Inside DRIPS by Pepsi: The Crafted Beverage Platform Built for Restaurants

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Jimmy Frischling (1:43): Trends start in restaurants. You guys know this. Right? Right. When you look out in the world and you see, you know, some of the operators that are driving some of the highest growth, highest AUVs, highest margins in the industry, it turns out they are crafted beverage players.

Shatzy (1:58): Live from Pepsi Studios here at the National Restaurant Association show in Chicago. Welcome to the hospitality hangout. I'm Shatzy, the restaurant guy, and we've got an incredible show Jimmy at the big show here in Chicago. Am I allowed to say that?

Scott Finlow (2:15): I'm going to correct you and say it's just the show.

Unknown Speaker (2:18): It's just

Unknown Speaker (2:19): the show.

Unknown Speaker (2:19): We've been we've been shamed earlier today.

Unknown Speaker (2:21): I got a cease and desist

Unknown Speaker (2:22): from the

Unknown Speaker (2:22): action of the season, but you were

Unknown Speaker (2:24): it was

Unknown Speaker (2:24): not the

Unknown Speaker (2:24): big show.

Scott Finlow (2:25): That it's just the show.

Shatzy (2:26): It's just the show. Let's kick it off because we had amazing guests here tonight, Jimmy.

Scott Finlow (2:29): Yes. We do. Welcome to the hospitality hangout. I'm Jimmy Frischling. I'm the finance guy, and we have some people that we are excited to be sitting with our friend, Mr.

Scott Finlow (2:38): Scott Finlow, our friend, Ms. Alison Dempsey. It is great to have you here. You guys have a major activation going on and we're going to talk about something that is very important right now, not just in the market, but something you guys are taking a leading role in. We're going to dive into it.

Scott Finlow (2:55): But I don't want give it all away because I think, Shaz, you're going share a little, some factoids about our guests.

Shatzy (2:59): We're going to do a little background by A background? Well, we've been loving the drips for a while now. This is not something new to Jimmy and I, right?

Unknown Speaker (3:08): Not new to us.

Shatzy (3:08): No, not new to us at all. So let's jump into a little bit. We actually worked with you on version one of drips a couple years ago. The the the where the foundation. The foundation was started.

Shatzy (3:19): I'd like to say that we were part of the foundation. Yeah. Yes. We weren't, but I'd like to say that.

Unknown Speaker (3:23): We can say that.

Unknown Speaker (3:24): We can say that. We weren't. But By way, we can also say

Unknown Speaker (3:26): that we were the creators. We could say that we we have a royalty. Neither of those would be true.

Shatzy (3:30): No. Drips went on a whole pop concert tour around amusement parks and college campuses a couple of years ago. And it was so unbelievably successful that you launched the Drips by Pepsi with now at Saucy, a KFC, right? It's Saucy KFC. That just happened this year recently.

Shatzy (3:49): Love it. Saucy Ten and locations, five more coming. Also, the Regal movie theaters, Jimmy, over 300 locations with the drips with a full lineup. We got Pepsi Zero Sugar Salted Caramel Fizz, Jimmy's favorite. The Tropicana Rainbow Splash Lemonade, Mountain Dew Chili Chill.

Unknown Speaker (4:10): Chill Dill. Chill Dill. Chill Dill. It doesn't say that.

Unknown Speaker (4:16): By the way, by the way, don't get sauced with meat Bernays. I

Unknown Speaker (4:18): will not. Will not. All right. How about the pink rays pop? I like that.

Shatzy (4:22): And the tropical energy escape. I like that also. Let's kick it off. Scott, what did we miss?

Unknown Speaker (4:29): I feel like we might have just hit the high points there. Is that it? Good night, everybody.

Unknown Speaker (4:33): Yeah. That was it? We got nothing else to say?

Unknown Speaker (4:35): Good night, Laverne. Yeah. You got

Unknown Speaker (4:37): it. And Allison, how did I do? Okay. That's it?

Unknown Speaker (4:40): Oh, yeah. Alright. Scott Scott has done this with us before.

Unknown Speaker (4:43): Yeah.

Unknown Speaker (4:43): Yes. And he's back. Yeah. So either He's not by choice. So either it's a little amnesia Stopped by choice.

Unknown Speaker (4:49): Or the his experience with us was was not was not so terrible.

Unknown Speaker (4:53): I remember I remember. This is this is about handling you guys as much as it is about handling the tough guy.

Unknown Speaker (4:59): Also, he did He's got muscle out there, by

Unknown Speaker (5:00): the way,

Unknown Speaker (5:01): Also, he we we he brought a friend. Again, a signaled a tell that this is not terrible.

