have
documented.
documenting your recipes pays individends for lots of other
(35:40):
areas of your business, right?
Yeah.
Understanding your cogs,understanding what truly each
menu item cost is organized.
it's not just to have thebenefit of being able to help
consumers know it's in theirfood.
There's a lot of other benefitsthat we find, which is why it's
so nice to partner with theinventory management systems
because ultimately the betterdocumented your recipes are and
the more we can help track youringredients, the better operator
(36:02):
you are in terms ofunderstanding.
your restaurant in your back ofhouse.
Jeremy Julian (36:05):
I love it.
so how do people get in touch?
How do people get engaged?
where do they go to find youguys?
other than, they can sit andlisten to the podcast over and
over again, but, how do they getengaged and learn if this is the
right solution for what they'relooking for?
Erica Anderman and Dylan M (36:18):
we, our website is generally a good
place to start, Foodini.
and it also has we have aseparate page for each segment
as well, so restaurant, mic,stadium microenvironment, et
cetera.
So have a look there.
We have some case studies on ourresources page just so people
can maybe dig in and have a bitof a closer look.
there's a one minute video thatkind of explains as well the
kind of process that might beworth running through and a bit
(36:40):
of a visual of what it actuallylooks like for a consumer.
and then email us directly.
It's dylan@foodini.com.
It's erica@foodini.com as well.
we'd love to hear from anyonewith questions or if they're
interested in, in using us.
Jeremy Julian (36:55):
I love it.
there's a rumor that there's aYouTube page that, I might have
been on and given you guys someviews on the YouTube page, so I
knew what both of you guyslooked like before I jumped on
today watching the YouTube tomake sure that I was ready for
today's interview.
So thank you guys for creatingthis again, I love.
I love talking to entrepreneursthat are really scratching a
niche that, that they see outthere.
Obviously for you, Dylan, verypersonal'cause, this is a life
(37:15):
experience.
and again, like I said to you,Erica, there's something about
food startup techs that are funand exciting, but also, it
really does solve a lot ofproblems and make the world a
better place, when we can.
do these things.
So thank you guys for sharingyour story.
Thank you guys for creating theproduct.
To our listeners, guys, like Isaid at the onset, I know you
guys got lots of choices, sothanks for hanging out and make
it a great day.
Speaker (37:36):
Thanks for listening to The Restaurant Technology Guys
podcast.
Visit restaurant technologyguys.com for tips, industry
insights, and more to help yourun your restaurant better.
This is the Restaurant Technology Guides
podcast, helping you run yourrestaurant better.
In today's episode, we're goingto dive into the game changing
innovative, food technology bythe founders of Food Dini, a
tech solution thatrevolutionizes food,
(00:24):
ingredients, allergens, diets,and all of the different things
that over half of the USpopulation, struggles with.
These guys have built a.
Amazing solution that I had noidea was such a huge challenge
within the restaurant industryuntil these guys got in and
shared all of the things that itcan help.
Not only a restaurant operator,but the technologists that are
(00:46):
behind it, as well as yourconsumers.
Lots of game changing advicethat these guys give.
And so if you're not alreadyusing a solution like theirs.
You need to check it out.
If you don't know me, my name isJeremy Julian.
I'm the Chief Revenue Officerfor CBS Northstar.
We wrote the North Star point ofSale solution for multi-units.
Please check usout@cbsnorthstar.com and now
(01:08):
onto the episode.
Jeremy Julian (01:09):
Welcome back to the Restaurant Technology Guys
podcast.
I thank everyone out there forjoining, as I like to say each
and every time.
I know you guys have got lots ofchoices, so thank you guys for
hanging out.
Today is an episode that I'mexcited for you guys to hear
about because, Dylan and Ericahave some really cool stuff that
they've been doing in this spaceand it's become more and more
prevalent, and so I'm excited tohear.
Really their take on what it isthat they're trying to solve for
(01:31):
and then how they're solving itand why they think they're
different.
But, Erica, why don't you giveus a little bit of an
introduction, who's Erica, andpass it over to your co-founder.
We'll talk a little bit aboutkind of your guys' background
and how this came to be, andthen we'll, we'll start to share
with our audience what it lookslike.
Erica Anderman and Dylan (01:44):
Yeah, absolutely.
Thank you for having us on.
so my name's Erica.
I've been in the restaurant techworld.
For about 15 years now, I got mystart, company called Campus
Food.
It was the first online orderingto come to college campuses at
the time, we were sending faxesto restaurants, but going door
to door, signing up a bunch ofthem, through that went to New
York to their kind of salesfloor.
(02:04):
a bunch of people callingcollege campuses around the
country.
had that experience for asummer.
And I met, some of the team, thefounders of.
Seamless in New York.
they had just sold Seamless toAramark and were starting a new
company called Single Platform.
so single platform, I was one ofthe, about number five, we
basically built the plumbing formenu data on the internet.
So prior, when you would look upa restaurant, you would see
name, address, phone number, andif you were lucky, A PDF of the
(02:28):
menu.
and we basically built the menuschema that we would then
syndicate out to all the searchengines, Google, Yahoo, Bing, LP
Foursquare, TripAdvisor, wholater bought the business.
But that was where I startedgoing around to all the
conferences, working with a lotof the big restaurant groups we
worked with Darden, Brinker,and, just really good experience
there.
after that, missed the earlydays, the early kind of building
days.
