We're now in the month of May and that gives us a number of fun holidays and things to celebrate.
May Day, a day that celebrates workers, May the 4th (be with you), which celebrates all things Star Wars, Cinco de Mayo, which commemorates the Mexican army’s victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5th, 1862. Ironically (or maybe not so much), Cinco de Mayo is a smaller holiday in in Mexico than it is in the US as it’s become a significant celebration of Mexican American culture.
A little walk down memory lane, Cinco de Mayo was also the single best sales day of the year at one of our restaurants, Duke's Original Roadhouse, not b/c we were a Mexican restaurant, but b/c we were upstairs from El Rio Grande and the rollover from that Mexican / Texas themed restaurant was enough to make it Duke’s busiest day of the year. Location, location, location.
So, despite being clearly in the month of May, I’m leaving some Easter Eggs in the Shout out section this week! 😊
The FIRST shout out this week goes to our friends at Olo, the enterprise markets leading online ordering platform and digital platform. The Branded Team LOVES working with our friends at Olo and our recent work together at the Restaurant Leadership Conference was just one such example of how we collaborate to beyond the 4 walls of restaurants (😊).
A former boss of mine once shared the Flemish expression that translates to “the tallest trees get the most wind.” Olo is one of our industries tallest trees and has pioneered online ordering and then took it platform into digital marketing and payments.
Earlier this week, the good people at Olo shared a LinkedIn post on The Importance of Catering and specifically the catering maturity curve. The business of catering is so important to operators and while Branded has no direct involvement in the following, I want to use this first shoutout to share the “lunch & learn webinar” Olo is hosting on May 20th. You can register for the webinar here: 4 Ways to Grow your Catering Business and yes, lunch is on Olo for all participants.
Good people doing good things for the industry Branded loves deserve to be recognized. It’s in the best interest of operators to streamline catering operations in order to maximize efficiency and profitability. That’s what Olo offers with its fully integrated catering solution. Click here to learn more: Olo - Catering
And for those waiting for it, here’s the Catering Maturity Curve I enjoyed and wanted to share. It must have been a cool AI-platform that created such an amazing graphic (I love and respect going old school!!!)
But wait, there’s more.
Fresh off the presses (I write the newsletter on Thursday nights), according to Bloomberg, Olo has received interest from potential buyers and is considering a sale.
Taking page from H^2 of years ago, here’s an article that I want to share from our friend Mr. Joe Guszkowski from Restaurant Business: Restaurant tech supplier Olo is reportedly considering a sale
Pulled from the article (b/c I know the click-rates), a buyer of Olo would not only get the highly regarded technology, “but also its client roster of more than 700 restaurant chains. The company has said that about one out of every six restaurant transactions run through its platform.”
I have no further comments on the potential M&A action involving Olo and potential acquirers, but in my subscribing to Mr. Doug Quinn’s Laws, choose sides and stand talk. I stand with Olo!
The SECOND shout out this week goes to our partners at Fishbowl, the modern restaurant marketing platform.
I’ve written about Fishbowl before, b/c if they keep making news and doing great things for operators, I’m going to keep celebrating this operator-centric company.
People who know Branded know our obsession with guest relationship management and the importance of unifying guest data, driving loyalty, and automating marketing. That’s why we have a big love of Fishbowl and if you’d like to learn about Fishbowl’s Guest Relationship Management platform (that’s made with love for restaurants), you can click here: Fishbowl - Guest Relationship Management
Fishbowl’s CEO, Adam Ochstein, is celebrating 3 years at the helm and since I want to break a record for the number of friends and companies mentioned in a single shoutout, I’m sharing the podcast Restaurant Influencers, powered by Toast, hosted by Mr. Shawn Walchef’s, of Cali BBQ Media, here: Powerful Data Helps You Understand Customers and Enhance The Guest Experience
But I might argue that the shoutout to Fishbowl, this week, has more to do with our partner and Branded’s Go-To-Market specialist, Seth Temko.
Mr. Temko wears a number of hats, but all of them are focused on helping brands go to market and win in this most competitive industry. This week Seth wrote about his direct engagement with Fishbowl, and you can see his post here: FullON Strategy + Fishbowl
You can also dive into FullON’s assessment and work here: Fishbowl Positions itself for Growth
Is this shout out really about Fishbowl or is it about FullON Strategy?
Yes, yes, it is.
The THIRD and final shout out goes to our friends at Middleby, truly one of the giants in our industry that is a most trusted partner to so many respected and broadly recognized industry brands. Middleby is the leading provider of innovative solutions for all facets of food preparation, beverage and IoT. This a worldclass organization that has been supporting restaurants for decades.
So why the shout out this week? Baby Back, Baby Back, Baby Back, Ribs! 😊
Since having our new friend, Mr. George Felix, the CMO at Chili’s on our podcast, I’ve became an obsessed fan of this brand. I liked Chili’s before, but now I’m obsessed with this 50-year-old company that is quite simply getting better with age (and there’s nothing simple about that).
I wrote above about Chili’s strong performance and as I dug in further, I learned that one of companies Chili’s owner, Brinker International, gives credit to for helping them drive performance was Middleby and specifically its brand, TurboChef. Brinker’s CEO, Kevin Hochman talked about the operational improvements the company has been focusing on and how the elimination of its wings station that was used to support its virtual brand, It’s Just Wings, without removing the menu item.
Mr. Hochman credits TurboChef’s and its double batch ovens that replaced previous conveyor belt ovens. The plan, according to its CEO, is to convert all its Chili’s to using TurboChef and that this rollout has been gradually underway for about 3-years.
Pulled from an article from Restaurant Dive, “[The TurboChef double batch ovens] cook food much faster and much more evenly. They put out less heat, making the kitchen more comfortable for our team members,” Hochman said. “They save a lot of kitchen space, which helps with kitchen capacity in the future. They are much easier to clean, and they are much more reliable than the current conveyor belt ovens.”
Back of house and specifically kitchen equipment doesn’t get enough attention and when I was reading not only about Chili’s success, but Brinker International giving high praise and credit to TurboChef by Middleby, I knew a place in the shoutout for our friends in Elgin, Illinois deserved a shoutout!