Shatzy (5:07): So No. It's that he's nervous that we're gonna make him say something stupid. He's

Scott Finlow (5:10): Everything got look, everything's about timing. Alright? Sometimes you could be early. Sometimes you could be a little late, but in our opinion, drips is just the right time. The crafted beverage trend did not start with drips.

Scott Finlow (5:21): Okay. We've seen others playing. We've seen it on, you know, Swig and Dutch Bros and Starbucks refreshers. We've seen TikTok dirty sodas. Dirty sodas.

Scott Finlow (5:29): Hi Jimmy. Jump from regional soda shop to this structured platform for QSR. Okay. For QSR chains to actually successfully implement and deploy. That's what's different.

Scott Finlow (5:41): That's the bet that's being made. And that's what we're gonna talk about it. So Scott, or Alison, what did you guys see? What, what did the data, what, what did the, what did the data tell you? Shatzu would say data.

Scott Finlow (5:50): It's data. Did consumer behavior signal that this category shift was worthy of Pepsi's time, attention, and investment?

Jimmy Frischling (6:01): Yeah. Well, first of all, thanks for, bringing me back for number two and let Well, thanks

Unknown Speaker (6:06): for agreeing to do it. Think that's the real

Unknown Speaker (6:08): thing. Never forget

Jimmy Frischling (6:09): your That's second right. You know, for us, it always starts with the consumer and what we saw with the consumer and in particular Gen Z and in particular Gen Z women was this huge shift toward looking for, yes, crafted beverages, but underneath that, I would say, what we call little luxuries like, little experiences. That little luxury. Right. That not just, you know, saving it for the weekend or whatever, but looking for looking for that, you know, more on a daily basis in everyday moments.

Jimmy Frischling (6:46): You know, that insight was what was behind what was happening in the crafted beverage space. So, you know, first of all, I think we saw that and, you know, we got interested because we were listening and watching to what was happening out So, you know, that's where we decided to go and develop the Dripps brand, the Dripps platform. And the way we think about it is it is our first experience brand at PepsiCo. Like it's the first time we've ever

Unknown Speaker (7:17): started So this is no longer an activation. This is a brand.

Jimmy Frischling (7:20): This is a brand. Oh, it's absolutely a brand. And one you'll see us continue to invest in and build, over time. So it's an experience I love

Unknown Speaker (7:28): them a hat.

Unknown Speaker (7:29): I got to get one of these hats.

Unknown Speaker (7:29): Yeah. We'll get

Unknown Speaker (7:30): you That's hard hat. We could probably hook you Yeah. You know what, you you know a guy.

Jimmy Frischling (7:34): But an experienced brand, right, has a different set of principles and, and credentials behind it. So, you know, that is a starting point. What we, we then did was we went to what really was first and foremost at the foundation of that, which is the drinks themselves. Making sure that the drinks were always handcrafted, were always layered with color, layered with different flavors, different textures, etcetera, because that was what was behind the trend. So as we went out and kicked this thing off a couple of years ago and put drips

Unknown Speaker (8:08): in we were very instrumental.

Unknown Speaker (8:10): You guys were founders. Think we've already Founders.

Unknown Speaker (8:12): We were founders. We are founders of the drips. Thank you.

Unknown Speaker (8:15): You know?

Shatzy (8:15): Quoting that was Scott Finlow, CMO, has said that we are founders of the drips campaign.

Unknown Speaker (8:21): Absolutely. You got it. There we go. Thank you. A It's a big 10.

Unknown Speaker (8:25): This this this recording goes, wow. I was not gonna do a hot swap.

Shatzy (8:28): Oh, I love it. I love it. Yeah. No, it's great. So this whole saucy with KFC, let's jump into this.

Shatzy (8:34): So how did we go from the drips? We we learn things and now it literally now it's saucy by KFC.

Alison Dempsey (8:40): Yeah. I mean, I wasn't there for the original conversation, but I know the brands got together, Scott and Saucy, and like just noticed there's a lot of synergy between the two brands built for Gen Z, even the names themselves, Saucy by KFC and Dripps by Pepsi.

Unknown Speaker (8:57): Right.

Alison Dempsey (8:58): And I think, you know, the Saucy team went in thinking maybe they could do this on their own and then saw the value that we could bring to them from a a brand standpoint, from an r and d and recipe development standpoint, and then coming together and building a whole marketing program around it.

Shatzy (9:14): This is complicated stuff when it comes to beverage making. You know, this is not like just going, hey, hit the Pepsi or the Starry and get it out. Even like this is complicated. How do you ensure how involved were you guys and your team on ensuring the tray to make sure the training of these things it's got to be consistent. Every time I go, it's got to taste the same, look the same, right?

Shatzy (9:35): That's got to be a challenge for you. That's like new. That's not really something that you've you've done.

