December 11, 2025 • 18 mins
Zack Oates sits down with Brianne Harvey, founder and CEO of Break Bread Consulting, to talk about tech that lifts hospitality without getting in the way. Brianne shares how to “bolt on” experts for system launches, train your team to own it, and use simple tools to create memorable moments.
Zack and Brianne discuss:
- Reservation notes that make guests feel known
- When to bring in a fractional implementation team
- Authenticity over automation in guest experience
- Answering every call with call-to-text or routing
- Small surprises that drive repeat orders
Thanks, Brianne!
Links:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/briannemharvey/
https://www.breakbreadconsulting.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/break-bread-consulting/about/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Welcome to another edition of Give and Ovation, the
Restaurant Guest ExperiencePodcast.
I'm your host, Zach Oates, andeach week I get to chat with an
industry expert to uncover theirstrategies and tactics to help
you create a five-star guestexperience.
This podcast is powered byOvation, the feedback and
operations platform built formulti-unit restaurants.
(00:20):
Learn what's actually happeningin your restaurant and exactly
how to improve while drivingrevenue.
Learn more at ovationup.com.
And today, we have BrianneHarvey, founder and CEO of
Breakbread Consulting.
She's had an extensive careerliving all over the country and,
I just found out, world.
And really excited to have youon the podcast to talk about
(00:42):
what you're doing and howtechnology can help improve the
guest experience.
But first, I just need to talkabout this first because I
thought that was so cool.
I was like, oh, so where haveyou lived?
And so she started rattling offthese places.
It was like, oh, okay, yeah,that sounds normal.
That sounds normal.
And then she's like, St.
Thomas.
St.
Thomas.
It's like, whoa.
How long ago did you live in St.
(01:03):
Thomas?
SPEAKER_01 (01:04):
Oh, it's probably a decade ago now, but it was for a
year and amazing.
And got to be on a beach likeevery day off and go island
hopping.
It was beautiful.
If you've never been, definitelygo.
SPEAKER_00 (01:16):
It's gorgeous.
I know.
I told her I was like, thatsounds really nice just to like
get up and go away for a yearand live on the beach.
And I was like, I'm sure my wifewould love that.
But you know, unfortunately, Iwould miss her too much.
So, oh yeah, and we have fourkids, but details, details,
right?
Well, Brianne, I'm super excitedto have you on.
And uh, in looking at, first ofall, you've got a great LinkedIn
(01:38):
presence.
Everyone should follow her.
We're gonna talk about that atthe end, but tell me about
breakbread consulting, aboutwhat you're doing.
unknown (01:46):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (01:46):
So when I came back from the island, uh I decided to
dive into consulting.
Worked in the restaurantindustry my whole career and
really in the front of houserealm.
So I did, you know, host andserver and bartender, front of
house management, director ofops, like that kind of region.
And I really like new projectsand getting things set up.
And I was always the personwithin my restaurant group that
would be study at the POS orfiguring out why things aren't
(02:09):
working and just saw thatcontinuing to grow as I got
through my career.
People were struggling withnavigating technology as it grew
within the restaurant andstarted touching more things and
saw that as an opportunity toreally help more restaurants.
I liked being in the restaurant,but the day-to-day was a
struggle for me.
I liked the new projects andsetting things up and getting
(02:29):
the process in place and thenmoving on to the next thing.
So I thought consulting wasgoing to be a great fit and
technology was growing andchanging and difficult.
And I thought it was just gonnabe a great niche for me to
manage.
So I decided to focus on thatabout 12 years ago and started
break bread really just as aplace for me to have those
services.
But it's grown into a team ofthese people just like me who've
(02:52):
been in the restaurant andhospitality industry and been
managers and been chefs, andthey have these skills that are
phenomenal, but they have a lifeoutside of restaurants as well.
And like they they might havekids now and and they don't want
to be on their feet for, youknow, 12 hours a day, or they
can't be on their feet for 12hours a day anymore.
And so they found a home here atBreak Bread and we focus on
helping restaurants implementnew systems, continue to manage
(03:15):
them appropriately, and justoffer support any way we can.
We our hearts are still in theindustry and that this is kind
of our forever home.
And we're able to take thoseexpertise and get them back to
restaurants, which I think isreally a great kind of full
circle thing with my career.
SPEAKER_00 (03:28):
I love that because I love that you have the
experience that you've been inthe industry and now you've kind
of gone out there and built thetech or built the things that
you knew that you felt the gapsof, that you were filling the
gaps, and you're like, well,hey, this is something that
everybody needs.
So let's do that.
Because I feel like so oftenwith a lot of people who are
(03:52):
trying to be consultants or theybuild tech, they've never
actually worked in a restaurant.
And it's a different experience,and they think they know it
because they're a consumer,right?
