- 2 days ago
Steph So, Chief Growth Officer at Shake Shack, blends technology, creativity, and hospitality to shape how guests experience one of America’s most beloved fast casual brands. Through digital innovation and menu development, she has become a key leader driving Shake Shack’s modern growth.
Watch now to learn how Steph So blends hospitality with technology, why curiosity drives her decisions, and how Shake Shack keeps innovating without losing its soul.
Sponsored by:
• TOAST - All-In-1 Restaurant POS: https://bit.ly/3vpeVsc
Watch now to learn how Steph So blends hospitality with technology, why curiosity drives her decisions, and how Shake Shack keeps innovating without losing its soul.
Sponsored by:
• TOAST - All-In-1 Restaurant POS: https://bit.ly/3vpeVsc
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NewsTranscript
00:00We recently launched a program we internally call 135, $1 sodas, $3 fries, and $5 core shakes.
00:07You don't have to put a promo code, you don't have to buy anything to qualify.
00:11No way.
00:13You can pay $9 and be out of there.
00:16Yes! That's awesome!
00:25Welcome to Restaurant Influencers presented by Entrepreneur.
00:28I'm your host, Sean Walchef.
00:30This is a Cali BBQ Media production in life, in the restaurant business, and in the new creator economy.
00:36We learn through lessons and stories.
00:39And we have an incredible story today because we get to learn all about Shake Shack and Shake Shack's growth.
00:45We have Steph Soh.
00:46She is the Chief Growth Officer at Shake Shack.
00:50I'm so excited to have you on the show.
00:52Thank you for having me.
00:53Let's start with my favorite random question, which is, where in the world is your favorite stadium, stage, or venue?
01:03I mean, that's a really hard question, but I live in New York City, and there's nothing quite like Madison Square Garden.
01:09So it can be all those things.
01:12It's a stadium.
01:13It's a stage.
01:13It's a concert venue.
01:15I think I've seen a lot of different things happen there.
01:18Amazing.
01:18Well, we're going to rent out MSG.
01:20We're going to talk to Entrepreneur.
01:22We'll talk to Shake Shack.
01:23We'll talk to some partners.
01:24And we like to think that there are people, the people that watch the show, that listen, no matter where they are in the world, believe in hospitality.
01:32They believe it in their core.
01:33It's in their DNA.
01:34We also know that we don't have all the answers, which is why we seek information from people who have had successes but also are willing to share their failures.
01:43I'm going to bring you to MSG.
01:45I'm going to give you the mic, center court, and I'm going to say, Steph, can you share the Shake Shack story for those that don't know?
01:53Yeah.
01:54Oh, this is fun.
01:55Shake Shack was founded as a very humble hot dog cart in Madison Square Park.
02:01Now, people get that confused with the garden all the time.
02:04Different place.
02:05It's a really nice park in the Flatiron District of New York City.
02:09And at the time of our founding, the hot dog cart was just meant to raise some money for a park that needed some freshening up at the time.
02:18And it was actually part of an art installation.
02:21And it really took off.
02:23I think the idea of having a hot dog in the park was something that people loved.
02:28And before we knew it, that cart became kind of a permanent little fixture in the middle of the park.
02:35And instead of selling hot dogs, we became really famous for selling amazing smash burgers.
02:42And our burgers were actually being prepped for us across the street at a very famous fine dining restaurant called Eleven Madison Park.
02:50It's still there.
02:51And we kind of view them as our big brother and also kind of the kitchen that birthed this amazing shack burger.
02:58So it was interesting at the time.
03:00It started that way.
03:02And before we knew it, Shake Shack kind of became the talk of a town, even more than these fine dining establishments.
03:10There were a lot of folks waiting in a lot of long lines at Madison Square Park to get the shack burger.
03:15And from there, it really took off.
03:17I think it was one of those things where if you ask our founder, Danny Meyer, he never thought there would be more than one Shake Shack.
03:24And, you know, today we're sitting here with about 500 stores and with ambitions to get to 1,500.
03:30So, you know, some of this stuff, some of these growth stories happen beyond your wildest expectations.
03:36And if you had asked the team running that hot dog cart whether this would be what they pictured, I don't think many of them would have guessed it.
03:43So I love titles that encompass big visions.