Unknown Speaker (9:40): Yeah. You sound like a restaurant guy. Right?

Unknown Speaker (9:43): Yeah.

Unknown Speaker (9:43): Yeah. And I'm seeing Tia Ballerini out there. We'll see if she's listening.

Unknown Speaker (9:46): No? No. No one's listening. Julie's holding court right now

Jimmy Frischling (9:48): out You know, we you know, and I don't think I'm oversharing. We had weekly calls with just the Saucy team, like, you know, on the procurement side, on the ops side, on the on the staff side, on just making sure that, you know, exactly what you're describing, consistent make of the beverage, consistent experience for the consumer, all the digital integration through point of sale and marketing so that the consumer experience that we're talking about was elevated, as as the consumer had, not just the drips experience, but the drips and saucy experience together through all of the different ways that a consumer now experiences.

Alison Dempsey (10:26): On training resources. So developing videos and drink build cards and all the resources together so that it both represented the way we want our product to show up and how Saucy wants to delight their consumers.

Scott Finlow (10:41): I wanna I wanna put my finance hat on for a second. Okay? And first of all, I love not just this is a compelling story, but I think what you guys at Pepsi are doing for operators. The the the beverages have traditionally been a high margin product, somewhat low, low cost, high ring, not a lot of effort, but at the end of the day, restaurants are still having as many headwinds thrown at them as possible. So what you guys are doing now is somewhat leveling up the beverage offering.

Scott Finlow (11:15): And it's a different equation because now you're talking about crafted, kind of, beverages. You're talking about commanding far more significant, price points that delight, that daily treat, it's still a very favorable cost to the operator, but now you're able to kind of drive repeat visits. You're getting, creating different flavor profiles. You're generating organic content. People who have photographed their drinks.

Scott Finlow (11:45): So this is revenue. This is marketing. This is retention in a single cup. So I guess my, my, my overarching question is walk me through the operator business case, because what you're presenting isn't just another beverage. It's really an added vertical that could, you know, hit on those things, additional revenues, marketing, etcetera.

Scott Finlow (12:02): But talk about that a little bit.

Jimmy Frischling (12:04): Yeah. No. You're absolutely right. It's gotta work at the unit economics level, for an operator or a franchise you know, for a franchisee, franchisor. So we understand that and we're, I would say, as focused on the operator as we are on the consumer because we know, to your point, it needs to work for both.

Jimmy Frischling (12:20): And, you know, when you look out in the world and you see, you know, some of the operators that are driving some of the highest growth, highest AUVs, highest margins in the industry, it turns out they are crafted beverage players. Right? So hence a lot of the attention

Shatzy (12:36): Like Swig, for example.

Jimmy Frischling (12:37): Yeah. Like a Swig and others. That's right. Seven brew, etcetera. Right?

Jimmy Frischling (12:43): Mhmm. So the way we are playing it and the approach we're taking is to build a a drips brand platform. Right? You're like Yeah. What the hell is a platform?

Jimmy Frischling (12:55): Sounds like marketing speak. But in order to spend consumer and operator, it's not just the drink. Right? Which has to be amazing, and our r and d people make the best drinks in the business, and we're convinced they can do that. But it's equally, how do you integrate that on a menu?

Jimmy Frischling (13:12): Right? And what's the best way to do that? What's the right pricing? How do you organize that? We've got great marketers and, category managers and like who can help with that.

Jimmy Frischling (13:21): What's the the right sort of portfolio of ingredients that we bring to you in order to solve that? We haven't talked about it, but in addition to getting into the drips brand and, and platform, as founders, you guys weren't here for this one. You can't take credit. But we're now getting into the try.

Shatzy (13:38): Yeah. Yeah. We take credit for everything.

Jimmy Frischling (13:40): Next time we do this, you can. We're now getting into, like, loosely the syrups category with some really remarkable

Unknown Speaker (13:48): Oh, like, you mean, like the pumps? Like the like A 100. Right. You're going with your own.

Jimmy Frischling (13:52): Think Monin. Think Tirani. Now you can start thinking about drips if you're an

Unknown Speaker (13:55): operator. Own branded. Yeah. I love that.

Jimmy Frischling (13:58): But the other piece of it is, I'm not done yet, is you gotta have the marketing There's and support behind it

Unknown Speaker (14:03): as well.

Jimmy Frischling (14:04): Right? Like, our customers need help with that. Like, how do you integrate with their point of sale systems? How do you integrate to their tech stack? How do you make it ready for delivery?

Jimmy Frischling (14:12): How do you create awareness around their stores and drive folks to their stores? Like, all of that is part of the drips platform. So once you command a premium, you have to do that with that elevated drink experience. Right? Now you're taking that pricing up, and then you can essentially simplify and and build a a turnkey platform.

