October 16, 2024 • 38 mins
The restaurant industry is undergoing a digital revolution, as discussed in a recent "Rock My Restaurant" podcast featuring Feifei Hu, Paul Barron, and Shelly Rupel. Key trends include authentic community engagement, especially in gaming spaces, balancing appeal across demographics, and leveraging AI and automation for operational efficiency. Emerging technologies like autonomous vehicles and drone delivery are set to reshape food services. The industry faces challenges in adopting these innovations while maintaining brand authenticity, emphasizing the need for leaders who can navigate both current and future digital landscapes to ensure success in this evolving market.
RestaurantTech #DigitalDining #FutureOfFood
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RestaurantTech #DigitalDining #FutureOfFood
🫶 Subscribe NOW - Unlock a world of knowledge, innovation, and growth from the largest podcast network in food service! - https://savorfm.substack.com/
📈 Learn More ~ Restaurant Power Index featuring the top 50 brands' performance in consumer sentiment based on 12 performance markers in food, service, and overall brand consumer sentiment. The RPI features historical and current sentiment analysis for key brands based on the overall market sentiment data. Subscribe for weekly reports on the top brands in the restaurant industry. https://www.savor.fm/restaurant-power-index
Follow on X: Savor_fm
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Turn of the volume and subscribe now to Rock My Restaurant,
the podcast setting your brand on fire for you, coming too.
You live every week branding, marketing, innovative tech, don't get
left behind. The future is now.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Welcome back to another episode of Rock My Restaurant, and
today is going to be a good one because we
are going to learn a little bit more, not only
about how the transition of consumer and tech is kind
of coming together, but also just the innovation that we're
seeing within Web three. And of course all of that
means for you guys listening out there in the restaurant industry,
(00:43):
it's going to be time to learn a lot of stuff.
So it's going to be fun. Let's get into it.
Joining me today, of course, is my co host Michelle
Rupel from Devour. How are you.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
I'm doing good, Paul doing good.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
It's been a busy week.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
No, it's been a busy week for you.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
But we're ducking hurricanes and tornadoes.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Anyway.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Our studio, our studio was shut down. I get to
the studio this morning and there's sandbags that are about
waist high in front of all the doors, you know,
so they have crew out there trying to pull down.
People are lined up, you know, because we have a
lot of different companies in the building and lined up
trying to get in. It was crazy. Anyway, it's hopefully
(01:26):
back to normal. What is going on that is new
with Devour showing, It's.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Been a busy week. So I just got back from
from Vegas. A couple of days ago. I participated in
the Shark Reef pitch competition at Grocery Shop, which is
a huge conference for grocery convenience and CpG brands, So
that was an exciting experience. And then we got our
approval this week for Di Virago Plus, so soon player
(01:53):
rewards and in game food ordering will be available in
over two thousand video games. So we're hoping within the
next couple of days that that app will be live
and ready to go. So it's the start of a
huge next step for Devour for sure.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Well today's episode, we've got a special guest coming on
with a Fefe who who has been in the industry
also is an advisor for Devour. But the good thing
is is that she's going to be able to give
us kind of an insight to how not only consumer
but the technology conversion that we have happening, especially in
(02:33):
the restaurant space right now, but I also think in
other parts of retail, restaurant and just the broader aspect.
If you guys did not catch our last podcasts with
Scott and Wagony Games, go back and watch that one,
because first of all, was phenomenal. Did you see that
it got a lot of views on YouTube. I was
(02:54):
really impressed with that. So it's a lot of interested people.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
He's a good guest to have me. Games is doing
some really cool stuff, right and so that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Yeah, so I want to bring in fa Fe real
quick and we will add her into the podcast. Great
to have you one.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
How are you, hi, Paul, Hi Shelley Hi Fe.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Yes, So let's get let's get into a little bit
about your background. You've been with big brands in the
restaurant space. What are you doing now? I know that
obviously you're an advisor with Devour. Give us a little
bit of a rundown where you are.
Speaker 4 (03:31):
Yeah, yeah, so you know, for the last kind of
twenty years, I started my career in consulting and then
was in entertainment for a little bit more than a decade,
and then most recently was with KFC as the global
head of Channel Development and Innovation.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
So I'm kind of curious on the on the KFC
job and you look at the growth of QSR brands
who've both had challenges but also successes over the last
three years, you know, in the evolution of what they're
trying to build kind of combat the fast casual space.
What was one of the key things that you learned
(04:09):
from that role, especially with developing kind of new business
models and connecting to this kind of this next generation consumer,
especially Gen Z.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
Yeah. Yeah, I mean it's not only Gen Z now
Gen Alpha is also growing up, right, We're trying to
capture them. I mean, you know, there are many learnings.
The biggest one, I would say is just the world
is ever changing. Technology is evolving faster and faster, right,
and so you know, as a brand, we used to
you know, kind of like putting out marketing that are
(04:40):
very tailored and then you know, showing who we are
as a brand and impressing consumers and you know, they
inspire to, you know, kind of be more like us.
Now it's kind of different. I think the younger generation,
the Gen Alphas and Gen zs, are more interested in themselves,
you know, and they want to see brands who get them,
who can join their community, and who can you know,
in what they enjoy in an authentic way. And so
(05:03):
I mean, I think just you know, both as marketers
and as technologists, we got to engage this new generation
of consumers in a whole new way.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
You hit something that I think is very important, and
this is something we talk about a lot. Shelley and
I were talking about this with Scott the last podcast
we had with Wagony, and that is these kind of
these culture driven communities, you know, that are very isolated
in on you know, whatever it is they are, whether
(05:31):
it's gaming, whether it's something within health or fitness, you
could name the niche, and there's always a community that's
kind of driven around that, you know, and that's something
that is fairly new, I would say, though there's been communities,
but gen X not as many. I would think they
were more general general in the sense of being able
to market to millennials somewhat, but definitely when you get
(05:54):
into gen Z and Gen Alpha that seems to be
kind of the connection point. Do you think there's going
to be an ability to connect to this many subcultures
that seem to be developing all at once.
Speaker 4 (06:10):
Yes and no. I mean I think it depends on
who you are as a brand, right, Like you always
got to be authentic instead of, you know, trying to
fake it, and you know, the community that doesn't really
align with your brand's roots and what you represent. But
it is possible, you know, like Web three is built
from communities, and you can build up your relationship with
(06:32):
each community, you know, with authentic relationships and grow from
there as long as you know the core of you know,
kind of your values are consistent throughout these communities.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
I know, Shelley, you guys have done that right there,
as you've kind of got niched into the gaming community,
but yet you isolate in on the food service space,
which even though that's a very big niche, you know,
the the element behind it, you know, I think is
kind of cool because you're connecting to two major needs
within the industry. So I think this is this will
(07:07):
be a very interesting thing to see how brands do
this in the future, because in the past, I think
brands have always been they try to be everything to everyone,
you know, and I think now that that might actually
backfire for a lot of restaurant brands. What are you
seeing out there?
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Shelley?
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Absolutely? And when you you know, you talk about communities,
We talk about that so much, breaking that down into
the smaller and smaller units of how people identify or
you know, where where they're spending their time and who
they're spending their time with. Are those communities and how
do you connect in with that? You know, Faye, I'd
love to ask you. You know, KFC is such a
(07:47):
huge organization, so many restaurants across the world. How did you,
you know, approach the digital transformation across that vast of
a network. What what did that look like? I know
I've have the opportunity to hear a few of the
projects and talk with you. I'd love to hear about
that experience.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
Yeah, yeah, obviously, you know, like always our one hundred
and fifty you know, countries and more than thirty thousand restaurants. Right,
there's a you know a huge range of market maturity,
brand maturity, technology and financial capabilities. So you know, one
size fits all approach was never going to work. But
you know, we always start from the consumer perspective, right,
(08:30):
what do you want? You know, what does consumer want
for their food ordering experience, you know, if they want
food ordering. But then you are small, you know market,
you only have five restaurants. You don't want to spend
a million dollars and three years building a new app.
