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00:00I think one of the core parts of just Google culture in general is you're only limited by
00:06your imagination. Welcome to Restaurant Influencers presented by Entrepreneur. I'm your host Sean
00:19Walchef. This is a Cali BBQ Media production. We are coming to you from the Google offices at
00:25St. John's Terminal in New York City. We're at the Restaurant Influencers event hosted by Google
00:32and I'm really excited about today's episode because we get to learn all about how Google
00:37thinks about food. I have Helen Wexler. She is the Senior Director of Global Food at Google. Helen,
00:44welcome to the show. Thanks Sean. It's a mouthful, right? It's a mouthful. Either way, we're so
00:49grateful that you welcomed us in. This is something that's really cool for us to be able to share all
00:53the cool things that Google is doing in hospitality and technology and restaurants and in food. Can
01:00you explain what is your job? That's a great question. Let's start there. It sounds like a
01:06big job. It is. It's actually really the best job I've been in food my whole life and so this
01:12is like
01:13of course like the best job you could ever think about and everywhere Google is, food is. So if you
01:20think about the scale of that program and my job with a team of super talented people is to make
01:29sure
01:29that the delivery of the food, the standards, the guidance to vendor partners around the world is
01:36clear. So there's just a consistency of culture, of quality, of standards all around the world. So you're
01:43also responsible for the food that the employees at Google. That is my sole responsibility. We do
01:49the catering as well. We have all sorts of lines of business around the world. Yes. So bring me to
01:54the beginning when you first started working at Google. So I've been at Google for a little over
01:5912 years. Okay. And when I came to Google, I came to run a region. So the world is broken
02:06up into five
02:07regions in Google. There's the Bay Area, which is really San Jose to San Francisco. And then there's
02:15the Americas. So North America, the U.S. and LATAM, Latin America. And then there's Europe, Asia and
02:23Africa. And then there's India. And so we, when I first came, I ran the Bay Area. We were Mountain
02:35View
02:36only. And I came in 2013. And that's when the world just exploded with food. And the very, very early
02:46beginning of food, when Larry and Sergey, there's lots of great pictures of them standing around a
02:51snap-up table with a bunch of food on it. And everybody's just standing there eating and talking
02:57around the table. Really?
02:58And it is the core way that Larry and that small original team came together. Then they hired their
03:06first chef at Google. And the way that the conversation sort of relaxed and just the
03:13creativity that came out. And then as Google grew and actually had buildings in Mountain View,
03:20the first, that first cafe chef, who apparently, his name was Charlie Ayers. And he ruled. You ate
03:27what Charlie cooked. And you smiled.
03:30Were you able to eat?
03:32Charlie and I worked together when I first came.
03:34Okay.
03:35But he had, he had since left Google and he had started his own restaurant. But super cool stories.
03:41Then there were nine Google chefs. And they were actually Googlers. And that's what the program
03:47grew to that. And then from nine Google chefs, those Google chefs then became managers on the Google
03:52food team, who then started to manage the influx so they couldn't grow as fast.
03:58Wow.
03:58So then Google started to work with outside companies to bring the employees in to actually
04:05cook the food, deliver the food, stock the MKs, that sort of thing. And then the program just
04:11progressed over time to what it is today, which is just, you know, there are so many different
04:18lines of businesses, as I said, that we run. We have cafes. We have micro kitchens. We have coffee
04:26bars, tea bars. We have teaching kitchens around the world. We have a food truck fleet in the Bay Area.
04:34So yeah, it's, it's never boring.
04:37Did you know that toast powers over 140,000 restaurants across the United States, Canada,
04:43and UK? It's an incredible company. I'm on the toast customer advisory board. They are
04:48proud sponsors of this show restaurant influencers. We couldn't do it without their support. They power
04:53our barbecue restaurants in San Diego. If you have questions about toast, if you're thinking about
04:58bringing toast on to be your primary technology partner at your restaurants, please reach out to
05:04me. I'm happy to get a local toast representative to take care of you. You can reach me at Sean
05:09P.