(02:48):
and I met the founder of Slice,local pizza app.
So joined Alliya and the Sliceteam also right around number
five.
grew that from about a millionto 60 million in revenue to
about 12,000 pizzeriasthroughout the country.
worked with a lot of mom andpops.
Premise there.
Help local chains competeagainst the big, or help local
pizzerias compete against thebig chains, economies of scale,
(03:09):
helping get better prices,better online ordering.
and then yeah, from there, a fewothers.
We were at seeded, one of theearly players in dynamic
pricing.
and then ecco, which is similarto Slice, focused on coffee
shops, more on the back of housesupply side.
but it was while I was therethat I met Dylan.
Dylan, why don't actually passit over.
Good.
Good.
Yeah.
Jeremy Julian (03:28):
Yeah, before, before you go, Dylan, I, there's
probably some level of therapy.
You're not only startup, butstartup in restaurant tech.
there's something there, Erica,that, that probably, I'm teasing
just'cause I've been inrestaurant space for, almost 30
years on the tech side and thepeople that keep going back to
not only restaurants butrestaurant startups there,
they're a special breed.
Erica Anderman and Dylan M (03:45):
Ly, there's something wrong with,
but at the same time,
Jeremy Julian (03:48):
like I said, I could probably be a
multimillionaire if I was just atherapist for, for, restaurant
people that tried to get outthat couldn't get out.
all Sorry, Dylan.
you wanna introduce yourself toyour audience?
Erica Anderman and Dylan (03:56):
Yeah, sure.
my background is quite differentto Erica's in that I wasn't in
restaurant tech at all before.
I before this endeavor and my,as you can tell from accent
Irish, corporate lawyer bytrade.
So I worked for a top tiercorporate law firm.
Had, the apples, Googles,Facebooks of the world as my
clients initially, ended upspecializing in investment
funds.
And then that took me toAustralia, which is actually
(04:17):
where I initially started thebusiness.
My angle and where I came at, itwas the consumer side.
So Celiac diagnosed when I was10.
And so experienced a consumerproblem of trying to navigate
dining out for most of my life.
And just over time was gettingmore and more frustrated with
how is it still so difficult tounderstand what is in a menu
item in a restaurant?
(04:38):
Like why is that so hard?
Why is that information notavailable?
and Initially started it, thecompany, through that consumer
lens in terms of trying to solvethe problem, purely for the
consumer, but then over timerealized that you can't solve
for the consumer without solvingit for the restaurant, because
the data just doesn't exist.
And that's when I suppose when Iconnect with Erica, we that
(04:59):
puzzle together and realize,okay, we think we understand how
we can actually solve thisproperly at scale.
and yeah, that's my whistle stopbackground.
Jeremy Julian (05:07):
I love it.
I guess share what did, I don'tthink either one of you guys
during that brief intro, sharedthe name of the product and kind
of what is it?
So why don't we, why don't wetake a step back?
I love that background.
I love the history and I knowwhat, why don't we clear our
listeners in, that's great.
they're now, sleuthing out.
Okay.
He's.
Celiac, she's in restauranttech.
Tell me more.
what exactly have you guyscreated and what is it?
(05:27):
What is the big problem thatwe're trying to solve for?
Erica Anderman and Dylan Mc (05:31):
Do you wanna take that or?
I, the company's called Foodini,like Foodini, but food, and so
we essentially are poweringingredient level transparency
across the entire foodecosystem.
So we have a multitude ofdifferent solutions.
We work directly withrestaurants, hotels, to take
their menu data.
Tag it with the correctingredients and then allergens
(05:51):
and dietaries, and then power adigital personalized menu for
consumers across over a hundreddifferent diets and allergens.
So a consumer can scan a QR codein on the menu, or they can
click a button on the websiteand say, gluten-free, peanut
allergy vegan.
Shellfish allergy save, and itinstantly will be told, here are
the 10 items you can eat.
Here are the 10 items you caneat with a modifier and what
(06:13):
that modifier is, and here arethe 10 items you can't eat and
why.
So personalized menu experience.
We also can work with, and we dowork with stadiums and broader
environments.
We call them micro environments.
Schools, universities, that kindof, vertical.
And also we have APIs that canpower personalization for online
ordering as well.
so those are the three mainsegments that we work in.
Jeremy Julian (06:35):
I love it.
and I know we talked prior tohitting the record button, it's,
it feels like a burgeoning spacethat, that more and more people
are coming into.
I guess I'd love for you to walkour listeners through, what do
you guys traditionally see whenyou guys engage with a
restaurant brand?
Last night I happened to behaving dinner with a partner.
He just went through this wholelike food thing where.
he's trying to, migrate his dietto something that's healthier
(06:56):
for him.
And he was struggling to figureout what was in, because he had
certain, they weren't quiteallergies that were gonna make
him sick, but they were gonnamake him not feel good the next
day type of thing.
And so we were talking throughthat and, literally it was just
a conversation over dinner lastnight and he's unfortunately I
can't really tell.
And so I'd love for you guys towalk through, Most of our
listeners out there are gonna berestaurant owners or people that
are in the restaurant leadershipspace.
(07:18):
How do people do it today?
And then let's talk about howFINI can help bridge that gap to
where people are at.
Erica Anderman and Dylan M (07:24):
Let me, I'll just mention on the re
on the consumer side first andthen I'll pass to you on the
restaurant, but just to on thatpoint, when we started this,
initially we were had just thebig nine allergens and the
initial hypothesis was that willcover, that will cover nearly
everything.
