February 24, 2025 • 32 mins
Navigating Tariffs and Technology: Insights from Canada's Restaurant Guy, Jay Ashton
In this episode of the Restaurant Technology Guys podcast, host Jeremy Julian is joined by Jay Ashton, known as Canada's Restaurant Guy. They delve into the non-political impact of regulations, especially tariffs, on the restaurant industry in both Canada and the U.S. Jay shares his extensive experience in the restaurant supply chain, discusses the potential severe impact of upcoming tariffs similar to or worse than COVID-19, and stresses the need for strategic planning. They also explore innovative revenue streams, the role of AI in restaurant management, and the importance of community and cooperation among restauranteurs. If you're looking for ways to future-proof your restaurant against economic uncertainties, this episode is filled with practical advice and unique insights.
00:00 Introduction to the Podcast
00:12 Meet Jay Ashton: Canada's Restaurant Guy
03:34 Impact of Tariffs on the Restaurant Industry
07:54 Strategies for Restaurants to Navigate Tariff Challenges
17:09 Exploring New Business Models and Revenue Streams
25:16 The Role of AI and Technology in Modern Restaurants
31:00 Conclusion and How to Stay Connected
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
This is the RestaurantTechnology Guys podcast, helping
you run your restaurant better.
Jeremy Julian (00:13):
In today's episode, we are joined by Jay
Ashton, who is affectionatelyknown as the Canada's Restaurant
Guy.
He and I talk a lot about theongoing political conversations
related to Canada and the U.
S., the tariffs.
This is definitely not apolitical Um episode, but it
does get into the impact ofregulations and how regulations
(00:36):
can impact the restaurants Andthe ways that they go about
making money and the productsthat they sell Jay has a long
history of working in lots ofdifferent areas of restaurants
supply chain suppliers all overcanada And he also hosts his own
podcast and has a greatnewsletter that is very valuable
(00:57):
to restaurant owners.
So if you're not familiar withJay, I would encourage you to
listen to the entire episode,learn a little bit more about
him and how he can help yourbusiness.
If you're not familiar with me,my name is Jeremy Julian.
I have been working in therestaurant tech space for over
25 years.
And I also am the chief revenueofficer for CBS North Star.
We sell the Northstar point ofsale solution for multi units.
(01:20):
Check us out at cbsnorthstar.
com and now onto the show.
Welcome back to the RestaurantTechnology Guys podcast.
I thank everyone out there forjoining us.
as I say each and every time, Iknow that you guys have got lots
of choices.
So thank you guys for hangingout.
those that are watching on videomay recognize the face.
I definitely, know that they'llsee the name, floating around
the socials.
But Jay, why don't you introduceyourself to our audience and
(01:41):
then we can jump into kind ofsome of the topics and what
you've been up to the lastcouple of
Jay Ashton (01:45):
Sure.
also known as Canada'sRestaurant Guy, I always laugh
at
Jeremy Julian (01:47):
Yeah.
Canada's restaurant guy.
Yep.
Exactly.
you're the Canadian.
You're going to say a lot of A's
Jay Ashton (01:52):
I try not to A it out too much, but yeah, so I'm
from Canada.
I've been in the industry 35years.
I've done everything, in theindustry.
I think there is, and I'm, inthe last 20 years, I've been
working with one of the largestdistributors in the world and,
been working with them on,Really helping businesses.
So I've dedicated most of mycareer of helping restaurants
(02:16):
and from everything in betweenin the space of restaurants or
marketing to business andeverything in between.
And, I've been, doing a podcastas well, doing, podcast or our
network.
maybe one day I'll tell you,but, we do that as well.
And, we've been doing that forfive years.
And, we just turned it into amedia network, and we just, we
(02:37):
also have four newsletters, itgoes out every week.
And, yeah, we got some prettycool stuff happening over the
next 2025.
Jeremy Julian (02:45):
Yeah, no.
And I know that's how weconnected.
I somehow got on the newsletterand then I got connected to you
on LinkedIn and I'm like, holycrap, this guy's so prolific.
He's got so much stuff outthere, which is part of what had
me reach out.
And for the long time listeners,everybody knows that the real,
my real passion is to helprestaurants succeed.
And that's part of why this showexists and, primarily wrapped
around technology, but at theend of the day, the best tech in
(03:06):
the world without the rightsystems and people in place
doesn't matter, which What Jayand I talked about pre show when
we were talking about what do wewant to get into?
So Jay, what's been on yourmind?
I, you and I talked pre show andyou've got two or three things
that have been resonating withyou as it relates to both the
Canadian market, which some ofour listeners, we have some
Canadian listeners, we have someinternational listeners over
overseas, a lot of us spacelisteners, but what's been on
(03:27):
your mind most recently, becauseI think it's going to have an
impact on the restaurants, bothdomestically here in the States,
as well as in Canada.
Jay Ashton (03:34):
it's this tariff talk.
I call it tariff talks becausehopefully the percentages are
not going to be what they are,but we're talking a lot about
the tariffs right now andputting plans into place and
working on strategies.
And, it is right now that timeof the season that everyone's
busy.
We got Christmas partieshappening.
It's a great time of the year.
But I also just wrote thismorning about what are you doing
(03:55):
January 2nd?
Probably haven't even thought ofthat.
and that's okay.
And I always believe that, it'shard to, always say things to
the industry without being inthe industry at that moment.
and I get to work with a wholebunch of restaurants every day
as well, but it is when you lookat what that plan is and what
these terrorists will do to ourindustry.
We've got to have a plan.
It's already seen our Canadiandollar drop quite a
(04:18):
significantly amount in the lastfew days, just by the talk of
tariffs and nothing happened.
It certainly wrote our dollarquite a bit.
so we need to be planning whatwe're going to be doing.
Cause people are going to goout.
We know we're going to haverestaurants still.
We're going to have to look atoptions.
but right now, I think whenyou're going to look at the
(04:39):
percentages that, hopefullydon't come into our scope here,
we're going to have a plan andthat's going to have to be, I
think on almost every corner ofyour business model.
You may have to turn it upsidedown.
So we need to prepare for that.
And that's going to be veryemotional.
It's going to be verychallenging for a lot of people
and they're going to need, Ialways say every restaurant
needs a coach and a podcast.
(05:00):
but they're definitely going toneed that support that's out
there in the market or they'rejust not going to make it.
Jeremy Julian (05:05):
So help me understand or help our listeners
understand really, Jay, why isthat tariff so impactful?
even the tariff talk, what isthe impact going to be to the
Canadian market, because forthose that either aren't super
into politics, don't even know,like, how is that going to
impact?
Because I'm a, as a fooddistributor in your day job, I
would assume that much of what.
Products you guys are gettingcome from Canada, but it sounds
(05:26):
like that might be part of theproblem But I don't even know I
guess I'll educate listeners asto why that impact is gonna be
so great on the Canadian marketbecause Though all of those
border cities in the US aregonna also be impacted pretty
significantly.
I would guess about it, too
Jay Ashton (05:38):
Yeah, there's a lot of talk around what's going to
happen on both sides.
Obviously, we get products infrom the United States and also
the United States, we tradeproducts as well with the United
States quite a bit.
I forget, it's 2 point somebillion a day.
it's a significant amount ofexport and importing across the
Canadian border.
It's just going to driveinflation up in terms of the
(05:59):
tax, right?
that's all it is.
It's a fancy way of saying thetax.
And when you add tax on thegoods, in or out, It's going to
increase the cost on thoseproducts.
No matter if we're sending somuch across the border or
receiving across the border,it's going to increase the
overall cost of those products.
And when most of those productscan't be either grown up here or
they're manufactured in theCanadian markets and
(06:21):
manufacturing in the U S viceversa.
We're literally going to see,and it's also going to impact
the U S industry as well.
It's going to also see anincrease on both sides.
So it's really, when you look atthe tax percentage, when we look
at adding two or 5 percent taxon things, it has a significant
increase.
a decrease in the use of thoseproducts, or, if it is fuel or
(06:42):
whatever people travel less orthe eat out less, we see all
these impacts happening.
But also drives our dollar downin the overall dollar of what it
is.
And when we're seeing thatcompared to the U.
S.
dollar, it's significantlydropping, which is not good.