Because they go intorestaurants.
And so there's so many likerestaurant tech startups of
like, oh, we're solving thisproblem for this person, but
it's like, all right, thatactually just creates more of a
(04:15):
problem because you don'tunderstand the whole backdrop of
everything that goes on behindthe curtain.
So I think that's absolutelycritical to have that
experience.
And I love that because how manyyears did you work in
restaurants?
SPEAKER_01 (04:28):
I've been almost 25 years in the in the restaurant
and hospitality industry.
So about 15 in the restaurantitself, and now I've done about
15 out because there's a bit ofoverlap as well.
When I was starting my business,I was still serving tables at
night and then workingconsulting during the day.
And I did that for about six,seven years in the beginning.
So I had a hard time letting go,I think more than anything.
Like my consulting business wasgoing well, but I was like, I'm
(04:50):
gonna miss this too much ofbeing in the restaurant.
SPEAKER_00 (04:53):
So well, Brent, as you're thinking about from both
a technology standpoint and aboots on the ground
front-a-house standpoint, whatdo you think are some of the
most important aspects of guestexperience?
SPEAKER_01 (05:04):
I mean, personally, like I like when technology
drops away.
So there's a lot of tech outthere, it could do a lot of
amazing things.
But for me, the most importantthing with guest experience is
always authenticity, is havingthat hospitality first mindset,
not tech replacing the human atevery step I possibly can to
save money on labor.
(05:24):
You lose out what makes being inthe restaurant so special.
And it's that hospitality, it'sthat people first industry.
And so I like finding thesystems that are going to aid in
my employees and aid in theguest experience and really
bring that to the next level.
To I grew up in kind of like thefine dining or the approaching
fine dining, the high-endsteakhouses.
(05:45):
I work for Bruce Chris, I workfor Cameron Mitchell Restaurant
Group.
I really learned that you'refinding a way to make the guest
experience special.
You're finding that uniqueaspect of how are they gonna
remember me?
How are they gonna remember thisexperience?
And not because I'm sittingthere telling jokes table side,
but how are you gonna make theirmoment and their experience
special and really, whether itbe like flower petals on a table
(06:08):
for their anniversary or achampagne toast, or I think one
time it was a child's birthdayand they were going to a Taylor
Swift concert.
So we printed out a birthdaycard that had Taylor Swift on it
and the whole staff signed itand leaded it up, left it at the
table.
And it's like, how do you takeit to the next level and show
that love and care andeverything that is the
hospitality industry?
And so it's that authenticitythat you come back to that
(06:29):
really doesn't have a lot to dowith tech, but my tech is like
helping find different ways toenable that, really.
unknown (06:37):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (06:37):
So thinking about that, and in terms of the people
that you help in basically likeif you were to say, this is like
the ideal type of restaurantthat we work with, what does
that look like?
What problems are they having?
SPEAKER_01 (06:49):
So a lot of the groups, we have a couple
different avenues that you canwork with Breakbread.
A lot of it is new systemimplementation.
Often we'll end up working withchef-driven concepts, full
service restaurants, emerginggroups, so five plus locations
where you start to get differentlayers of complexity within your
systems, within your staff,within your team, but you don't
(07:10):
have an in-house IT team yet.
Or even you have an in-house ITteam, but like you don't have
the bandwidth.
Is what we hear about that.
I would love that, but we don'thave the time to implement it.
We don't have the time to set itup, we don't have the time to
manage it.
Because my team is a team ofrestaurant people, we just kind
of bolt on to your existingteam, work on behalf of the
restaurant in this interimcapacity until you're ready to
(07:31):
fly on your own.
Well, it's very different frommost restaurant IV IT groups, is
that we're just an extension ofyour restaurant in the interim.
We come in with expertise and weget you up and running.
And my goal is we will supportyou as long as you possibly need
it, but I want to train up yourteam so that they can do it on
their own.
Like if I'm successful,eventually you won't need me,
honestly.
SPEAKER_00 (07:52):
Yeah.
It's like there's a giant uphillclimb, and then it's kind of
like a very steady slope afterthat.
So, like you need the guide toget you to the top of the
plateau.
But then from there, it's like,okay, like we we need to
maintain this, we need to keepit going until you're ready for
that next level up, in whichcase you need another call
Brienne again.
SPEAKER_01 (08:10):
A lot of times we'll just we'll just jump from one
project into another and helppeople along the way.
I have clients that we've workedwith for four plus years now,
and and I love that long-termrelationship and everything.
But I'm always just as if youhad hired me into your
restaurant group, that's whatI'm thinking as well.
Is how can we make this thisprocess better?
How can we make it easier?
Those are the things that myselfand my partner will focus on
mostly is like the strategybehind things, more of the
(08:33):
advisory work.