Jimmy Frischling (14:32): It's not just your base drinks like Pepsi and Mountain Dew, right, Pepsi Zero Sugar, but and Poppy now. We're looking at how we're gonna get into things like boba and other inclusions as well. You've got a, like, a one stop shop. Right? Then we get the menu, and then you get the marketing, like, you need in a crafted beverage platform.

Jimmy Frischling (14:53): There's no one else out here that, can do that. Like, there are others out here talking about pieces of it, but we can bring our customers, you know, the whole end to end solution.

Unknown Speaker (15:04): So is

Shatzy (15:04): there is there a world like so so you're talking about doing the the the the pumps with the syrup. So that is to make these, but is there a world that you envision when you're doing this is like, that's phase one and then like, this could be bag in a box kind of stuff or to make it like super scalable and easier? No, that's not the plan. The plan is to keep it elevated and kind of cool and not so easily. You know what I mean?

Alison Dempsey (15:27): A lot of these beverages is experiential, right? It's like the contrast of flavors and just the textures and the sensorial experience. So it's hard to look at this today and say, like, can this be in a bib? Can it be in a bottle and can? But if you look at parallels in the industry, I think about frappuccino.

Alison Dempsey (15:43): Right? Frappuccino used to be a frozen beverage with cream and toppings. Yeah. And now Pepsi bottles it in a glass bottle. And so I think we're trying to really put a lot of flavors and recipes out there, and maybe there's one that really sticks, like the Starbucks pink drink is another example.

Unknown Speaker (16:00): Right. And then it doesn't have to be the same experience when it's in

Shatzy (16:03): the Maybe it's flavor profile that you learn, and you come up with something like it feels a little comes

Unknown Speaker (16:08): out of this. Right? Yep. There was essentially Poppies Shirley Temple Yep.

Unknown Speaker (16:13): Yeah. With That's hot, man.

Jimmy Frischling (16:15): Right? Online or TikTok, you had a trend to, like, where these essentially, you know, Gen Z, fans of Poppy were making this drink. You know, we brought that to Starbucks. It was on the on essentially the secret menu. It went, like, off.

Jimmy Frischling (16:31): You know, they're looking at putting that on the menu going forward. And, yeah, you could see that coming to

Unknown Speaker (16:35): Same thing.

Jimmy Frischling (16:36): Coming to retail at some point. And I think, you know, behind all of that is, I think to Allison's point, like trends are starting in food service. Trends start in restaurants. You guys know this. Right?

Jimmy Frischling (16:45): Right. Trends don't typically start at Walmart. They start in

Unknown Speaker (16:48): a restaurant.

Shatzy (16:48): Definitely benefit of the trend. Right?

Jimmy Frischling (16:51): Right. And then they start, you know, they start with some of the kids, you know, in social these days more and more all the time. So Yeah. We think there's at at the heart of it, and that's where I start with the consumer, as long as we're staying close to the consumer and what's happening from a beverage point of view, then, you know, we're gonna take that and in the end all the way to retail. You would have seen us launch dirty dew, you know, in bottles and cans at retail, just in the last month or so.

Jimmy Frischling (17:15): That's another example of something that started Quite dirty too. In, you know, in essentially food service or away from home and now is it Yeah. So is more to come.

Shatzy (17:24): You mentioned Gen Z. Is this like we talked about trends, we're talking about trends and and things that are here to stay. Is this thing, is what we're looking at here like a trend? Is this a generation, like a Gen Z millennial thing and it's here now and gone tomorrow and they're going to age out, we're not going to see this anymore. No, no, no.

Shatzy (17:44): This is here to stay and it's getting bigger and bigger. This is where the puck is going.

Jimmy Frischling (17:47): Here's sometimes like the way I think about it. Like, is whether it's dirty soda or exactly the types of drinks that, you know, we're seeing today, is there a reason why consumers and Gen Z would suddenly say, you know what? I don't want customization in my drinks I don't wanna personalize my drinks anymore. I don't want layers of flavor and texture and color in my drinks anymore. You know what?

Jimmy Frischling (18:10): I don't want that anymore. I just wanna go back to, like, like, a more singular type of drink. I just don't see that moving back anytime soon.

Scott Finlow (18:18): Technology doesn't go back in the bottle. Once it's out, it's out. And I was thinking as you were, as you were talking customization, once people have experienced that, I agree with you, it doesn't go away. In fact, the expectations probably increase. You know, what I find really interesting is this is a category where the guests, the consumers actually feel like they're somewhat co creating in partnership with, with drips, in partnership with Pepsi kind of in real time, these, these flavor profiles.