It is good in some circumstanceswhen it comes to oil and gas in
(07:04):
those areas, lumber, certainthings, grain, all those things
help when you look at, becausewe sell it in American dollars,
right?
So we do see a definitely aprofit in that side, but the
food products that are cominginto the Canadian market, these
things are going to beincreasing in prices for
restaurants out to a degree thatwe really just need to be
(07:24):
prepared to be able to handlewhat that is.
and just be ready to be able towork through it and plan through
it.
And it's also in the U S marketas well as we will see, you will
see increase on products.
And I work at a lot ofrestaurants right now where we
also believe that we're hit theceiling in the menus pricing,
right?
Like we're ceiling.
We're maxed no more.
Jeremy Julian (07:45):
and I've seen more and more brands coming out
with value propositions andtrying to figure out how to get
the consumers back.
I just was reading articles thismorning.
So what do restaurants do?
You talk about planning and youtalk about them having to have a
plan.
What, again, I think some of theinflationary stuff that happened
late 2023 and all through 2024,a lot of people didn't plan for
it.
And then.
their food costs went up andthey didn't know what to do.
(08:07):
And they, they struggled toadjust quickly.
We know that there's a potentialfor this to come.
We don't know what it's going tolook like come January, but what
can they do?
Do they change their menuselection?
Do they highlight separatedifferent products?
Help, help walk through some ofthe things that you're coaching,
some of your suppliers and someof your restaurant brands to
even think about.
Because again, pizza food costsis different than steak food
(08:29):
costs.
Steak food costs is differentthan, than chicken wings.
And Help us understand what itis that you're talking to
different restauranteurs
Jay Ashton (08:35):
I think if we can look at a more of a macro model
here.
So when we look at the overallbusiness, I think a lot of
restaurants are gonna have tomake a decision.
Is this the model that we want?
do we switch the overallbusiness model?
It's that significant.
When we look at the percentageon the amount of tariff that
we're looking at, it's that bigof a deal.
That's what I'm saying is it'snot just a 5%.
(08:55):
Oh, we'll just change the menuprices or we'll look at it, in a
few of your product or whateverthe case is.
It's actually so significantthat we have to make business
decisions on the overallbusiness structure or model or
strategy, and that might bewhere, okay, we may have to
become this kind of model goingforward, or we may have to
reduce hours.
We have to look at not justdoing foot traffic or not having
(09:18):
foot traffic or takeout.
All these two things, when youlook at the overall business
structure, will have to bereviewed and looked at and made
a decision if it goes forward,and that is by running your
numbers and looking at what youcan do, what the market will
bear, and what you're going tohave to do to survive.
You will have to look ateverything.
It's not just your menu.
It's not R& D on new products.
(09:40):
It's not looking at your overalllabor cost, all these different
costs that we talk about all thetime.
It's going to have to beeverything, absolutely
everything.
And it's going to come down to,do you have to reinvent yourself
again?
And I think when you look atsome of the talks right now, and
I just saw this article thismorning as well, around
innovation, I always say is whenpeople start talking innovation,
worry.
(10:01):
Because that means that eitherwe're going to see products in
fire,
Jeremy Julian (10:04):
going to be a force
Jay Ashton (10:05):
to be a fourth page coming, right?
And you see this there in thecamera.
I was like, okay, here comes theinnovation train.
and I don't know in a sense, andthis is what's keeping me up a
little bit is the in, in, ininnovation space right now.
When you look at it, I don'tknow what else we can innovate.
I don't know.
I think like when we wentthrough COVID, there was a lot
(10:27):
of innovation in a sense of, newrevenue streams or new
opportunities, or we hadgovernment relief programs, all
these things came into themarketplace, but you look at it
today, I don't know if thosethings are going to happen in a
sense because it's sodevastating.
So we just need to have a, whenI say plan, we need to make some
critical decisions if we need topull that rope and go into that
(10:49):
lifeline or that survival modebecause we all know that
restaurants go into survivalmode.
It's a tough, it's a toughbattle when you don't have a
plan.
And we just need to make sure,and I always say planning is
perfect, and you don't need touse it if you don't need to use
it, but at least you're sittingthere without stopping, because
most places are going to reacton the 21st or 22nd, and based
(11:10):
on what I'm hearing, thesignificant increase in what
it's going to do, Will be prettymuch overnight.
So it's not a slow burn.
It's going to be a quick one andit's going to be fast and it's
going to be quite hard on usthat we need to make sure that
we're, we've got a plan B inplace.
Here's what we're going to do.
Here's what we're going to do tomove forward.
and I actually think.
(11:30):
also incorporating AI into yourbusiness model right now is
critical.
And I say that based on you'regoing to have to use the
smartest guy in the room to helpsupport you.
And I think using AI as, I have,right now we have the rest of
AI, the restaurant AI coachright now that we have for, for
what I do.
and I use it, I've loadedeverything I can into it that it
(11:52):
brings in knowledge.
but it is in a sense right nowwhere we need to use all those
lifelines.
In planning,
Jeremy Julian (12:00):
and you had said, yeah, you had said to me, Jay,
in the, in, before we hit therecord button, that you think
that this has the opportunity tobe even a larger impact than
COVID.
I guess tease that out for justa second for our audience.
Cause I, I think they're goingto be sitting here listening,
going, that guy's so full ofcrap.
He's just some crazy assCanadian that doesn't know what
he's talking about.
And I'd love for you to teasethat out because I think it's
going to go into the last partof our conversation, which is
(12:22):
really what other things canthey do?
Exploring different businessmodels and how can they adopt
tech to, to help with some ofthese things?
But why do you think it has theopportunity to be even more
impactful than COVID?
And,
Jay Ashton (12:32):
because I think the thing is that one similar to
COVID in a sense, it's going tooverall hit all industries,
right?
It's not just going to, cone inon one, one area.
I do have a theory though, thatwe may see a flip in a certain
area that may cause it to not beso devastating.
And we'll talk about carbon taxin a second that we have here
where the government is in placeto have an environmental tax on
(12:55):
carbon for us, where we haveadded it into a lot of goods and
a lot of things and our gasprices and everything else.
There might be an opportunitybecause the opposition right now
in the Canadian government is ifthey do get elected, which most
likely in the polls, it lookslike they will, will remove that
carbon tax.
I don't know if that carbon tax,the percentage of what the tax
(13:16):
has been because it's beenincremental over the last couple
of years.
is that enough?
If we remove that to off balancethe 25 percent tariff tax, it
might be, or might not make itso abusive, right?
our industry.
So when I look at a comparisonto the COVID world, COVID, there
was a lot of relief programsthat were out there.
There was a lot of, in a sense,people going out to support the
(13:39):
industry because it was takenaway from us.
And I think when you take thingsaway, People want it, right?
Like it's just, I want thatback.
It's important to me.
they're not taking it.
Jeremy Julian (13:49):
and restaurants oftentimes are the lifeblood of
a community.
And
Jay Ashton (13:52):
Hundred percent.
Jeremy Julian (13:53):
a lot of people were going out and
Jay Ashton (13:55):
Yeah.
I wanna go out and support it.
I need that in my community.
That's my life.
That's where I go and work.
now they're having it.
It's still there, but they can'tafford it.
That's a different world.
That's a different take.
And that's a different mindset.
And I think when you look at thepsychol psychology of the person
that's gonna go out and dying inthese places, go going, I'd love
to go and support you.
I just can't do it.
I think it's a lot harder.
(14:16):
In a sense to understand that.
And then we also had a lot ofpeople that were actually
banking a lot of money, throughCOVID because they weren't
traveling as much, They were,bringing an income still all
these different things that werehappening.
So there was some savingshappening.
in the market, but it wasdevastating.
Don't get me wrong.
It was incredibly devastating.
I just believe that this mightbe a little bit worse, in a
(14:40):
sense.
Now I do believe that if we allrallied together, I was a part
of the committee that puttogether a national program here
in Canada that got people diningout on Wednesdays.
And it was about creating acommunity amongst the whole
overall industry to say, get outon Wednesdays and dine out.
I was a part of a concert acrossCanada.
It was a virtual concert as wellwith rock stars and all these
(15:03):
cool things.
And we built a really aWednesday where it actually
impacted the industry so much inthe Canadian market.
We actually saw sales go up inrestaurants on Wednesdays that
worked on that community.
I've written a lot about the newcommunity.
