- 4 hours ago
Seth Gerber is the co-owner of MIDA Restaurant Group in Boston and a hospitality professor at Boston University. As a restaurateur, operator, and educator, he’s built a career focused on neighborhood restaurants, mentorship, and challenging the way the hospitality industry views itself.
Watch now to learn how Seth Gerber saved a struggling restaurant, scaled MIDA, and is reframing hospitality careers.
Sponsored by:
• TOAST - All-In-1 Restaurant POS: https://bit.ly/3vpeVsc
Watch now to learn how Seth Gerber saved a struggling restaurant, scaled MIDA, and is reframing hospitality careers.
Sponsored by:
• TOAST - All-In-1 Restaurant POS: https://bit.ly/3vpeVsc
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NewsTranscript
00:00There's like a meme you have a bell curve and everyone that's average in the middle is like overthinking overthinking
00:04and on one side you have like
00:07Caveman on the other side you have like a Jedi and the joke is that like the caveman and the
00:11Jedi arrived to the same conclusion
00:12And I can't be the Jedi. I'll never be that smart
00:15And I think a lot of people that are way smarter than me sometimes just get stuck in analysis mode
00:20And they're afraid to take risks. They're afraid to just try things
00:30Welcome to restaurant influencers presented by entrepreneur. I'm your host sean walchef
00:34This is a cali bbq media production in life in the restaurant business and in the new creator economy
00:41We learn through lessons and stories. We started this show back in 2022
00:45With a mission to talk to the greatest hospitality minds the greatest storytellers and the greatest technologists on earth
00:52And uh, i've got one of them today. His name is seth gerber
00:55He is the co-owner of mita restaurant group out of boston
00:59Uh, they define and are redefining what it's like to run successful
01:06Community driven neighborhood restaurants. Uh, seth. Welcome to the show
01:10Thanks so much for having me sean. I appreciate it
01:13Where in the world is your favorite stadium stage or venue?
01:19Oh, man. I mean so the old yankee stadium, I think was the the thing that I fell in love
01:24with
01:25Unfortunately, it's not you say can you say that in boston are you allowed?
01:28Yeah
01:29Well, my parents are from brooklyn. I grew up in southern connecticut, so I uh, you know, I stay true
01:34Um, then way don't get me wrong. It's nostalgic. It's the best
01:38but there's nothing like going to yankee stadium as a 10 year old with your dad and
01:42Um watching derrick cheater play baseball. That was an amazing memory
01:46Okay, we're gonna go back to old yankee stadium
01:49We're gonna do some media magic some ai magic and recreate it but create an event
01:54For people that play the game within the game
01:57As anyone knows that listens to this show watches this
02:00hospitality
02:02Is hard but hospitality is beautiful
02:05Uh, if you do it right and that's why we learn through lessons and stories
02:09So we're going to go back to yankee stadium. I'm going to give you the mic i'll talk to toast
02:12Um, they've been a big believer in this show amazing sponsors technology that powers our restaurants here in san diego
02:18I know they power power your restaurants
02:20Um, they've built a community of restauranteurs now all over the globe who are like-minded and we believe a
02:26rising tide lifts all ships
02:27We'll get some other sponsors, but i'm going to get you on the mound give you the mic and say
02:31seth
02:32Give me your neighborhood restaurant thesis
02:38Wow, okay, I wish I had a lot of time
02:41We don't do we don't do any prep on this show
02:43Yeah, like people are like, oh, you know, we'll we'll have people ask you know, what are the questions?
02:48You're gonna ask we don't do any restaurant thesis. I mean so
02:51Neighborhood restaurant thesis
02:53I mean, I think that restaurants ultimately are a social good
02:56You know, we we have made them into a business
03:00um, and yes, they are
03:02business entities
03:03um, but if you really think about the purpose of a restaurant and where they've evolved from
03:08They provide such an important
03:11tangible social
03:14Component to the way that we live our lives and on every level of society from employment to community gathering
03:22to
03:23Mental health and the ability to provide a safe space for people to gather together and celebrate life
03:29Sometimes even mourn or be there together for difficult times
03:34Restaurants are the link and it's it's really almost
03:38Ingrained in who we are as society, right?