05:10Welcheff on Instagram. Once again, thank you to toast for believing in the power of technology,
05:15the power of storytelling, the power of hospitality. Back to the show today, right before we started
05:22filming, I went to the hallway and there was orange cinnamon apple spice spa water. Yes, there was.
05:29I've never had that in my life. I tried it. I was, could not believe how phenomenal it is. Can
05:36you share
05:36a little bit about how Google thinks about hydration? Sure. So I would say from about 2013 forward,
05:45we really decided that the program wanted to have some guidance and guardrails,
05:51we wanted to be a beacon to the industry that we're in, the food at work programs all around
05:56the world by lots of tech competitors and others. We really wanted to think long and hard about
06:03the people that we were feeding every day. Think about it. We have a captive audience.
06:07Yeah. So one of the things, you know, for restaurants is you don't necessarily see the
06:11same person day after day. They don't eat lunch with you every single day. Maybe you're lucky and some
06:16do. But we felt a really weighty responsibility in feeding folks every day. And so we thought about
06:25a lot about health and wellness, keeping Googlers at their best, at their peak. And hydration and the
06:31way that your body needs hydration was something that we worked with and studied with nutritionists
06:37and food time assistants. And so we also wanted to keep it super simple. You know,
06:44we just wanted folks to drink more water. And one of the ways we got them to drink more water
06:49was to
06:50do spa water. And spa water can mean anything. And sometimes it turns out like you look at it and
06:57you think, really? Right? You have to admit. I second guessed it when I saw it, but I'm like,
07:03I'm here. When in Google, let's go ahead and give it a try. Right. And so like there's a whole
07:11collection, like hundreds of spa waters, from super, super simple to, you know, lemon spa water,
07:17cucumber spa water. But then the chefs really, like, they love it. And it's also an opportunity for us
07:24in cafes to repurpose. So they'll use, you know, they'll crush berries. What you ask is,
07:31for spa water, no added sweetener. Yeah. Like water and a fruit, sometimes,
07:38sometimes a vegetable. I have seen carrot spa water.
07:43This is better. Well, I think what's interesting to me is obviously the recycled aspect, but also
07:49the conversational aspect. Yes. Is that, you know, when you're trying things new and you're testing
07:54the boundaries, you can, I mean, I'm going to talk to my son and my daughter who are here in
07:58New York
07:59City about spa water just because I had an experience today. How does Google think about
08:04food as an experience? So, so we think about the whole experience, Sean. So, so food should and has to
08:11be an experience. The worst thing you can do in a free food program is be what I call a
08:17shrug of a
08:17shoulder. Yeah. It's free. So my, you know, our, our focus is to have the experience start. First of
08:26all, from the minute you walk in the door of a building and you can feel it when you walk
08:30into
08:30a place like this, every Google office really starts at the door. It's intentional. It's very,
08:36very intentional. We're very, I, I work, my division is called real estate and workplace services. So
08:42basically what we say is once a Googler is hired, we envelop you. We literally, we are the chair,
08:48the desk, the entry greeting, the security, all of it. So that experience wants to be flawless from
08:56start to finish. And it wants to be frictionless too, because when you think about the cognitive
09:01load and what it takes to do what most Googlers do every day, we want to be that sort of
09:09joy in the
09:09day. We want to be that frictionless experience, whether you're getting your coffee yourself,
09:14whether you're getting it made by a barista or you're going for lunch or breakfast or dinner
09:19or a snack, it needs to have that seamless feeling. And I think we do, we think a lot about
09:28how every
09:29piece, and I always talk to, to our teams and say, it, it may not be something that someone else
09:36sees,
09:37but if we see it and it's not right, a sight line, a clean table, a dirty table, like it's
09:43all of it,
09:44because we're trying to say we care. Yeah. And if Google's going to invest like this,
09:49it's because they care. And it's because, like I said at the beginning, it really is the way that the
09:55original Google team came together. They came together over a meal. What can restaurants who are
10:01watching this learn about how Google views the food program, especially with technology? I mean,
10:08we're obsessed with having restaurants utilize the tools that are available to them to run
10:12more impactful restaurants, businesses, so that they can make an impact on their communities.