Jeremy, the amount of emails wewere getting from like day one
in terms of, but I have astrawberry allergy.
I have a kiwi allergy.
(07:44):
What about, I'm trying to go on,take keto diet.
I'm actually doing low FODMAPnow because I've got health
issues, like how do you help medo that?
that was the trigger to realize.
It's not just about people withfood allergies that are the big
nine.
It is, it's about half thepopulation that has some form of
dietary requirement, be that anallergen be that an intolerance
be that a lifestyle diet thatthey want to follow.
(08:06):
The TAM is just so much biggerthan most people realize.
And there is a malt, like foodis medicine movement.
Like all these different reasonswhy people just want to
understand what is in theirfood.
And so the consumer problem hasjust continued to grow and grow
even, since we started this dayone.
So that's the consumer side.
I'll pass you on the restaurantside.
And on the restaurant side, Ithink ultimately this problem
(08:26):
has been something that,continues to grow and continues
to just be handled, mainlythrough manual.
So training your staff and orlabeling your menu.
And not just physical menus, butalso online ordering, right?
So most of the major onlineordering platforms have you have
the ability to tag your menu.
(08:47):
But what restaurant witheverything else going on has the
time to go in and manually tagevery single one of your menu
dishes.
And not to mention, it'sactually very limited because
not only is it limited to, let'ssay the top eight allergens, but
it's also limited from a howthis actually needs to work
correctly because it's tied tothe menu item and not to the
(09:07):
modifier.
And the modifier is ultimatelywhere it's most important
because.
If you can easily not put thecheese on that sandwich, then we
wanna know that information.
But if the cheese is cookedwithin the, say the girl,
whatever, if it's in there andyou can't prepare that dish
without it, then it can't bemodified.
And ultimately, that's reallywhere we realize that all of
(09:31):
these kind of solutions on therestaurant side are all short
term.
They're putting a ton ofpressure on the staff.
Jeremy Julian (09:37):
that was where I was going with it.
'cause last night, again, we gota twice baked potato.
Somebody at the table got atwice baked potato, but in the
twice baked potato, it had greenonions.
And the staff member said, areyou allergic to the green
onions?
'cause they're mixed into the,to the deal.
Or do you just not?
Do you have a preference?
And it turned into this wholediscussion tableside, which.
Was great, quite frankly.
(09:57):
'cause most times they'd belike, yeah, and they probably
would just deliver you thattwice.
Baked potato, or they'd tellyou, I'm sorry, you can't have
the twice baked potato, or, andso there's a lot of potential
there.
This happened to be a highdollar, there's four of us and I
think we spent$500 for dinner.
So it wasn't a cheap meal.
So it was a, it was a higher enddining, vendor dinner.
But I promise you at some ofthose other brands you were
(10:18):
talking about, you're notgetting these staff members that
are able to do this.
and the other piece, I guessDylan, is my son grew up playing
baseball with somebody that hadCeliac and Chase was never able
to go out with us to team meals.
Like his mom just wouldn't lethim go with us.
So he wouldn't go on traveltournaments.
He wouldn't, because she neverfelt comfortable enough that he
as a consumer could consume,product while he was out.
(10:41):
I guess.
is that, a typical experience?
Experience that you hear aboutpeople?
Erica Anderman and Dylan Mc (10:45):
To a hundred percent.
And like the super users on theconsumer side are always the
moms of kids with foodallergies.
'cause those are the people thatabsolutely care about this u
this issue on the consumer sidethe most.
But, in one way, you can't, likethe moms times, I've got sick
after eating and rest like somany over the years.
Even when you, there's a statthat came out I think in a
(11:06):
report earlier this year, whichsaid that.
54% of the time when an allergyincident occurs, it's after the
staff have been notified.
So it's not just a case ofthey're not communicating, it's
like they're telling the staff,but there's two main reasons the
staff can't deal with it.
One is the restaurant don't havethe information documented in
the first place that staffmember has no way of, no, of
actually answering the question.
(11:27):
'cause it's not documented.
What, like, how are theysupposed to know?
Or secondly, the stat, as is thecase with a lot of, chains and,
it's.
It tends to be staff that arepart-time casual, not properly
trained.
They just don't understand thatit even matters in the first
place, and they don't understandthe consequences of.
Guessing or not making sure thatthey do give accurate
information and that's why, Ithink there's been a 400%
(11:50):
increase in food allergylawsuits in the last few years.
'cause these incidents keephappening.
What I do also though, wannaadd, because I know your
audience is a lot of restaurantowners who are probably like, I
care, but the part that I don't,people don't talk about as much.
That is really challenging.
It's not that easy to documentthis data, right?
So a lot of the back of housesolutions, the more we dug into
(12:11):
this and we were hoping thatokay, we work with, and we do
partner with some of the greatinventory solutions like Swell
mes, margin Edge.
But when you look in, in theback end of a lot of these
solutions, it's still on therestaurant to properly document
your recipes and make.
Sure that you have all of yourinventory in that recipe form
(12:31):
and you, unless you have therecipes and then you have the
specific products.
And so it's critically importantfor us to do our jobs correctly,
to know, for example, in theaioli what type of mayo you use.
Because if that mayo has soybeanoil, that's important to someone
who has a soy allergy.
some don't.
And so just writing Mayo.
(12:53):
Doesn't get the job done.