Maybe start with text ordering and grow from there, right
if you know consumers want to see you show up
(08:51):
authentically in their culture and their communities. But again, you
don't have the money and the resources like a big
brand to build your own game or sponsor major esports tournament.
You know, why not start with one test campaign, right,
like with a third party plugging like d'vau or you know,
work with one or two you know, gaming influencers who
are authentic fans of yours, and then start building that
(09:13):
social community around you.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Fake What was the I mean? Because this is our
show is really focused on the next evolution of Web
three and how it affects the restaurant space and digital
and technology have been i'll say very slow in most
parts to adoption. However, you know in the last big
challenge that the restaurant industry faced, adoption curves really spiked.
(09:41):
So what was a scenario where we're not a lot
of companies were ready for e commerce and third party
ording and all that. They quickly became that and now
they've appears at the restaurant industry maybe adopting technology faster.
Is that what you're seeing right now in terms of
these digital transformations.
Speaker 4 (09:59):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, you know, COVID definitely there is
a huge favor in terms of you know, kind of
changing the industry to forcing the industry to change, right
because we were just all the channels were shut down
besides the digital channel, you know, I mean, it was
some difficult times if you weren't planning for the future
(10:20):
and all of a sudden you got to play catch up.
It's it kind of reminded people that, like, you know,
between the Web one and Web two transition, if you
have missed out, then you're still catching up, and it's
you know, you're never gonna you're never gonna fully be there,
and so it just reminds people that, like, while we
are in general a pretty short term industry, you know,
I would say compared to let's say entertainment or other
(10:43):
industries that I've been in, right, like we managed by
the quarter versus like if you're entertainment, you always planning
for like, you know, five years down the road, right,
what's technology? What's the next movie you're gonna make? Right, Like,
that's five years down the road here. People typically do
not have the mind share to think like what am
I going to be as a brand five years from now?
But you know, I think having COVID and having this
(11:05):
experience of having to catch up with technology that you
have missed in the last couple of years just reminded
people that you still have to keep your eye on
the long game.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Yeah, I think this is a it's a it's going
to be interesting because there's a lot of kind of
shifts happening right now with how communities kind of connect
with each other, what they connect about. Is a restaurant
really going to fit within those communities and do they
have kind of that digital you know, credo that is
(11:36):
going to give them the capability of doing so. You
have a couple of brands that have been able to
be very successful in that, both small and large, So
it'll be interesting to kind of see that come together
for sure.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Yeah, you mentioned influencer, influencers and creators, and then your
KFC and Warner Media strategic partnerships has been such a
big part of your background. How do you see restaurants
and brands small and medium size really being able to
facilitate or use partnerships at a local level for their
(12:11):
digital presence. You know, you mentioned creators, and I'd love
to hear more of your thoughts on that.
Speaker 4 (12:17):
Yeah, yeah, I love partnerships, you know, I actually you know,
I was a trained as an engineer. I originally wanted
to be a product leader, was a product leader, and
then decided, you know, I couldn't do everything I wanted
in my product because I was always constrained right like
by my by my organization's resources and capabilities. And partnerships
in many ways is the one silver bullet you can find,
(12:39):
you know, to do things that you otherwise cannot do.
And so you know, there are two ways you can
utilize partnerships, not mutually exclusive. You could use them to
build the product capabilities, or you could use them to
build your brand or both. Right, So, you know, with influencers,
a lot of times you're using them to you know,
(12:59):
kind of make your brand younger, reach new audiences, which
otherwise would be very hard for you, you know, like you
could spend millions and millions and media dollars trying to
like target gen zs and gen alphae on Facebook and
still not you know, have much success because it's not authentic.
But when you partner with influencers who are you know,
real fans of yours, who you know, kind of develop
(13:21):
a new kind of value proposition for your brand, you know,
together with their brand, then you know, the customers get
it and they feel like you you you are part
of them and so you know that's kind of the
brand building part. Oh and then for KFC, we did
uh some of our market, smaller markets who started in
(13:42):
gaming by working with influencers. They had a lot of success,
you know, just like having a social media account that
like asually talked about gaming or you know, sponsoring you know,
kind of these kind of podcasts or or or streaming
video feeds streaming people playing games. Like you know, it
was it wasn't gonna you know, they didn't have any
(14:03):
targets at the time. They were just like, this seems
like a cultural vertical that we want to plug into.
Let's try something and see if they sticks. And then
it actually garnered them a lot of you know, kind
of customer interest and the brand index started to rise
up and they're like, well, there's something there, right, and
then they put more marketing into like kind of the
full funnel, right, linking into actual sales. But it takes
(14:26):
time to build up, Like it's not something that you
can one day just jump into it and be like,
we're going to do a huge campaign with the biggest
you know, gaming influencer on YouTube, and then we're gonna
we're gonna be there. You know, you got to build
the trust, like, you know, I think the gamer community
are very shrewd, you know when they can see oh yeah, uh.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
A good example of that is, you know this the
Off the Grid game just went live last week on
PS five and and on web. Of course we're waiting
on a s box, but it was interesting when you
looked at the amount of I don't know if Shelley
were you following most of the activity on.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
It a little bit, but not in detail.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Listen, it was crazy. I was so. You had Tim
the Tapman, you had Ninja, some of the biggest streamers
out there on Twitch YouTube going at it. In terms
of the response on not only Off the Grid, this
is a new Web three game that will have an
in game marketplace, so there's going to be the potential
for skins and things like that. But I think this
(15:29):
opens up the opportunity for loyalty around to what you're
saying on the idea of partnerships, I'm kind of curious
what about stacked partnerships because you think about what Avalanche
or I should say Avalanche Off the Grid did for
their game because they partnered with a lot of the
mainstream streamers who in reality say this game is over
(15:51):
the top, and they were like, hey, this was an ad,
but I have to say, this is one of those
games that was just really, really successful. But what about
a brand that's able to pick back on that. You know,
if you had a good restaurant brand like a Chipotle
or you know, a Starbucks or any any of these
major brands, or maybe even a small brand, could they
jump in on you know, some of these edgier games
(16:13):
that might go viral, and how do you bet on
those because that could create a new kind of loyalty
stream into that community. What have you seen in that area?
Speaker 4 (16:24):
FA Yeah, yeah, I mean, you know, it's I mean,
betting on games is a hard business. You know, it's
just like betting all films. So you know, I'm not
gonna I guess appine on how you bet on you know,
which will Yeah, exactly. But you know, like I said,
I think you always you know, try to find the
(16:44):
authentic brand connection with certain games, uh and integrate yourselves, uh,
you know into the gameplay, right, Like you want to
be enhancing the gaming experience, not distracted from it.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Right.
Speaker 4 (16:56):
So for KFC, for example, we did a global campaign
with pub G because they their slogan is like when
know win a chicken dinner, and so it was just
like the best you know match for our bright Yeah,
and we already had a few markets who have had
successful you know, smaller esports tournament kind of sponsorships and
(17:17):
other relationships with that community, and so you know, it
was just a perfect match, and we were able to
integrate ourselves into the game in a very authentic and
fun way where you know, you had in the center
of a map a KFC restaurant and then as people
closed in, like you can go to that restaurant to
repunish your ammal, which comes in the form of a
(17:38):
KFC meal. And then there's all kinds of like like
little loot boxes that you can get from KFS, like
dropping from you know, KFC branded parachutes and so on,
so you know, it was enhancing the brand play. And
then in the KFC store we feature you know, Popga
game and then if you buy a meal, you get
(17:59):
special wars within the game as well. So that way adds.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
To a lot of loyalty component because you now you're
starting to stack in value, which is something Shelley and
I talk about all the time. You know, as you
you see these potentials, especially as we start to see
NFTs and these air drops start to come in to
the restaurant space, I don't I don't know. Do you
think it's going to be very long, Shelley before we
see restaurants that are truly utilizing the air drop feature
(18:26):
within Web three?