I didn't know it was going to bethis more important.
I don't have a crystal ball, butI wrote recently over the last
few months about the importanceof creating community in 2025.
(15:24):
It had nothing to do withtariffs.
It just was looking at how toreally leverage and collaborate
amongst each other more thanever.
And I saw that just in aposition of, really a new way of
looking at cloud, I guessworking with each other within
your community, but not as acommunity as we see it.
it's not a physical localcommunity.
It's more or less either anonline community or a community
(15:47):
amongst our brands or how wesupport each other and move
forward.
So I saw that with some of therestaurants I coach, is actually
seeing some competitors back 10years ago would be competing.
What do you want to sit in thesame room to actually getting on
social media and promoting eachother's brand in the same town?
I've never seen that before.
I think it was incredible.
so when you look at those kindof things as we move forward
(16:09):
into this year, I thinkcommunity is going to be very
strong.
I think you're going to have todo it.
I think you're going to have toget behind, your local
restauranteurs in your communitythat do the same thing you do
and get that community built andlook at ways to support each
other.
And that's, shared marketing.
Shared resources, sharedservices, always supporting each
(16:32):
other on social as a sharedcommunity, working with the
media in your local community,because traditional media, as
much as we believe the socialworld is very powerful.
Guess what?
There's still boots on theground and impounding the
pavement, as I call it, is stillimportant as well.
there's a lot of these thingsthat we still need to look at
within our own areas and our owninfluences, but supporting each
(16:53):
other is going to be a big one.
Jeremy Julian (16:55):
Yeah, I love that, that thought.
And I think it's, something thatwe all need to be thinking
about.
And we've had lots of guests onthem in the past that talk about
building a local community.
So you know who your guests are,so you know when they came in.
Put things out to them to knowwhen they came, when they didn't
come.
Jay, you talked about it andyour, your thoughts, when you
were talking about kind of theimpact about exploring different
business models, what does thatmean to you?
(17:18):
Is that, and we've talked aboutvirtual brands.
it's all through COVID lots ofpeople spun up, they spun up
third party delivery, they spunup first party delivery.
We've had guests on that havetalked about how they can offer
first party delivery, but notstaffing up.
So is it stuff like that?
Is it creating virtual?
Is it changing your servicemodel from full service to fast
casual?
Is it all of that?
Is that kind of what you'retalking about when you talk
about exploring those differentbusiness models and why?
(17:40):
Why change?
Is it just because the impact isgoing to be so great that you've
got to evaluate labor savingsand food cost savings and
packaging savings and all ofthose
Jay Ashton (17:48):
Yeah, I think you're going to have to look at all
those areas, right?
You're going to have to make thedecision, like I said, knowing
your numbers.
In the Canadian market, we have,this will blow your mind,
there's still 80 percent ofrestaurants in Canada that don't
have their menus costed out.
80 percent still don't havetheir menus costed out.
And I trust me, that's a realnumber.
So when you look at that, weneed to know your costs, your
cost models, all those areas,but we need to know to make
(18:10):
those decisions.
And that also is on your menus,which is the most profitable
items, all these things that weneed to do.
Those are the things we talkabout looking at your business
models.
Is it a right decision?
With the ability to use AItoday, we can actually even use
in a visual format where Is itthe right decision to even have
your restaurant in the rightspot where you have it today,
(18:31):
right?
this is based on more of a, atraffic format or looking at
demographics within the areas.
So it might even be in the rightspot.
It might even be in the rightformat that you have the table
set out in your restaurant.
All these things need to belooked at and using AI is going
to help you with all that.
It's going to speed it up aswell.
and make, in a sense, not makethe final decision, but help you
make the final decision foryourself.
(18:54):
but I think when you look at theoverall business models that I
work with, is that we teach,right now, five to six new
revenue streams.
And I believe every restaurant,and that does not include
takeout.
So we look at new revenuestreams for restaurants.
And when I look at theopportunities that are out
there, and I think when you lookat that community, can you
leverage that community to helpsupport you in these new revenue
(19:17):
streams, right?
Like I have one location we'reworking on a micro butchered
model.
So we're incorporating a butchermodel into the restaurant, which
is a micro size format.
Butcher shops in Canada rightnow are hot.
busy.
we d always at the grocery stoit still at a location.
S we create a micro butche Ihave that happening righ
(19:43):
Cookbooks, journals, we did ajournal the other day format.
and we're going to increaserevenue by 50, 000 a year by a
restaurant, just doing journalsevery year that people buy
journals through Amazon ecommerce, those kinds of models.
it's interesting by.
They don't know how to do thesethings.
So you have to look at how tomake it really simple for them
(20:03):
to do, which is good.
but I look at it, how manydishes do you have to sell?
Because in Canada, our profitmargins per dollar is about four
to 5%, if you're doing thingsright?
So that's, most restaurants arerunning, their profit around
that percentage.
So when you look at thatpercentage and you're banking,
50, 000 more a year.
You have to sell a lot of bloodydishes at that 5 percent a
(20:24):
dollar to make up, 50, 000 inpure profit.
So we did that.
we're currently working with onelocation to launch a newsletter,
and that one's around 70, 000 ayear, I think it is.
And profit to introduce anewsletter to the community by
selling advertisements withinthe community.
I would say I don't know if youguys had this in the US market,
but in Canada We used to haveway back in the day.
(20:46):
Maybe you remember them, but themenus with the Advertisings they
used to be on the remember thePaper things.
Jeremy Julian (20:51):
The paper, like at the
Jay Ashton (20:52):
yeah.
There's all the things around.
Jeremy Julian (20:54):
they'd have the placemats
Jay Ashton (20:55):
Yeah, the placemat, that's what
Jeremy Julian (20:57):
the placemats.
Jay Ashton (20:57):
got.
All the placemats.
So we took that concept of,geez, let's do that into a
newsletter.
And let's sell advertisement thesame kind of way, right?
we did the same thing.
we looked at that model as well,and that's I think that was 70
some thousand as well.
So my goal by the end of thisyear, which is only a couple
weeks away, is to generate amillion dollars and for a
(21:19):
restaurant without sellinganother dish in revenue.
Jeremy Julian (21:23):
That's incredible.
one of the things that you'dsaid earlier, Jane, I'd love,
you're an example of this.
And obviously if people arelistening to the show, they're
investing in themselves andinvesting in trying to make
their business better.
But one of the things that Ihear is a theme amongst
everything you've said isthey're asking for help from
people that have already beenthere and done that, whether
it's a coach or it's a supplierpartner.
I happen to be at a partner.
(21:44):
At a customer's conferenceearlier this year, I talked to
the guy that supplies this brandwith their chicken.
And he walked me through the 25different types of chicken
tenders that they make at thechicken factory.
And I'm like, Holy smokes.
He's I can tell you exactly whatpercentage of breading this
brand has versus that brand.
And I'm like, when I said toMatt, I'm like, Matt.
That's impossible.
He's no, I'm telling you, man,that's why the chicken tenders
(22:06):
at this brand tastes differentthan the chicken tenders that
brand, because we design it andwe work with them based on what
it is that the brand is lookingfor.
explore that idea, Jay, becauseI think what I'm hearing you say
is you do these things to helprestaurants succeed, whether
you're getting, getting thesupplier side of it or not,
because at the end of the day,if they're successful.
They're going to buy moreproduct.
(22:27):
They're going to buy moreproduct.
They're going to help thecommunity more, but asking for
help and partnering with people,both in the community, as well
as in some of your supplierpartners is a huge piece of what
it is that you guys are lookingto do.
Jay Ashton (22:36):
Yeah, I really, why do I do this is the question is
why I do all these things andit's, I've been through some
ugly situations in restaurantsor running restaurants, and I
always say is you don't know howto, you don't know you're a true
restauranteur until you pay yourstaff with your visa.
Jeremy Julian (22:53):
Yep.
Jay Ashton (22:54):
you see those challenges that really is not a
fun time.
To deal with and you go througha lot of different things.
We know restaurants have thehighest divorce rates as well
and all these different thingsthat comes with this.
If I can just make it a littlebit less hard on people that are
hardworking and really are outthere trying to do their ideas
(23:14):
and their passion.
Like when we start, when I coachwith restaurants right now, we
sit down with them.
And the first thing I always askhim is what their dreams are and
what their dreams were.
for their businesses.
