December 8, 2025 • 17 mins
Zack sits down with Kayla Dillon, fractional CMO and brand consultant, to talk about why guest expectations have shifted from hospitality to humanity. Kayla explains how to pick technology that fits, set it up the right way, and connect ops, marketing, and tech so the guest actually feels known. They dig into loyalty, behavior based rewards, and the role of AI in making personalization practical.
Zack and Kayla discuss:
- Human connection over perfection
- Choosing tech that matches readiness
- Behavior and interest based loyalty
- AI that supports real personalization
- Connecting ops, marketing, and tech
- Why setup beats shiny features
Thanks, Kayla!
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
industry experts to uncovertheir strategies and tactics to
help you create a five-starguest experience.
This podcast is powered byOvation, the feedback and
operations platform built formulti-unit restaurants.
Learn what's actually happeningin your restaurants and exactly
(00:23):
how to improve while drivingrevenue.
Learn more at ovationup.com.
And I am excited.
This podcast is two years in thechambers, and we're finally
getting to record it.
Kayla Dillon, for those of youwho don't know, you're welcome.
I'm about to introduce to you atotal rock star.
For those of you know, you knowwhy I'm so excited to have her
on.
(00:43):
She is a fractional CMO and abrand consultant.
She's had an amazing career inthe hospitality industry.
I'm so excited to have her on.
And the reason that this podcasthas been so hard to schedule
isn't just because she's sobusy, but it's because every
time we get on to record, wejust start talking because she
is just a joy to talk to.
(01:05):
And uh all of a sudden we'll get20 minutes into a 30-minute
meeting and we're like, we don'thave time now for a podcast.
And so let's reschedule.
And we've done this like fourtimes.
So Kayla, even though we're 15minutes late because we started
talking again, I'm excited thatwe actually are hitting record
here.
With that introduction, how areyou?
SPEAKER_01 (01:25):
I am good.
And I'm very excited to finallybe on this podcast as well.
We talk, like you were saying, alot, and it's always a great
conversation.
I've always respected you as aperson in this industry, as well
as just a good human being.
So I'm really excited to be apart of this today.
And yeah, let's get it rockingand rolling.
SPEAKER_00 (01:45):
Yeah, I mean, it's always fun to talk to you,
whether or not it's recorded.
Sometimes it's better if it'snot recorded, but we are here
and this time it's recorded.
SPEAKER_01 (01:53):
So no AirPods, but we're gonna make this happen.
Internet's going in and out.
SPEAKER_00 (01:58):
We're figured it out, Kayla.
So talk to me about what do youdo as a fractional CMO and brand
consultant?
SPEAKER_01 (02:04):
That's a really great question.
Um, right now I'm doing a lot oftechnology since one of the
brands that I support uhlaunched an app that's not uh
working appropriately.
So it's just a lot like being anormal CMO.
Each day is a little different,keeps it exciting, but I get to
support multiple brands, which Ireally like.
And the idea of being afractional CMO, what really
(02:28):
excites me about it is kind ofthat nuance of being able to do
multiple things and being ableto help multiple brands.
But the idea is to be thatsupport.
A lot of brands, they don't knowwhat they don't know.
So being able to come in andhelp advise to help stabilize
for them to get to that nextlevel, whether that's helping to
(02:48):
train the team, helping themuncover areas of opportunity for
financial improvement and helpthem get to that next stage in
their evolution to theneventually be able to say
goodbye.
Having a high churn rate for memeans that I'm doing my job
well.
Because my goal is not to bethere forever.
My goal is to set them up forsuccess.
(03:10):
That's a lot about what I do, isjust making sure they're set up.
SPEAKER_00 (03:13):
So many brands that need that because there's a lot
of stuff where it's like, I canget people that can run it.
I just don't know what's thebest way to do this and to get
it set up.