Speaker 3 (18:28):
I think I think we're still early, as we often
talk about, you know, and Jeff Alexander's who we always mentioned,
you know, is early on uh with that. But I
think we're early, but getting there. I think phase bringing
up a point that I'm hearing a theme on, is
that authenticity, right, So, whether it's whether it's air drops,
whether it's an in game experience. You know, gamers don't
(18:52):
want banner ads put in front of them. It alienates them,
it's disruptive, and so there is that really integrating with
what is the the game experience and that you know
that's such an important part in restaurants. Are we're going
to you know, the industry is going to have to
figure that out in part of showing up in that
authentic way. Love love the example that Fay just you know,
(19:16):
had shared with what KFC did with the game.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Yeah, I think this starts to roll us into kind
of a new area. These authentic connections you're talking about
are pretty significant in being able to drive them home.
But you know that's hard too, because there's only so
many successful games, successful culture elements, whether it's movie, you know,
something that's happening in the meme world that you can
(19:41):
kind of isolate in on, and everything's so almost transitory.
It's just moving so quickly. I guess that's a good
question for me, is when you look at how a
brand makes those kinds of decisions, and they may be
dropping into a culture that has these fast hits and
(20:02):
then it kind of fizzles and fades. How does a
brand not look like they're just you know, uh, lilypad
hopping from you know, one project to the next. So
they do keep that authenticity. How do you how's that
done with big brands?
Speaker 4 (20:19):
Yeah, I mean you know a number of ways. I
Mean one is, like I said, you don't just as
a brand, you know, partner with one game for you know,
one month a year and not doing anything else. Right,
Like on a consistent basis, I mean, you have your
social media accounts, you have your gaming influencers that you
work with, so you consistently, you know, building that voice
in the community and you're plugged into what the community
(20:42):
is interested in and where they while your brand you know,
really connect into in terms of you know, kind of
the new and upcoming games. Right, So you source a
lot of your ideas from the community itself, and then
you can also build you know kind of like more
consistent presence for yourself on these gaming platforms too. Right,
Like several brands that I know have you know, come
(21:04):
onto this show like they have built their own games
that say in roadblocks and and so that that that's
a consistent, you know kind of presence, right. I mean
you may have more bigger campaigns in these in these
games once in a while, but like on a consistent basis,
you are you do have a presence in that metaverse
(21:26):
of games, and so you are you You're you're there
authentically as part of the community. You're not just like
they're like every Christmas, you're like, Oh, I'm doing a
campaign to like how to sell lt O meal.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
Yeah, well, I mean chap Only does a pretty good
job with that, like a getting ready for the bou
Rito campaign that they do every you know, October. Wondering
how they're going to integrate that, you know, to whether
it's gaming or some I mean, they've done that before
with tech and eight and some of the other gaming
elements that they've been able to jump into. So it's
always interesting to see how these uh, these integrations happen
(22:00):
and because that's to me is going to be maybe
the future of how marketing has done what Shelley, are
you seeing more people you talk to the brand leaders
a lot. Are you seeing the cmos and the CTOs
and even the the CEOs for that matter. Are they
starting to get behind this this concept of a shift
(22:22):
in the marketing pie.
Speaker 4 (22:25):
Yes to some degree.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
So I would say that their mindset is they want
to do something different, right, they want they know they've
got to do different things to show up for gen
Z in a different way. They aren't just but they
aren't sure what to bet on almost. I mean, I
think that when Fay was noting that, you know, betting
on games is as hard as betting on films. I
think the cmos are still working on where do what
(22:48):
do they Where do they put their their their stock,
their cred right and where do where do they show
up from that perspective. So that's what we're hearing a
lot of is openness, like they want to do different things.
I think, you know, one example, Windy's is doing a
lot of like either you know, turning things on it's
ear or whatnot. But in Fortnite, you know kind of
(23:11):
their takeover of the uh smashing freezers wasn't a custom skin, right,
but it was they you know, they took it over
and then like ran a stream for it was like
twenty four hours straight or something. It was some crazy
amount of time that just over and over again of
just smashing you know, freezers and and you know, you
(23:32):
can't be hard to buy media to get that kind
of exposure like that did so creative things really, I
think are probably what we're seeing that they're trying to
figure out. You can't force something going viral, but that's
what their you know, work, is that how do you
create those kind of experiences or moments that happen chance.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
So it's really kind of the same tactics that they've
you know, restaurant brands have used for the last decid
but you have all these new mediums and nuances you know,
from community to you know, now instead of it all
being social, we're starting to see this dissemination and culture influencers, gaming, fashion,
(24:14):
all sorts of things that play out in a different
format than what it used to be, you know, for
restaurants where they were buying radio, billboard. I mean I
remember speaking with Don Fox, who is you know, the
former CEO at Firehouse, and they were huge into radio
at the time, and this is probably seven eight years ago.
I just wonder what brands, how that mix is being
(24:37):
divvied up now, if you know, if something like radio
and print are even considered anymore versus these more you know,
I wouldn't say that they're normalized now, but I feel
like they are just because of the millennial gen z
and a you know, demographics that are starting to consume
you know, the population for food, consumption.
Speaker 4 (24:59):
So depending on the market, you know, depending on your
demographics that you still serve right in these markets. Yeah,
I mean the radio, the print, the billboards may still
be relevant in a lot of markets. And that's you know,
Actually the challenge for many of the branding many markets
is like how do you balance trying to appeal to
(25:21):
gen z but then like not losing not alienating you know,
your existing customer base.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
Yeah, well, marketing dollars is always a challenge because I
think the split is if you go to light in
one area and that ends up being one of your hits.
You know, the marketing CMO is probably over there going,
you know, getting a bulls eye on their backs, and
why didn't you go all in on that? You know,
we only put two percent of or ad budget. Yeah
(25:48):
thing and it went viral, you know kind of thing.
Speaker 4 (25:50):
So I guess that's digitalization, Like that's where data comes in, right,
Like that's why I'm marketing is more of a science
and are more and more so right these days, like
you to look at your overall marketing mix and take
your calculated risks.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
Yeah for sure, I know you had some other things,
Shelley on your list to ask yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:10):
So, you know, say we you know, the Great Bucket
was one of my favorite things to bring up talk about.
I love the Pizza Hut. Virtual reality, you know, put
point at the box and play pack man. What role
do you see gaming and virtual experience playing and more
and more in the future of restaurant marketing and digital marketing?
Speaker 4 (26:33):
Yeah, you know, I think more and more, you know,
for our new customers and our younger customers. Right, like
the the boundaries between the physical and digital worlds are blurning, right,
they want to Like it used to be that like
we would do marketing, you know, researchers, research, and then
we would say these are the online customers, these are
(26:54):
offline customers. You know, there's no such things anymore. You
know that our customers are going to be omni channel,
and they want us to show up authentically and consistently
online and offline. For them, some days they feel like
coming into the restaurant and enjoy a you know, good
physical social experience with family, friends, and some days they
want to interact with us, you know, in these virtual settings.
(27:17):
And so I think what that means is just like
we have to we have to build a consistent one
a consistent brand presence for ourselves in multiple channels and
to you know, keep it fun for people.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Actually, So I guess my last question to you is
when you look at and this is one we kind
of hit on a few times, and now that we're
getting an end of twenty twenty four here recording this
podcast and twenty twenty five heating up, you got all
back to kind of what Shelley's talking about. The Medicquest
(27:54):
three is coming out, You've got the new Orion glasses
coming in from Meta. Who knows what those things going
to do in terms of the landscape of ar VR,
But what things would you say over the next say
five years that you think would really impact the restaurant
industry And it could be anything. It doesn't necessarily have
(28:15):
to be zoned in strictly on Web three gaming, you know,
evolution of you know, how loyalty is going to be done?