And a lot of them are touched bythat in a sense, they all have a
dream.
They all have a dream to eithercreate a wealth or, a way of
generating money for the familyor a better life for themselves
(23:38):
or better life for their kids.
And all these things arepassion.
Also to take care of people andto feed people and to give them
an experience.
All those things are so rootedin them that me, I, I 20 some
years ago, It's starting to seehow hard that is and seeing how
hard it is today without havingthat support channel there with
(23:58):
you, it's too difficult and Icouldn't sit back and watch
people struggle and the industrymeans so much to me.
It saved me as a young kid andall these different things that
honestly, I have to give backand it's like my goal and.
it's really important that I seeplaces.
It's and it also is good.
Like it, it's
Jeremy Julian (24:17):
Yeah.
It's good for community.
It's good for the lives of thepeople that you
Jay Ashton (24:19):
for us too.
It's, it feels so good.
And nothing I get more excitedis watching people change their
lives around or allow or themgiving us the ability to
actually touch their lives in away that most people wouldn't
like, giving someone, ability tolook at menus.
I always say you're reallytouching someone's mortgage,
your paychecks, people'spaychecks, people's lives.
(24:42):
They allow you to touch thatmenu.
That's pretty sacred ground,right?
So I really take all thosedifferent touch points and
really look at it more in thesense of a privilege and a
privilege to be able to providewhat I know.
And over the years I've beendoing this and I've coached
thousands of places and justbeing able to give that back.
is what I, I really enjoy doing.
And like you said, the yellowtaste of it, it's this feels
(25:04):
good.
I like this.
I like this.
I like this.
And you want to get into thiswhole servant model of being a
leader.
Jeremy Julian (25:10):
thank you for the contribution.
one last idea, one last thread,Jay, that we talked about pre
show was the use of technology.
You alluded to AI, you alludedto investing both in yourself
and in the tools that you use tohelp your business be better
guests on the show.
Hundreds of shows now onrestaurant technology guys.
So there's lots of differenttech out there.
Where do you see people have,have, the most timidity and, or
(25:33):
the least ability to adopt thatchange?
And where would you suggestpeople at least consider?
Because I think it's one ofthose things that there's so
much, and so manyrestauranteurs, they get,
paralyzed by fear of doinganything.
thing, and so they do nothing.
And unfortunately their neighborthat didn't get paralyzed by
that fear is alreadyimplementing AI to give them
answers is already using thetools that are out there for
(25:54):
marketing automation, to get newguests in, to talk to their
guests on a regular basis,whatever those things are, where
do you see the biggestopportunity for brands to
flexible enough?
To pivot when things like thistariff thing or COVID or any of
these other things happen, wheredo you see them needing to
invest their time, money, andenergy in 2025 and beyond to
help themselves and theirbusiness to be better?
(26:15):
Yeah.
Jay Ashton (26:18):
from a restaurant perspective, like what they
could do is just start playingwith AI.
Like I think when you startunderstanding the power of AI,
and I believe every, like everyrestaurant that I work with,
they all download the app,ChowGBT, and they all get an
assistant, and they all name it.
And they work with thatassistant, and it's more or less
trying to, it's definitely babysteps into getting them to work
(26:40):
into this model of one believingthat the content that's being
produced is actually, really,reliable and it's important and
it's good stuff and getting themto get comfortable with getting
that assistant.
Most restaurateurs have neverhad an assistant or a business
coach or support mechanism in asense to help them through
decisions or choices and whatthey've done.
(27:01):
Most restaurants are based ongut experience or gut instinct,
or I've always done it this way.
Or, I learned through this way.
No one's really had that.
So I always look at restaurantsinvesting in an AI assistant to
help you get through some of thechallenges you have, or just to
make decisions or help you flushout ideas, talk to it, have a
conversation with it, challengeit.
(27:23):
I think that's the start andthen get into other systems.
I think the one thing that we'relooking here in Canada is if
every restaurant can just adapt,adopt one new technology into
their business this year, beingAI or not will be a win, win in
the space.
I think putting your head in thestand and going, it's not there.
It doesn't, I don't need it isa, is not a really great
(27:46):
decision.
I think businesses need to adaptto it and its ability to.
Make decisions faster, reducecosts, reduce labor, all these
factors.
When you look in having torevisit that model of the
business world, we have to turnupside down lucky enough that AI
came into our world at thistime.
(28:07):
because without it, a lot ofpeople wouldn't have a lot of
things they have today alreadyfrom what AI has done that, the
strategic marketing and bettercontent, all these different
things, but it came at the righttime kind of thing, right?
I don't know if it's,ironically, we're getting an AI,
a superpower, person or AI, Ialways say person, but AI
(28:27):
support person, during a timethat we really need it.
Like it's interesting, right?
not that we wouldn't in thepast, but this one, I think
there's someone's telling usthat you need this versus what's
going to come.
And I think when you look atrestaurants, just adapting to
some of the systems that are outthere.
And I think David Hopkins, he'sa consultant up here in Canada.
(28:48):
He always says, you really don'tneed the F1 formula car for your
restaurant.
You may just need the regularFord, right?
Like it's just, it's, you justsometimes don't need that over
thing.
And I tell you, he is more thanright with that statement is
just, you don't need the fancystuff as much as it's wow.
And it's really cool.
Restaurants don't go out ofbusiness because of their food.
(29:11):
They go out of business.
Typically, I think it's 97percent because of the back of
how we've ran it and how it'sbusiness and the structure, the
marketing, everything else.
so I think we really need tolook at technology to help us
with that space that we reallyare not, unfortunately not
experts at, right?
Like typically I would say abusiness school, they usually
tell you not to run arestaurant.
(29:32):
So it's not too, I go tobusiness school in our industry.
Jeremy Julian (29:35):
and there's a guy that I know that I heard a quote
that I love to re quote, whichis, the superpower in today's
day and age is not what youlearned in the past, but it's to
unlearn what you learned in thepast and relearn.
And I think AI is one of thoseopportunities for us to learn.
you've never been able to builda marketing plan.
So as the AI, can you give mefive different marketing plans
to market my business?
And it's going to give you fivedifferent examples, and now you
(29:56):
can choose the one or chooseparts of each of them.
Never at a time in the past whenit was just Google.
You'd type that in and you'd get27 different pages and you'd
have to click through each ofthem versus give me five of the
best marketing plans for arestaurant, give me the best
ways to lay out a kitchen, giveme the best way, what are the
top trending food categories inWestern Canada this month, and
it'll be able to produce thisstuff for you to be able to make
(30:17):
you so much smarter than yourpeers versus gut feel, which is
all too often
Jay Ashton (30:22):
Yeah, it's interesting, and I think there,
I think it's always comes at theright time.
As well, I think we have toembrace it and to really just
play with it in a sense, justhave some fun.
Jeremy Julian (30:33):
and it'll help you.
it's amazing when you put stuffin there.
Like I get blown away because Iwas not a lead adopter.
I did the same thing you talkedabout, but the more I've been
spending time with, and I'mlike, holy crap, it's amazing
how much more I can get donewith the same timeframe, because
it'll help me learn and take meon a path.
So much faster.
Then I could do it by watching abunch of YouTube videos or
(30:55):
reading a whole bunch of a wholebunch of articles that have been
posted.
So I love that idea.
Jay Ashton (30:59):
Perfect.
Jeremy Julian (30:59):
Awesome.
Jay, how do people stay intouch?
How do people subscribe to thenewsletter?
How do they get to the podcast?
how do they stay in the, in therest, Canada's restaurant guy,
network.
Jay Ashton (31:07):
so you can join me on our newsletters every week.
We write four newsletters, threenewsletters, one email blast.
so you can go on LinkedIn, lookunder Canada's restaurant guy on
LinkedIn.
we have, the Canada's restaurantguy news that goes out every
week.
We also have an AI newsletterand then we also have one school
safe restaurants as well.
So those go out every week.
(31:27):
Newest on Apple, Spotify,everywhere.
Just Google late nightrestaurant network or show and
you'll find all of our content.
We're up on YouTube as well.
And we just, we try to produceas much content as we can to
help the industry.
Jeremy Julian (31:40):
Yeah.
And, I say it all the time.
If you can't find Jay, thenyou've got some other problems.