And then we have a full team ofprofessionals that do the
hands-on implementation andbring that to life.
SPEAKER_00 (08:39):
Yeah, well, that's awesome.
Because I think about it interms of I remember when I was
speaking of like these sherpas,when I was trekking through the
Himalayas with my wife, each hada Sherpa that would help us
through.
And what was interesting wasthese guides, again, like we
would carry our stuff, but thenon like the really tough parts,
they would carry it for us.
(09:01):
So they were able to help usover because they were just so
experienced and so good.
So anyway, it was a greatexperience.
But it's important to have thaton these tech mountains as well.
SPEAKER_01 (09:12):
Very good amount, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (09:14):
Yeah.
So as you're thinking about sometactics, I'd love to kind of
shift this question a little bitof what are some things that you
see restaurant brands doing thatare either really helping out
with the guest experience from atechnology standpoint, or are
there some big mistakes thatsome common mistakes that you
see in your restaurant clients?
SPEAKER_01 (09:33):
So I think that the things that are really helping
out, there's a couple that cometo mind right away is most of
the groups that I work with arereservation driven.
They're really utilizing thattool, putting notes in there.
So, like, let's say I come inand I sit at the bar and I
always enjoy Sauvignon Blanc isputting the note in there so
that if there is a new bartenderthat comes in, she already knows
to offer me Sauvignon Blanc orknows that that, and that little
(09:54):
extra touch goes a long way.
So being able to utilize thetools that are already in that
system to just make notes andunderstand and pay attention to
your guests is really helpful.
I think you can do that as wellas like quick serve or fast
casual that are leaning on thesethird-party deliveries, DoorDash
and Uber Eats and things likethat.
You can put menus or like anextra, like a little cookie or
(10:16):
something that goes along with athank you.
I think people don't do that.
And so when your restaurantdoes, it goes a long way.
If I'm gonna order Chineseagain, I'm absolutely going back
to this place.
You know, they they threw insome spring rolls for me to try
and they were amazing.
There's little things that youcan do to go the extra mile.
And I think it's leaning onthose tools and those, like
almost like a CRM, managing thepeople and understanding the
(10:37):
people and leaning into that.
I have seen a lot of success inlike AI phone answering systems
too, which some people love andhate, but I think they're great
because after hours, if I'mcalling late night, I can get
some valuable information.
Whereas, like if I sit on thephone and it rings and rings and
rings and rings and rings, andnobody gets so frustrated.
SPEAKER_00 (10:57):
That is one of the most irritating things.
There's a restaurant right downthe street, and I used to love
going there, but I tried callingthem three different times to
place an order so I could pickit up when I left work.
And so that way I could justgrab it and then go home.
And they didn't answer threetimes.
So it was like, okay, like I'mnot coming back here.
And so that's actually one ofthe reasons that we created
(11:19):
ovation call to text is becauseif someone calls, at the very
least, if they want to talk tosomeone, great, press the option
to talk to someone.
But a lot of times I don't needto talk to someone.
I'm just like, hey, if I want toplace an order, let me do it on
your website.
If I want to place a cateringorder, give me the link to give
you the information for theorder.
If I want to text you somequestions, great.
(11:40):
But like give them an option.
Not the phone going busy orgoing to a voicemail should
never, ever the option for arestaurant.
The take care of your guests uhbecause they're calling you to,
oh, wait, here's a secret.
They're calling you to give youmoney.
So let them pay you.
It's right, absolutely.
SPEAKER_01 (12:02):
Yeah, you just lost business if you're not answering
the phone.
And then it's people expect toget an immediate answer
nowadays.
Those are our expectations.
We go to Google immediately.
I could go to DoorDash, I couldplace my order, I'm done.
The whole process, they don'texpect delay anymore.
Like, I'm dealing with, like,you say you have four kids, I'm
dealing with this with mythree-year-old right now.
It's like she expects to be ableto like watch Bluey anytime she
(12:23):
wants, and she could pick whichepisode.
I'm like, man, back in the day,you watch what's on, right?
SPEAKER_00 (12:28):
You just watch what's on and you wait through
the commercials and you earnsome patience.
And yeah, I think those are somethings that it's really hard to
teach, but it's so critical thatyou know the fact is teach our
kids, but the fact is, like,that's just the way of the world
right now from a technologystandpoint.
So while we want to teach ourkids patience, it's not our job
(12:50):
to parent our guests, it's ourjob to provide them what they
paid for.
And I love that we can do alittle bit goes a long way.
I mean, there are restaurants Iknow of who are there, you know,
they could say, Zach, I can'tincrease my prices.
And I'm like, okay, but if youcould increase your price, let's
say your average order value byone dollar, and you take that
(13:12):
one dollar and you reinvest itinto the guest in doing things
like a handwritten note on thebox being like, Hey, just wanted
you to try our spring rolls,right?