10:17Yeah. I think, you know, it's, it's an interesting, I think what we learn as members of the hospitality
10:23industry together is that in terms of experience, every bit of it counts. In terms of technology,
10:33it's your best friend. It is not going to replace you. It is not going to, you know,
10:40become a bunch of robots. It's, it's none of that. It's actually your best friend if you use it
10:46correctly as either someone who is helping you evaluate, helping you predict, helping you think
10:53in a different way, expand your horizon. Think about what you can search now through Gemini.
11:00It's amazing. And, and like, it's, it's just incredible to me. And I, we are super focused,
11:08not just the Google food team, but our entire vendor partner team in thinking about all the different ways
11:14in the future. We can use artificial intelligence. We can use technology, order ahead, all of those
11:24things. We have kiosks in all of our locations around the world that are sentiment indicators. So
11:33what, what may drive very positive sentiment here in New York may not resonate down the road. So
11:41I could go on and on and on. And I think the possibilities are limitless. And I, I would say,
11:46if I'm sharing anything about learning about where this could go, I'm not here to tell restaurants
11:52that I know anything more than they do. I just say, play with it, play with it, play with it,
11:58use it, use it, use it. And I think one of the core parts of just Google culture in general
12:05is
12:07you're only limited by your imagination. And this is one of those things we're in a moment in time,
12:13I think with AI and with Gemini where you were like, you got to get more imaginative because it,
12:20it just does the most amazing surprising things. Not perfect, but that's what we're here for. Right?
12:26For sure. Can you talk a little bit about food waste?
12:29Sure. Sure. So at scale with the number of meals that we serve in all the countries that we serve
12:34it
12:34in. And for the fact that unlike any other restaurant in the world, we have no way of
12:41knowing who's coming in each day and how much they ate. Because you can come in and out, you can
12:49take
12:49whatever you want. And you don't go through a register. There's no tracking. So food waste is a
12:58real concern. And over the last probably eight years, we've really gotten into technology and the
13:06use of menu management systems, scaling recipes, pre and post production records to compare what I
13:14thought I needed to what I actually was eaten. And we have a variety of locations and a variety of
13:20ways
13:21that our cafes provide food. So it's really important to have that information. What I will
13:28tell you is until we started really measuring it, visually measuring it for chefs and tracking it
13:34in the back of house, it didn't stick. It's amazing. It's the same thing for a small restaurant.
13:41If it's not measured, it's not managed. Right. And so today, again, using technology,
13:48when I was a caterer, I weighed everything, right? When it came back, I wanted to know, like,
13:54how did I overproduce? Now they take a picture of it. It goes into a system. It weighs it. They
14:02put
14:03it on a scale. The scale takes a picture. The picture recognizes what it is, which is new in
14:07the last few years. They used to have to mark it down, match it to the menu. Now the sophistication
14:12is it says, oh, that's mac and cheese. Oh, that's broccoli. And it all goes, gets uploaded. And then
14:21the lead chefs work with their cafe chefs and they look at it. They look at the data. They look
14:28at the cycle menus and they say, okay, well, that one keeps coming up. Either the recipe's wrong
14:36or it's in the wrong. Just people, it doesn't resonate with folks. So we think about food waste
14:41that way in cafes. We think about it with catering in the way we message for our clients and asking
14:47them to
14:47update counts and those sorts of things. We also do a ton of repurposing. So the first thing is,
14:54let's not waste the food. Yeah. Let's not, let's buy the correct amount. The second piece is,
14:59let's repurpose what we can. Whether it's in spa waters, whether it's in making another dish,
15:06the Dublin office takes all of their fruit trim. They send it to a company outside. The company takes
15:15the fruit trim, presses it and makes a sparkling beverage and sends it back. And that's what they
15:21stock their own case with, which is really cool. And it's sort of competitive. Like the chefs are
15:26always trying to find ways to do it better. Yeah. Because then we, I mean, we, we, we do the
15:31show
15:31because you learn through lessons and stories. Exactly. And then once you hear those stories,
15:35you amplify those stories. Yeah. Sean, I just, the other thing I will tell you, we have five,
15:40we have five fruits or vegetables in every single MK every single day. And what's an MK? A micro kitchen.