You probably shouldn't bejumping into chat GPT, but Jay
Ashton's his name.
Go search him up on LinkedIn andhe's very prolific at posting
stuff.
Jay, thank you for doing whatyou're doing to save restaurants
to help them.
I love, I love the synergiesthat we have both between the
two shows and, I'm close to 30years.
You're a little bit, a littlebit longer, even in restaurant
(32:01):
space, but at the end of theday, They are the heartbeat of
what it is that we do.
anything we can do to help them.
So thank you for sharing yourwisdom.
Thank you for sharing your ideasto our listeners, guys.
thank you guys for spending timewith us and make it a great day.
This is the RestaurantTechnology Guys podcast, helping
you run your restaurant better.
Jeremy Julian (00:13):
In today's episode, we are joined by Jay
Ashton, who is affectionatelyknown as the Canada's Restaurant
Guy.
He and I talk a lot about theongoing political conversations
related to Canada and the U.
S., the tariffs.
This is definitely not apolitical Um episode, but it
does get into the impact ofregulations and how regulations
(00:36):
can impact the restaurants Andthe ways that they go about
making money and the productsthat they sell Jay has a long
history of working in lots ofdifferent areas of restaurants
supply chain suppliers all overcanada And he also hosts his own
podcast and has a greatnewsletter that is very valuable
(00:57):
to restaurant owners.
So if you're not familiar withJay, I would encourage you to
listen to the entire episode,learn a little bit more about
him and how he can help yourbusiness.
If you're not familiar with me,my name is Jeremy Julian.
I have been working in therestaurant tech space for over
25 years.
And I also am the chief revenueofficer for CBS North Star.
We sell the Northstar point ofsale solution for multi units.
(01:20):
Check us out at cbsnorthstar.
com and now onto the show.
Welcome back to the RestaurantTechnology Guys podcast.
I thank everyone out there forjoining us.
as I say each and every time, Iknow that you guys have got lots
of choices.
So thank you guys for hangingout.
those that are watching on videomay recognize the face.
I definitely, know that they'llsee the name, floating around
the socials.
But Jay, why don't you introduceyourself to our audience and
(01:41):
then we can jump into kind ofsome of the topics and what
you've been up to the lastcouple of
Jay Ashton (01:45):
Sure.
also known as Canada'sRestaurant Guy, I always laugh
at
Jeremy Julian (01:47):
Yeah.
Canada's restaurant guy.
Yep.
Exactly.
you're the Canadian.
You're going to say a lot of A's
Jay Ashton (01:52):
I try not to A it out too much, but yeah, so I'm
from Canada.
I've been in the industry 35years.
I've done everything, in theindustry.
I think there is, and I'm, inthe last 20 years, I've been
working with one of the largestdistributors in the world and,
been working with them on,Really helping businesses.
So I've dedicated most of mycareer of helping restaurants
(02:16):
and from everything in betweenin the space of restaurants or
marketing to business andeverything in between.
And, I've been, doing a podcastas well, doing, podcast or our
network.
maybe one day I'll tell you,but, we do that as well.
And, we've been doing that forfive years.
And, we just turned it into amedia network, and we just, we
(02:37):
also have four newsletters, itgoes out every week.
And, yeah, we got some prettycool stuff happening over the
next 2025.
Jeremy Julian (02:45):
Yeah, no.
And I know that's how weconnected.
I somehow got on the newsletterand then I got connected to you
on LinkedIn and I'm like, holycrap, this guy's so prolific.
He's got so much stuff outthere, which is part of what had
me reach out.
And for the long time listeners,everybody knows that the real,
my real passion is to helprestaurants succeed.
And that's part of why this showexists and, primarily wrapped
around technology, but at theend of the day, the best tech in
(03:06):
the world without the rightsystems and people in place
doesn't matter, which What Jayand I talked about pre show when
we were talking about what do wewant to get into?
So Jay, what's been on yourmind?
I, you and I talked pre show andyou've got two or three things
that have been resonating withyou as it relates to both the
Canadian market, which some ofour listeners, we have some
Canadian listeners, we have someinternational listeners over
overseas, a lot of us spacelisteners, but what's been on
(03:27):
your mind most recently, becauseI think it's going to have an
impact on the restaurants, bothdomestically here in the States,
as well as in Canada.
Jay Ashton (03:34):
it's this tariff talk.
I call it tariff talks becausehopefully the percentages are
not going to be what they are,but we're talking a lot about
the tariffs right now andputting plans into place and
working on strategies.
And, it is right now that timeof the season that everyone's
busy.
We got Christmas partieshappening.
It's a great time of the year.
But I also just wrote thismorning about what are you doing
(03:55):
January 2nd?
Probably haven't even thought ofthat.
and that's okay.
And I always believe that, it'shard to, always say things to
the industry without being inthe industry at that moment.
and I get to work with a wholebunch of restaurants every day
as well, but it is when you lookat what that plan is and what
these terrorists will do to ourindustry.
We've got to have a plan.
It's already seen our Canadiandollar drop quite a
(04:18):
significantly amount in the lastfew days, just by the talk of
tariffs and nothing happened.
It certainly wrote our dollarquite a bit.
so we need to be planning whatwe're going to be doing.
Cause people are going to goout.
We know we're going to haverestaurants still.
We're going to have to look atoptions.
but right now, I think whenyou're going to look at the
(04:39):
percentages that, hopefullydon't come into our scope here,
we're going to have a plan andthat's going to have to be, I
think on almost every corner ofyour business model.
You may have to turn it upsidedown.
So we need to prepare for that.
And that's going to be veryemotional.
It's going to be verychallenging for a lot of people
and they're going to need, Ialways say every restaurant
needs a coach and a podcast.
(05:00):
but they're definitely going toneed that support that's out
there in the market or they'rejust not going to make it.
Jeremy Julian (05:05):
So help me understand or help our listeners
understand really, Jay, why isthat tariff so impactful?
even the tariff talk, what isthe impact going to be to the
Canadian market, because forthose that either aren't super
into politics, don't even know,like, how is that going to
impact?
Because I'm a, as a fooddistributor in your day job, I
would assume that much of what.
Products you guys are gettingcome from Canada, but it sounds
(05:26):
like that might be part of theproblem But I don't even know I
guess I'll educate listeners asto why that impact is gonna be
so great on the Canadian marketbecause Though all of those
border cities in the US aregonna also be impacted pretty
significantly.
I would guess about it, too
Jay Ashton (05:38):
Yeah, there's a lot of talk around what's going to
happen on both sides.
Obviously, we get products infrom the United States and also
the United States, we tradeproducts as well with the United
States quite a bit.
I forget, it's 2 point somebillion a day.
it's a significant amount ofexport and importing across the
Canadian border.
It's just going to driveinflation up in terms of the
(05:59):
tax, right?
that's all it is.
It's a fancy way of saying thetax.
And when you add tax on thegoods, in or out, It's going to
increase the cost on thoseproducts.
No matter if we're sending somuch across the border or
receiving across the border,it's going to increase the
overall cost of those products.
And when most of those productscan't be either grown up here or
they're manufactured in theCanadian markets and
(06:21):
manufacturing in the U S viceversa.
We're literally going to see,and it's also going to impact
the U S industry as well.
It's going to also see anincrease on both sides.
So it's really, when you look atthe tax percentage, when we look
at adding two or 5 percent taxon things, it has a significant
increase.
a decrease in the use of thoseproducts, or, if it is fuel or
(06:42):
whatever people travel less orthe eat out less, we see all
these impacts happening.
But also drives our dollar downin the overall dollar of what it
is.
And when we're seeing thatcompared to the U.
S.
dollar, it's significantlydropping, which is not good.
It is good in some circumstanceswhen it comes to oil and gas in
(07:04):
those areas, lumber, certainthings, grain, all those things
help when you look at, becausewe sell it in American dollars,
right?
So we do see a definitely aprofit in that side, but the
food products that are cominginto the Canadian market, these
things are going to beincreasing in prices for
restaurants out to a degree thatwe really just need to be
(07:24):
prepared to be able to handlewhat that is.
and just be ready to be able towork through it and plan through
it.
And it's also in the U S marketas well as we will see, you will
see increase on products.
And I work at a lot ofrestaurants right now where we
also believe that we're hit theceiling in the menus pricing,
right?
Like we're ceiling.