Anything you guys are you personally are watching?
Speaker 4 (28:26):
Yeah, I mean I would say two things. I mean
one AI and automation and two yeah, probably you know
the transition of Web two to Web three, right, we're
now like early stage. At some point it's going to
across the chasm and most if it's going to be
in the next five years, but it's going to happen, right,
but yeah, I mean AI and automation probably more in
the short term. We you know, we already know that, Like,
(28:48):
you know, restaurant is a very labor heavy industry and
given the rising labor costs and so, you know, it's
it's it's putting a huge burden on all the restaurant operators.
And also you know, operational efficiency, uh may make up
break a restaurant. You know, between two other very similar restaurants,
like one wild perform, one doesn't perform. We see it
all the time as franchise doors, right, like because just
(29:11):
one is better operated. And so AI and automation, well,
I think, you know, kind of level the field and
kind of bring up the baseline of operational efficiency for everybody.
We already see that automation has been a trend and
has driven huge impact over the last couple of years,
(29:31):
you know, starting with kiosks replacing the front desk, now
voice AI replacing the you know, drive through experience, and
in the future probably a lot more robotics. I would say,
I'm working in the kitchen and probably in the front
of a house as well. And then on top of that,
you have AI, you know, which can take live data
from the restaurant, whether it's POS or kitchen management systems
(29:54):
or video feeds. They can analyze and they can optimize
your restaurant operations in the more time manor an automatic
mannor in fact, another company that I've been working with,
you know, with a bunch of actually XOM colleagues, is
building exactly that solution. It's kind of like a digital
twin for restaurants. Okay, as franchise doors never have to guess, like,
(30:16):
you know, why is one one restaurant doing well and
the other not doing well because we can see exactly
you know, the metrics coming in real time from the
from the restaurants and where the bottlenecks are and how
to help them.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
Well, I think that the data is going to be
different than what we've seen. Well, obviously it's going to
be different. It's much like this transition of data over
the last thirty years. It kind of one ups. But
to your point, AI is probably going to give us
maybe a five x improvement around how we you know,
not only get information but disseminate it. And it'll be
interesting Shelley, we have to do a podcast on the
(30:50):
uh the wee robot event and what this means for
food delivery. This is the whole thing where Tesla did
it yesterday. It was last late last night. I watched
most of the clips this morning. But holy moly, they've
got an autonomous vehicle now, I mean fully autonomous. I
didn't think he was going to do it, but he
did it.
Speaker 4 (31:06):
So he's been, he's been.
Speaker 3 (31:08):
He's been promising it for a while, right, and it's
it's cool to see.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
It's that's crazy.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
Robots are just going to bring us you know what?
Speaker 2 (31:20):
This completely I think it changes the dynamic. You look
at a three year roadmap for someone like an uber
of Postmates and you ingest in whether it's Xai or
other large language models that are coming in, and the
amount of learnings that you have around that, not only
with with I just want to think about this for
a second. The amount of learnings that TASL already has
(31:41):
for just being able to navigate roads, so that's the logistics,
but then the amount of learnings that they could get
in the restaurant industry from food delivery cycles. So the
data ingestion that could come from back back to what
Fay was talking about. This is going to get real,
really interesting in the next few years for sure. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (32:03):
Yeah, speaking of delivery, we actually for KFC, we tested
drone delivery in Australia a couple of years ago and
it was amazing. I mean really, we're just the technology
is already there. It's just a matter of legislation catching up,
you know.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
Well, and I think adoption to a certain extent, you know,
consumer adoption, even though I feel like that's probably going
to come faster now because we've got a titanic shift
in the demographic in the United States that's skewing much
younger now, you know, where the boomers pretty much controlled
the last thirty years and all of the tech that
(32:40):
really ran around it created the Internet, most of it.
Now you've got a new evolution in Web three. I
call it, you know, kind of the trifecta AI, which
of course is going to be a huge component. And
then you look at the arv R experience, which is
going to change everything we know about input, you know.
So yeah, it's definitely one.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
That's what I was sitting here thinking, ar VR Web three,
you know, just and then AI just the transformation that's
getting ready to happen already, and it's moving so fast.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Storm right, all coming at one time.
Speaker 4 (33:18):
Very I would to get one more step to say,
not only ARVR, but just in general immersive computing. Right,
you know we might order food from talking to our
car rather than you know, like maybe maybe it's talking
to the car. Who knows, right, but it's like not
looking at a screen.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
Well, Elon brought up some very interesting statements last night.
He kind of easter egged a few in his statement.
We got to cover that for another podcast, so you
guys are gonna have to tune down that one. But
he dropped a lot of very interesting things that to me,
influenced a lot of nuance around how data is going
to be ingested in how this would affect a lot
(33:56):
of different retail sectors, especially I think restaurants. So we'll
definitely maybe we should have Faye back to talk about
that on our next show. This has been a good
a good episode. I love to kind of pick smart
people's brains because that are much smarter than me around
this stuff. So Faith, thanks so much for coming in today.
(34:16):
We appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (34:17):
Thank you, guys.
Speaker 2 (34:18):
Thank it's been great having you. First of all, thank
you very much for all of the new subscriptions over
on YouTube. The YouTube channel has absolutely exploded over on
Sabre dot Fm. So you guys of course can like
this video if you're watching it on YouTube right now,
and of course share it. Also give it to somebody
you know in the restaurant industry or out there in
(34:40):
the retail sector. They can really appreciate this kind of
alpha information. Shelley, what's next for Devour? Where you heading?
Speaker 3 (34:48):
We Devour go plus getting out there to the world.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
Start launch just happening.
Speaker 3 (34:54):
A launch is happening, so anxiously awaiting. You know, over
Wolf is the partner the Creators Guild that we've created
that app for their app store, So waiting waiting for
them on the the onboarding steps, but hope hopeful that
by the first to the middle of next week it'll
be live.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
So okay, so when that happens, what I want to
do on the podcast is do the global debut of
how it works here on Rock my Restaurant.
Speaker 3 (35:20):
What do you think I would love that it would
be most ideal probably first me to bring in one
of my young the young insurers on our team. You
know for sure they're going they're going to be able
to highlight that.
Speaker 2 (35:32):
Screen share, you know, the whole thing, kind of emulate
the whole process, because I think the audience needs to
see the impact this is going to have, I think
on food ordering so huge.
Speaker 3 (35:43):
Yeah, it's going to be pretty cool brand integration food ordering,
just an in game player reward for game achievements and
being able to authentically do that. Yeah, we're really really
excited about this product. I know, Fay was an awesome
guest today. I've had to an opportunity over the last
month or two to get to know her and just
her vast experience. I just I'm like almost not a
(36:06):
little kid, but I'm almost like a little kid, just
you know, being able to listen to the innovation experiences
she's been a part of. Yeah, has been really great.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
Well, we're going to need we need a lot of
people like Fay in the industry because I think there
is there is a shortage right now, especially in the
brands that understand the landscape going. They kind of know
the landscape, well, they do know the landscape behind us,
but you know where we're going in these these trifecta
of technologies. It's going to take a real new crop
(36:37):
of leaders both in marketing, loyalty, execution, brand development, all that.
It's almost like reprinting what that means. People have to
learn really fast, kind of like what happened in social
in two thousand and seven. All of those marketers had
to flip so quick to dealing with social and what
it meant. So and then you know, a lot of
(36:59):
those ones came out of that too.
Speaker 3 (37:01):
You asked me a lot what I think, where are they?
Et cetera, And I always have it's a there's a
lot of analysis, proalysis going on, but what what's the
what's the thing to do fear of?
Speaker 2 (37:10):
Do I pick? Do I jump in the rock? One?
Speaker 4 (37:13):
Just go right.
Speaker 3 (37:15):
Exactly And so you know that that's who That's who
we're excited to work with. Are the ones that are like,
we're not exactly sure, but we're here for the ride.