03:48What is a chief growth officer?
03:50Well, you know, I always joke that CGO doesn't sound like a real thing.
03:56And when I shared with my family that that was my title, I got a lot of, I got a lot of, is that really?
04:03Is that legitimate?
04:05Is this a real job?
04:07I promise it is.
04:08And it actually, I like to think of it as a way of encompassing some of the things that are growth drivers for Shake Shack that may be unique than other restaurant concepts.
04:18So, you know, one of the big drivers of our growth is menu innovation.
04:23So I oversee our culinary team, our culinary product development.
04:28And then another really big driver of our growth over the years has been our digital experience.
04:33And that's in our stores.
04:35That's in our app and web.
04:37That's even off premise as you think about delivery.
04:40So, you know, digital channels and digital experience has been a really big kind of fuel of our growth for many, many years now at Shake Shack.
04:48So kind of marrying product and digital experience was one of the goals of making this a growth role.
04:55And then I think of myself as kind of an aggregator a little bit of all of our marketing campaigns together.
05:01So many of the ways that we go out there as operators to try to drive sales have to all come together in some sort of beautiful orchestration.
05:10So, you know, I think of myself as the role that knows last year, the second week of March, we were running this promotion.
05:17And so this year, the second week of March, what should we do to comp that that offer or, you know, create some excitement around our restaurants so that we can drive even higher top line sales?
05:27So that's what a chief growth officer does at Shake Shack.
05:31It's a unique role.
05:32I don't know if every restaurant company has it, but I hope eventually every restaurant company does.
05:37I love it.
05:38Before you got into the restaurant business, you were in fashion and beauty.
05:45What surprised you most about the restaurant industry?
05:49Well, what surprised me most is it's the same people.
05:52So I often joke about it that, you know, people have asked me, what do fashion and beauty have in common with Shackburgers?
06:02And I often say it's actually the same customer.
06:06But on the hospitality side, you get to see them more often.
06:09So in retail, you know, beauty, especially people are looking to replenish their beauty products on a quarterly cycle and on an apparel business like Ralph Lauren, you know, you're kind of looking to replenish your wardrobe twice a year.
06:24I was hoping it was four times a year, but realistically twice a year with the change in season.
06:28The best part of hospitality is you got to eat every day.
06:32And I think of that as a really unique opportunity to win the guest constantly.
06:37So for someone like me who enjoys kind of looking at the levers of sales and kind of seeing how seasonality, how different promotions, how different products are hitting the market, there's almost nothing more satisfying than hospitality because you got to eat every day.
06:52And I hope you come to Shake Shack at least a couple of those days.
06:56Can you share a little bit about your MBA experience at Harvard?
07:00What did it teach you?
07:02And looking back, when you go and you speak to students, what lessons do you share with them?
07:08Yeah, my background was unique in that I took a long time to figure out what I wanted to do.
07:15I think I spent most of my undergrad trying on things that didn't fit.
07:18So pre-med didn't fit.
07:22Pre-law didn't fit.
07:25And so when I left undergrad, I tried an analyst program at an investment bank.
07:29That definitely didn't fit.
07:32So my MBA at Harvard for me was a chance to really dive in and say, OK, I like a lot of these things.
07:37I worked in restaurants and retail since I was 16 years old, the minute I could drive.
07:42I had a job at a restaurant down the street.
07:45I folded shirts at the mall.
07:47So I knew that was part of my DNA.
07:50And what I was trying to get at in business school was, how can I make that into my career?
07:56I didn't know that that was an option.
07:58I really probably grew up with a lot of professional services influence on my life.
08:03Like, these are the things that you should do for your career.
08:07So I think that was really what I got.
08:09Out of my MBA was really seeing the aperture open on all the different kinds of careers a person can have.
08:15And then kind of seeing different pathways to get there and getting some guidance on how do I get there?
08:22So that, I think, has been the value.
08:24And when I go back and talk to students now, I always tell them there is the A side of the resume and there is the B side.
08:31So on the A side, it looks very purposeful, all the things I did.
08:36And on the B side, I can tell you honestly that a lot of it is about gaining experience, practicing your skills, and then trying on a lot of things that either fit or don't fit, but teach you something along the way.