We're maxed no more.
Jeremy Julian (07:45):
and I've seen more and more brands coming out
with value propositions andtrying to figure out how to get
the consumers back.
I just was reading articles thismorning.
So what do restaurants do?
You talk about planning and youtalk about them having to have a
plan.
What, again, I think some of theinflationary stuff that happened
late 2023 and all through 2024,a lot of people didn't plan for
it.
And then.
their food costs went up andthey didn't know what to do.
(08:07):
And they, they struggled toadjust quickly.
We know that there's a potentialfor this to come.
We don't know what it's going tolook like come January, but what
can they do?
Do they change their menuselection?
Do they highlight separatedifferent products?
Help, help walk through some ofthe things that you're coaching,
some of your suppliers and someof your restaurant brands to
even think about.
Because again, pizza food costsis different than steak food
(08:29):
costs.
Steak food costs is differentthan, than chicken wings.
And Help us understand what itis that you're talking to
different restauranteurs
Jay Ashton (08:35):
I think if we can look at a more of a macro model
here.
So when we look at the overallbusiness, I think a lot of
restaurants are gonna have tomake a decision.
Is this the model that we want?
do we switch the overallbusiness model?
It's that significant.
When we look at the percentageon the amount of tariff that
we're looking at, it's that bigof a deal.
That's what I'm saying is it'snot just a 5%.
(08:55):
Oh, we'll just change the menuprices or we'll look at it, in a
few of your product or whateverthe case is.
It's actually so significantthat we have to make business
decisions on the overallbusiness structure or model or
strategy, and that might bewhere, okay, we may have to
become this kind of model goingforward, or we may have to
reduce hours.
We have to look at not justdoing foot traffic or not having
(09:18):
foot traffic or takeout.
All these two things, when youlook at the overall business
structure, will have to bereviewed and looked at and made
a decision if it goes forward,and that is by running your
numbers and looking at what youcan do, what the market will
bear, and what you're going tohave to do to survive.
You will have to look ateverything.
It's not just your menu.
It's not R& D on new products.
(09:40):
It's not looking at your overalllabor cost, all these different
costs that we talk about all thetime.
It's going to have to beeverything, absolutely
everything.
And it's going to come down to,do you have to reinvent yourself
again?
And I think when you look atsome of the talks right now, and
I just saw this article thismorning as well, around
innovation, I always say is whenpeople start talking innovation,
worry.
(10:01):
Because that means that eitherwe're going to see products in
fire,
Jeremy Julian (10:04):
going to be a force
Jay Ashton (10:05):
to be a fourth page coming, right?
And you see this there in thecamera.
I was like, okay, here comes theinnovation train.
and I don't know in a sense, andthis is what's keeping me up a
little bit is the in, in, ininnovation space right now.
When you look at it, I don'tknow what else we can innovate.
I don't know.
I think like when we wentthrough COVID, there was a lot
(10:27):
of innovation in a sense of, newrevenue streams or new
opportunities, or we hadgovernment relief programs, all
these things came into themarketplace, but you look at it
today, I don't know if thosethings are going to happen in a
sense because it's sodevastating.
So we just need to have a, whenI say plan, we need to make some
critical decisions if we need topull that rope and go into that
(10:49):
lifeline or that survival modebecause we all know that
restaurants go into survivalmode.
It's a tough, it's a toughbattle when you don't have a
plan.
And we just need to make sure,and I always say planning is
perfect, and you don't need touse it if you don't need to use
it, but at least you're sittingthere without stopping, because
most places are going to reacton the 21st or 22nd, and based
(11:10):
on what I'm hearing, thesignificant increase in what
it's going to do, Will be prettymuch overnight.
So it's not a slow burn.
It's going to be a quick one andit's going to be fast and it's
going to be quite hard on usthat we need to make sure that
we're, we've got a plan B inplace.
Here's what we're going to do.
Here's what we're going to do tomove forward.
and I actually think.
(11:30):
also incorporating AI into yourbusiness model right now is
critical.
And I say that based on you'regoing to have to use the
smartest guy in the room to helpsupport you.
And I think using AI as, I have,right now we have the rest of
AI, the restaurant AI coachright now that we have for, for
what I do.
and I use it, I've loadedeverything I can into it that it
(11:52):
brings in knowledge.
but it is in a sense right nowwhere we need to use all those
lifelines.
In planning,
Jeremy Julian (12:00):
and you had said, yeah, you had said to me, Jay,
in the, in, before we hit therecord button, that you think
that this has the opportunity tobe even a larger impact than
COVID.
I guess tease that out for justa second for our audience.
Cause I, I think they're goingto be sitting here listening,
going, that guy's so full ofcrap.
He's just some crazy assCanadian that doesn't know what
he's talking about.
And I'd love for you to teasethat out because I think it's
going to go into the last partof our conversation, which is
(12:22):
really what other things canthey do?
Exploring different businessmodels and how can they adopt
tech to, to help with some ofthese things?
But why do you think it has theopportunity to be even more
impactful than COVID?
And,
Jay Ashton (12:32):
because I think the thing is that one similar to
COVID in a sense, it's going tooverall hit all industries,
right?
It's not just going to, cone inon one, one area.
I do have a theory though, thatwe may see a flip in a certain
area that may cause it to not beso devastating.
And we'll talk about carbon taxin a second that we have here
where the government is in placeto have an environmental tax on
(12:55):
carbon for us, where we haveadded it into a lot of goods and
a lot of things and our gasprices and everything else.
There might be an opportunitybecause the opposition right now
in the Canadian government is ifthey do get elected, which most
likely in the polls, it lookslike they will, will remove that
carbon tax.
I don't know if that carbon tax,the percentage of what the tax
(13:16):
has been because it's beenincremental over the last couple
of years.
is that enough?
If we remove that to off balancethe 25 percent tariff tax, it
might be, or might not make itso abusive, right?
our industry.
So when I look at a comparisonto the COVID world, COVID, there
was a lot of relief programsthat were out there.
There was a lot of, in a sense,people going out to support the
(13:39):
industry because it was takenaway from us.
And I think when you take thingsaway, People want it, right?
Like it's just, I want thatback.
It's important to me.
they're not taking it.
Jeremy Julian (13:49):
and restaurants oftentimes are the lifeblood of
a community.
And
Jay Ashton (13:52):
Hundred percent.
Jeremy Julian (13:53):
a lot of people were going out and
Jay Ashton (13:55):
Yeah.
I wanna go out and support it.
I need that in my community.
That's my life.
That's where I go and work.
now they're having it.
It's still there, but they can'tafford it.
That's a different world.
That's a different take.
And that's a different mindset.
And I think when you look at thepsychol psychology of the person
that's gonna go out and dying inthese places, go going, I'd love
to go and support you.
I just can't do it.
I think it's a lot harder.
(14:16):
In a sense to understand that.
And then we also had a lot ofpeople that were actually
banking a lot of money, throughCOVID because they weren't
traveling as much, They were,bringing an income still all
these different things that werehappening.
So there was some savingshappening.
in the market, but it wasdevastating.
Don't get me wrong.
It was incredibly devastating.
I just believe that this mightbe a little bit worse, in a
(14:40):
sense.
Now I do believe that if we allrallied together, I was a part
of the committee that puttogether a national program here
in Canada that got people diningout on Wednesdays.
And it was about creating acommunity amongst the whole
overall industry to say, get outon Wednesdays and dine out.
I was a part of a concert acrossCanada.
It was a virtual concert as wellwith rock stars and all these
(15:03):
cool things.
And we built a really aWednesday where it actually
impacted the industry so much inthe Canadian market.
We actually saw sales go up inrestaurants on Wednesdays that
worked on that community.
I've written a lot about the newcommunity.
I didn't know it was going to bethis more important.
I don't have a crystal ball, butI wrote recently over the last
few months about the importanceof creating community in 2025.
(15:24):
It had nothing to do withtariffs.
It just was looking at how toreally leverage and collaborate
amongst each other more thanever.
And I saw that just in aposition of, really a new way of
looking at cloud, I guessworking with each other within
your community, but not as acommunity as we see it.
it's not a physical localcommunity.
It's more or less either anonline community or a community
(15:47):
amongst our brands or how wesupport each other and move
forward.
So I saw that with some of therestaurants I coach, is actually
seeing some competitors back 10years ago would be competing.