And so we've taken shortcuts andI don't blame restaurants like
it's ultimately, it's a lot ofreasons, right?
It's the software that's builtit, you didn't necessarily need
the product or the product.
Skews change frequently, and soit's too difficult to keep that.
And so we've taken theseshortcuts as an industry that
has left us in this situationwhere.
You just don't have the data inone place.
(13:15):
And so that's really what wefocus on is how do we help
restaurant operators make thismuch, much easier by going and
going where the recipes existtoday, where the products and
ingredients, where they'rebuying their products.
And we tie that together,leveraging AI to be able to make
this a much more seamlessprocess for them to document it
by ingredient so that we're ableto get that information to the
(13:36):
consumer.
Jeremy Julian (13:37):
So I'd love for you to talk a little bit more
about that, Erica, then.
So how does that even function?
Going back to this restaurantthat, again is making this twice
baked potato.
It tastes fantastic by the way,but at the same time, I don't
know what was in there and if Ihad a food allergy and there was
potentially some form of,something I was allergic to it.
I promise you it didn't say iton the consumer level, menu,
(13:58):
there might have been four orfive, it was twice baked potato
with green onions and cheese andbacon.
But if they had mixed in sourcream or butter or something
else into that twice bakedpotato, it didn't show it in the
recipe because that was justpart of what they do.
And so a lot of times, at least.
I've been in the restaurantspace for a long time.
They will do these things'causethis is how they've always done
it.
Nobody's ever told them thatyou've gotta, you've got to
(14:19):
ensure that you're using andthat you're even using the
proper mayonnaise.
'cause sometimes they're gonnagrab whatever's available or
they're gonna get theirbroadliners gonna drop off
whatever's available on thetruck.
'cause they did a substitutewithout talking to them about
it.
And so I'd love for you to talkthrough.
As you guys engage withrestaurant brands, AI is
fantastic.
I'm glad we didn't get more than15 minutes into the show before
we started talking about howAI's gonna solve all of the
(14:41):
world's problems.
But at the same time, it stilltakes humans and it still takes
creating these recipes.
So I'd love for you to walk usthrough what does that look
like?
Is it, I guess talk us through,what does that look like when
you engage with a brand to startwith?
Erica Anderman and Dylan (14:52):
Yeah, absolutely.
and I will caveat the AI side ofthings.
People always say it's oh, likewith AI you can easily take a
picture of food and know what'sin it.
You can take a picture of thatsweet or that potato you had
last night and it should, andI'm always like.
In what world?
Like AI is built off of data andultimately that's what we're
building out is this datainfrastructure layer.
So the way it works is when wework with a restaurant, there is
(15:14):
a very big difference betweenlarger chains and the smaller,
small businesses, unfortunately,and a lot of it just makes
sense, right?
A chain is a chain becausethey've got replicated recipes,
they've got.
Control on their supply chain.
So it's typically a lot betterdocumented.
They typically have the exactrecipes, they've got the same,
suppliers, which they're buyingfrom.
(15:35):
And so there usually they dohave an inventory management
system, either a crunch time ora restaurant 365.
they'll have that.
Recipe documented, typicallypublished, they'll have PDFs.
There's laws, obviously for thelarger chains that they have to
disclose more information thansmaller restaurants.
So we'll basically take thatinformation, their product list,
what they're buying, their menu,the recipes, and then we break
(15:58):
that down.
And so we ingest that data.
We basically break down recipesinto Subres.
So to specifically speak to thatexample on that.
Potato, the twice baked potato,most likely there's a sub recipe
in there, which is like they,what they do to, make it
delicious.
Adding in the scions, the salt,the sauce.
Yeah.
Jeremy Julian (16:16):
Yeah, the sauce, the salt, the pepper, all of it.
Yeah.
Erica Anderman and Dy (16:19):
Exactly.
And so that's where we will pullthe information so that we, and
that sometimes if it's a morefine dining, smaller restaurant
that is part of the work is theyhave to document that.
and it's okay, like the changesthat can happen, it makes sense.
But ultimately where we say itis, the industry's so scared
because.
It's not perfect to document it,but by not documenting it at
(16:40):
all, people are literally dyinglike we are.
This is a health issue at thispoint, and so what we encourage
is let's document it and then asyou make changes or there are
substitutions that happen, wehave recurring checks that we
make sure in case there are anychanges, but ultimately we give
the, here is what is intended tobe in this dish, the reflection
of as it is today.
(17:02):
And that is what we tag on thebackend.
And that's important because theother thing most chefs also say
to me is I don't want my recipe,every, and we don't share that
information.
We tag it in the backend and allthe consumer sees is if that
dish contains an ingredient thatthey can't have just so that, or
they can modify.
Just so that they have thatinformation.
And we still encourageconsumers, if you have an
(17:23):
allergy, you still need to letthe chef know because we're not
trying to, cause any sort offalse sense.
We still wanna make sure thatconversation occurs, but it
should be after they're justverifying.
I saw that.
I just wanna make sure I have anallergy.
We're much faster.
The operations aren't sloweddown.
We're not having, it's justgonna make us a lot faster as an
industry.
and I think consumers will feela lot more comfortable included,
(17:47):
and hopefully safer when theydie out.
Just the other thing to add overthe top of that is this is
coming anyway, right?
Jeremy Julian (17:53):
that was where I was gonna go next is just, I'm
sure I, unfortunately, andagain, I've spent my entire life
in the restaurant industry,oftentimes it takes legislation.