08:49I absolutely love the trying on things that don't fit.
08:52I think so many of us in hospitality try on things that don't fit and find our way back to hospitality, find our way back to restaurants.
09:03Share a little bit for me what we have.
09:07We have a deep thesis.
09:08So one of our other shows is called Digital Hospitality.
09:10You are the perfect person to share what does that term mean to you in the lens of enlightened hospitality.
09:17Yeah, I love the term digital hospitality because I think people mistakenly assume digital means no hospitality.
09:26My goal for our digital platforms at Shake Shack is that they should behave like the most educated, most warm team member that you've ever interacted with.
09:36It just happens to be an online platform.
09:38So, you know, I want to be anticipatory.
09:41I want to be personalized.
09:43I want to remember your last order.
09:46I want to know where you're located so I don't give you an offer for something in Texas while you're sitting in San Diego.
09:51So I think there's a lot of, you know, being the very best team member that is the hospitality aspect of the digital experience.
09:59And then I think there's something really fun about what digital can do that sometimes physical can't.
10:05So we have these menu boards in our restaurants and I have seen a lot of folks walk into our restaurants and kind of crane their neck, look at the menu board, read the lines, try to follow that line to the price.
10:18And then there's no pictures on ours because there's kind of limited real estate there.
10:23And I feel like digital, because we all shop for everything online now.
10:27Yeah.
10:28I want to see exactly what I'm buying and I kind of want to make sure like I know exactly what that is.
10:32And I think that our kiosks and our app and web experience do a better job of that than sometimes even a menu board in the restaurant, which has a place.
10:40But, you know, I actually think digital does a better job.
10:43Did you know that Toast powers over 140,000 restaurants across the United States, Canada and UK?
10:51It's an incredible company.
10:53I'm on the Toast customer advisory board.
10:55They are proud sponsors of this show, Restaurant Influencers.
10:58We couldn't do it without their support.
11:00They power our barbecue restaurants in San Diego.
11:02If you have questions about Toast, if you're thinking about bringing Toast on to be your primary technology partner at your restaurants, please reach out to me.
11:11I'm happy to get a local Toast representative to take care of you.
11:15You can reach me at Sean P. Welchef on Instagram.
11:18Once again, thank you to Toast for believing in the power of technology, the power of storytelling, the power of hospitality.
11:25Back to the show.
11:27I'm happy you brought up kiosks.
11:29It said the kiosk is your most profitable channel.
11:32Is that correct?
11:34That is correct.
11:3415% to 19% higher ticket averages than the counter.
11:38Can you actually start with a story?
11:41Can you tell me the story of the GoPros?
11:45I love that this story has been shared because our director of user experience is a really special person who came to me once.
11:54We love special people.
11:54We love special people.
11:55He's hilarious in that he started with the ask, which was, can I expense a GoPro camera?
12:02And I was like, I'm pretty sure we're good on the $35 that that's going to be.
12:06But can you tell me why?
12:08Yeah.
12:08And he shared, Steph, I think the best way for us to understand everybody else's experience is to go at it from the customer lens.
12:16So he happens to be an avid biker, which is only relevant because he mounted the GoPro on a bike helmet.
12:23He wore his full biking outfit.
12:25He's like, no one's going to suspect me because I'm just a customer who happens to be a biker and I'm wearing my whole getup.
12:30And he personally went and did the kiosk experience at all the big restaurants by us.
12:37And he wanted to just film it from a first person perspective.
12:40And so we have all these videos of, you know, all the screens he interacted with and his little voiceover saying, I like this.
12:47I don't know if I like this.
12:48And kind of filmed from his perspective as a person.
12:52So the height of him versus the kiosk was important in our considerations.
12:57So, yeah.
12:58So I think that was a really unique data exercise for sure.
13:02But it's one that we keep going back to when we reference like, hey, what do we want to change about our experience?
13:08And what are experiences that we've really liked and things that we think we could improve upon?
13:12I mean, the reason I love that story so much is we do so much work with best in class technology in the restaurant space and, you know, talking to some incredible engineers and technical founders and just understanding only in the weeds do we truly understand the hospitality experience.
13:30You know, that's why we love the term digital hospitality, because there is so much opportunity for technology to provide those memorable moments.