What do you want to sit in thesame room to actually getting on
social media and promoting eachother's brand in the same town?
I've never seen that before.
I think it was incredible.
so when you look at those kindof things as we move forward
(16:09):
into this year, I thinkcommunity is going to be very
strong.
I think you're going to have todo it.
I think you're going to have toget behind, your local
restauranteurs in your communitythat do the same thing you do
and get that community built andlook at ways to support each
other.
And that's, shared marketing.
Shared resources, sharedservices, always supporting each
(16:32):
other on social as a sharedcommunity, working with the
media in your local community,because traditional media, as
much as we believe the socialworld is very powerful.
Guess what?
There's still boots on theground and impounding the
pavement, as I call it, is stillimportant as well.
there's a lot of these thingsthat we still need to look at
within our own areas and our owninfluences, but supporting each
(16:53):
other is going to be a big one.
Jeremy Julian (16:55):
Yeah, I love that, that thought.
And I think it's, something thatwe all need to be thinking
about.
And we've had lots of guests onthem in the past that talk about
building a local community.
So you know who your guests are,so you know when they came in.
Put things out to them to knowwhen they came, when they didn't
come.
Jay, you talked about it andyour, your thoughts, when you
were talking about kind of theimpact about exploring different
business models, what does thatmean to you?
(17:18):
Is that, and we've talked aboutvirtual brands.
it's all through COVID lots ofpeople spun up, they spun up
third party delivery, they spunup first party delivery.
We've had guests on that havetalked about how they can offer
first party delivery, but notstaffing up.
So is it stuff like that?
Is it creating virtual?
Is it changing your servicemodel from full service to fast
casual?
Is it all of that?
Is that kind of what you'retalking about when you talk
about exploring those differentbusiness models and why?
(17:40):
Why change?
Is it just because the impact isgoing to be so great that you've
got to evaluate labor savingsand food cost savings and
packaging savings and all ofthose
Jay Ashton (17:48):
Yeah, I think you're going to have to look at all
those areas, right?
You're going to have to make thedecision, like I said, knowing
your numbers.
In the Canadian market, we have,this will blow your mind,
there's still 80 percent ofrestaurants in Canada that don't
have their menus costed out.
80 percent still don't havetheir menus costed out.
And I trust me, that's a realnumber.
So when you look at that, weneed to know your costs, your
cost models, all those areas,but we need to know to make
(18:10):
those decisions.
And that also is on your menus,which is the most profitable
items, all these things that weneed to do.
Those are the things we talkabout looking at your business
models.
Is it a right decision?
With the ability to use AItoday, we can actually even use
in a visual format where Is itthe right decision to even have
your restaurant in the rightspot where you have it today,
(18:31):
right?
this is based on more of a, atraffic format or looking at
demographics within the areas.
So it might even be in the rightspot.
It might even be in the rightformat that you have the table
set out in your restaurant.
All these things need to belooked at and using AI is going
to help you with all that.
It's going to speed it up aswell.
and make, in a sense, not makethe final decision, but help you
make the final decision foryourself.
(18:54):
but I think when you look at theoverall business models that I
work with, is that we teach,right now, five to six new
revenue streams.
And I believe every restaurant,and that does not include
takeout.
So we look at new revenuestreams for restaurants.
And when I look at theopportunities that are out
there, and I think when you lookat that community, can you
leverage that community to helpsupport you in these new revenue
(19:17):
streams, right?
Like I have one location we'reworking on a micro butchered
model.
So we're incorporating a butchermodel into the restaurant, which
is a micro size format.
Butcher shops in Canada rightnow are hot.
busy.
we d always at the grocery stoit still at a location.
S we create a micro butche Ihave that happening righ
(19:43):
Cookbooks, journals, we did ajournal the other day format.
and we're going to increaserevenue by 50, 000 a year by a
restaurant, just doing journalsevery year that people buy
journals through Amazon ecommerce, those kinds of models.
it's interesting by.
They don't know how to do thesethings.
So you have to look at how tomake it really simple for them
(20:03):
to do, which is good.
but I look at it, how manydishes do you have to sell?
Because in Canada, our profitmargins per dollar is about four
to 5%, if you're doing thingsright?
So that's, most restaurants arerunning, their profit around
that percentage.
So when you look at thatpercentage and you're banking,
50, 000 more a year.
You have to sell a lot of bloodydishes at that 5 percent a
(20:24):
dollar to make up, 50, 000 inpure profit.
So we did that.
we're currently working with onelocation to launch a newsletter,
and that one's around 70, 000 ayear, I think it is.
And profit to introduce anewsletter to the community by
selling advertisements withinthe community.
I would say I don't know if youguys had this in the US market,
but in Canada We used to haveway back in the day.
(20:46):
Maybe you remember them, but themenus with the Advertisings they
used to be on the remember thePaper things.
Jeremy Julian (20:51):
The paper, like at the
Jay Ashton (20:52):
yeah.
There's all the things around.
Jeremy Julian (20:54):
they'd have the placemats
Jay Ashton (20:55):
Yeah, the placemat, that's what
Jeremy Julian (20:57):
the placemats.
Jay Ashton (20:57):
got.
All the placemats.
So we took that concept of,geez, let's do that into a
newsletter.
And let's sell advertisement thesame kind of way, right?
we did the same thing.
we looked at that model as well,and that's I think that was 70
some thousand as well.
So my goal by the end of thisyear, which is only a couple
weeks away, is to generate amillion dollars and for a
(21:19):
restaurant without sellinganother dish in revenue.
Jeremy Julian (21:23):
That's incredible.
one of the things that you'dsaid earlier, Jane, I'd love,
you're an example of this.
And obviously if people arelistening to the show, they're
investing in themselves andinvesting in trying to make
their business better.
But one of the things that Ihear is a theme amongst
everything you've said isthey're asking for help from
people that have already beenthere and done that, whether
it's a coach or it's a supplierpartner.
I happen to be at a partner.
(21:44):
At a customer's conferenceearlier this year, I talked to
the guy that supplies this brandwith their chicken.
And he walked me through the 25different types of chicken
tenders that they make at thechicken factory.
And I'm like, Holy smokes.
He's I can tell you exactly whatpercentage of breading this
brand has versus that brand.
And I'm like, when I said toMatt, I'm like, Matt.
That's impossible.
He's no, I'm telling you, man,that's why the chicken tenders
(22:06):
at this brand tastes differentthan the chicken tenders that
brand, because we design it andwe work with them based on what
it is that the brand is lookingfor.
explore that idea, Jay, becauseI think what I'm hearing you say
is you do these things to helprestaurants succeed, whether
you're getting, getting thesupplier side of it or not,
because at the end of the day,if they're successful.
They're going to buy moreproduct.
(22:27):
They're going to buy moreproduct.
They're going to help thecommunity more, but asking for
help and partnering with people,both in the community, as well
as in some of your supplierpartners is a huge piece of what
it is that you guys are lookingto do.
Jay Ashton (22:36):
Yeah, I really, why do I do this is the question is
why I do all these things andit's, I've been through some
ugly situations in restaurantsor running restaurants, and I
always say is you don't know howto, you don't know you're a true
restauranteur until you pay yourstaff with your visa.
Jeremy Julian (22:53):
Yep.
Jay Ashton (22:54):
you see those challenges that really is not a
fun time.
To deal with and you go througha lot of different things.
We know restaurants have thehighest divorce rates as well
and all these different thingsthat comes with this.
If I can just make it a littlebit less hard on people that are
hardworking and really are outthere trying to do their ideas
(23:14):
and their passion.
Like when we start, when I coachwith restaurants right now, we
sit down with them.
And the first thing I always askhim is what their dreams are and
what their dreams were.
for their businesses.
And a lot of them are touched bythat in a sense, they all have a
dream.
They all have a dream to eithercreate a wealth or, a way of
generating money for the familyor a better life for themselves
(23:38):
or better life for their kids.
And all these things arepassion.
Also to take care of people andto feed people and to give them
an experience.
All those things are so rootedin them that me, I, I 20 some
years ago, It's starting to seehow hard that is and seeing how
hard it is today without havingthat support channel there with
(23:58):
you, it's too difficult and Icouldn't sit back and watch
people struggle and the industrymeans so much to me.