Speaker 2 (37:24):
And let you know, listen, I tell my my team
that all the time, including it today, I say, don't
worry about it, guys, We're going to fly the plane.
We'll fix it as it's flying. Factory sure, fix it
that's flying anyway, Shelley. It has always been a good one.
I'll catch you later. If you guys are tuned in
now on the podcast side of things, over on Spotify
(37:45):
or iTunes, make sure and give us a review. We
love that feedback from you, and of course subscribe right
now here. I'll rock my restaurant. We'll catch you guys
next time.
Speaker 3 (38:03):
Complete Compact
Turn of the volume and subscribe now to Rock My Restaurant,
the podcast setting your brand on fire for you, coming too.
You live every week branding, marketing, innovative tech, don't get
left behind. The future is now.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Welcome back to another episode of Rock My Restaurant, and
today is going to be a good one because we
are going to learn a little bit more, not only
about how the transition of consumer and tech is kind
of coming together, but also just the innovation that we're
seeing within Web three. And of course all of that
means for you guys listening out there in the restaurant industry,
(00:43):
it's going to be time to learn a lot of stuff.
So it's going to be fun. Let's get into it.
Joining me today, of course, is my co host Michelle
Rupel from Devour. How are you.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
I'm doing good, Paul doing good.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
It's been a busy week.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
No, it's been a busy week for you.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
But we're ducking hurricanes and tornadoes.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Anyway.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Our studio, our studio was shut down. I get to
the studio this morning and there's sandbags that are about
waist high in front of all the doors, you know,
so they have crew out there trying to pull down.
People are lined up, you know, because we have a
lot of different companies in the building and lined up
trying to get in. It was crazy. Anyway, it's hopefully
(01:26):
back to normal. What is going on that is new
with Devour showing, It's.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Been a busy week. So I just got back from
from Vegas. A couple of days ago. I participated in
the Shark Reef pitch competition at Grocery Shop, which is
a huge conference for grocery convenience and CpG brands, So
that was an exciting experience. And then we got our
approval this week for Di Virago Plus, so soon player
(01:53):
rewards and in game food ordering will be available in
over two thousand video games. So we're hoping within the
next couple of days that that app will be live
and ready to go. So it's the start of a
huge next step for Devour for sure.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Well today's episode, we've got a special guest coming on
with a Fefe who who has been in the industry
also is an advisor for Devour. But the good thing
is is that she's going to be able to give
us kind of an insight to how not only consumer
but the technology conversion that we have happening, especially in
(02:33):
the restaurant space right now, but I also think in
other parts of retail, restaurant and just the broader aspect.
If you guys did not catch our last podcasts with
Scott and Wagony Games, go back and watch that one,
because first of all, was phenomenal. Did you see that
it got a lot of views on YouTube. I was
(02:54):
really impressed with that. So it's a lot of interested people.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
He's a good guest to have me. Games is doing
some really cool stuff, right and so that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Yeah, so I want to bring in fa Fe real
quick and we will add her into the podcast. Great
to have you one.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
How are you, hi, Paul, Hi Shelley Hi Fe.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Yes, So let's get let's get into a little bit
about your background. You've been with big brands in the
restaurant space. What are you doing now? I know that
obviously you're an advisor with Devour. Give us a little
bit of a rundown where you are.
Speaker 4 (03:31):
Yeah, yeah, so you know, for the last kind of
twenty years, I started my career in consulting and then
was in entertainment for a little bit more than a decade,
and then most recently was with KFC as the global
head of Channel Development and Innovation.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
So I'm kind of curious on the on the KFC
job and you look at the growth of QSR brands
who've both had challenges but also successes over the last
three years, you know, in the evolution of what they're
trying to build kind of combat the fast casual space.
What was one of the key things that you learned
(04:09):
from that role, especially with developing kind of new business
models and connecting to this kind of this next generation consumer,
especially Gen Z.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
Yeah. Yeah, I mean it's not only Gen Z now
Gen Alpha is also growing up, right, We're trying to
capture them. I mean, you know, there are many learnings.
The biggest one, I would say is just the world
is ever changing. Technology is evolving faster and faster, right,
and so you know, as a brand, we used to
you know, kind of like putting out marketing that are
(04:40):
very tailored and then you know, showing who we are
as a brand and impressing consumers and you know, they
inspire to, you know, kind of be more like us.
Now it's kind of different. I think the younger generation,
the Gen Alphas and Gen zs, are more interested in themselves,
you know, and they want to see brands who get them,
who can join their community, and who can you know,
in what they enjoy in an authentic way. And so
(05:03):
I mean, I think just you know, both as marketers
and as technologists, we got to engage this new generation
of consumers in a whole new way.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
You hit something that I think is very important, and
this is something we talk about a lot. Shelley and
I were talking about this with Scott the last podcast
we had with Wagony, and that is these kind of
these culture driven communities, you know, that are very isolated
in on you know, whatever it is they are, whether
(05:31):
it's gaming, whether it's something within health or fitness, you
could name the niche, and there's always a community that's
kind of driven around that, you know, and that's something
that is fairly new, I would say, though there's been communities,
but gen X not as many. I would think they
were more general general in the sense of being able
to market to millennials somewhat, but definitely when you get
(05:54):
into gen Z and Gen Alpha that seems to be
kind of the connection point. Do you think there's going
to be an ability to connect to this many subcultures
that seem to be developing all at once.
Speaker 4 (06:10):
Yes and no. I mean I think it depends on
who you are as a brand, right, Like you always
got to be authentic instead of, you know, trying to
fake it, and you know, the community that doesn't really
align with your brand's roots and what you represent. But
it is possible, you know, like Web three is built
from communities, and you can build up your relationship with
(06:32):
each community, you know, with authentic relationships and grow from
there as long as you know the core of you know,
kind of your values are consistent throughout these communities.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
I know, Shelley, you guys have done that right there,
as you've kind of got niched into the gaming community,
but yet you isolate in on the food service space,
which even though that's a very big niche, you know,
the the element behind it, you know, I think is
kind of cool because you're connecting to two major needs
within the industry. So I think this is this will
(07:07):
be a very interesting thing to see how brands do
this in the future, because in the past, I think
brands have always been they try to be everything to everyone,
you know, and I think now that that might actually
backfire for a lot of restaurant brands. What are you
seeing out there?
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Shelley?
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Absolutely? And when you you know, you talk about communities,
We talk about that so much, breaking that down into
the smaller and smaller units of how people identify or
you know, where where they're spending their time and who
they're spending their time with. Are those communities and how
do you connect in with that? You know, Faye, I'd
love to ask you. You know, KFC is such a
(07:47):
huge organization, so many restaurants across the world. How did you,
you know, approach the digital transformation across that vast of
a network. What what did that look like? I know
I've have the opportunity to hear a few of the
projects and talk with you. I'd love to hear about
that experience.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
Yeah, yeah, obviously, you know, like always our one hundred
and fifty you know, countries and more than thirty thousand restaurants. Right,
there's a you know a huge range of market maturity,
brand maturity, technology and financial capabilities. So you know, one
size fits all approach was never going to work. But
you know, we always start from the consumer perspective, right,
(08:30):
what do you want? You know, what does consumer want
for their food ordering experience, you know, if they want
food ordering. But then you are small, you know market,
you only have five restaurants. You don't want to spend
a million dollars and three years building a new app.
Maybe start with text ordering and grow from there, right
if you know consumers want to see you show up
(08:51):
authentically in their culture and their communities. But again, you
don't have the money and the resources like a big
brand to build your own game or sponsor major esports tournament.
You know, why not start with one test campaign, right,
like with a third party plugging like d'vau or you know,
work with one or two you know, gaming influencers who
are authentic fans of yours, and then start building that
(09:13):
social community around you.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Fake What was the I mean? Because this is our
show is really focused on the next evolution of Web
three and how it affects the restaurant space and digital
and technology have been i'll say very slow in most
parts to adoption. However, you know in the last big
challenge that the restaurant industry faced, adoption curves really spiked.