13:37Can you share a little bit more about the app experience and why what you're creating in the app, what you and the team are creating?
13:44You want it to be different than all the other app experiences out there?
13:48Yeah, I think, you know, we we love the idea of the app being a frequency driver for our guest.
13:55We think that that's the reason why people download apps.
13:58We really got to earn that space on your phone.
14:00Otherwise, you're just going to go order at the kiosk, which is great for us.
14:04So, one of the things that we've recently introduced in the app, which we're really excited about, is set price items.
14:11And this is unusual because we think the guest who comes to our app all the time should honestly get the best price of what we've got out there and maybe even a little bit more value because we suspect that is our most frequent, most loyal guest who's coming in.
14:27So, we recently launched a program we internally call 135.
14:33Internally, 135 is $1 sodas, $3 fries, and $5 core shakes.
14:38And those are items that are on our menu in our app every single day.
14:43You don't have to put a promo code.
14:46You don't have to buy anything to qualify.
14:48If you want to go in and just buy a soda, a fry, and a shake, you can pay $9 and be out of there.
14:55And I think, you know, that's one of the things we're doing that we think is really unusual for QSR and for restaurant where, you know, this is not a limited time thing and it's not with purchase.
15:06But the whole goal is to make that experience feel really valuable to our guests who took the time to download the app and also kind of strike that chord of, you know, we understand that value meals and all that exist in our space, you know, consistently and constantly.
15:23For us, we don't want to force you into a specific kind of meal.
15:28You know, it might be a shake day and that's all you want.
15:30Or it might be a shake in Friday and that's all you want.
15:33So we're trying to kind of rethink that and we're using our app as the first testing ground for that set price strategy.
15:40I love it.
15:42What's a myth that you believe operators make in the restaurant space that you know is incorrect?
15:51One assumption operators make.
15:54One assumption that operators make that may be incorrect.
15:56I think our team members are pretty spot on most of the time.
16:03And I come from the school of Danny Meyer where we're on the side of the employee at all times.
16:10Yes.
16:10So his theory, obviously, of enlightened hospitality is you have to put that employee at the center and they might be saying something that, you know, they're frustrated by.
16:20Or I usually get a call like, Steph, why did you run that promo on shakes?
16:24My custard machine broke and you've ruined my life.
16:27That's a pretty constant phone call that can happen when we're running a promotion.
16:31But I never think that the operator is wrong in terms of their perception of how it's going because that day is very real for them.
16:40I think it's usually a learning opportunity for me in kind of my role where it's like, OK, knowing that operators have a bunch of different conditions set to them every day.
16:52You could be in Texas having a really beautiful weather day or you could be in Florida facing a hurricane.
16:58And if I have the same offer on in both places, that is a great day in Texas and not a great day in Florida.
17:04So I think about that a lot in terms of if I can work with operators and better understand what their needs are, I can better tailor our strategies, our ability to turn things on and off, our ability to sub something else in.
17:19You know, and that's something we think about a lot as we expand where our restaurants are and how many we have that we have to be really thoughtful about how that hits in different locales.
17:28How do you evaluate your technology providers and partners?
17:31Yeah, the marketing stack is ever evolving.
17:36I really think the best partners are the ones that want to grow with us.
17:40And we say that with every partner that we bring in that, you know, we are a little bit more of a buy versus build shop.
17:47And so if we're buying, we want you to grow with us to 1500 restaurants.
17:51And I think that that ability to kind of like pilot with us, maybe sell us a smaller box at the beginning, but let us open more parts of that toolkit later on.
18:02That's the best partner to us.
18:04That's great.
18:07The second mouse theory.
18:10Please share your approach to technological innovations at Shake Shack, but bring it back to your second mouse theory.
18:18Yeah, I love this theory.
18:20I thought I stole it from someone and then I tried to find out whether I stole it from that person and I did not.
18:26So I think I made this up.
18:28We're fully taking credit on this show right here.
18:32Second mouse theory.
18:33Yeah.
18:34So I guess if you think about a mousetrap, the first mouse goes in, eats the cheese or tries to eat the cheese and gets killed.
18:41The second mouse actually gets to eat the cheese because the first mouse kind of took one for the team and the second mouse can kind of get the cheese unscathed.