03:41Like and as a people on a genetic level, you know in the pandemic, right?
03:45We thought the world was going to end
03:46There's a contagious disease and people were still clamoring to go back to have their favorite
03:51Something at a restaurant and connect with people even if it was standing out lines is standing in line six
03:56feet apart
03:57So to me restaurants are more than just a business. They're a social good
04:01And they are something that is really meaningful especially in this country
04:06As an economic driver and as something that people use to support themselves and support their families
04:11And we've seen that model change over time as the business has evolved and as there's been more
04:17Attention paid to restaurants because they are exciting. They are sexy and they are potentially profitable
04:24You've seen it shift away from this small
04:27Model of you're a family you have a neighborhood you create a restaurant you feed yourselves to that restaurant
04:35You feed the community members you're not necessarily profiting and making millions of dollars off of that
04:41You're really providing almost like bob's burgers. You're literally doing it to provide a very specific service to the community
04:48And that has been transformed over time and we've almost taken it and made restaurants into a financialized product
04:55And whether that's good or bad isn't necessarily what i'm getting at here
05:00It's more that it has changed and it's important for us to recognize that and recognize what the consequences are
05:06of that decision
05:07Because when we're looking at scaling restaurants franchising restaurants, you know taking restaurants and making them into something
05:15That they weren't originally conceived to do
05:17It has an impact on the way that they're used it has an impact on the sort of the global
05:23restaurant and economy
05:25The way that they're positioned and one of the things that we've seen is that the
05:29More that we scale the industry the more interest that we have in our business from a media perspective
05:35From a tech perspective from a consumer goods perspective
05:39It's allowed certain business models to flourish and it's made it harder for others to be successful
05:45And the ones that have struggled the most are the mom-and-pop small businesses because they are not the
05:51ones that are the most
05:52Savvy operators that are thinking strategically about ways to leverage new technology or new business models
05:58They're really kind of applying more of the old paradigm to restaurants, which is you open you feed your family
06:04You do a good job. You're proud of your product and everything else kind of happens downstream from there
06:10But the truth is is that model especially in today's age, which is extremely competitive and there's a lot of
06:15challenging operational requirements and operational components to consider
06:19The ability to get yourself out there may be more open than ever, but it's also more competitive than ever
06:25Those restaurants seem to be turning over and closing
06:30And may or may not be coming back. So we've seen a lot of shift in the way that americans
06:34dine
06:35We've seen a lot of shift in the restaurant market and we're going to continue to see it move in
06:39that direction
06:40Unless we talk about it and do something about it
06:43Would you consider yourself a restaurant tour or a business owner?
06:47I think i'm both. I do consider myself an entrepreneur
06:51Ultimately, I do start companies and they are restaurants
06:55But I think of myself also as someone who cares very deeply about the industry that i'm in and to
07:02me, it's not just
07:03uh a way of providing
07:06For my family or making money. Um, but it's also something that's extremely special
07:11Um, and has an emotional sentiment
07:13based on what we create and what we provide for our employees and also the community at large
07:19Bring me back to location one. What was the idea behind it? What was the all-in moment?