And so really powerful to bringyou in to help out to get things
rolling with a marketinginitiative with a tech
initiative, and especiallysomeone who you're so well
versed in so many differentthings, having used a lot of
(03:34):
different platforms and thingslike that.
So, anyway, it's super amazingto see what you're doing.
SPEAKER_01 (03:39):
It can be daunting, right?
To open up your email or yourLinkedIn if you're a CEO or a
franchise owner, you've got 10units, 15 units, and you've got
all of these things sayingthey're the greatest and they're
the best, right?
And maybe they see an email thatcomes through from Nations
Restaurant News and they say,Oh, Chili's just got this really
(04:00):
great thing.
And they think, oh, I need that.
Well, that may not be the rightfit, right?
And so what ends up happening,which is bad for the brand, bad
for the tech company, andultimately bad for the consumer,
is that they get a Maserati whenmaybe they just need a scooter.
So they spend all this money ona technology, and they don't
either have the bandwidth or theknowledge or expertise to be
(04:22):
able to execute it to get theinsights that they need to then
enhance the guest experience.
So they end up getting burned bytechnology, burned by sales, and
then they don't innovate andgrow.
And so that's where I see a lotof brands, especially legacy
brands like an Eric's that'sbeen around for 50 plus years.
Again, you get these things andyou think they're gonna be
(04:42):
great.
You got to get franchiseebuy-in.
Sometimes you just get used tothe technology.
And so you're like, oh, it'sgonna be too much of a lift for
me to tear all these thingsapart.
And you just need someone who'sbeen there to help kind of guide
and direct on what's the bestnext step.
SPEAKER_00 (04:58):
It might be the right technology, but if you set
up the right thing in the wrongway, it's still the wrong thing.
But setting up the right thingin the right way and having gone
through the lessons and youdon't have to learn them, wow,
that's powerful.
So all of this is really talkingabout the guest experience.
And so I'd love for you to diveinto what do you think are the
most important aspects of guestexperience?
SPEAKER_01 (05:20):
Well, I think it's changed.
We talked about this a littlebit prior to this, but it's
changed, right?
I think hospitality, the waythat we've looked at it was, you
know, good food, good drink,good time, good service.
But really, what people arelooking for is the humanity of a
brand.
You know, they're they'relooking for a connection, right?
(05:40):
That's why people say, I want tobe able to have that
personalization when it comes tolike marketing and how a brand
communicates to me.
And that's really hard to do atscale, really hard to do.
But that reason is because theguest wants to feel like you
know them.
You look at loyalty programs,and I think loyalty programs in
general need a full overhaul.
(06:02):
But the whole idea of it is sothat you can know your guest and
you can talk to them about thethings that matter to them.
And a lot of times loyaltyprograms become just a one size
fits all, where I, for example,maybe I'm a vegan.
And if you send me an emailabout a cheeseburger, that's not
gonna make me feel like you knowme or that we have a connection,
(06:25):
right?
And it is pivotal today to getas many touch points as you can
to connect with that consumerand finding them kind of
wherever they are and makingsure that you're responding
again with that empathy, thatknowledge, and making them feel
special and important.
I mean, don't you like feelingspecial and important?
SPEAKER_00 (06:44):
Amen, right?
And I think one of the thingsthat we were talking about
beforehand is that the guestexpectation is perfection.
But the beautiful thing is thatfrom the restaurant's
perspective, it's not aboutperfection, it's about
connection.
And we strive for perfection,but perfection can be forgiven
(07:04):
if we fall short, if there is aconnection.
And the same mistake that I meetsomeone for the first time, what
if I say something rude?
They're gonna be like, I don'tlike Zach.
Now, if I have a friend whowe've hung out two dozen times
and I say the same exact thing,they may think either that's
(07:24):
silly that he made that comment.
Like, I know that's not what heactually thinks, or they may
say, Zach, you know, I just wantto let you know, like that hurt
my feelings when you said that.
And then I can apologize, butwe've built that connection over
two dozen times.