18:50So I think about it from technology investments.
18:53You know, Shake Shack is not of the scale where we can build ourselves.
18:56We have to generally buy whatever the technology is.
18:59So I'm always kind of watching all the emergent technology.
19:04And I think about this a lot in terms of automation, AI, anything that has this opportunity to really transform our business.
19:11We probably can't afford to be the first, but I definitely want to be the second.
19:17And there's a lot that goes into that, which is following along with our vendors, really spending a lot of time understanding and assessing.
19:24And then my question, so when you asked how do we look at vendors and partners, I always ask, show me that proof of concept from a restaurant brand that's done it before and show me that example.
19:36And if I see one successful POC, I'm like, okay, if that's enough about, you know, enough like us, let's go do it.
19:42So, yeah, we've been very happily the second mouse in a lot of situations.
19:48And we've followed a lot of really successful first mice in many of their technology endeavors.
19:54And I'm still trying to get the right timing down.
19:57So sometimes I think I'm too late.
19:59Sometimes I think we're right on time in terms of, you know, this is unlocked and we can really be a quick second mover on this.
20:05So one of the things that Shaq does phenomenally well, 894,000 followers on Instagram, 497,000 followers on Facebook, 6,000 on YouTube, 219,000 on TikTok.
20:20You guys are phenomenal at a breadth of storytelling, understanding, leaning in differently to different platforms.
20:28Can you share how your role interacts with chief marketing officer, storytelling, social, and how you guys view getting the Shake Shack ethos out into the world?
20:38Yeah.
20:39So we have a chief brand officer and a chief comms officer.
20:43And together they kind of think about, chief brand is thinking about some of the creative executions of our campaigns.
20:49You know, everything from what we shoot, how we shoot, what we, who we cast, those kinds of things.
20:55And our chief comms officer is really overseeing how do we want to engage with our communities on social.
21:02So community engagement is a huge part of how we show up.
21:06So we know that we probably have less budget than some of the bigger restaurant chains out there.
21:12So we're going to double, triple down on how we engage with communities.
21:16And so the two of them kind of think of it that way.
21:19And I merge it together in my calendar brain of like, what are the moments that we really want to double down or we want to call out?
21:26And so what that ends up looking like is if we know we're going to launch something really exciting that has chicken in it,
21:32we are going to go to Reddit sub forums and find people who are very passionate about the chicken wars, etc.
21:39And what this led to about a year ago was we hired a woman who is all about kind of trying different foods, etc., on her own channel.
21:49And she reviewed our chicken sandwich and a few other things.
21:53And this video went completely viral because it turns out she was an employee of another restaurant chain.
22:00And, you know, in no way did we hire her where we couldn't hire her.
22:05It was all very above board, but we got a lot of credit for how, like, rebellious that seemed.
22:12And then we got a lot of credit for the fact that we were supporting a woman who was kind of starting to think about running her career and kind of owning her own career in this way.
22:22So, you know, I just give a lot of credit to our community management and social teams who really think like all the way down the line.
22:29And how can we be show up really authentically, be ourselves, engage really deeply.
22:34And then we love this this aspect of follow it all the way through.
22:39Don't just comment on someone's thread and say, hey, thanks for loving Shake Shack.
22:42Literally ask them, which shack did you go to and can you come back again?
22:45Because we have something for you.
22:47And sometimes our operators will just, you know, be ready to greet that influencer locally or, you know, show up for a kid's birthday party in a way that was unexpected.
22:56And those are the ways, you know, I think it's really interesting that we've been able to punch above our weight on a lot of those channels.
23:03I would love for you to go a little bit deeper on that because it's so hard to do when you're talking about the social numbers and the number of units that you guys have.
23:11But social listening is something that is so imperative to community building and creating those magical moments.
23:18To your point of somebody interacted on a TikTok post, but knowing that they're actually in New York City at that exact location and they're coming in to redeem it.
23:28You know, how do you get that information to the manager on duty so that they don't feel awkward and it's a magical moment, not an awkward moment?
23:35Share a little bit about how you guys think through that.
23:37I think that having company-owned stores really allows for that deeper connection.
23:43So, you know, our home office, our support center staff, we spend a lot of time in restaurants with our teams.