07:23Yeah, I still
07:25Know the story
07:26So I actually joined mida as the general manager. Um, the partners at the time douglas williams and
07:34um,
07:35Brian lesser had signed a lease and put together this restaurant concept and we're looking for a gm to get
07:41it off the ground
07:42and I ended up coming in and was looking for something that
07:47Was maybe a temporary placement. I always had an ambition of doing my own thing
07:51And I very quickly became connected with douglas brian
07:55And to be honest with you when we first opened mida it did not go well our first six months
08:00of operation were extremely challenging
08:02We actually almost failed and had to take on a bunch of additional capital
08:06We were on sort of like the last legs of figuring out if this thing was going to work or
08:10not
08:11And we were able to turn it around and by the end of our first summer about six or seven
08:16months after we opened
08:17We slowly started seeing sales climb and climb and climb and um, you know, we had reconcepted our menu
08:23We went from more of like a small plates
08:25kind of like very creative avant-garde italian concept to more of a
08:30very grounded traditional italian concept and that started to compound and compound
08:36And we just got to a point where there was product market fit the thing that we were selling was
08:40what people wanted
08:41Whereas before that menu change people saw mida and they thought they were coming into a neighborhood italian restaurant
08:46But they got something else and as soon as we were able to lock in that concept. It just it
08:51just exploded
08:52Um, and you know fast forward 10 years later. We now have four mida concepts
08:57We just opened a sister store to mida and then I have an another restaurant in salem, massachusetts
09:02Which is kind of like a casual cocktail bar and sandwich shop
09:07What do you think was the biggest lesson that you learned as you scaled like bring me to the to
09:13the dark the dark time of scaling?
09:17Uh, we opened our second restaurant in the middle of the pandemic
09:20We were quite literally raising money for people
09:23from people
09:24um during the shutdowns
09:26So if you can imagine not only do you think it's the end of the world
09:30People think that the restaurant business is absolute toxic waste
09:33We had already signed a lease before the pandemic broke out. So we were obligated to do the deal
09:38And we basically decided to go all in and we were calling friends and family anybody who would give us
09:43their time and attention
09:44And I don't want to say begging but making a strong case to invest in the restaurant
09:49Um doing that was insane and then we finally got the doors open
09:55I think a week after they
09:58Officially released the indoor
10:00Ban and the social distancing and mask mandates
10:03So we opened at the time where all of that pent-up demand just exploded and the only people that
10:09we could hire
10:10For this restaurant were college students and high school students that were home for the summer
10:15So our entire line was filled with people who had zero cooking experience
10:19And it was extremely extremely challenging to figure out how to operate this restaurant
10:24That was probably the most ridiculous opening that i've been a part of
10:28um, but honestly every step of the way we basically you know
10:32Our growth happened between the start of the pandemic and over the last couple years of the pandemic
10:37Um, and we had to basically just keep bootstrapping and pushing forward now
10:42That's kind of in the rearview mirror, but uh, it was wacky trying to figure out how to grow a
10:47company
10:47When you really weren't sure what was going to happen next
10:50Did you know that toast powers over 140 000 restaurants across the united states canada and uk it's an incredible
10:59company
10:59I'm on the toast customer advisory board. They are proud sponsors of this show restaurant influencers. We couldn't do it
11:05without their support
11:06They power our barbecue restaurants in san diego
11:09If you have questions about toast if you're thinking about bringing toast on to be your primary technology partner at
11:15your restaurants
11:16Please reach out to me. I'm happy to get a local toast representative to take care of you
11:21You can reach me at sean p welchef on instagram once again
11:25Thank you to toast for believing in the power of technology the power of storytelling the power of hospitality back
11:32to the show
11:33And after you get through the pandemic, what what was the thing that convinced you that you were on to
11:39something that was bigger than just
11:41You know the second restaurant?
11:43Uh, I think when the second restaurant worked it just it just was very reassuring
11:48I mean, it's a huge risk, right? We were an independent small restaurant in roxbury on the corner
11:54um 65 seats
11:56Right, and we opened 120 seat restaurant. That was a couple miles away in a suburban location
12:04And it was a huge risk. We had no idea if it was going to work at that level
12:08We never envisioned media as a multi-unit brand
12:12But it was successfully translated and then from there it just felt like okay
12:17This is something that makes sense that we feel confident scaling
12:20We opened a third location in east boston that one was received well immediately
12:25And uh, you know, it it sort of has become clear over time that it's something special that we think
12:30we can take on the road and grow
12:32And as you scale
12:34Mita as a concept why a new concept?