Or it takes something in orderto get them to move off the mark
because there's what, 700,000estimated restaurants just in
the United States, outside of,nationwide, worldwide, all of
that.
And so is that, Dylan, is thatwhere it's going?
(18:16):
Is it going to a place where,you know.
A long time.
you guys happen to be based inCalifornia, I believe.
they had the whole, foodlabeling and kind of the calorie
counting thing.
If you had a certain size, and Iknow that's also a big piece of
what's coming to try and gettransparency in, in restaurants
is the same thing happening.
Are they going to be forced todo this?
outside of the fact that it'sjust good business to what you
(18:37):
said, Erica, you're not killingpeople, you're not hurting
people.
You're not sending them homesick because they ate something
that they didn't know.
But is that really where it'sgoing, Dylan?
Erica Anderman and Dylan Mc (18:45):
It is and even just before I go to
that, like over the top of that,those are obvious kind of
benefits that you justmentioned, but what we've
actually seen the benefits ofhaving this information
documented and can and met clearto the consumer.
It's also you're attracting inall these consumers that
previously would not go to yourrestaurant, they didn't trust
you, could cater to them.
And then it's not just them,it's their families, their
(19:06):
friends, their coworkers.
Now the, all of a sudden theteam dinner can be at that
restaurant'cause the celiac andthe nut allergy person feel safe
going there.
It's also the data.
When you have a digital solutionthat manages this, instead of
that table site conversationthat you referred to, where that
allergen that your, your friendhad, that was, that's a lost
data point.
(19:26):
If someone puts this into adigital solution at the end of
every month, you can look at itas a restaurant chain and say,
ah, we had 20,000 gluten-freeand 10,000 vegan and 4,000 keto.
We actually have no ketofriendly option on our menu.
That's something we should goand look at.
And we can also tie those.
Dietary profiles to loyalty, andnow we can market to those
consumers.
We know Dylan is Celiac, it'sworld gluten-free day.
(19:48):
It's 10% off.
Like these are all the thingsyou can do with that data as
well.
So it's more even than just theops and the risk mitigation.
But to your questionspecifically, that's what's
happening.
So Europe now, most European
Jeremy Julian (20:00):
Yeah, I was gonna ask about Europe'cause I, my
parents had traveled there andthey said that there's some,
there was something on thebottom of the menu they were
trying to explain to us.
So I'd love for you guys toeducate our listeners on that.
Erica Anderman and Dylan (20:09):
yeah, regs, it's and let's take
Ireland, the UK as just an easyexample, 14 major allergens in
the, in those countries versusnine here.
Every menu, every.
Org that serves food, even ifit's a food truck, has to label
for the top 14 allergens.
And how they've typically doneit is they have a key at the
bottom, one gluten, two wheat,three eggs, four shellfish, and
(20:31):
then every menu item will havethe numbers beside it if it
contains that allergen.
So it's messy, I would say It'snot like aesthetically pleasing.
and obviously every timeanything changes, they have to
reprint the menus and the menuboards or whatever.
But it is accurate and it istransparent.
And that's I suppose been thestarting point without going
down the digital route.
What's been happening here, andI suppose the most advanced is
(20:53):
in California with the SB 68bill that's been going through
the kind of legislative processhere for the last several
months.
It passed the Senateunanimously, I think it was 32
to zero about two months ago.
It went through assembly health.
It went through assemblyappropriations.
It's in the main assembly rightnow.
I think it's due to be heard bythe end of next week.
(21:14):
And then it goes to GavinNewsom's desk.
And what this bill mandates isthat every restaurant in
California, labeled for foodallergens effective one July 26.
our perspective on this, similarto what happened with the gig
economy drivers, when DoorDashand Uber Eats and, that kind of
got pushed back for a while andthen, e eventually it, it
passed.
But this is coming.
(21:34):
this is going to be required.
It'll either happen right now orit will happen in six months or
12 months, but it is.
it's the trend.
It's popping up in other statesas well.
Like I said, California is themost advanced, but the
beginnings of this are nowhappening in some other states.
On the east coast you have, Mahais also pushing through all
sorts of stuff that relates tolike food dyes and chemicals and
(21:57):
additives.
That all kind of ties into thisas well.
So all the legislative trendsshow this is going to be
required very soon and it'sgonna be required, probably
across the board over the nexttwo to three years.
Jeremy Julian (22:10):
No, and I think, and we talked about it again
before we hit the record button.
I love that, that you guys areon the leading edge of this and
there's gonna be more and morepeople that are gonna be trying
to do this.
The other thing that I want to,double click on is for those
restaurant owners out there,Erica, I'd love for you to
share.
It's a value add to yourconsumers.
You become a restaurant ofchoice when you do this.
(22:30):
Yes.
It's hard work.
Yes.
You've gotta have discipline.
Yes, you've gotta do thesethings.
Yes.
You've gotta pay for software tohelp you with it, and it pays
off.
The increase in volume frompeople that are wanting to dine
here because of it is prettysignificant.
I'd love for you to share alittle bit about what you're
seeing.
The value to the restaurateursas they implement this solution
(22:52):
and kind of how not only is ithelping give confidence to the
staff, but it's also giving conconfidence to the consumers and
ultimately driving top linesales.
Erica Anderman and Dy (23:01):
Exactly.