23:49So our social team literally does know the general manager of most of our restaurants.
23:54And if not directly, but almost indirectly, could call an area director and say, hey, I'm wondering what you think of this idea.
24:01And because we have the company-owned model, they can go all the way down and make a call and it's very quick to execute on that.
24:08And then the other piece that I think helps is we're able to really quickly amplify if we see something that's really taking off.
24:15So if we work with someone, you know, like that chicken influencer who was great for us, you know, there's always opportunity to put paid dollars against something that's really got traction.
24:25And, you know, our paid media and organic social team, they sit one desk apart.
24:32In fact, they could stand up and look at each other in the eyes.
24:36And I've seen it happen multiple times where the organic person will say, hey, this is really taking off.
24:43And, you know, within the hour, we can really push that post and stay focused on it.
24:48You know, a lot of folks won't like this, but I actually think being in office three days a week, and we have really held tight to this in our support center, has allowed us some of that kind of really nimble ability to chase something and ability to partner super closely together.
25:06I'm so happy that you said that.
25:08Those are things, those magical moments in office, sitting a desk next to each other, they can create just really incredible, incredible moments in hospitality.
25:20And those are the viral moments that people don't talk about.
25:24Sometimes they're not even viral, but that's the brand loyalty that you actually cultivate.
25:29Can you share a little bit about the VIPs, the Shake Shacks, those in-app people?
25:34How are you taking care of them?
25:36How are you scaling them?
25:37How are you getting more attention on them?
25:39But also, how do you amplify it?
25:41How do you let more people know?
25:42Yeah, I think that we've done really interesting things.
25:46So, you know, our organic social team one year just decided to thank all of our super VIPs with gifts at the end of the year.
25:54And we were sort of surprised what happened as a result.
25:57People were posting it.
25:58People were sharing it.
26:00We have a field marketing team that makes a really big effort to host events in different cities.
26:05So, you know, we don't host every tasting for an LTO in New York City or in Atlanta where we have, you know, kind of our, you know, our show kitchen or innovation kitchen.
26:15We're making it a point now to host influencer tastings around the country.
26:19So if it's something that we're testing or something that we're really excited about and we have the opportunity to invite folks that are VIPs, we're doing a little bit more of that.
26:28Trying to engage people beyond, you know, our four walls and even digital four walls.
26:34I think there's like a very interesting thing happening where if you're a VIP and you get outreach all the time from brands or even if you're a Shake Shack VIP and all we've done is thank you with coupons.
26:47I think that's a very different relationship.
26:49It becomes very transactional.
26:50So we start to look for these ways where, you know, what are the ways that we can kind of engage this person in a totally surprising manner?
26:59You know, we look for things like we did a contest once, which was like, tell us how much you love avocados and why around kind of the fact that we slice our avocados.
27:10Our avocados are sourced from avocados from Mexico.
27:13We were doing this promotion with them and we made it a campaign to hire a chief avocado officer and we got the most hilarious essays, videos, etc.
27:24And the person who won, of course, got like a lot of Shake Shack for life, but also came to New York, spent some time with our chefs, created content around avocados.
27:36And honestly, this person was extremely passionate about them and it was really fun to see.
27:41So, you know, I think those are the kinds of things where, you know, trying to break the mold of that transactional nature between the VIP of a brand and the brand itself and just thinking, you know, what are the things that we could do again that are surprising and unexpected?
27:55So we believe deeply in asking for help.
27:58I think it's one of the reasons why we do this show is so we can learn from other industry icons and leaders.
28:04Do you have a mentor that's taught you something that was unexpected or challenged you in a way?
28:10And then also, I need a Danny Meyer story if you've got one.
28:15Oh, amazing.
28:16Well, I have a mentor from very early in my career when I was first working at a consumer brand and she was the head of innovation.
28:25And I was so intimidated because I was like, I think she called me numbers girl, which I took that as a compliment because she was so creative.
28:35And I was like, let me run the numbers and make sure it makes sense.
28:39So she called me numbers girl.
28:41I was totally in awe of how creative she was as a leader and she'd had decades in the business.
28:46And she once pulled me aside and she said, you know, creativity can come from anywhere.
28:52And I was like, that's something you say to the numbers girl to make her feel better.