15:48Micro kitchen. No problem. And they're on every floor in every building. And one of the things I'm famous
15:54for, and they make fun of me, is anytime you'll see banana, banana anything, banana bread, banana chutney.
16:01Nano banana. Nano banana. I set myself up for that one. Because it used to drive me crazy on Fridays.
16:09I was like, where's the fruit going? Where's the fruit? Where's all the fruit going? You and my wife
16:14will get along very well. Yeah. So they used to, they used to highlight all of those things. But that's
16:20just another way that it's special for the Googlers. Like they'll make all sorts of jams and chutneys and
16:26they consolidate it all. Some of the kitchen centralize it and then they use it up. I would
16:31argue that every business on earth is in the hospitality business. And I would argue that Google
16:36is one of the most impactful hospitality companies there is. Can you share a little bit about what
16:40you've learned about hospitality working for Google? I think that first of all, thanks for saying that.
16:46And you couldn't be more right. It is an amazing hospitality company. And it's just for me,
16:53I think for a lot of us, the hospitality as a holistic perspective is the way that we
17:01make you feel how you feel seen, how you belong. And it's in the culture. It's just,
17:07you can call it hospitality, you can call it belonging, you can call it whatever you want.
17:11But I've worked in a lot of different places. And coming here, you just feel it. Everybody's trying
17:18to see you. Everybody says, hello. There is this core sense that no matter what you do for Google,
17:29you feel a part of it. And I think if you're going to provide great hospitality,
17:33hospitality, like great hospitality, I would say it's a two-way street. You have to feel seen. You
17:38have to feel a part of something. And so that's what I think makes it very, very special and respectful.
17:46Is there anything that I didn't ask you that you would love the world to know, the community to know?
17:51Just, I think that we're obviously so proud to do what we do. I think that what I would want
18:01people
18:01to know is food really does matter. Food matters. And food is the cultural connection. Food's the
18:09human connection. And don't lose sight of a meal spent together. I think in today's day and age,
18:16with delivery services and people just social isolation, I see food as that one key thing to break
18:25open a sense of self-belonging. And I almost would say worth. Yeah. Because I think coming over,
18:36coming together over a meal will continue to be a focus for all the world. Whether you're sitting in
18:43a restaurant, whether you're sitting in a food at work program, cafe somewhere, a coffee spot, it's so
18:51critical. And that doesn't happen unless you provide really great hospitality, which I think is the
18:59whole overarching experience, the minute you walk in the door, maybe even before, until you leave.
19:06Amazing. If you guys are watching this, we're going to be doing a complete wrap up of everything that
19:11we're learning here at Google on our restaurant technology sub stack. So you can go to sub stack
19:16on restaurant technology and everything that we learn. We're sharing all of the secrets,
19:21all of the cool tools that you can use to improve your small business, improve your restaurant.
19:25We're so grateful for the Google team for having us here. Helen, thank you so much for sharing your
19:31stories. And thank you to Toast, who's the title sponsor of the show for allowing us to come and tell
19:37these incredible stories that technology partners are doing around the world. Can we do a Bulgarian
19:45cheers? You betcha.
19:47So it's Nostrave. This is the famous Google Spotlight. Helen, thank you so much.
19:54Nostrave. Thanks, John. Great to meet you.
19:58Thank you for watching. Thank you for listening. If you've made it this long,
20:02you are part of the community. You're part of the tribe. We can't do this alone. We started,
20:07no one was listening. Now we have a community of digital hospitality leaders all over the globe.
20:12Please check out our new series called restaurant technology, sub stack. It's a sub stack newsletter.
20:17It's free. It's some of our deep work on the best technology for restaurants.
20:21Also go to YouTube and subscribe to Cali barbecue media, Cali BBQ media on YouTube. We've been putting
20:28out a lot of new original content. Hopefully you guys like that content. If you want to work with us,
20:33go to be the show dot media. We show up all over the United States, some international countries.
20:38We would love to work with you and your growing brand on digital storytelling. You can reach out to me
20:43anytime at Sean P. Welchef on Instagram. I'm weirdly available. Stay curious, get involved. Don't be
20:49afraid to ask for help. We'll catch you next episode.
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