Scott Finlow (18:48): They are going, you know, I remember a time when cameras or phones at tables was frowned upon, and now we're creating experiences where we want the TikTok Instagram, where we create these moments. And I think you're seeing TikTok views get millions of hits and suddenly operators are requesting, you know, so there's, so the consumer is very involved and there's like a feedback loop that, that people are making at home and sharing it online. So I wanna understand the innovation process. Like, are you watching what's going viral? Are you watching are you somewhat reverse engineering when you see it?

Scott Finlow (19:20): You know, do you also lead and see what, what reaction how do you balance the, the lead and, and, and adapt versus the watching what's trending and create? How do you judge? You balance

Unknown Speaker (19:32): those Great question, Jimmy.

Unknown Speaker (19:33): Love that question.

Unknown Speaker (19:34): Took me a while to get

Unknown Speaker (19:35): there, but I got there.

Unknown Speaker (19:35): I mean

Unknown Speaker (19:36): fifteen minutes to get to the question, but we got there.

Jimmy Frischling (19:37): I'll say a couple of things that, the first is, you know, we do start with essentially a segmentation of crafted beverage needs. So, again, we always try to start with the consumer. Actually, the saucy guys pushed us on this too. So, you know, we have what a series of what we call vibe states to understand the range, of different occasions when people are drinking crafted beverages. The other thing, and this is a little bit, skipping to one way we do it that's not standard, is we're sort of paying attention to culture, and we're doing it with our customers.

Jimmy Frischling (20:10): So Alison and team have been working with Regal. So we've talked about Saucy, but Regal has been a huge customer of ours from the get go. Think as you said in your, quite informative intro.

Unknown Speaker (20:23): That was a good intro, right?

Unknown Speaker (20:24): It was a great intro.

Unknown Speaker (20:25): Didn't wake

Unknown Speaker (20:25): her up.

Jimmy Frischling (20:26): 370 Regals are now partners of ours with drips. And one of the

Unknown Speaker (20:32): So they're banging out these drips just the way I see them

Jimmy Frischling (20:34): here. Yeah. Just the way you see them. And one of the things that we've been working on with Regal is tapping into, together with the studios, like films, upcoming film releases and developing custom drinks with them. So we did it with

Unknown Speaker (20:48): I like that.

Unknown Speaker (20:49): Wicked.

Unknown Speaker (20:50): Yeah. That makes sense. Wicked, Avatar

Unknown Speaker (20:52): project hail Mary.

Unknown Speaker (20:53): And project hail Mary.

Unknown Speaker (20:54): Right?

Jimmy Frischling (20:54): And you think about these films. They're

Unknown Speaker (20:56): all Your idea. Was that

Unknown Speaker (20:57): your idea? Whole moment. Is your idea? Gonna give Allison credit.

Unknown Speaker (21:00): Allison was your idea?

Unknown Speaker (21:00): Yeah. Allison's idea.

Unknown Speaker (21:02): Alright. I love that idea.

Jimmy Frischling (21:03): And what's really interesting is every time we do it, then the like, the consumer reaction, the earned media Yes. Attention that we can generate, you might think, oh, that only works once, one bite of the apple. It's like three, four, 5,000,000,000 earned media impressions each time we do this. So great for Regal, great for drips. Great for the Nobody think there's a model there.

Jimmy Frischling (21:23): Great films. That's why think the studios are being a little more open minded about how we can work together going forward.

Unknown Speaker (21:29): So we're excited to do that.

Alison Dempsey (21:30): Hard to come up with these recipes when you have a portfolio of PepsiCo brands. You have this portfolio

Unknown Speaker (21:35): So many pure choose

Alison Dempsey (21:36): from. You have toppings. You have candy and the Regal. You can it's like a deconstructed portfolio that you can put together in different ways leaning into colors or themes. So it's easy.

Scott Finlow (21:47): Could this kind of evolve into stadiums, arenas? I mean, teams, concerts. Yeah. Basically

Shatzy (21:53): Jimmy, as a founder of drips, that's a great idea.

Unknown Speaker (21:56): I just think, like, that that

Unknown Speaker (21:57): what we're looking for from the founder.

Scott Finlow (21:58): Continuing to personalize. You guys are one of these amazing concert series, and you're in these state like, all of a sudden, it becomes this unique flavor to that that artist, that club, or otherwise.

Shatzy (22:08): So So let's go into the what's next for drips? Like, what is where do we go next? I know we're going to stadiums because Jimmy just announced that. Probably not airports, but we have the movie theater. What else can we be doing?

Shatzy (22:22): What can we just brainstorm right that maybe this got marketing session that we could be having right now.