28:58And she said, no, I really mean that.
28:59And I think what she taught me that I thought was really interesting, she would take her entire team, including me, you know, kind of even the finance folks on her team would go on these cool hunts quarterly.
29:11And a cool hunt is like, let's go look for things that are cool outside of our industry so that we going to a museum, you know, we were in the beauty space, it could be going to restaurants, it could be going into retail, it could be trying an amusement park.
29:26I mean, she really pushed the boundaries of like, how can you gather inspiration and look at the consumer that you're trying to serve in a totally different context.
29:35So I remember one time she made me try some weird health thing where she's like, there's this cool health thing I see out there where you can monitor your blood type across all these.
29:45So here I am sitting there with a needle in my arm, getting my blood spun through a thing.
29:50And she's like, isn't this inspiring?
29:53So, you know, I think that those kinds of things where you start to realize that creativity and ideas, great ideas can come from anywhere.
30:00That's inspired a lot of what we do at Shake Shack in terms of where do we get our inspo for our menu.
30:08It could come from international.
30:09It could come from our guest.
30:12It could come from our team members.
30:14We actually have an inbox that everybody at Shake Shack from team member all the way up to the CEO can access that inbox and just send in ideas.
30:23So I've tried to embody that because that was really great advice from a mentor.
30:27And she really lived it.
30:28And she let me go to all kinds of weird things to come up with ideas.
30:31I love it.
30:34And then you asked about Danny, which I have so many stories.
30:38Danny is, you know, a really amazing leader.
30:41But one of my favorites is recently he took our CEO on a trip to the Middle East.
30:47They went together to go see our Middle East restaurants.
30:51Standard tour, just kind of, you know, international tour and wanting to meet the licensed partner, et cetera.
30:56And Rob and Danny had the Dubai Shake in Dubai.
31:01And I got an email from both of them simultaneously that was, we absolutely must launch this in the U.S.
31:08And I said, you guys should get some rest.
31:12That's crazy.
31:14But, you know, see you when you get back.
31:16And Danny, when he came back, he's like, I really think you must know that, you know, my daughter at Cafe Pana, Hallie, is selling Dubai chocolate ice cream from Cafe Pana.
31:26And it is selling out immediately.
31:29Like, his view was, this is just different.
31:32It's just something that's going to take off in a way that you are not expecting.
31:36So we broke all our innovation protocol.
31:39We broke all our business.
31:41We broke it.
31:43Fantastic.
31:43We almost broke supply chain, but in a very friendly way.
31:46And we tried to figure out, how can we get this thing to market?
31:50You know, we were making it in Dubai, so at least there was a risk.
31:54And that is literally the story of how we launched the Dubai Shake in the U.S.
31:58Was because Danny had this intuition.
32:01Our CEO kind of corroborated it because he was standing there and he said, I haven't had anything like this.
32:07And so, yeah, that's my latest Danny story.
32:10What a phenomenal story.
32:12It doesn't matter if it's one restaurant or 600, we're pushing forward with innovation.
32:21Exactly.
32:22I love it.
32:23Before I let you go, we would love to hear about your personal tech stack.
32:28So are you an iPhone or Android user?
32:31iPhone.
32:32How many emails do you get a day?
32:35A thousand.
32:37Easily.
32:38How many of those emails do you enjoy reading?
32:40Um, you know, I'm so embarrassed to say I read a lot of email.
32:46So do I.
32:47I'm not one of those people that has a little red number hanging out there.
32:52I don't either.
32:53It's inbox zero.
32:54Inbox zero.
32:55So I guess I've made myself very vulnerable because if anyone emails me, like, I'm going to read it.
33:00I'm going to read it.
33:01It's fantastic.
33:02Do you prefer phone calls or text messages?
33:05Text.
33:07Slack or no Slack?
33:09No Slack.
33:10Do you guys do internal Slack?
33:12We do internal Slack and I'm a slacker.
33:14Slacker.
33:15All the time.
33:16How do you listen to music?
33:18On Spotify.
33:20Spotify.
33:21Apple Maps or Google Maps?
33:23Google Maps.
33:24Google Maps.
33:25What is an app that you love to use that nobody knows?