I think what you've seen now isevolution of everyone is looking
up the restaurant before they'regoing in.
at this point, now you'relooking up the menu.
It's, if you don't, it's the newveto vote.
I think it was the vetovegetarian back when everyone
added a, vegetarian option onthe menu.
Just so that in case you aredriving by, it's the same thing
now with if you don't have anoption for someone who has an
(23:22):
allergy or dietary need, or theydon't know that there's
something there that they caneat.
They will choose another option.
I deal with it every day gettinglunch with him.
my brother growing up, it wassimilar.
It was, we had to look at themenu and see if there were
options and so the reality is ifyou give this information
upfront, you are going toattract more people to come in
(23:42):
who know that they have option.
once they come in, you are now,instead of bogging down your
staff, waiting for them to cometo the table, you are able to
give them this informationupfront.
They're ready when the waitercomes over, if it's full service
or they're able to see what theycan have.
If it's a kiosk or it's a.
Digital board will have QR codesso that they don't wait until
(24:05):
they get to the register.
If you're a fast casual or QSRto now, ask the question.
The amount of times.
We've also seen this at lunch atsome of the biggest chains out
there, that I'm horrified thatthey don't have the answer and
they're having to hold up awhole line behind us because
they have to ask.
Jeremy Julian (24:19):
my favorite is they'll have to go get this
binder out of the back to figureout.
It's really?
This is the way that we'reworking in 2025.
Erica Anderman and Dy (24:25):
Exactly, and sure there are some annoying
consumers out there who lovebeing the center of attention
and they like the chef and themanager and everyone there.
And the tableside conversationyou said, but the reality is
most people, and myselfincluded, I just wanna order my
food like everyone else.
I don't wanna fuss, I don't wantthis Hubble Lu.
I just want them to give me thefood that I can eat.
And so for most consumers, wesee as well, they appreciate the
(24:48):
fact that they have theinformation now.
And sure, I'm still gonna say,and by the way, I'm Celiac, just
so you know, so you can let thekitchen know, but it's not the
five minute conversation beforethat to figure out what I can
even order in the first place.
And then over the top of that,Erica talked about the
attracting consumers.
There is no more loyal consumerthan a food allergy consumer.
(25:08):
They find it so hard to findplaces that they can trust that
when they do find someplace,they just keep going back again
and again.
And you could probably vouchthat wheat in the same three
places.
Like when we go for, becausethey're the places around here
that, it's me, dry me it,because I'm like, the three of
them can cater for me perfectly.
They know what they're doing.
We're going back, and that'swhat happens.
Jeremy Julian (25:29):
and so I'd love for you, Dylan, since you've
been talking about the consumerside.
and I think Erica just alludedto it, we talked about what,
what happens within therestaurant, but how is a
consumer do you most oftenengage with these things?
So that's great.
You've got these three placesthat are near your office or
near your home or whatever.
And now I'm in a different city.
Now I'm at a trade show.
Now I'm traveling.
(25:49):
As a consumer, talk me throughwhat is the consumer, experience
to go find these types ofallergens out on the menu if
they're on your guys' platform.
and then what does it reallyeven look like when they're not?
'cause it's probably prettymiserable for you to travel and
have to go eat out when you'retraveling.
Erica Anderman and Dylan Mc (26:05):
So if you take the standard
consumers, so take us out of itfor a second, right?
I'll tell you what consumersnormally do.
There's a few things.
One, they don't eat out.
They decide we're gonna cook,we're gonna go to Whole Foods
and buy, and we're gonna bringit to the hotel or with Airbnb,
and that's what we're gonna dobecause it's just, it's hard.
One, two, they ring or emailbefore to and get someone on the
(26:26):
phone to try and get thatinformation before they go.
Same when I, yeah, in my oldcareer, I remember having to do
it a few times in a workcapacity where there was a 20
person team lunch and my ma mypartner was like.
there's four different allergieshere.
I have a clue where we got,like, how are we gonna figure
out where we can bring the 20people?
And so it's email and blah,blah, blah.
And then the restaurant'sobviously having to deal with
that.
Or else it's as you said, whenyou're there in person, getting
(26:48):
the manager, getting whoever inthere and having the
conversation.
So that's the like how you dealwith it today in, or, without
Jeremy Julian (26:54):
In our non technologically advanced areas.
Erica Anderman and Dylan (26:56):
with us.
How again we manage it is youwalk in off the street to a
restaurant you like have neverheard of FINI before, but
there's a QR on the menu borderon the, OR on the physical menu
saying allergy dietary needsscan.
Here.
You scan the qr, pops up a URLto create your dietary profile.
We've over a hundred differentselections.
You create your dietary profile,picking whatever is unique to
(27:18):
you.
And it shows you thepersonalized menu instantly,
five seconds, and that, that isthe experience equally as I, I
think I, I alluded to earlier,we put a digital button, on the
website as well, which says,allergies, dietary needs clicker
triggers the same experience sothat someone knows before they
can go there.
And with the online orderingside of things, we're try, we're
in the process of powering thatsame solution within their
(27:41):
ecosystem as well.
So that wherever you're comingto the menu from, you can still
get that same level oftransparency and personalization
so that you just have confidenceplacing your order.
cause that's what happens to alot of consumers.
I go on.
Or I go on GrubHub or DoorDashor, and I'm scrolling and I'm
clicking.
I'm like, I really want this.
And I'm just, I just don't know.
I just don't know.
(28:02):
It's suitable.