Then that guest is going to beso much more loyal because you
did the little things.
And so think about that.
Just raise your prices for onedollar per be like your average
(13:32):
ticket, and then take that onedollar per ticket and invest it
back into the guest.
And that will pay dividendsbecause as our friend Will
Goodera always talks about, it'snot about spending so much
money.
It's about spending money on theright things.
And the little things go a longway because you can't fake the
little things.
SPEAKER_01 (13:51):
Right.
And a lot of that, I think, likeyou mentioned earlier as well,
is the training and the cultureof things is like some of the
stuff is free.
So you can make an impactwithout having to spend money,
without having to throw in, youknow, the spring rolls, is
training your servers and yourbar staffs to be attentive and
to care and empowering them tolean into some of those things
that they could do somethingspecial, praising them for those
(14:12):
things.
Because I think not everybody,but most of us in the
hospitality are in it because welove it.
And when you have been in theindustry for a long time, you do
like serving people.
I love like having great guestsand like I love when they would
come in, they'd be celebrating aspecial occasion and sitting at
my table.
And I get to be a part of thatwith them.
And there's something so uniqueand wonderful about the
(14:32):
hospitality industry, and it'sthat that people aspect.
And if you empower your team tobe able to do things and like be
on the lookout for things thatyou can do to make their
experience special, like we haveCoke products, and my one guest
really loves Pepsi.
So can we go to the store andget some cans of Pepsi so next
time they come in, we have theirdrink?
SPEAKER_00 (14:52):
Oh, why not?
Wait, can you?
Is that well, are you allowed todo that?
I actually didn't know.
SPEAKER_01 (14:58):
It depends on your contract with Coke.
If you don't have an exclusivecontract, then why not?
Yeah, and that's just a kind ofrandom example.
I've actually done that withlike crackers before.
Where when we had salt teamcrackers to go with oysters and
they really like club crackersand we didn't have them.
So go to the store and pick upsome club crackers and we would
have them for this one guestwhenever he came in.
And he was just like over themoon that we had club crackers
(15:20):
for them.
And like, what is a box?
Like three bucks.
SPEAKER_00 (15:22):
Yeah, exactly.
And that's the thing, right?
It's like the little thingsmatter.
Those little things, it's notgoing to bankrupt your company.
It's not going to make sure,it's not going to like put you
out of business.
But what it will do is buy anincredible amount of loyalty.
And that guest will come in moreoften.
They're going to tell morepeople about it, they're going
to be more forgiving aboutmistakes, all because you spent
(15:46):
an additional$3 to have theseoyster crackers that they
wanted.
Like, that's such a greatconcept.
And by the way, how cool is thisthat here's two like tech nerds,
uh the consultant and thesoftware person, like sitting
here talking about these thingsthat have nothing to do with
technology.
And the reason that I'm sopassionate about it is because
(16:08):
the data shows it works.
And if you want a betterrestaurant, you need to have
better technology.
But at the end of the day, yougot to have more than the
technology.
You got to make sure that it'sinstilled in the culture, right?
SPEAKER_01 (16:22):
Yeah.
The technology is what allowsyou to do your job better and
serve your guests better andtrain your team and serve your
staff better.
Like that's how I view it atleast, is like it's a tool there
to help you run your businessand allow you to do the other
things and free you up for yourpassions.
SPEAKER_00 (16:38):
Awesome.
Well, Brynn, how can people findand follow you?
SPEAKER_01 (16:43):
Mostly LinkedIn is a good place to connect with me
directly or through my website,breakregconsulting.com.
I don't really do a whole lot ofother social media, honestly.
So really just LinkedIn and mywebsite.
SPEAKER_00 (16:56):
Awesome.
And who deserves innovation?
Who's someone that we should befollowing?
SPEAKER_01 (16:59):
The first one that comes to mind for me is Jose
Andreas.
I know he's a big one, but hefocuses so much on food being
the uniter of people and being acommunity aspect.
And I know he does that a lotthrough his charities as well
worldwide.
And like he's a big inspirationfor me.
I was lucky enough to work withhis company on an implementation
project a few years ago.
And it was just like, I love howmuch he brings back food to just
(17:21):
such a neutral ground foreveryone.
And this is like just such aconnector, and I love viewing it
that way as well.
So he's always one that I goback to as for inspiration.
SPEAKER_00 (17:32):
Love that.
So powerful.
Well, Brienne, for being thetech Sherper we always wanted
but didn't know we could askfor.
Today's ovation goes to you.
Thank you for joining us onGiven Ovation.
Thank you so much for having me.
Thanks for joining us today.