And now what happens to ourrelationship when I say, Yes,
you're right, that was a dumbthing for me to say.
I'm sorry I said that, Kayla.
(07:45):
Let me be better.
Can you help me be better?
Then all of a sudden, ourfriendship that goes from now
we're friends two dozen timesfor a visit and two dozen times
hanging out, and that likeaccelerates it to like 100 times
because we've built thatconnection and that's what
people want because no one isperfect, and everyone hates the
(08:06):
people that are perfect, andthey always look for the one
thing that they can like get no,they're not perfect.
SPEAKER_01 (08:11):
See, I got them completely, and it just
strengthens the bond, right?
I mean, I think sometimes wejust get so in our own heads
when it comes to business,right?
Just in general, and especiallyI think when you're looking at a
hospitality, like customer firstbusiness.
We get so in the weeds and socomplicated where it's like,
(08:31):
think about you as a human.
If this was a relationship,which is what it should be, you
have a relationship with acustomer, with a guest.
Think about your own personalrelationships.
What matters to you when someonelike Zach?
Thank you for apologizing, bythe way.
I appreciate that.
Really hurt my feelings.
Now we can be stronger together.
But you think about, you know,something like that and like
(08:53):
what that would make me feelversus, again, getting kind of a
spray and pray approach of like,oh, I'll do a LinkedIn thing
saying, hey, sometimes you saythings that hurt people's
feelings, and well, I'm sorry ifI've ever done that to you.
That's not gonna make me feelgood.
It's not gonna make me feel likeyou understood that what you
said hurt my feelings.
It's just people being people.
(09:15):
And sometimes people be peoplein in a bad way and they're
annoying and things don't gowell on both sides.
But if you think about it fromthat perspective, I think the
industry as a whole would growand it would be more better
because we need to move fromjust hospitality to humanity.
Like I think that's key.
SPEAKER_00 (09:34):
Amen.
I love that.
And in doing so, like I get thattheory, but what are some
tactics that you've seen thatactually allow restaurants to
improve the guest experience andto implement that humanity?
SPEAKER_01 (09:48):
I think a big part of that, I think it's evolving,
right?
Especially when you look at AI.
I think it's making it a loteasier to do a lot of these
things, but it's changing forlike rewards.
Great example.
Instead of just rewarding basedon transaction, look at
behavior, look at interests,look at those things that you're
(10:12):
doing every day as a consumerand reward that, reward the
frequency or the surprise anddelight, right?
Like, not just give options.
That is how you're gonna movethe needle, not just sending a,
hey, here's$10 because youspent, you have a hundred
points, here's a$10 reward.
(10:33):
That is not the way of thefuture.
If you as a brand or even as atechnology company, if you're
not already thinking about howdo we connect based on behaviors
and interests, you're gonna beleft behind because I'm telling
you, that's what the consumerwants.
Even looking at, again, with AI,last night I needed to make
dinner and I could not find, Iwas searching through Pinterest,
(10:55):
could not find my recipe.
I went to Chat GPT and said,Hey, I'm looking and put in,
these are my ingredients.
This is what I'm looking for.
And it gave me probably the bestmeal.
I mean, my husband had like twoservings of it.
I had two servings of it.
I mean, it was really good.
I had an interest and wait, whatwas it?
It was a turkey, I'll send it toyou.
It was turkey meatloaf, cheddarranch, mashed potatoes, and
(11:20):
green beans that had all kindsof seasoning on them.
SPEAKER_00 (11:24):
It was Kayla, you are a marketing powerhouse and
you have time to cook athree-course meal.
Oh my gosh.
And your great mom, like, thisis too much, Kayla.
Too much.
SPEAKER_01 (11:34):
Thank you.
You're making me blush overhere.
But we'll send out a survey tothe kids and the husband and see
you get the smiley face or yeah,right.
SPEAKER_00 (11:43):
But it but truly though, like, that's where
technology is.