12:38So this one is particularly interesting because the new concept is almost right next to an existing media location
12:45Fantastic. Um, and sometimes the concept falls into the location
12:49Sometimes the location informs the concept
12:51This is definitely an example of that
12:53Mita east boston is right on the harbor in east e overlooking the water
12:58It is a phenomenally beautiful location
13:01And you know, we had a choice of either letting somebody else competitive come in right next to us
13:06Or taking what we know is a prime location and spinning out a new concept
13:10And that birthed la taberneta, which is kind of like midas, you know
13:14Uh punk little sister maybe a little bit crazy a little bit more of a bar scene wild child and
13:22We have them right next to each other. So what do you?
13:25Dislike the most about working in restaurants
13:29I don't dislike anything about it. Um, I certainly have frustrations from time to time
13:35I guess what a better question is. What are your weaknesses?
13:38My weaknesses. Yeah, what are your what are your strengths versus your weaknesses as a restaurateur?
13:43Yeah, so i i've been i've been uh kicked out of the hiring process
13:50I'm not even kidding. Um, I hate
13:52Thank you for your honesty
13:55Well, you know, I always joke with the managers. They're like, oh, we'd like to do the hiring all on
13:59our own and i'm like
14:00We're not very good at it and i'm like they say that to me and I say well, I hired
14:03you
14:03Right. Um, but you know in all honesty, I just I um i'm a big believer that anybody can do
14:10anything
14:10And I know it's a little bit of a cliche like my my strength is my weakness
14:14But I sometimes you know, I learned
14:17And honestly, this was my experience where I was a misfit kid. I was a punk. I drank a lot
14:22I did a lot of things I shouldn't do and I got a lot of second third fourth fifth chances
14:26And I had some really strong mentors that kind of sat me down that gave me, you know
14:31Opportunities to change my behavior and I was able to you know change who I am through this business
14:36And you know, it's hard when you see the potential in somebody and you know what they can become
14:43But there's something about their behavior or there's an issue there that is standing in the way
14:49And um, you know, ultimately I I still hold on to that
14:53I really believe that in this industry, you know
14:56You have to be creative about hiring and that we're not looking at the same candidates that you're hiring for
15:02in an office in a corporate role
15:04That the people that are here are smart and talented and sensitive
15:08But it's a different walk of life and in our industry
15:11We have some of the highest rates of substance abuse disorder some of the highest rates of mental health issues
15:15And you have to be willing to work with people through their dark times to get the best out of
15:21them
15:21And that breeds a lot of opportunity if you can have a strategy for doing that
15:25However, when you are not the one directly handling it every day, you can you can get in the way
15:30of
15:30Other people and their ability to manage their staff and and the store. So i've kind of removed myself from
15:37that
15:37I'm still intimately involved in the personnel, but i'm not you know, i'm not making decisions to hire
15:44That's probably a big thing that i've had to learn to step away from
15:48Um, yeah, that's that's the biggest one I can think of for sure. What would you say your strengths are?
15:53Uh, dude, I am just I am relentless about trying again. I'm not particularly talented or smart
16:00In any way shape or form. I just am a big believer that if it doesn't work, you just need
16:06to keep pressing forward
16:07Um, maybe it's stupidity. I don't know. I'm so stupid that i'm smart. That's like kind of my thing
16:12I just um
16:13If you know if you never quit you'll definitely win. It's just yeah
16:17It's kind of like there's like a meme right where it's like you have a bell curve and everyone that's
16:22average in the middle is like overthinking overthinking
16:24And on one side you have like a caveman on the other side
16:27You have like a jedi and the joke is that like the caveman and the jedi arrived to the same
16:31conclusion
16:32Right, and I can't be the jedi i'll never be that smart. I'll never be like a quantitative trader on
16:37wall street
16:38I'm not like a math genius. I'm just I but I can be dumb enough to just go for it
16:43And I think a lot of people that are way smarter than me sometimes just get stuck in analysis mode
16:48And they're afraid to take risks and they're afraid to just try things and iterate and that's one thing that
16:53i've become comfortable with
16:55Maybe by necessity, but it's just
16:58Something I sort of learned about myself is that i'm not afraid of having difficult conversations and i'm not afraid
17:03of subjecting myself to
17:05A little pain to get to where I need to go
17:08So you uh, you spend some of your time teaching hospitality at boston university
17:14Uh, tell me a little bit about what are you teaching the next generation?