If you like this episode, leaveus a review on Apple Podcasts or
your favorite place to listen.
We're all about feedback here.
Again, this episode wassponsored by Ovation, a
(17:54):
two-question SMS-basedactionable guest feedback
platform built for multi-unitrestaurants.
If you'd like to learn how wecan help you measure and create
a better guest experience, visitus at ovationup.com.
Welcome to another edition of Give and Ovation, the
Restaurant Guest ExperiencePodcast.
I'm your host, Zach Oates, andeach week I get to chat with an
industry expert to uncover theirstrategies and tactics to help
you create a five-star guestexperience.
This podcast is powered byOvation, the feedback and
operations platform built formulti-unit restaurants.
(00:20):
Learn what's actually happeningin your restaurant and exactly
how to improve while drivingrevenue.
Learn more at ovationup.com.
And today, we have BrianneHarvey, founder and CEO of
Breakbread Consulting.
She's had an extensive careerliving all over the country and,
I just found out, world.
And really excited to have youon the podcast to talk about
(00:42):
what you're doing and howtechnology can help improve the
guest experience.
But first, I just need to talkabout this first because I
thought that was so cool.
I was like, oh, so where haveyou lived?
And so she started rattling offthese places.
It was like, oh, okay, yeah,that sounds normal.
That sounds normal.
And then she's like, St.
Thomas.
St.
Thomas.
It's like, whoa.
How long ago did you live in St.
(01:03):
Thomas?
SPEAKER_01 (01:04):
Oh, it's probably a decade ago now, but it was for a
year and amazing.
And got to be on a beach likeevery day off and go island
hopping.
It was beautiful.
If you've never been, definitelygo.
SPEAKER_00 (01:16):
It's gorgeous.
I know.
I told her I was like, thatsounds really nice just to like
get up and go away for a yearand live on the beach.
And I was like, I'm sure my wifewould love that.
But you know, unfortunately, Iwould miss her too much.
So, oh yeah, and we have fourkids, but details, details,
right?
Well, Brianne, I'm super excitedto have you on.
And uh, in looking at, first ofall, you've got a great LinkedIn
(01:38):
presence.
Everyone should follow her.
We're gonna talk about that atthe end, but tell me about
breakbread consulting, aboutwhat you're doing.
unknown (01:46):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (01:46):
So when I came back from the island, uh I decided to
dive into consulting.
Worked in the restaurantindustry my whole career and
really in the front of houserealm.
So I did, you know, host andserver and bartender, front of
house management, director ofops, like that kind of region.
And I really like new projectsand getting things set up.
And I was always the personwithin my restaurant group that
would be study at the POS orfiguring out why things aren't
(02:09):
working and just saw thatcontinuing to grow as I got
through my career.
People were struggling withnavigating technology as it grew
within the restaurant andstarted touching more things and
saw that as an opportunity toreally help more restaurants.
I liked being in the restaurant,but the day-to-day was a
struggle for me.
I liked the new projects andsetting things up and getting
(02:29):
the process in place and thenmoving on to the next thing.
So I thought consulting wasgoing to be a great fit and
technology was growing andchanging and difficult.
And I thought it was just gonnabe a great niche for me to
manage.
So I decided to focus on thatabout 12 years ago and started
break bread really just as aplace for me to have those
services.
But it's grown into a team ofthese people just like me who've
(02:52):
been in the restaurant andhospitality industry and been
managers and been chefs, andthey have these skills that are
phenomenal, but they have a lifeoutside of restaurants as well.
And like they they might havekids now and and they don't want
to be on their feet for, youknow, 12 hours a day, or they
can't be on their feet for 12hours a day anymore.
And so they found a home here atBreak Bread and we focus on
helping restaurants implementnew systems, continue to manage
(03:15):
them appropriately, and justoffer support any way we can.
We our hearts are still in theindustry and that this is kind
of our forever home.
And we're able to take thoseexpertise and get them back to
restaurants, which I think isreally a great kind of full
circle thing with my career.
SPEAKER_00 (03:28):
I love that because I love that you have the
experience that you've been inthe industry and now you've kind
of gone out there and built thetech or built the things that
you knew that you felt the gapsof, that you were filling the
gaps, and you're like, well,hey, this is something that
everybody needs.
So let's do that.
Because I feel like so oftenwith a lot of people who are
(03:52):
trying to be consultants or theybuild tech, they've never
actually worked in a restaurant.
And it's a different experience,and they think they know it
because they're a consumer,right?
Because they go intorestaurants.
And so there's so many likerestaurant tech startups of
like, oh, we're solving thisproblem for this person, but
it's like, all right, thatactually just creates more of a
(04:15):
problem because you don'tunderstand the whole backdrop of
everything that goes on behindthe curtain.
So I think that's absolutelycritical to have that
experience.