(09:41):
So what was a scenario where we're not a lot
of companies were ready for e commerce and third party
ording and all that. They quickly became that and now
they've appears at the restaurant industry maybe adopting technology faster.
Is that what you're seeing right now in terms of
these digital transformations.
Speaker 4 (09:59):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, you know, COVID definitely there is
a huge favor in terms of you know, kind of
changing the industry to forcing the industry to change, right
because we were just all the channels were shut down
besides the digital channel, you know, I mean, it was
some difficult times if you weren't planning for the future
(10:20):
and all of a sudden you got to play catch up.
It's it kind of reminded people that, like, you know,
between the Web one and Web two transition, if you
have missed out, then you're still catching up, and it's
you know, you're never gonna you're never gonna fully be there,
and so it just reminds people that, like, while we
are in general a pretty short term industry, you know,
I would say compared to let's say entertainment or other
(10:43):
industries that I've been in, right, like we managed by
the quarter versus like if you're entertainment, you always planning
for like, you know, five years down the road, right,
what's technology? What's the next movie you're gonna make? Right, Like,
that's five years down the road here. People typically do
not have the mind share to think like what am
I going to be as a brand five years from now?
But you know, I think having COVID and having this
(11:05):
experience of having to catch up with technology that you
have missed in the last couple of years just reminded
people that you still have to keep your eye on
the long game.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Yeah, I think this is a it's a it's going
to be interesting because there's a lot of kind of
shifts happening right now with how communities kind of connect
with each other, what they connect about. Is a restaurant
really going to fit within those communities and do they
have kind of that digital you know, credo that is
(11:36):
going to give them the capability of doing so. You
have a couple of brands that have been able to
be very successful in that, both small and large, So
it'll be interesting to kind of see that come together
for sure.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Yeah, you mentioned influencer, influencers and creators, and then your
KFC and Warner Media strategic partnerships has been such a
big part of your background. How do you see restaurants
and brands small and medium size really being able to
facilitate or use partnerships at a local level for their
(12:11):
digital presence. You know, you mentioned creators, and I'd love
to hear more of your thoughts on that.
Speaker 4 (12:17):
Yeah, yeah, I love partnerships, you know, I actually you know,
I was a trained as an engineer. I originally wanted
to be a product leader, was a product leader, and
then decided, you know, I couldn't do everything I wanted
in my product because I was always constrained right like
by my by my organization's resources and capabilities. And partnerships
in many ways is the one silver bullet you can find,
(12:39):
you know, to do things that you otherwise cannot do.
And so you know, there are two ways you can
utilize partnerships, not mutually exclusive. You could use them to
build the product capabilities, or you could use them to
build your brand or both. Right, So, you know, with influencers,
a lot of times you're using them to you know,
(12:59):
kind of make your brand younger, reach new audiences, which
otherwise would be very hard for you, you know, like you
could spend millions and millions and media dollars trying to
like target gen zs and gen alphae on Facebook and
still not you know, have much success because it's not authentic.
But when you partner with influencers who are you know,
real fans of yours, who you know, kind of develop
(13:21):
a new kind of value proposition for your brand, you know,
together with their brand, then you know, the customers get
it and they feel like you you you are part
of them and so you know that's kind of the
brand building part. Oh and then for KFC, we did
uh some of our market, smaller markets who started in
(13:42):
gaming by working with influencers. They had a lot of success,
you know, just like having a social media account that
like asually talked about gaming or you know, sponsoring you know,
kind of these kind of podcasts or or or streaming
video feeds streaming people playing games. Like you know, it
was it wasn't gonna you know, they didn't have any
(14:03):
targets at the time. They were just like, this seems
like a cultural vertical that we want to plug into.
Let's try something and see if they sticks. And then
it actually garnered them a lot of you know, kind
of customer interest and the brand index started to rise
up and they're like, well, there's something there, right, and
then they put more marketing into like kind of the
full funnel, right, linking into actual sales. But it takes
(14:26):
time to build up, Like it's not something that you
can one day just jump into it and be like,
we're going to do a huge campaign with the biggest
you know, gaming influencer on YouTube, and then we're gonna
we're gonna be there. You know, you got to build
the trust, like, you know, I think the gamer community
are very shrewd, you know when they can see oh yeah, uh.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
A good example of that is, you know this the
Off the Grid game just went live last week on
PS five and and on web. Of course we're waiting
on a s box, but it was interesting when you
looked at the amount of I don't know if Shelley
were you following most of the activity on.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
It a little bit, but not in detail.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Listen, it was crazy. I was so. You had Tim
the Tapman, you had Ninja, some of the biggest streamers
out there on Twitch YouTube going at it. In terms
of the response on not only Off the Grid, this
is a new Web three game that will have an
in game marketplace, so there's going to be the potential
for skins and things like that. But I think this
(15:29):
opens up the opportunity for loyalty around to what you're
saying on the idea of partnerships, I'm kind of curious
what about stacked partnerships because you think about what Avalanche
or I should say Avalanche Off the Grid did for
their game because they partnered with a lot of the
mainstream streamers who in reality say this game is over
(15:51):
the top, and they were like, hey, this was an ad,
but I have to say, this is one of those
games that was just really, really successful. But what about
a brand that's able to pick back on that. You know,
if you had a good restaurant brand like a Chipotle
or you know, a Starbucks or any any of these
major brands, or maybe even a small brand, could they
jump in on you know, some of these edgier games
(16:13):
that might go viral, and how do you bet on
those because that could create a new kind of loyalty
stream into that community. What have you seen in that area?
Speaker 4 (16:24):
FA Yeah, yeah, I mean, you know, it's I mean,
betting on games is a hard business. You know, it's
just like betting all films. So you know, I'm not
gonna I guess appine on how you bet on you know,
which will Yeah, exactly. But you know, like I said,
I think you always you know, try to find the
(16:44):
authentic brand connection with certain games, uh and integrate yourselves, uh,
you know into the gameplay, right, Like you want to
be enhancing the gaming experience, not distracted from it.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Right.
Speaker 4 (16:56):
So for KFC, for example, we did a global campaign
with pub G because they their slogan is like when
know win a chicken dinner, and so it was just
like the best you know match for our bright Yeah,
and we already had a few markets who have had
successful you know, smaller esports tournament kind of sponsorships and
(17:17):
other relationships with that community, and so you know, it
was just a perfect match, and we were able to
integrate ourselves into the game in a very authentic and
fun way where you know, you had in the center
of a map a KFC restaurant and then as people
closed in, like you can go to that restaurant to
repunish your ammal, which comes in the form of a
(17:38):
KFC meal. And then there's all kinds of like like
little loot boxes that you can get from KFS, like
dropping from you know, KFC branded parachutes and so on,
so you know, it was enhancing the brand play. And
then in the KFC store we feature you know, Popga
game and then if you buy a meal, you get
(17:59):
special wars within the game as well. So that way adds.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
To a lot of loyalty component because you now you're
starting to stack in value, which is something Shelley and
I talk about all the time. You know, as you
you see these potentials, especially as we start to see
NFTs and these air drops start to come in to
the restaurant space, I don't I don't know. Do you
think it's going to be very long, Shelley before we
see restaurants that are truly utilizing the air drop feature
(18:26):
within Web three?
Speaker 3 (18:28):
I think I think we're still early, as we often
talk about, you know, and Jeff Alexander's who we always mentioned,
you know, is early on uh with that. But I
think we're early, but getting there. I think phase bringing
up a point that I'm hearing a theme on, is
that authenticity, right, So, whether it's whether it's air drops,
whether it's an in game experience. You know, gamers don't
(18:52):
want banner ads put in front of them. It alienates them,
it's disruptive, and so there is that really integrating with
what is the the game experience and that you know
that's such an important part in restaurants. Are we're going
to you know, the industry is going to have to
figure that out in part of showing up in that
authentic way. Love love the example that Fay just you know,
(19:16):
had shared with what KFC did with the game.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Yeah, I think this starts to roll us into kind
of a new area. These authentic connections you're talking about
are pretty significant in being able to drive them home.