And I just was able to show yousome of the back end of ovation
and see like how much AI is ableto help drive that connection.
Now, what it comes down tothough is giving it the right
instructions and having theright inputs of data so it's
(12:03):
most accurate.
If you just said, give me amashed potato and turkey
meatloaf and green bean recipe,it wouldn't have done that.
And that's part of the powerthat we've seen of ovation is
leveraging.
We have saved over one millionguests.
One million people had a badexperience at a restaurant, they
were recovered with ovation, andthey verifiably came back into
(12:24):
that restaurant and spent money.
The reason I bring that up isbecause it's so key that we
learn from that context whatwere the things that brought
them back in.
And that's part of what weleverage to help brands recover
these guests, and it needs tofeel personal, and it is
personal, but just because AI ishelping doesn't mean that your
(12:47):
staff is off the hook.
Right.
You still need that not lastmile delivery, but last foot
delivery.
That's what is going to be thefinal cherry on top of all the
other things that went into thatguest experience and all the
technology and everything else,it still comes down to humanity,
not just of the guest, but ofthe people.
SPEAKER_01 (13:10):
Well, and even talking through this idea of
like connection, right?
When you look at it from anorganizational standpoint,
operations, marketing, andtechnology, they need to connect
to give the customer the bestexperience.
And I see so many times I'vebeen in those rooms where
everyone's siloed, right?
(13:31):
Everyone has their owninitiative, everyone has their
own favorite priority or theirown points of view.
What it ends up doing isfracturing, right, the
organization and never lettingit move to that next level
because they're stuck andthey've got to connect, right?
Whether that is, again, aspecific type of technology or
(13:53):
an SOP or an LTO, and being ableto leverage that internal
organizational connection tothen connect better and more
efficiently with that guest.
That's what should happen.
But today it's still very muchfractured, siloed, inefficient.
(14:13):
And it's a big challenge thatneeds to be solved.
SPEAKER_00 (14:16):
And that's why I'm so glad that you're out there
helping restaurants do this.
So who deserves an ovation inthe restaurant industry?
Who's someone that we should befollowing?
SPEAKER_01 (14:25):
Oh gosh, that maybe people aren't already following.
SPEAKER_00 (14:28):
Or maybe they are.
Who do you turn to that youthink is doing some great stuff?
SPEAKER_01 (14:33):
Well, God, there's so many.
I really enjoy what Chris Munsposts.
I think he's very insightful.
I've worked with Chris and workwith him now, so that's not a
plug to him, but but genuinely,the part of the reason is
because we connected onLinkedIn.
I enjoyed his content, heenjoyed mine, and we started to
(14:53):
work together because of it.
He brings a really uniqueperspective.
But if I were to actually giveadvice on like who I think we,
especially as leaders in thisindustry, should follow, we
should follow the ones that arethe up and coming, right?
The ones that need our support,our mentorship.
(15:16):
Cause we know whether it'sLinkedIn or any type of social
or reviews, right?
It's all about volume.
Like the more followers youhave, and those are the things
that help move you into analgorithm and help you connect
with more people.
So I would say, like, startlooking for some of those
up-and-comers.
Let's support them.
SPEAKER_00 (15:37):
Love that.
And first of all, Chris Muns,love him.
He's just such a great human, aswell as really, really sharp in
the industry.
And Kayla, where can people goto find and follow you?
SPEAKER_01 (15:48):
Well, LinkedIn's the best place to find me, although
I'm not as active recentlybecause I've been really busy
trying to start my own company.
But there will be a websitecoming soon.
It will be calledgoattorched.com.
So g-o-t-o-r-c-h-d.com.
And that is where you'll be ableto find the variety of services
(16:12):
that we use to help brands, bothon the technology side and on
the restaurant brand side, totake those fractured silos, burn
them down, and help build thatbridge of connection.
SPEAKER_00 (16:23):
Awesome.