And I love that because how manyyears did you work in
restaurants?
SPEAKER_01 (04:28):
I've been almost 25 years in the in the restaurant
and hospitality industry.
So about 15 in the restaurantitself, and now I've done about
15 out because there's a bit ofoverlap as well.
When I was starting my business,I was still serving tables at
night and then workingconsulting during the day.
And I did that for about six,seven years in the beginning.
So I had a hard time letting go,I think more than anything.
Like my consulting business wasgoing well, but I was like, I'm
(04:50):
gonna miss this too much ofbeing in the restaurant.
SPEAKER_00 (04:53):
So well, Brent, as you're thinking about from both
a technology standpoint and aboots on the ground
front-a-house standpoint, whatdo you think are some of the
most important aspects of guestexperience?
SPEAKER_01 (05:04):
I mean, personally, like I like when technology
drops away.
So there's a lot of tech outthere, it could do a lot of
amazing things.
But for me, the most importantthing with guest experience is
always authenticity, is havingthat hospitality first mindset,
not tech replacing the human atevery step I possibly can to
save money on labor.
(05:24):
You lose out what makes being inthe restaurant so special.
And it's that hospitality, it'sthat people first industry.
And so I like finding thesystems that are going to aid in
my employees and aid in theguest experience and really
bring that to the next level.
To I grew up in kind of like thefine dining or the approaching
fine dining, the high-endsteakhouses.
(05:45):
I work for Bruce Chris, I workfor Cameron Mitchell Restaurant
Group.
I really learned that you'refinding a way to make the guest
experience special.
You're finding that uniqueaspect of how are they gonna
remember me?
How are they gonna remember thisexperience?
And not because I'm sittingthere telling jokes table side,
but how are you gonna make theirmoment and their experience
special and really, whether itbe like flower petals on a table
(06:08):
for their anniversary or achampagne toast, or I think one
time it was a child's birthdayand they were going to a Taylor
Swift concert.
So we printed out a birthdaycard that had Taylor Swift on it
and the whole staff signed itand leaded it up, left it at the
table.
And it's like, how do you takeit to the next level and show
that love and care andeverything that is the
hospitality industry?
And so it's that authenticitythat you come back to that
(06:29):
really doesn't have a lot to dowith tech, but my tech is like
helping find different ways toenable that, really.
unknown (06:37):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (06:37):
So thinking about that, and in terms of the people
that you help in basically likeif you were to say, this is like
the ideal type of restaurantthat we work with, what does
that look like?
What problems are they having?
SPEAKER_01 (06:49):
So a lot of the groups, we have a couple
different avenues that you canwork with Breakbread.
A lot of it is new systemimplementation.
Often we'll end up working withchef-driven concepts, full
service restaurants, emerginggroups, so five plus locations
where you start to get differentlayers of complexity within your
systems, within your staff,within your team, but you don't
(07:10):
have an in-house IT team yet.
Or even you have an in-house ITteam, but like you don't have
the bandwidth.
Is what we hear about that.
I would love that, but we don'thave the time to implement it.
We don't have the time to set itup, we don't have the time to
manage it.
Because my team is a team ofrestaurant people, we just kind
of bolt on to your existingteam, work on behalf of the
restaurant in this interimcapacity until you're ready to
(07:31):
fly on your own.
Well, it's very different frommost restaurant IV IT groups, is
that we're just an extension ofyour restaurant in the interim.
We come in with expertise and weget you up and running.
And my goal is we will supportyou as long as you possibly need
it, but I want to train up yourteam so that they can do it on
their own.
Like if I'm successful,eventually you won't need me,
honestly.
SPEAKER_00 (07:52):
Yeah.
It's like there's a giant uphillclimb, and then it's kind of
like a very steady slope afterthat.
So, like you need the guide toget you to the top of the
plateau.
But then from there, it's like,okay, like we we need to
maintain this, we need to keepit going until you're ready for
that next level up, in whichcase you need another call
Brienne again.
SPEAKER_01 (08:10):
A lot of times we'll just we'll just jump from one
project into another and helppeople along the way.
I have clients that we've workedwith for four plus years now,
and and I love that long-termrelationship and everything.
But I'm always just as if youhad hired me into your
restaurant group, that's whatI'm thinking as well.
Is how can we make this thisprocess better?
How can we make it easier?
Those are the things that myselfand my partner will focus on
mostly is like the strategybehind things, more of the
(08:33):
advisory work.
And then we have a full team ofprofessionals that do the
hands-on implementation andbring that to life.
SPEAKER_00 (08:39):
Yeah, well, that's awesome.
Because I think about it interms of I remember when I was
speaking of like these sherpas,when I was trekking through the
Himalayas with my wife, each hada Sherpa that would help us
through.