So now I'm not gonna order, I'mgonna walk down to the grocery
store again instead.
And these are like, it's just somuch lost revenue for online
ordering and for therestaurants.
Jeremy Julian (28:11):
and you talked about it, the fact that it's
such a large percentage of thepopulation that has some form,
again, somewhat ignorant.
I do have a, have one of my fourkids doesn't have any allergens,
but.
But struggles to eat certainthings and doesn't care for
certain things.
And so he has preferences andhis is more about preference
than it is even about anything.
And so we do end up, when he isin town, he happens to be in
(28:31):
college now.
So our palate expands quite abit when he's gone, but when he
is home, it's like that we eatat the same four or five
restaurants'cause that's wherehe'll eat.
and I know that
Erica Anderman and Dylan M (28:39):
but it's bigger.
Again, even, I remember thefirst time I dug into this
properly, like the number, likeif I break down the half the
population that I referred toearlier, you have 33 million
Americans with a diagnosed foodallergy, so that's one in 10
straight away diagnosed allergy.
You have another 50 million thatfall into the intolerance
bucket.
Dairy intolerant, lactoseintolerant, wheat intolerant,
gluten intolerant.
(28:59):
They're, it's not a, an allergytechnically, but they feel
unwell if they eat it.
And then you 70 million, whichfall into the vegan, vegetarian,
keto, low fodmap, paleo, lowcarb, lacto, like you name it,
right?
And so again, I think it's justmuch, much bigger than most
restaurateurs realize.
the other stat that I was prettysurprised by that, impacts the
(29:23):
way we handle this is 40% ofpeople who have an allergy have
more than one.
And so that is one of the mostsignificant reasons why the
current solutions are just.
Really not effective, these PDFallergen matrixes.
So now you're telling consumers,you're holding up the line
handing them this binder or thismatrix and now they've gotta go
down.
Okay, I've got egg here andthen, but I also need to look at
(29:46):
the row that ha and it, andthat's where it's just you're,
it, we're
Jeremy Julian (29:49):
It's hard enough to pick a menu item anyway, and
then you figure out that youcan't eat it.
Erica Anderman and Dy (29:53):
Exactly.
So that's why, and a lot of itthough is also advancements in
technology.
Like the fact that we're able tomake this a bit more easy for
the restaurant to be able to letus work with your back of house
or work with the existingdocumentation you have and the
documenting on the backend andjust exposing what the consumer
needs to know, we think is theright balance here, where we
cover 150 plus.
(30:14):
Constantly growing differentdiets and allergens.
Ultimately, as long as we'redocumenting the ingredients, our
ability to cater to differentneeds, preferences, and, diets
can continue to grow and grow,especially as all these consumer
health tech platforms aretelling everyone what you should
and shouldn't eat based on yourbiometrics and your blood and
all of that.
(30:35):
I
Jeremy Julian (30:35):
That was this guy last night he was telling me
about, he did his blood work andhis stool sample, and he's this
is what I have to eat.
I'm like, okay, dude, what youdo?
You, I don't, there's greenonions in that, but, I'm teasing
about it.
Erica, one last thing.
You mentioned it earlier, butI'd love for you to dig in a
little bit.
there's obviously the main Iingredient, but then you've got.
The components that go alongwith it, the modifications, the
(30:56):
sides.
I'd love for you to talk.
How do you solve that?
Because you know what?
A chicken sandwich that's on apea, on a, on flatbread that
doesn't have a gluten, not thatbig of a deal.
But then I happen to get friesthat happen to have, flour on
them or whatever, Whatever itmight be.
I'd love for you to talk throughhow do you guys solve for that?
Because it is a very complexmatrix when you have an
ingredient and it's not just themain, it's the main plus the two
(31:19):
sides that come along with itthat also need to now be
included in this conversation.
Erica Anderman and Dylan McD (31:24):
I think best way to give you an
example, a restaurant weonboarded last week that, it was
a single location, that, does apretty good job.
I will say in terms of how hedocuments his recipes.
He uses, craftable and inCraftable has recipes documented
Within those recipes.
Those I also tied to inventory.
And so with us, basically wetook his menu.
(31:45):
and I guess I'll break it downfrom the top.
So menu, it comes first withmenu.
We want the data from the POS asmuch as possible because that's
where we also will take yourmodifiers.
And so toast was his POS and sotoast menu.
And then we could see themodifier data in there.
And that way to your answer yourquestion, we know what can be
added or removed because that'salready set up in your POS.
(32:09):
We then layer on the recipes,and so the recipes were pulled
from Craftable.
If they're not in Craftable,they can also be documented.
We'll get Excel files all thetime.
That's okay.
Jeremy Julian (32:19):
Hopefully that's where you use AI to filter
through that stuff.
But sorry, I'll let you guyskeep going.
Erica Anderman and Dy (32:23):
Exactly.
That is exactly, we try to getsome help, but ultimately we
take it from where it exists.
And so the recipes, then webreak that down into the
products.
products can either be aingredient, a raw ingredient,
lettuce, or it can be acomposite ingredient or a
product that has sub recipe.
And so that would be a productthat can buy Hans ketchup or,
(32:44):
like a branded product inessence.
Yeah.
So we then break that down.
And so the good part of whatwe've been building is a product
database that allows us to makethis really easy, where you tell
us you're buying Heinz ketchup,we know the ingredients in Heinz
ketchup because we've built upthat product in our database.