Love that so much.
And Kayla for reminding us thatfrom family to friends to food,
it's all about connection.
Today's ovation goes to you.
Thank you for joining us onGivingovation.
SPEAKER_01 (16:35):
Thank you.
SPEAKER_00 (16:37):
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
two-question SMS-based,actionable 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
industry experts to uncovertheir strategies and tactics to
help you create a five-starguest experience.
This podcast is powered byOvation, the feedback and
operations platform built formulti-unit restaurants.
Learn what's actually happeningin your restaurants and exactly
(00:23):
how to improve while drivingrevenue.
Learn more at ovationup.com.
And I am excited.
This podcast is two years in thechambers, and we're finally
getting to record it.
Kayla Dillon, for those of youwho don't know, you're welcome.
I'm about to introduce to you atotal rock star.
For those of you know, you knowwhy I'm so excited to have her
on.
(00:43):
She is a fractional CMO and abrand consultant.
She's had an amazing career inthe hospitality industry.
I'm so excited to have her on.
And the reason that this podcasthas been so hard to schedule
isn't just because she's sobusy, but it's because every
time we get on to record, wejust start talking because she
is just a joy to talk to.
(01:05):
And uh all of a sudden we'll get20 minutes into a 30-minute
meeting and we're like, we don'thave time now for a podcast.
And so let's reschedule.
And we've done this like fourtimes.
So Kayla, even though we're 15minutes late because we started
talking again, I'm excited thatwe actually are hitting record
here.
With that introduction, how areyou?
SPEAKER_01 (01:25):
I am good.
And I'm very excited to finallybe on this podcast as well.
We talk, like you were saying, alot, and it's always a great
conversation.
I've always respected you as aperson in this industry, as well
as just a good human being.
So I'm really excited to be apart of this today.
And yeah, let's get it rockingand rolling.
SPEAKER_00 (01:45):
Yeah, I mean, it's always fun to talk to you,
whether or not it's recorded.
Sometimes it's better if it'snot recorded, but we are here
and this time it's recorded.
SPEAKER_01 (01:53):
So no AirPods, but we're gonna make this happen.
Internet's going in and out.
SPEAKER_00 (01:58):
We're figured it out, Kayla.
So talk to me about what do youdo as a fractional CMO and brand
consultant?
SPEAKER_01 (02:04):
That's a really great question.
Um, right now I'm doing a lot oftechnology since one of the
brands that I support uhlaunched an app that's not uh
working appropriately.
So it's just a lot like being anormal CMO.
Each day is a little different,keeps it exciting, but I get to
support multiple brands, which Ireally like.
And the idea of being afractional CMO, what really
(02:28):
excites me about it is kind ofthat nuance of being able to do
multiple things and being ableto help multiple brands.
But the idea is to be thatsupport.
A lot of brands, they don't knowwhat they don't know.
So being able to come in andhelp advise to help stabilize
for them to get to that nextlevel, whether that's helping to
(02:48):
train the team, helping themuncover areas of opportunity for
financial improvement and helpthem get to that next stage in
their evolution to theneventually be able to say
goodbye.
Having a high churn rate for memeans that I'm doing my job
well.
Because my goal is not to bethere forever.
My goal is to set them up forsuccess.
(03:10):
That's a lot about what I do, isjust making sure they're set up.
SPEAKER_00 (03:13):
So many brands that need that because there's a lot
of stuff where it's like, I canget people that can run it.
I just don't know what's thebest way to do this and to get
it set up.
And so really powerful to bringyou in to help out to get things
rolling with a marketinginitiative with a tech
initiative, and especiallysomeone who you're so well
versed in so many differentthings, having used a lot of
(03:34):
different platforms and thingslike that.
So, anyway, it's super amazingto see what you're doing.
SPEAKER_01 (03:39):
It can be daunting, right?