33:29Well, I have to say the shack app, but everybody knows that.
33:34Everyone knows that.
33:35Everybody knows that.
33:37There is an innovation out there.
33:39I love the app Till.
33:41Till.
33:41Okay.
33:42The Till app is for managing your children's wallets.
33:46No way.
33:46No way.
33:47Really?
33:47I have three boys that are out in the world trying to spend money.
33:54And my team and most parents will tell you, the worst thing is sitting in a meeting and having
33:59your kid hit you up for cash.
34:01So I use the Till app.
34:03All three boys have their own spending money allocated to them.
34:06And they're not allowed to come to me if they...
34:09Magical.
34:10It's all in there.
34:11I've never heard...
34:12I have an eight-year-old boy and a six-year-old girl, so they're not out there spending money
34:16yet, but I will definitely look into the Till app.
34:19You know, it's really wonderful because even my nine-year-old has to check off his chores
34:23in the app, and that's how he gets paid.
34:26And then he has a little debit card, and that's how he buys his various fancy drinks at the coffee
34:32shop down the street.
34:33I am so happy I asked the question.
34:35So now, artificial intelligence, which app do you use?
34:40I mostly use ChatGPT, but I find that the Google experience is improving, I think, every
34:46single day.
34:48Can you share a quick story about how you used AI recently that made you go, oh my gosh?
34:57I would say the craziest thing...
35:02Okay, well, this is modern parenting again.
35:06I used AI.
35:08My son wrote an email or an email to his grandfather that I was so impressed by, and I was floored
35:15by the language he was using and the analysis he did.
35:18And this is just an email he sent to his grandfather.
35:21So I was like, hmm.
35:21Um, and then I doubted him immediately, and I replied to him and said, listen, this was
35:28cute, but I think you used AI to support this answer.
35:31And he said, you go check and check and see if this was an AI response.
35:37So I used one of these AI decoders that I think many schools are using, which is you can plug
35:42a prompt into, you can plug any language into a large language model, and it will tell you
35:48the percentage chance that it was generated by AI.
35:51So I did five of them because I was convinced, convinced that my son had used AI to write
35:57his response.
35:58And all five of them returned that 0% of this was written by AI.
36:03So then I had to go back and apologize to him and say, wow, you are a genius.
36:07Wow, what an incredible story.
36:11Steph, thank you so much for taking the time.
36:14Is there anything that we should know about Shake Shack that we didn't cover on the show?
36:19No, we're going to be in more cities in the future.
36:23And I just think that the growth that's coming on the menu and also our store for footprint
36:27is so exciting.
36:29So I hope everyone gets to have a great Shack Burger soon.
36:32Amazing.
36:33And if you guys want to reach out to me, I'm weirdly available at Sean P.
36:36Wellchef.
36:37Instagram's the fastest, but all the social channels.
36:40If you know a restaurant influencer that is doing really cool things that we should highlight,
36:44please reach out to me.
36:46We want to feature them.
36:472026 is going to be a big year for this show.
36:50Steph, thank you so much for taking the time.
36:52We really appreciate it.
36:54As always, stay curious, get involved, and don't be afraid to ask for help.
36:58We'll catch you guys next week.
37:03Thank you for listening.
37:04If you've made it this long, you are part of the community.
37:07You're part of the tribe.
37:08We can't do this alone.
37:09We started.
37:10No one was listening.
37:11Now we have a community of digital hospitality leaders all over the globe.
37:15Please check out our new series called Restaurant Technology Substack.
37:19It's a Substack newsletter.
37:21It's free.
37:21It's some of our deep work on the best technology for restaurants.
37:25Also, go to YouTube and subscribe to Kali BBQ Media.
37:29Kali BBQ Media on YouTube.
37:31We've been putting out a lot of new original content.
37:33Hopefully, you guys like that content.
37:35If you want to work with us, go to etheshow.media.
37:38We show up all over the United States, some international countries.
37:41We would love to work with you and your growing brand on digital storytelling.
37:45You can reach out to me anytime at Sean P. Welchef on Instagram.
37:49I'm weirdly available.
37:50Stay curious.
37:51Get involved.
37:52Don't be afraid to ask for help.
37:53We'll catch you next episode.
37:54We'll catch you next episode.
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