Can boxed mac and cheese be good for grown-ups—and still taste great? On The Foodfluencers series of The Hospitality Hangout, Jen Zeszut, co-founder and CEO of GOODLES, shares how she built GOODLES mac and cheese and brought adults back to the mac a…
How do you grow brand awareness fast enough to match an exploding footprint? On The Hospitality Hangout, Deborah von Kutzleben, CMO of Tropical Smoothie Cafe, explains how the brand is building bigger moments to match more than 1,700 cafes. Who is …
How does a recipe you almost didn't post become a viral phenomenon? On The Foodfluencers series of The Hospitality Hangout, Cassie Yeung—who went from professional dancer to viral food creator, Gordon Ramsay competitor and New York Times bestselling…
What does it actually take to run restaurant brands like Taco Bell, KFC and Habit Burger & Grill around the world? On The Hospitality Hangout, Nigel Henry, Global Director of Operations at Yum! Brands, pulls back the curtain on operating Yum Brands …
What's actually worth the hype—and what's just good marketing? On The Foodfluencers series of The Hospitality Hangout, Josh Beckerman, better known as the Foodie Magician, cuts through the noise of viral food culture. Who is the Foodie Magician? J…
How do you evolve one of America's most iconic restaurant brands without losing what people love about it? On The Hospitality Hangout, live from the Prosper Forum, IHOP President Lawrence Kim explains why the brand is 68 years young—not 68 years old…
Before "food influencer" was a job title, Jackie Gebel was already telling people where to eat. On The Foodfluencers series of The Hospitality Hangout, the creator behind No Leftovers looks back at the early days of food Instagram and what it takes …
How does a beloved New York coffee brand go national without losing what made it special? On The Hospitality Hangout, live from the Prosper Forum, Greg Zamfotis—founder and CEO of Gregorys Coffee—talks through the brand's next chapter and what growt…
How do you turn a 500-square-foot basement pop-up into a brand sold in roughly 4,000 stores? On The Foodfluencers series of The Hospitality Hangout, Nick Wiseman, co-founder of Little Sesame, breaks down the journey of Little Sesame hummus—from a ti…
What does it take to spend a lifetime working on a problem bigger than yourself? On The Hospitality Hangout, Billy Shore—founder and executive chair of Share Our Strength—joins live from the Prosper Forum to talk about No Kid Hungry, the movement he…
When traffic softens and guests trade down, operators want a straight answer on loyalty: does it actually pay off? Below are the questions restaurant owners and C-suite leaders search most about loyalty program ROI, answered with 2026 data. For the …
Voice AI ordering went from novelty to norm in 2026, and restaurant operators are asking sharp, practical questions about it. Below are the questions owners and C-suite leaders search most, answered with current data. For the full strategic picture,…
In a year when 68% of U.S. consumers say they're cutting back on dining out and average weekly restaurant spending has slipped to about $90 — down $25 from mid-2025 — restaurant loyalty has quietly become the highest-leverage growth lever operators …
The AI drive-thru has crossed from pilot to permanent. In the 2026 QSR Drive-Thru Report, voice AI handled the full order in 40% of AI-involved encounters — double the 20% share it held a year earlier. Taco Bell alone has expanded automated voice or…
Every operator who has ever considered a rewards program asks the same thing first: what is the real member spend lift, and what is the loyalty program ROI? This FAQ pulls together the most current, data-backed answers to the questions restaurant ow…
Restaurant AI order-taking has gone from science-fiction demo to a line item on real technology budgets — but operators still have hard, practical questions before they commit. This FAQ answers the ones restaurant owners and C-suite leaders are actu…
Restaurant AI investment is quietly crossing a milestone this year. According to the National Restaurant Association's State of the Restaurant Industry 2026 report, 26% of restaurant operators now say they use AI-related tools in their restaurants —…
Repeat guest revenue is quietly becoming the most important number in the restaurant business. If 2025 was the year restaurants chased every new guest they could buy, 2026 is shaping up to be the year the smartest operators finally do the math on ke…
Every operator eyeing retention asks the same handful of questions before launching or revamping one. This FAQ gives straight, data-backed answers about building a restaurant rewards program that actually drives repeat visits and higher checks—witho…
As diners increasingly ask ChatGPT, Gemini, and other answer engines where to eat, operators keep raising the same practical questions about restaurant answer engine optimization—the work of making sure an AI names your restaurant when it answers "w…
With traffic soft and consumers trading down, the cheapest guest a restaurant can serve is the one who already knows the way back. That's why repeat guest economics—the math of how much more loyal, returning diners spend and how much less they cost …
For twenty years, winning restaurant discovery meant ranking on Google and collecting five-star reviews. That playbook is quietly breaking. AI restaurant discoverability—diners asking ChatGPT, Gemini, and other answer engines "where should I eat ton…
ChatGPT restaurant recommendations are reshaping how guests decide where to eat—and most operators have questions. This FAQ answers what diners and owners are actually searching about ChatGPT, Gemini, and Google's AI, grounded in the latest data. It…
Restaurant AI software went from experiment to expectation in 2026, and owners are asking sharper questions: what do they actually do, what do they cost, and where is the return? This FAQ answers the questions operators are searching most—grounded i…