And what was interesting wasthese guides, again, like we
would carry our stuff, but thenon like the really tough parts,
they would carry it for us.
(09:01):
So they were able to help usover because they were just so
experienced and so good.
So anyway, it was a greatexperience.
But it's important to have thaton these tech mountains as well.
SPEAKER_01 (09:12):
Very good amount, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (09:14):
Yeah.
So as you're thinking about sometactics, I'd love to kind of
shift this question a little bitof what are some things that you
see restaurant brands doing thatare either really helping out
with the guest experience from atechnology standpoint, or are
there some big mistakes thatsome common mistakes that you
see in your restaurant clients?
SPEAKER_01 (09:33):
So I think that the things that are really helping
out, there's a couple that cometo mind right away is most of
the groups that I work with arereservation driven.
They're really utilizing thattool, putting notes in there.
So, like, let's say I come inand I sit at the bar and I
always enjoy Sauvignon Blanc isputting the note in there so
that if there is a new bartenderthat comes in, she already knows
to offer me Sauvignon Blanc orknows that that, and that little
(09:54):
extra touch goes a long way.
So being able to utilize thetools that are already in that
system to just make notes andunderstand and pay attention to
your guests is really helpful.
I think you can do that as wellas like quick serve or fast
casual that are leaning on thesethird-party deliveries, DoorDash
and Uber Eats and things likethat.
You can put menus or like anextra, like a little cookie or
(10:16):
something that goes along with athank you.
I think people don't do that.
And so when your restaurantdoes, it goes a long way.
If I'm gonna order Chineseagain, I'm absolutely going back
to this place.
You know, they they threw insome spring rolls for me to try
and they were amazing.
There's little things that youcan do to go the extra mile.
And I think it's leaning onthose tools and those, like
almost like a CRM, managing thepeople and understanding the
(10:37):
people and leaning into that.
I have seen a lot of success inlike AI phone answering systems
too, which some people love andhate, but I think they're great
because after hours, if I'mcalling late night, I can get
some valuable information.
Whereas, like if I sit on thephone and it rings and rings and
rings and rings and rings, andnobody gets so frustrated.
SPEAKER_00 (10:57):
That is one of the most irritating things.
There's a restaurant right downthe street, and I used to love
going there, but I tried callingthem three different times to
place an order so I could pickit up when I left work.
And so that way I could justgrab it and then go home.
And they didn't answer threetimes.
So it was like, okay, like I'mnot coming back here.
And so that's actually one ofthe reasons that we created
(11:19):
ovation call to text is becauseif someone calls, at the very
least, if they want to talk tosomeone, great, press the option
to talk to someone.
But a lot of times I don't needto talk to someone.
I'm just like, hey, if I want toplace an order, let me do it on
your website.
If I want to place a cateringorder, give me the link to give
you the information for theorder.
If I want to text you somequestions, great.
(11:40):
But like give them an option.
Not the phone going busy orgoing to a voicemail should
never, ever the option for arestaurant.
The take care of your guests uhbecause they're calling you to,
oh, wait, here's a secret.
They're calling you to give youmoney.
So let them pay you.
It's right, absolutely.
SPEAKER_01 (12:02):
Yeah, you just lost business if you're not answering
the phone.
And then it's people expect toget an immediate answer
nowadays.
Those are our expectations.
We go to Google immediately.
I could go to DoorDash, I couldplace my order, I'm done.
The whole process, they don'texpect delay anymore.
Like, I'm dealing with, like,you say you have four kids, I'm
dealing with this with mythree-year-old right now.
It's like she expects to be ableto like watch Bluey anytime she
(12:23):
wants, and she could pick whichepisode.
I'm like, man, back in the day,you watch what's on, right?
SPEAKER_00 (12:28):
You just watch what's on and you wait through
the commercials and you earnsome patience.
And yeah, I think those are somethings that it's really hard to
teach, but it's so critical thatyou know the fact is teach our
kids, but the fact is, like,that's just the way of the world
right now from a technologystandpoint.
So while we want to teach ourkids patience, it's not our job
(12:50):
to parent our guests, it's ourjob to provide them what they
paid for.
And I love that we can do alittle bit goes a long way.
I mean, there are restaurants Iknow of who are there, you know,
they could say, Zach, I can'tincrease my prices.
And I'm like, okay, but if youcould increase your price, let's
say your average order value byone dollar, and you take that
(13:12):
one dollar and you reinvest itinto the guest in doing things
like a handwritten note on thebox being like, Hey, just wanted
you to try our spring rolls,right?
Then that guest is going to beso much more loyal because you
did the little things.
And so think about that.
Just raise your prices for onedollar per be like your average
(13:32):
ticket, and then take that onedollar per ticket and invest it
back into the guest.