It saved me as a young kid andall these different things that
honestly, I have to give backand it's like my goal and.
it's really important that I seeplaces.
It's and it also is good.
Like it, it's
Jeremy Julian (24:17):
Yeah.
It's good for community.
It's good for the lives of thepeople that you
Jay Ashton (24:19):
for us too.
It's, it feels so good.
And nothing I get more excitedis watching people change their
lives around or allow or themgiving us the ability to
actually touch their lives in away that most people wouldn't
like, giving someone, ability tolook at menus.
I always say you're reallytouching someone's mortgage,
your paychecks, people'spaychecks, people's lives.
(24:42):
They allow you to touch thatmenu.
That's pretty sacred ground,right?
So I really take all thosedifferent touch points and
really look at it more in thesense of a privilege and a
privilege to be able to providewhat I know.
And over the years I've beendoing this and I've coached
thousands of places and justbeing able to give that back.
is what I, I really enjoy doing.
And like you said, the yellowtaste of it, it's this feels
(25:04):
good.
I like this.
I like this.
I like this.
And you want to get into thiswhole servant model of being a
leader.
Jeremy Julian (25:10):
thank you for the contribution.
one last idea, one last thread,Jay, that we talked about pre
show was the use of technology.
You alluded to AI, you alludedto investing both in yourself
and in the tools that you use tohelp your business be better
guests on the show.
Hundreds of shows now onrestaurant technology guys.
So there's lots of differenttech out there.
Where do you see people have,have, the most timidity and, or
(25:33):
the least ability to adopt thatchange?
And where would you suggestpeople at least consider?
Because I think it's one ofthose things that there's so
much, and so manyrestauranteurs, they get,
paralyzed by fear of doinganything.
thing, and so they do nothing.
And unfortunately their neighborthat didn't get paralyzed by
that fear is alreadyimplementing AI to give them
answers is already using thetools that are out there for
(25:54):
marketing automation, to get newguests in, to talk to their
guests on a regular basis,whatever those things are, where
do you see the biggestopportunity for brands to
flexible enough?
To pivot when things like thistariff thing or COVID or any of
these other things happen, wheredo you see them needing to
invest their time, money, andenergy in 2025 and beyond to
help themselves and theirbusiness to be better?
(26:15):
Yeah.
Jay Ashton (26:18):
from a restaurant perspective, like what they
could do is just start playingwith AI.
Like I think when you startunderstanding the power of AI,
and I believe every, like everyrestaurant that I work with,
they all download the app,ChowGBT, and they all get an
assistant, and they all name it.
And they work with thatassistant, and it's more or less
trying to, it's definitely babysteps into getting them to work
(26:40):
into this model of one believingthat the content that's being
produced is actually, really,reliable and it's important and
it's good stuff and getting themto get comfortable with getting
that assistant.
Most restaurateurs have neverhad an assistant or a business
coach or support mechanism in asense to help them through
decisions or choices and whatthey've done.
(27:01):
Most restaurants are based ongut experience or gut instinct,
or I've always done it this way.
Or, I learned through this way.
No one's really had that.
So I always look at restaurantsinvesting in an AI assistant to
help you get through some of thechallenges you have, or just to
make decisions or help you flushout ideas, talk to it, have a
conversation with it, challengeit.
(27:23):
I think that's the start andthen get into other systems.
I think the one thing that we'relooking here in Canada is if
every restaurant can just adapt,adopt one new technology into
their business this year, beingAI or not will be a win, win in
the space.
I think putting your head in thestand and going, it's not there.
It doesn't, I don't need it isa, is not a really great
(27:46):
decision.
I think businesses need to adaptto it and its ability to.
Make decisions faster, reducecosts, reduce labor, all these
factors.
When you look in having torevisit that model of the
business world, we have to turnupside down lucky enough that AI
came into our world at thistime.
(28:07):
because without it, a lot ofpeople wouldn't have a lot of
things they have today alreadyfrom what AI has done that, the
strategic marketing and bettercontent, all these different
things, but it came at the righttime kind of thing, right?
I don't know if it's,ironically, we're getting an AI,
a superpower, person or AI, Ialways say person, but AI
(28:27):
support person, during a timethat we really need it.
Like it's interesting, right?
not that we wouldn't in thepast, but this one, I think
there's someone's telling usthat you need this versus what's
going to come.
And I think when you look atrestaurants, just adapting to
some of the systems that are outthere.
And I think David Hopkins, he'sa consultant up here in Canada.
(28:48):
He always says, you really don'tneed the F1 formula car for your
restaurant.
You may just need the regularFord, right?
Like it's just, it's, you justsometimes don't need that over
thing.
And I tell you, he is more thanright with that statement is
just, you don't need the fancystuff as much as it's wow.
And it's really cool.
Restaurants don't go out ofbusiness because of their food.
(29:11):
They go out of business.
Typically, I think it's 97percent because of the back of
how we've ran it and how it'sbusiness and the structure, the
marketing, everything else.
so I think we really need tolook at technology to help us
with that space that we reallyare not, unfortunately not
experts at, right?
Like typically I would say abusiness school, they usually
tell you not to run arestaurant.
(29:32):
So it's not too, I go tobusiness school in our industry.
Jeremy Julian (29:35):
and there's a guy that I know that I heard a quote
that I love to re quote, whichis, the superpower in today's
day and age is not what youlearned in the past, but it's to
unlearn what you learned in thepast and relearn.
And I think AI is one of thoseopportunities for us to learn.
you've never been able to builda marketing plan.
So as the AI, can you give mefive different marketing plans
to market my business?
And it's going to give you fivedifferent examples, and now you
(29:56):
can choose the one or chooseparts of each of them.
Never at a time in the past whenit was just Google.
You'd type that in and you'd get27 different pages and you'd
have to click through each ofthem versus give me five of the
best marketing plans for arestaurant, give me the best
ways to lay out a kitchen, giveme the best way, what are the
top trending food categories inWestern Canada this month, and
it'll be able to produce thisstuff for you to be able to make
(30:17):
you so much smarter than yourpeers versus gut feel, which is
all too often
Jay Ashton (30:22):
Yeah, it's interesting, and I think there,
I think it's always comes at theright time.
As well, I think we have toembrace it and to really just
play with it in a sense, justhave some fun.
Jeremy Julian (30:33):
and it'll help you.
it's amazing when you put stuffin there.
Like I get blown away because Iwas not a lead adopter.
I did the same thing you talkedabout, but the more I've been
spending time with, and I'mlike, holy crap, it's amazing
how much more I can get donewith the same timeframe, because
it'll help me learn and take meon a path.
So much faster.
Then I could do it by watching abunch of YouTube videos or
(30:55):
reading a whole bunch of a wholebunch of articles that have been
posted.
So I love that idea.
Jay Ashton (30:59):
Perfect.
Jeremy Julian (30:59):
Awesome.
Jay, how do people stay intouch?
How do people subscribe to thenewsletter?
How do they get to the podcast?
how do they stay in the, in therest, Canada's restaurant guy,
network.
Jay Ashton (31:07):
so you can join me on our newsletters every week.
We write four newsletters, threenewsletters, one email blast.
so you can go on LinkedIn, lookunder Canada's restaurant guy on
LinkedIn.
we have, the Canada's restaurantguy news that goes out every
week.
We also have an AI newsletterand then we also have one school
safe restaurants as well.
So those go out every week.
(31:27):
Newest on Apple, Spotify,everywhere.
Just Google late nightrestaurant network or show and
you'll find all of our content.
We're up on YouTube as well.
And we just, we try to produceas much content as we can to
help the industry.
Jeremy Julian (31:40):
Yeah.
And, I say it all the time.
If you can't find Jay, thenyou've got some other problems.
You probably shouldn't bejumping into chat GPT, but Jay
Ashton's his name.
Go search him up on LinkedIn andhe's very prolific at posting
stuff.
Jay, thank you for doing whatyou're doing to save restaurants
to help them.
I love, I love the synergiesthat we have both between the
two shows and, I'm close to 30years.
You're a little bit, a littlebit longer, even in restaurant
(32:01):
space, but at the end of theday, They are the heartbeat of
what it is that we do.
anything we can do to help them.
So thank you for sharing yourwisdom.
Thank you for sharing your ideasto our listeners, guys.
thank you guys for spending timewith us and make it a great day.
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