To open up your email or yourLinkedIn if you're a CEO or a
franchise owner, you've got 10units, 15 units, and you've got
all of these things sayingthey're the greatest and they're
the best, right?
And maybe they see an email thatcomes through from Nations
Restaurant News and they say,Oh, Chili's just got this really
(04:00):
great thing.
And they think, oh, I need that.
Well, that may not be the rightfit, right?
And so what ends up happening,which is bad for the brand, bad
for the tech company, andultimately bad for the consumer,
is that they get a Maserati whenmaybe they just need a scooter.
So they spend all this money ona technology, and they don't
either have the bandwidth or theknowledge or expertise to be
(04:22):
able to execute it to get theinsights that they need to then
enhance the guest experience.
So they end up getting burned bytechnology, burned by sales, and
then they don't innovate andgrow.
And so that's where I see a lotof brands, especially legacy
brands like an Eric's that'sbeen around for 50 plus years.
Again, you get these things andyou think they're gonna be
(04:42):
great.
You got to get franchiseebuy-in.
Sometimes you just get used tothe technology.
And so you're like, oh, it'sgonna be too much of a lift for
me to tear all these thingsapart.
And you just need someone who'sbeen there to help kind of guide
and direct on what's the bestnext step.
SPEAKER_00 (04:58):
It might be the right technology, but if you set
up the right thing in the wrongway, it's still the wrong thing.
But setting up the right thingin the right way and having gone
through the lessons and youdon't have to learn them, wow,
that's powerful.
So all of this is really talkingabout the guest experience.
And so I'd love for you to diveinto what do you think are the
most important aspects of guestexperience?
SPEAKER_01 (05:20):
Well, I think it's changed.
We talked about this a littlebit prior to this, but it's
changed, right?
I think hospitality, the waythat we've looked at it was, you
know, good food, good drink,good time, good service.
But really, what people arelooking for is the humanity of a
brand.
You know, they're they'relooking for a connection, right?
(05:40):
That's why people say, I want tobe able to have that
personalization when it comes tolike marketing and how a brand
communicates to me.
And that's really hard to do atscale, really hard to do.
But that reason is because theguest wants to feel like you
know them.
You look at loyalty programs,and I think loyalty programs in
general need a full overhaul.
(06:02):
But the whole idea of it is sothat you can know your guest and
you can talk to them about thethings that matter to them.
And a lot of times loyaltyprograms become just a one size
fits all, where I, for example,maybe I'm a vegan.
And if you send me an emailabout a cheeseburger, that's not
gonna make me feel like you knowme or that we have a connection,
(06:25):
right?
And it is pivotal today to getas many touch points as you can
to connect with that consumerand finding them kind of
wherever they are and makingsure that you're responding
again with that empathy, thatknowledge, and making them feel
special and important.
I mean, don't you like feelingspecial and important?
SPEAKER_00 (06:44):
Amen, right?
And I think one of the thingsthat we were talking about
beforehand is that the guestexpectation is perfection.
But the beautiful thing is thatfrom the restaurant's
perspective, it's not aboutperfection, it's about
connection.
And we strive for perfection,but perfection can be forgiven
(07:04):
if we fall short, if there is aconnection.
And the same mistake that I meetsomeone for the first time, what
if I say something rude?
They're gonna be like, I don'tlike Zach.
Now, if I have a friend whowe've hung out two dozen times
and I say the same exact thing,they may think either that's
(07:24):
silly that he made that comment.
Like, I know that's not what heactually thinks, or they may
say, Zach, you know, I just wantto let you know, like that hurt
my feelings when you said that.
And then I can apologize, butwe've built that connection over
two dozen times.
And now what happens to ourrelationship when I say, Yes,
you're right, that was a dumbthing for me to say.
I'm sorry I said that, Kayla.
(07:45):
Let me be better.
Can you help me be better?