So we automatically tag it forall those ingredients, and then
we automatically tag each one ofthose ingredients for all the
(33:06):
relevant diets and allergens.
And so really with therestaurant side of it, it's just
that menu, recipes andinventory.
And then we take it from thereand we show them the dietary tag
menu.
we test it out.
Obviously, we, a lot ofrestaurants also use it to train
the staff.
That's another
Jeremy Julian (33:23):
No, I think that once you've got it documented,
now being able to go back andeducate those staff members, not
only on sharing with theirguests, but also, from a safety
perspective,
Erica Anderman and Dylan Mc (33:31):
It was funny, one of the first, our
first customers, the, when wewere going through feedback in
terms of how it was beingreceived by customers and staff,
it was already positive, but oneof his inputs was that his
biggest surprise unlock wasculturally, he was like, the
fact that this now lives on themenu and that we, like all the
staff know it's consumer facingand the chefs, et cetera.
(33:51):
Means that they just implicitlyare taking it more seriously and
they're double checking thingswith it in mind.
It like, it just culturally metit important in a way.
'cause it was front of mind now
Jeremy Julian (34:03):
no different than when you throw a camera in the
kitchen.
You're like, people are gonnabehave, even if you never look
at the film.
They're gonna behave betterbecause they know that
somebody's watching.
Erica Anderman and Dy (34:11):
Exactly.
Exactly.
Jeremy Julian (34:12):
Yeah.
No, I love that.
we're getting close to time.
I guess what, is there anythingI missed, guys, that you guys
would want to share with ouraudience?
it feels like we've gone fromboth consumer restaurant side.
Erica, you talked about thiswhole fear that people have,
that my recipes are gonna getout to the world.
I know you guys hold, hide thatbehind the firewall to make sure
that it's just the ingredients.
It's not how do you make it?
And that's the secret sauce ishow do you all put it together
(34:33):
and whatnot.
But is there anything else wemissed?
Erica Anderman and Dylan McD (34:35):
I think just if I was to surmise
it, it's something thatsometimes restaurateurs can find
a bit daunting, especially ifthey haven't gone to there for,
to documenting this before.
And I suppose we've spent timemaking sure that our approach
makes it as simple as possiblefor them.
all we typically ask for is giveus the data you have.
We will review it all, packageit, and come back with the
(34:57):
queries that we ha need answersfor.
It's typically one onboardingcall to like verify that
information and we're good.
So it's not this convoluted longprocess for a restaurateur
that's gonna take them days.
It typically is.
An hour or two of their time toactually get to the point that
we have it fully verified.
We can work with SMB, we workwith mid-market, we can work
with Enterprise.
As I mentioned, we can work withstadiums, with universities,
(35:18):
with schools.
So anywhere that food is served,our service, works.
And again, we've spent the timemaking sure that it's as
seamless as possible for thecustomers.
That's, I think, just somethingworth pointing out.
other thing from a restaurantoperator perspective is by doing
this work, if it's not somethingthat you already have
documented.
documenting your recipes pays individends for lots of other
(35:40):
areas of your business, right?
Yeah.
Understanding your cogs,understanding what truly each
menu item cost is organized.
it's not just to have thebenefit of being able to help
consumers know it's in theirfood.
There's a lot of other benefitsthat we find, which is why it's
so nice to partner with theinventory management systems
because ultimately the betterdocumented your recipes are and
the more we can help track youringredients, the better operator
(36:02):
you are in terms ofunderstanding.
your restaurant in your back ofhouse.
Jeremy Julian (36:05):
I love it.
so how do people get in touch?
How do people get engaged?
where do they go to find youguys?
other than, they can sit andlisten to the podcast over and
over again, but, how do they getengaged and learn if this is the
right solution for what they'relooking for?
Erica Anderman and Dylan M (36:18):
we, our website is generally a good
place to start, Foodini.
and it also has we have aseparate page for each segment
as well, so restaurant, mic,stadium microenvironment, et
cetera.
So have a look there.
We have some case studies on ourresources page just so people
can maybe dig in and have a bitof a closer look.
there's a one minute video thatkind of explains as well the
kind of process that might beworth running through and a bit
(36:40):
of a visual of what it actuallylooks like for a consumer.
and then email us directly.
It's dylan@foodini.com.
It's erica@foodini.com as well.
we'd love to hear from anyonewith questions or if they're
interested in, in using us.
Jeremy Julian (36:55):
I love it.
there's a rumor that there's aYouTube page that, I might have
been on and given you guys someviews on the YouTube page, so I
knew what both of you guyslooked like before I jumped on
today watching the YouTube tomake sure that I was ready for
today's interview.
So thank you guys for creatingthis again, I love.
I love talking to entrepreneursthat are really scratching a
niche that, that they see outthere.
Obviously for you, Dylan, verypersonal'cause, this is a life
(37:15):
experience.
and again, like I said to you,Erica, there's something about
food startup techs that are funand exciting, but also, it
really does solve a lot ofproblems and make the world a
better place, when we can.
do these things.
So thank you guys for sharingyour story.
Thank you guys for creating theproduct.
To our listeners, guys, like Isaid at the onset, I know you
guys got lots of choices, sothanks for hanging out and make
it a great day.
Speaker (37:36):
Thanks for listening to The Restaurant Technology Guys
podcast.
Visit restaurant technologyguys.com for tips, industry
insights, and more to help yourun your restaurant better.
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