But you know that's hard too, because there's only so
many successful games, successful culture elements, whether it's movie, you know,
something that's happening in the meme world that you can
(19:41):
kind of isolate in on, and everything's so almost transitory.
It's just moving so quickly. I guess that's a good
question for me, is when you look at how a
brand makes those kinds of decisions, and they may be
dropping into a culture that has these fast hits and
(20:02):
then it kind of fizzles and fades. How does a
brand not look like they're just you know, uh, lilypad
hopping from you know, one project to the next. So
they do keep that authenticity. How do you how's that
done with big brands?
Speaker 4 (20:19):
Yeah, I mean you know a number of ways. I
Mean one is, like I said, you don't just as
a brand, you know, partner with one game for you know,
one month a year and not doing anything else. Right,
Like on a consistent basis, I mean, you have your
social media accounts, you have your gaming influencers that you
work with, so you consistently, you know, building that voice
in the community and you're plugged into what the community
(20:42):
is interested in and where they while your brand you know,
really connect into in terms of you know, kind of
the new and upcoming games. Right, So you source a
lot of your ideas from the community itself, and then
you can also build you know kind of like more
consistent presence for yourself on these gaming platforms too. Right,
Like several brands that I know have you know, come
(21:04):
onto this show like they have built their own games
that say in roadblocks and and so that that that's
a consistent, you know kind of presence, right. I mean
you may have more bigger campaigns in these in these
games once in a while, but like on a consistent basis,
you are you do have a presence in that metaverse
(21:26):
of games, and so you are you You're you're there
authentically as part of the community. You're not just like
they're like every Christmas, you're like, Oh, I'm doing a
campaign to like how to sell lt O meal.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
Yeah, well, I mean chap Only does a pretty good
job with that, like a getting ready for the bou
Rito campaign that they do every you know, October. Wondering
how they're going to integrate that, you know, to whether
it's gaming or some I mean, they've done that before
with tech and eight and some of the other gaming
elements that they've been able to jump into. So it's
always interesting to see how these uh, these integrations happen
(22:00):
and because that's to me is going to be maybe
the future of how marketing has done what Shelley, are
you seeing more people you talk to the brand leaders
a lot. Are you seeing the cmos and the CTOs
and even the the CEOs for that matter. Are they
starting to get behind this this concept of a shift
(22:22):
in the marketing pie.
Speaker 4 (22:25):
Yes to some degree.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
So I would say that their mindset is they want
to do something different, right, they want they know they've
got to do different things to show up for gen
Z in a different way. They aren't just but they
aren't sure what to bet on almost. I mean, I
think that when Fay was noting that, you know, betting
on games is as hard as betting on films. I
think the cmos are still working on where do what
(22:48):
do they Where do they put their their their stock,
their cred right and where do where do they show
up from that perspective. So that's what we're hearing a
lot of is openness, like they want to do different things.
I think, you know, one example, Windy's is doing a
lot of like either you know, turning things on it's
ear or whatnot. But in Fortnite, you know kind of
(23:11):
their takeover of the uh smashing freezers wasn't a custom skin, right,
but it was they you know, they took it over
and then like ran a stream for it was like
twenty four hours straight or something. It was some crazy
amount of time that just over and over again of
just smashing you know, freezers and and you know, you
(23:32):
can't be hard to buy media to get that kind
of exposure like that did so creative things really, I
think are probably what we're seeing that they're trying to
figure out. You can't force something going viral, but that's
what their you know, work, is that how do you
create those kind of experiences or moments that happen chance.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
So it's really kind of the same tactics that they've
you know, restaurant brands have used for the last decid
but you have all these new mediums and nuances you know,
from community to you know, now instead of it all
being social, we're starting to see this dissemination and culture influencers, gaming, fashion,
(24:14):
all sorts of things that play out in a different
format than what it used to be, you know, for
restaurants where they were buying radio, billboard. I mean I
remember speaking with Don Fox, who is you know, the
former CEO at Firehouse, and they were huge into radio
at the time, and this is probably seven eight years ago.
I just wonder what brands, how that mix is being
(24:37):
divvied up now, if you know, if something like radio
and print are even considered anymore versus these more you know,
I wouldn't say that they're normalized now, but I feel
like they are just because of the millennial gen z
and a you know, demographics that are starting to consume
you know, the population for food, consumption.
Speaker 4 (24:59):
So depending on the market, you know, depending on your
demographics that you still serve right in these markets. Yeah,
I mean the radio, the print, the billboards may still
be relevant in a lot of markets. And that's you know,
Actually the challenge for many of the branding many markets
is like how do you balance trying to appeal to
(25:21):
gen z but then like not losing not alienating you know,
your existing customer base.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
Yeah, well, marketing dollars is always a challenge because I
think the split is if you go to light in
one area and that ends up being one of your hits.
You know, the marketing CMO is probably over there going,
you know, getting a bulls eye on their backs, and
why didn't you go all in on that? You know,
we only put two percent of or ad budget. Yeah
(25:48):
thing and it went viral, you know kind of thing.
Speaker 4 (25:50):
So I guess that's digitalization, Like that's where data comes in, right,
Like that's why I'm marketing is more of a science
and are more and more so right these days, like
you to look at your overall marketing mix and take
your calculated risks.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
Yeah for sure, I know you had some other things,
Shelley on your list to ask yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:10):
So, you know, say we you know, the Great Bucket
was one of my favorite things to bring up talk about.
I love the Pizza Hut. Virtual reality, you know, put
point at the box and play pack man. What role
do you see gaming and virtual experience playing and more
and more in the future of restaurant marketing and digital marketing?
Speaker 4 (26:33):
Yeah, you know, I think more and more, you know,
for our new customers and our younger customers. Right, like
the the boundaries between the physical and digital worlds are blurning, right,
they want to Like it used to be that like
we would do marketing, you know, researchers, research, and then
we would say these are the online customers, these are
(26:54):
offline customers. You know, there's no such things anymore. You
know that our customers are going to be omni channel,
and they want us to show up authentically and consistently
online and offline. For them, some days they feel like
coming into the restaurant and enjoy a you know, good
physical social experience with family, friends, and some days they
want to interact with us, you know, in these virtual settings.
(27:17):
And so I think what that means is just like
we have to we have to build a consistent one
a consistent brand presence for ourselves in multiple channels and
to you know, keep it fun for people.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Actually, So I guess my last question to you is
when you look at and this is one we kind
of hit on a few times, and now that we're
getting an end of twenty twenty four here recording this
podcast and twenty twenty five heating up, you got all
back to kind of what Shelley's talking about. The Medicquest
(27:54):
three is coming out, You've got the new Orion glasses
coming in from Meta. Who knows what those things going
to do in terms of the landscape of ar VR,
But what things would you say over the next say
five years that you think would really impact the restaurant
industry And it could be anything. It doesn't necessarily have
(28:15):
to be zoned in strictly on Web three gaming, you know,
evolution of you know, how loyalty is going to be done?
Anything you guys are you personally are watching?
Speaker 4 (28:26):
Yeah, I mean I would say two things. I mean
one AI and automation and two yeah, probably you know
the transition of Web two to Web three, right, we're
now like early stage. At some point it's going to
across the chasm and most if it's going to be
in the next five years, but it's going to happen, right,
but yeah, I mean AI and automation probably more in
the short term. We you know, we already know that, Like,
(28:48):
you know, restaurant is a very labor heavy industry and
given the rising labor costs and so, you know, it's
it's it's putting a huge burden on all the restaurant operators.