Then all of a sudden, ourfriendship that goes from now
we're friends two dozen timesfor a visit and two dozen times
hanging out, and that likeaccelerates it to like 100 times
because we've built thatconnection and that's what
people want because no one isperfect, and everyone hates the
(08:06):
people that are perfect, andthey always look for the one
thing that they can like get no,they're not perfect.
SPEAKER_01 (08:11):
See, I got them completely, and it just
strengthens the bond, right?
I mean, I think sometimes wejust get so in our own heads
when it comes to business,right?
Just in general, and especiallyI think when you're looking at a
hospitality, like customer firstbusiness.
We get so in the weeds and socomplicated where it's like,
(08:31):
think about you as a human.
If this was a relationship,which is what it should be, you
have a relationship with acustomer, with a guest.
Think about your own personalrelationships.
What matters to you when someonelike Zach?
Thank you for apologizing, bythe way.
I appreciate that.
Really hurt my feelings.
Now we can be stronger together.
But you think about, you know,something like that and like
(08:53):
what that would make me feelversus, again, getting kind of a
spray and pray approach of like,oh, I'll do a LinkedIn thing
saying, hey, sometimes you saythings that hurt people's
feelings, and well, I'm sorry ifI've ever done that to you.
That's not gonna make me feelgood.
It's not gonna make me feel likeyou understood that what you
said hurt my feelings.
It's just people being people.
(09:15):
And sometimes people be peoplein in a bad way and they're
annoying and things don't gowell on both sides.
But if you think about it fromthat perspective, I think the
industry as a whole would growand it would be more better
because we need to move fromjust hospitality to humanity.
Like I think that's key.
SPEAKER_00 (09:34):
Amen.
I love that.
And in doing so, like I get thattheory, but what are some
tactics that you've seen thatactually allow restaurants to
improve the guest experience andto implement that humanity?
SPEAKER_01 (09:48):
I think a big part of that, I think it's evolving,
right?
Especially when you look at AI.
I think it's making it a loteasier to do a lot of these
things, but it's changing forlike rewards.
Great example.
Instead of just rewarding basedon transaction, look at
behavior, look at interests,look at those things that you're
(10:12):
doing every day as a consumerand reward that, reward the
frequency or the surprise anddelight, right?
Like, not just give options.
That is how you're gonna movethe needle, not just sending a,
hey, here's$10 because youspent, you have a hundred
points, here's a$10 reward.
(10:33):
That is not the way of thefuture.
If you as a brand or even as atechnology company, if you're
not already thinking about howdo we connect based on behaviors
and interests, you're gonna beleft behind because I'm telling
you, that's what the consumerwants.
Even looking at, again, with AI,last night I needed to make
dinner and I could not find, Iwas searching through Pinterest,
(10:55):
could not find my recipe.
I went to Chat GPT and said,Hey, I'm looking and put in,
these are my ingredients.
This is what I'm looking for.
And it gave me probably the bestmeal.
I mean, my husband had like twoservings of it.
I had two servings of it.
I mean, it was really good.
I had an interest and wait, whatwas it?
It was a turkey, I'll send it toyou.
It was turkey meatloaf, cheddarranch, mashed potatoes, and
(11:20):
green beans that had all kindsof seasoning on them.
SPEAKER_00 (11:24):
It was Kayla, you are a marketing powerhouse and
you have time to cook athree-course meal.
Oh my gosh.
And your great mom, like, thisis too much, Kayla.
Too much.
SPEAKER_01 (11:34):
Thank you.
You're making me blush overhere.
But we'll send out a survey tothe kids and the husband and see
you get the smiley face or yeah,right.
SPEAKER_00 (11:43):
But it but truly though, like, that's where
technology is.
And I just was able to show yousome of the back end of ovation
and see like how much AI is ableto help drive that connection.
Now, what it comes down tothough is giving it the right
instructions and having theright inputs of data so it's
(12:03):
most accurate.
If you just said, give me amashed potato and turkey
meatloaf and green bean recipe,it wouldn't have done that.