Unknown Speaker (22:25): Wait. Just whiteboard this. What's next for drips?

Unknown Speaker (22:27): By the

Unknown Speaker (22:28): way, we're not with all that you've done, it's like, but what are you

Shatzy (22:31): gonna do next? Go, we want more. Yeah, you can't just sit on this, these 10 sauces.

Jimmy Frischling (22:36): Well, there's there's I think there's first of all, the, you know, the next twelve to eighteen months is really just about making sure that with our existing customers, like, we are bringing this branded platform and everything we've talked about to them to help them grow their beverage business, drive traffic and incidents to their stores, full stop. That's the goal.

Unknown Speaker (22:58): When is our board meeting that we have? The Grips board meeting that we're that we had here.

Unknown Speaker (23:01): Yeah, we're getting it from the calendar.

Unknown Speaker (23:02): Yeah. I

Jimmy Frischling (23:03): think that's a barbunia.

Unknown Speaker (23:04): Yeah. Have that at Barboonie

Unknown Speaker (23:05): next time. Yeah. Okay.

Shatzy (23:08): All right. I just got fifteen minutes left, Jimmy. I got the sign. They just walked over casually. Nice.

Shatzy (23:12): I don't know what else we got to talk to, but let's jump jump into it. Should we go into should we take a quick break? Then quick break

Unknown Speaker (23:17): and play headlines. With

Shatzy (23:18): Alright. We take a quick break. We'll be right back. We got hostility headlines about hot or not. We got the brand quick fire.

Shatzy (23:24): We are sitting here with Scott Finlow, thus global CMO of PepsiCo and Alison Dempsey, innovation lead of Pepsi away from home. Alright, buddy. Be right back. Hey, everybody. I gotta tell you, we're gonna talk about BUILT.

Shatzy (23:38): BUILT hospitality. Millions of people use BUILT every day. That's right every day to earn awards on housing and in their neighborhood. But now, now it extends to your restaurant. That's where BUILT hospitality comes in.

Shatzy (23:50): Built Hospitality shapes how guests are recognized and taken care of. Built's restaurant facing platform is designed specifically for dining operators to drive loyalty with their guests. It combines reservations, guest preferences, VIP management, and payments all into one platform alongside an agentic concierge. That's right. An AI concierge that thoughtfully designs and executes experiences around your guests' tastes, using the latest and greatest in AI technology.

Shatzy (24:24): When a guest walks in, your team already knows what they like without digging through notes. Built Hospitality works across the entire guest journey. That's right. The entire guest journey from delivering a complimentary course at the right moment, just the right moment, sending a personalized offer that brings them coming back again and again and again. That's right.

Shatzy (24:46): That's what Built Hospitality is doing. It is allowing you to communicate with your guests and keep them coming back over and over. Make every guest feel like a regular every time, not just their first time, every time. They're a regular. Built Hospitality is available now for restaurant groups everywhere.

Shatzy (25:03): Learn more at builtdining.com backslash Hangout. That's builtdining.com backslash hangout and check out what Built Hospitality is going to do for you and your restaurant. Alright, we are back. We are back right now. The hospitality hangout with our friends from Pepsi, Scott and Allison.

Shatzy (25:22): We're going to do some headlines. Okay. These are the most up to date headlines. I'm going to read three headlines. Okay.

Shatzy (25:28): Two of them are true. One of them is fake. Right, Jimmy? Two truths and a not truth. Two truths.

Unknown Speaker (25:33): Are we thinking a lie or what do we prefer? I don't like the word lie. Not try. Not not true. Okay.

Unknown Speaker (25:37): Not true.

Shatzy (25:37): So these are brand new headlines. This came out this morning. Wall Street Journal, CNBC and the Chicago Tribune. Pizza Hut release perfume that smells like fresh dough. That was the headline.

Shatzy (25:49): Arby's releases vodka inspired by french fries. Jimmy's writing.

Unknown Speaker (25:55): I don't see you guys writing at all. I've been playing I've been playing a lot. I've been playing poorly.

Unknown Speaker (25:59): These are easy to watch.

Shatzy (25:59): Luxury steakhouse introduces $18 side of ice cubes, an $18 side of ice cubes. Okay, so we got the Pizza Hut has a perfume that smells like fresh dough. We got Arby's, a vodka inspired french fries, and we have a very super high end steakhouse that is now selling ice cubes for $18. What is the fake story? Pepsi team Pepsi?

Unknown Speaker (26:25): I'm going Arby's. You can play do you wanna play together? You wanna play?

Unknown Speaker (26:27): No. I'm going Arby's too.

Shatzy (26:28): Oh. Oh. You play separately. But I've been playing separate, but these guys are, like, so convinced.

Unknown Speaker (26:33): Dollar ice cubes.