And also you know, operational efficiency, uh may make up
break a restaurant. You know, between two other very similar restaurants,
like one wild perform, one doesn't perform. We see it
all the time as franchise doors, right, like because just
(29:11):
one is better operated. And so AI and automation, well,
I think, you know, kind of level the field and
kind of bring up the baseline of operational efficiency for everybody.
We already see that automation has been a trend and
has driven huge impact over the last couple of years,
(29:31):
you know, starting with kiosks replacing the front desk, now
voice AI replacing the you know, drive through experience, and
in the future probably a lot more robotics. I would say,
I'm working in the kitchen and probably in the front
of a house as well. And then on top of that,
you have AI, you know, which can take live data
from the restaurant, whether it's POS or kitchen management systems
(29:54):
or video feeds. They can analyze and they can optimize
your restaurant operations in the more time manor an automatic
mannor in fact, another company that I've been working with,
you know, with a bunch of actually XOM colleagues, is
building exactly that solution. It's kind of like a digital
twin for restaurants. Okay, as franchise doors never have to guess, like,
(30:16):
you know, why is one one restaurant doing well and
the other not doing well because we can see exactly
you know, the metrics coming in real time from the
from the restaurants and where the bottlenecks are and how
to help them.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
Well, I think that the data is going to be
different than what we've seen. Well, obviously it's going to
be different. It's much like this transition of data over
the last thirty years. It kind of one ups. But
to your point, AI is probably going to give us
maybe a five x improvement around how we you know,
not only get information but disseminate it. And it'll be
interesting Shelley, we have to do a podcast on the
(30:50):
uh the wee robot event and what this means for
food delivery. This is the whole thing where Tesla did
it yesterday. It was last late last night. I watched
most of the clips this morning. But holy moly, they've
got an autonomous vehicle now, I mean fully autonomous. I
didn't think he was going to do it, but he
did it.
Speaker 4 (31:06):
So he's been, he's been.
Speaker 3 (31:08):
He's been promising it for a while, right, and it's
it's cool to see.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
It's that's crazy.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
Robots are just going to bring us you know what?
Speaker 2 (31:20):
This completely I think it changes the dynamic. You look
at a three year roadmap for someone like an uber
of Postmates and you ingest in whether it's Xai or
other large language models that are coming in, and the
amount of learnings that you have around that, not only
with with I just want to think about this for
a second. The amount of learnings that TASL already has
(31:41):
for just being able to navigate roads, so that's the logistics,
but then the amount of learnings that they could get
in the restaurant industry from food delivery cycles. So the
data ingestion that could come from back back to what
Fay was talking about. This is going to get real,
really interesting in the next few years for sure. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (32:03):
Yeah, speaking of delivery, we actually for KFC, we tested
drone delivery in Australia a couple of years ago and
it was amazing. I mean really, we're just the technology
is already there. It's just a matter of legislation catching up,
you know.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
Well, and I think adoption to a certain extent, you know,
consumer adoption, even though I feel like that's probably going
to come faster now because we've got a titanic shift
in the demographic in the United States that's skewing much
younger now, you know, where the boomers pretty much controlled
the last thirty years and all of the tech that
(32:40):
really ran around it created the Internet, most of it.
Now you've got a new evolution in Web three. I
call it, you know, kind of the trifecta AI, which
of course is going to be a huge component. And
then you look at the arv R experience, which is
going to change everything we know about input, you know.
So yeah, it's definitely one.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
That's what I was sitting here thinking, ar VR Web three,
you know, just and then AI just the transformation that's
getting ready to happen already, and it's moving so fast.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Storm right, all coming at one time.
Speaker 4 (33:18):
Very I would to get one more step to say,
not only ARVR, but just in general immersive computing. Right,
you know we might order food from talking to our
car rather than you know, like maybe maybe it's talking
to the car. Who knows, right, but it's like not
looking at a screen.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
Well, Elon brought up some very interesting statements last night.
He kind of easter egged a few in his statement.
We got to cover that for another podcast, so you
guys are gonna have to tune down that one. But
he dropped a lot of very interesting things that to me,
influenced a lot of nuance around how data is going
to be ingested in how this would affect a lot
(33:56):
of different retail sectors, especially I think restaurants. So we'll
definitely maybe we should have Faye back to talk about
that on our next show. This has been a good
a good episode. I love to kind of pick smart
people's brains because that are much smarter than me around
this stuff. So Faith, thanks so much for coming in today.
(34:16):
We appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (34:17):
Thank you, guys.
Speaker 2 (34:18):
Thank it's been great having you. First of all, thank
you very much for all of the new subscriptions over
on YouTube. The YouTube channel has absolutely exploded over on
Sabre dot Fm. So you guys of course can like
this video if you're watching it on YouTube right now,
and of course share it. Also give it to somebody
you know in the restaurant industry or out there in
(34:40):
the retail sector. They can really appreciate this kind of
alpha information. Shelley, what's next for Devour? Where you heading?
Speaker 3 (34:48):
We Devour go plus getting out there to the world.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
Start launch just happening.
Speaker 3 (34:54):
A launch is happening, so anxiously awaiting. You know, over
Wolf is the partner the Creators Guild that we've created
that app for their app store, So waiting waiting for
them on the the onboarding steps, but hope hopeful that
by the first to the middle of next week it'll
be live.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
So okay, so when that happens, what I want to
do on the podcast is do the global debut of
how it works here on Rock my Restaurant.
Speaker 3 (35:20):
What do you think I would love that it would
be most ideal probably first me to bring in one
of my young the young insurers on our team. You
know for sure they're going they're going to be able
to highlight that.
Speaker 2 (35:32):
Screen share, you know, the whole thing, kind of emulate
the whole process, because I think the audience needs to
see the impact this is going to have, I think
on food ordering so huge.
Speaker 3 (35:43):
Yeah, it's going to be pretty cool brand integration food ordering,
just an in game player reward for game achievements and
being able to authentically do that. Yeah, we're really really
excited about this product. I know, Fay was an awesome
guest today. I've had to an opportunity over the last
month or two to get to know her and just
her vast experience. I just I'm like almost not a
(36:06):
little kid, but I'm almost like a little kid, just
you know, being able to listen to the innovation experiences
she's been a part of. Yeah, has been really great.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
Well, we're going to need we need a lot of
people like Fay in the industry because I think there
is there is a shortage right now, especially in the
brands that understand the landscape going. They kind of know
the landscape, well, they do know the landscape behind us,
but you know where we're going in these these trifecta
of technologies. It's going to take a real new crop
(36:37):
of leaders both in marketing, loyalty, execution, brand development, all that.
It's almost like reprinting what that means. People have to
learn really fast, kind of like what happened in social
in two thousand and seven. All of those marketers had
to flip so quick to dealing with social and what
it meant. So and then you know, a lot of
(36:59):
those ones came out of that too.
Speaker 3 (37:01):
You asked me a lot what I think, where are they?
Et cetera, And I always have it's a there's a
lot of analysis, proalysis going on, but what what's the
what's the thing to do fear of?
Speaker 2 (37:10):
Do I pick? Do I jump in the rock? One?
Speaker 4 (37:13):
Just go right.
Speaker 3 (37:15):
Exactly And so you know that that's who That's who
we're excited to work with. Are the ones that are like,
we're not exactly sure, but we're here for the ride.
Speaker 2 (37:24):
And let you know, listen, I tell my my team
that all the time, including it today, I say, don't
worry about it, guys, We're going to fly the plane.
We'll fix it as it's flying. Factory sure, fix it
that's flying anyway, Shelley. It has always been a good one.
I'll catch you later. If you guys are tuned in
now on the podcast side of things, over on Spotify
(37:45):
or iTunes, make sure and give us a review. We
love that feedback from you, and of course subscribe right
now here. I'll rock my restaurant. We'll catch you guys
next time.
Speaker 3 (38:03):
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