And that will pay dividendsbecause as our friend Will
Goodera always talks about, it'snot about spending so much
money.
It's about spending money on theright things.
And the little things go a longway because you can't fake the
little things.
SPEAKER_01 (13:51):
Right.
And a lot of that, I think, likeyou mentioned earlier as well,
is the training and the cultureof things is like some of the
stuff is free.
So you can make an impactwithout having to spend money,
without having to throw in, youknow, the spring rolls, is
training your servers and yourbar staffs to be attentive and
to care and empowering them tolean into some of those things
that they could do somethingspecial, praising them for those
(14:12):
things.
Because I think not everybody,but most of us in the
hospitality are in it because welove it.
And when you have been in theindustry for a long time, you do
like serving people.
I love like having great guestsand like I love when they would
come in, they'd be celebrating aspecial occasion and sitting at
my table.
And I get to be a part of thatwith them.
And there's something so uniqueand wonderful about the
(14:32):
hospitality industry, and it'sthat that people aspect.
And if you empower your team tobe able to do things and like be
on the lookout for things thatyou can do to make their
experience special, like we haveCoke products, and my one guest
really loves Pepsi.
So can we go to the store andget some cans of Pepsi so next
time they come in, we have theirdrink?
SPEAKER_00 (14:52):
Oh, why not?
Wait, can you?
Is that well, are you allowed todo that?
I actually didn't know.
SPEAKER_01 (14:58):
It depends on your contract with Coke.
If you don't have an exclusivecontract, then why not?
Yeah, and that's just a kind ofrandom example.
I've actually done that withlike crackers before.
Where when we had salt teamcrackers to go with oysters and
they really like club crackersand we didn't have them.
So go to the store and pick upsome club crackers and we would
have them for this one guestwhenever he came in.
And he was just like over themoon that we had club crackers
(15:20):
for them.
And like, what is a box?
Like three bucks.
SPEAKER_00 (15:22):
Yeah, exactly.
And that's the thing, right?
It's like the little thingsmatter.
Those little things, it's notgoing to bankrupt your company.
It's not going to make sure,it's not going to like put you
out of business.
But what it will do is buy anincredible amount of loyalty.
And that guest will come in moreoften.
They're going to tell morepeople about it, they're going
to be more forgiving aboutmistakes, all because you spent
(15:46):
an additional$3 to have theseoyster crackers that they
wanted.
Like, that's such a greatconcept.
And by the way, how cool is thisthat here's two like tech nerds,
uh the consultant and thesoftware person, like sitting
here talking about these thingsthat have nothing to do with
technology.
And the reason that I'm sopassionate about it is because
(16:08):
the data shows it works.
And if you want a betterrestaurant, you need to have
better technology.
But at the end of the day, yougot to have more than the
technology.
You got to make sure that it'sinstilled in the culture, right?
SPEAKER_01 (16:22):
Yeah.
The technology is what allowsyou to do your job better and
serve your guests better andtrain your team and serve your
staff better.
Like that's how I view it atleast, is like it's a tool there
to help you run your businessand allow you to do the other
things and free you up for yourpassions.
SPEAKER_00 (16:38):
Awesome.
Well, Brynn, how can people findand follow you?
SPEAKER_01 (16:43):
Mostly LinkedIn is a good place to connect with me
directly or through my website,breakregconsulting.com.
I don't really do a whole lot ofother social media, honestly.
So really just LinkedIn and mywebsite.
SPEAKER_00 (16:56):
Awesome.
And who deserves innovation?
Who's someone that we should befollowing?
SPEAKER_01 (16:59):
The first one that comes to mind for me is Jose
Andreas.
I know he's a big one, but hefocuses so much on food being
the uniter of people and being acommunity aspect.
And I know he does that a lotthrough his charities as well
worldwide.
And like he's a big inspirationfor me.
I was lucky enough to work withhis company on an implementation
project a few years ago.
And it was just like, I love howmuch he brings back food to just
(17:21):
such a neutral ground foreveryone.
And this is like just such aconnector, and I love viewing it
that way as well.
So he's always one that I goback to as for inspiration.
SPEAKER_00 (17:32):
Love that.
So powerful.
Well, Brienne, for being thetech Sherper we always wanted
but didn't know we could askfor.
Today's ovation goes to you.
Thank you for joining us onGiven Ovation.
Thank you so much for having me.
Thanks for joining us today.
If you like this episode, leaveus a review on Apple Podcasts or
your favorite place to listen.
We're all about feedback here.
Again, this episode wassponsored by Ovation, a
(17:54):
two-question SMS-basedactionable guest feedback
platform built for multi-unitrestaurants.
If you'd like to learn how wecan help you measure and create
a better guest experience, visitus at ovationup.com.
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