Shatzy (26:33): You have not done very well.

Scott Finlow (26:35): I'm not so they they chose the fake as the

Shatzy (26:37): the fake story. Because the Arby's Arby's does not have a Bach inspired french fries.

Scott Finlow (26:41): Right. Okay. So I I've been I've been playing wrong all day. All last couple days. But I'm actually gonna say that I love actually, I I don't love.

Scott Finlow (26:51): I respect the the gimmick and the idea of the of upcharging for ice cubes. And because I think that's an idea that could play, I'm betting that's the fake one because I would think that's an interesting idea. So I think that's the fake one because my ideas often don't play.

Unknown Speaker (27:04): Nothing. But I gotta tell you.

Unknown Speaker (27:05): Know what, Jimmy?

Shatzy (27:06): This is you see, it needed to be our last podcast of the show for you to be right.

Unknown Speaker (27:10): Yes. That is completely fake.

Unknown Speaker (27:11): That's the fake one. There is no maybe there is a log. We don't have that was a fake story. Maybe there is one, but Arby's does have a Vaca inspired french fries. You know, maybe they need some some drips to wash them down.

Unknown Speaker (27:22): So like a penne l vodka?

Shatzy (27:24): I I don't know this. But I also think that Pizza Hut I mean, the the perfume that smells like dough. Is that something that we

Jimmy Frischling (27:31): I would if the Pizza Hut guys will listen Kalin, if you're listening, please send some my way. Would love that.

Shatzy (27:37): Well, Allison, is that something that you would buy this, you know, before you go out, you know, and dazzle yourself up with a little

Unknown Speaker (27:44): Fresh stuff.

Unknown Speaker (27:45): Pizza Hut Yes,

Unknown Speaker (27:46): Sure. Why not?

Unknown Speaker (27:47): You do that. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

Jimmy Frischling (27:49): I'd put it on before I sold my house. Apparently, the smell of fresh bread will.

Shatzy (27:54): Yeah. Yeah. Apparently, that's a 15% lift on the home sales. Here's the branded Quickfire. Are you ready?

Shatzy (28:00): Lightning round. This has to be fast because how much time we got? I don't know. He's got a sign out there. Okay.

Shatzy (28:05): What is your go to drips drink, Scott Finlow, chief marketing officer?

Unknown Speaker (28:10): I I like the Doo Chill dill.

Unknown Speaker (28:12): The dill? Yeah. Allison?

Unknown Speaker (28:14): I like the Starry Dragon fruit.

Shatzy (28:16): Your favorite food city in the world, Scott Finlow. Do you like to go? Tokyo. Everyone is saying Tokyo, man.

Unknown Speaker (28:22): What about you, Alice? France.

Unknown Speaker (28:24): France. A big city. What's a

Unknown Speaker (28:26): big city? She

Shatzy (28:28): meant the the entire the entire every city in it.

Unknown Speaker (28:32): Yeah. We got I got what

Shatzy (28:33): you I knew what you meant. It's a trick. It was a trick question. Is a hamburger sandwich, Scott?

Unknown Speaker (28:41): Yeah. I think it probably is.

Unknown Speaker (28:43): Is a hot dog a sandwich? No. Allison, the is

Unknown Speaker (28:49): wrong. Allison went no to both. No no on the hamburger

Unknown Speaker (28:52): unless you take a hot dog and you cut it into pieces and beat

Unknown Speaker (28:56): that question. So you say a hot dog is not a sandwich? A burger is not a sandwich. What's a sandwich for you?

Unknown Speaker (29:01): Is a Sloppy Joe a sandwich?

Unknown Speaker (29:02): Anything. Yes.

Shatzy (29:03): Let me hear with you. Anything. This is key. Anything.

Unknown Speaker (29:06): Know what my logic is on line.

Shatzy (29:08): So a Sloppy Joe is just a burger mushed, like chopped up.

Scott Finlow (29:11): Right? I'm in Allison's camp on this, but I recognize to me, the hot dog is without question is not a sandwich. The intentionality of the bun being connected, essentially it's closer to a taco than it's a sandwich. The hamburger, I think is a category on its own, but I respect it fits the description, two distinct pieces of bread. There's something in between.

Unknown Speaker (29:29): Get I get the hamburger.

Unknown Speaker (29:30): Know I do? Allison, how do think? Yes. Of course

Unknown Speaker (29:32): you can.

Shatzy (29:32): You were the chief marketing officer, one the

Jimmy Frischling (29:34): largest food service company in the world. A total aside, but the word sandwich, like, is associated with trauma with me.

Unknown Speaker (29:40): But why would it happen?