And that's part of the powerthat we've seen of ovation is
leveraging.
We have saved over one millionguests.
One million people had a badexperience at a restaurant, they
were recovered with ovation, andthey verifiably came back into
(12:24):
that restaurant and spent money.
The reason I bring that up isbecause it's so key that we
learn from that context whatwere the things that brought
them back in.
And that's part of what weleverage to help brands recover
these guests, and it needs tofeel personal, and it is
personal, but just because AI ishelping doesn't mean that your
(12:47):
staff is off the hook.
Right.
You still need that not lastmile delivery, but last foot
delivery.
That's what is going to be thefinal cherry on top of all the
other things that went into thatguest experience and all the
technology and everything else,it still comes down to humanity,
not just of the guest, but ofthe people.
SPEAKER_01 (13:10):
Well, and even talking through this idea of
like connection, right?
When you look at it from anorganizational standpoint,
operations, marketing, andtechnology, they need to connect
to give the customer the bestexperience.
And I see so many times I'vebeen in those rooms where
everyone's siloed, right?
(13:31):
Everyone has their owninitiative, everyone has their
own favorite priority or theirown points of view.
What it ends up doing isfracturing, right, the
organization and never lettingit move to that next level
because they're stuck andthey've got to connect, right?
Whether that is, again, aspecific type of technology or
(13:53):
an SOP or an LTO, and being ableto leverage that internal
organizational connection tothen connect better and more
efficiently with that guest.
That's what should happen.
But today it's still very muchfractured, siloed, inefficient.
(14:13):
And it's a big challenge thatneeds to be solved.
SPEAKER_00 (14:16):
And that's why I'm so glad that you're out there
helping restaurants do this.
So who deserves an ovation inthe restaurant industry?
Who's someone that we should befollowing?
SPEAKER_01 (14:25):
Oh gosh, that maybe people aren't already following.
SPEAKER_00 (14:28):
Or maybe they are.
Who do you turn to that youthink is doing some great stuff?
SPEAKER_01 (14:33):
Well, God, there's so many.
I really enjoy what Chris Munsposts.
I think he's very insightful.
I've worked with Chris and workwith him now, so that's not a
plug to him, but but genuinely,the part of the reason is
because we connected onLinkedIn.
I enjoyed his content, heenjoyed mine, and we started to
(14:53):
work together because of it.
He brings a really uniqueperspective.
But if I were to actually giveadvice on like who I think we,
especially as leaders in thisindustry, should follow, we
should follow the ones that arethe up and coming, right?
The ones that need our support,our mentorship.
(15:16):
Cause we know whether it'sLinkedIn or any type of social
or reviews, right?
It's all about volume.
Like the more followers youhave, and those are the things
that help move you into analgorithm and help you connect
with more people.
So I would say, like, startlooking for some of those
up-and-comers.
Let's support them.
SPEAKER_00 (15:37):
Love that.
And first of all, Chris Muns,love him.
He's just such a great human, aswell as really, really sharp in
the industry.
And Kayla, where can people goto find and follow you?
SPEAKER_01 (15:48):
Well, LinkedIn's the best place to find me, although
I'm not as active recentlybecause I've been really busy
trying to start my own company.
But there will be a websitecoming soon.
It will be calledgoattorched.com.
So g-o-t-o-r-c-h-d.com.
And that is where you'll be ableto find the variety of services
(16:12):
that we use to help brands, bothon the technology side and on
the restaurant brand side, totake those fractured silos, burn
them down, and help build thatbridge of connection.
SPEAKER_00 (16:23):
Awesome.
Love that so much.
And Kayla for reminding us thatfrom family to friends to food,
it's all about connection.
Today's ovation goes to you.
Thank you for joining us onGivingovation.
SPEAKER_01 (16:35):
Thank you.
SPEAKER_00 (16:37):
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
two-question SMS-based,actionable 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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