Jimmy Frischling (29:41): In the fourth grade, I did my one and only spelling bee, and I considered myself probably the front runner in my mind to win this spelling bee. Was in his And misspelled sandwich. And I still remember it from

Unknown Speaker (29:54): S A N. You forgot the

Unknown Speaker (29:55): By the way, this this this gamer thing is triggering.

Unknown Speaker (29:58): It is

Unknown Speaker (29:58): triggering. Triggering. It settling down.

Unknown Speaker (29:59): With trauma. Sandwich is trauma for me.

Unknown Speaker (30:01): Sandwich is trauma.

Unknown Speaker (30:02): Yeah. Maybe that's why I wanna say yes. Think I

Unknown Speaker (30:19): I think

Unknown Speaker (30:20): I might add add to the D like,

Unknown Speaker (30:22): you know,

Unknown Speaker (30:22): pointy hat.

Unknown Speaker (30:23): Sam Witch. Oh, wait. I thought we're doing a, like a Seinfeld. Was it the AMPM?

Unknown Speaker (30:27): It was not the AMPM. With the which?

Scott Finlow (30:29): Was the snooze. The Seinfeld, we missed the marathon. He missed the, he hit the snooze bar.

Shatzy (30:34): Well, I gotta tell you, we learned something. I gotta tell you, I think that's the most important thing we learned today on the podcast is Scott and Sandwich.

Unknown Speaker (30:40): We all have trauma and

Unknown Speaker (30:41): have a

Unknown Speaker (30:41): couple minutes left very quickly. How do take your bagel? What kind of bagel and how do you take it? Oh, innovation lead Pepsi home away from home.

Unknown Speaker (30:51): I'm very smart.

Unknown Speaker (30:51): Wants to know.

Unknown Speaker (30:52): Cut with good quality butter. Plain bagel? No. No. Never.

Unknown Speaker (30:57): Everything. Everything bagel. Always everything. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker (31:00): And

Jimmy Frischling (31:00): Scott? I like an everything bagel with cream cheese and salmon and some capers.

Unknown Speaker (31:07): What about do you put a little dill?

Unknown Speaker (31:09): If available.

Unknown Speaker (31:11): Allison, what's your Uber rating right now?

Unknown Speaker (31:12): Oh, I just looked at this yesterday. Yes. 4.9.

Shatzy (31:16): Scott Finlow, Chief Marketing Officer and very big tipper. Yeah. What does a guy like you get? What is your Uber rating?

Unknown Speaker (31:24): I have no idea. We look?

Unknown Speaker (31:27): I guess. Don't be afraid. I'm a 4 I'm a 474.

Unknown Speaker (31:30): I'm very I will say, by the way, on my Uber ride from the city to LaGuardia yesterday Yeah. Like, my driver

Unknown Speaker (31:37): Were you yelling at him?

Jimmy Frischling (31:38): No. Oh. He got in like a road rage incident with another driver. We were stopped, like, on

Unknown Speaker (31:44): the You were part of

Unknown Speaker (31:44): his were in a airplane situation.

Unknown Speaker (31:48): Like, I have no beef. Can I just keep going?

Unknown Speaker (31:50): I was like, dude, can we just let this go and get to the airport?

Unknown Speaker (31:53): No. I will not let this go. No soup for you.

Unknown Speaker (31:56): So, Alex, up here. Alice is the high watermark.

Unknown Speaker (31:58): We have to get the last thing. We must get

Unknown Speaker (32:01): Is that Uber?

Unknown Speaker (32:01): Scott Finlow's Uber rating. This is important for the podcast.

Unknown Speaker (32:05): Proof.

Unknown Speaker (32:05): This is podcast gold.

Unknown Speaker (32:07): 482.

Unknown Speaker (32:08): 482. Not bad. I was hoping for a little higher. Allison leads it off. All right, Jimmy, you take us home.

Unknown Speaker (32:14): We're being yelled at by the, you gotta bring us home. We're being yelled at by the, Informa Police.

Scott Finlow (32:18): Scott, this is episode number two for you. Thank you so much. We we look forward to you coming back for a third time. Allison, hope your first time with us. Hope your first time with you survived, unlike any show you've probably been part of.

Unknown Speaker (32:31): But, we are super excited that you guys did this with us today. If people wanna, like, learn more about drips.

Unknown Speaker (32:35): Yeah. Where do we find drips?

Unknown Speaker (32:36): Anything that we didn't talk about, is there anything we should you guys want our audience to know how

Unknown Speaker (32:55): don't do that anymore to our kids.

Shatzy (32:56): Alright, Scott Finlow, Allison Debson. We gotta go get yelled at over here. Cheers everybody.

Unknown Speaker (33:01): Alright, thank you so much. Cheers everybody.