17:18What are the what are the truths that you're you're revealing to the class that most?
17:24I mean, I remember going to class and I thought that I wanted to study business and I went to
17:28business
17:29Classes and I was bored out of my mind until an entrepreneur that was actually running a business
17:34Came into class and then all of a sudden there was this huge unlock because they were willing to share
17:40The truth that was somehow hidden in the textbook
17:43What truth are you sharing with the students of the next generation?
17:47Yeah, that's a tricky one. Honestly teaching has been a whirlwind for me. Um
17:52I uh, you know
17:54I took the same class at bu that i'm now teaching and when I inherited the class literally nothing had
18:00changed
18:01And the first thing I did was took the textbook and threw it in the trash
18:05And tried to move away from
18:08Talking about restaurants as this like theoretical practice because it's almost ridiculous to try to teach
18:14Restaurants in a classroom, right? It's something that it's totally ridiculous. It's ridiculous. So I changed the curriculum
18:20Where you are now in class you are now?
18:25Um, you know
18:26You're building a restaurant in the first half of the semester and then the second half of the semester you
18:30Create your restaurant you actually do a mock service
18:33I have them do a stage in my stores at one point
18:36I tried to bring them into the restaurants as much as possible and try to just be a little bit
18:40more real about
18:41What the pathway of working in the restaurant industry is like
18:45And how you could build a successful career doing it?
18:48I think a lot of the students are really interested
18:51Because it sounds fun and they want to be involved with food
18:55But they're terrified based on the reputation of the industry that it's long hours
18:59It's you know, the pay sucks. You're never going to get where you want to go career wise
19:04And I think a lot of that is total bs
19:06I think that ultimately you can build an amazing career in this business
19:09And that if you're curious about it, you should go for it and that the restaurant industry runs parallel to
19:15Entrepreneurship and that even if you're not an entrepreneur starting a business if you go and work for a company
19:20You're still expected to provide value by solving problems
19:24So that you know the restaurant industry is really an amazing vehicle for learning how to be a problem solver
19:29And learning how to be a manager and that we shouldn't be so self-deprecating about
19:34Wanting to be in this business if you stand up in a room and say oh i'm a restaurant manager
19:38Right, you know, I remember I had an experience where I said that to my
19:41Friend's mom coming home from summer
19:43Uh in college and she said well, what do you really want to do?
19:46I said
19:47What I want to do like this is what I want to dedicate my life to and instead of saying
19:51well
19:51It's like oh i'm just a restaurant manager
19:53Why don't you just say you know what i'm managing a restaurant you're managing a multi-million dollar business
19:58And like since when is that a small deal, right?
20:00If you're a manager at one of my stores you run a multi-million dollar business and you should not
20:05You should not
20:07like
20:08Critic criticize yourself or be self-deprecating in in that fact, right?
20:14It's a really important thing to understand the scale of what we're doing and how complex it is
20:19And I think that the pessimism that we've ingrained in ourselves is something that I feel personally
20:25Responsible to try to like extinguish within a younger generation
20:28So that's a lot of what I try to talk about
20:30I probably swear a lot more than the previous professor did and just give them like a real take on
20:35the business
20:36Not trying to be edgy, but it's just it's just about giving them a real sense of you know
20:40What i'm building and the experiences that i've had
20:42I can't tell you how much I appreciate that reframe and um
20:46I hope to carry that message and anybody that's listening this or watching this
20:50But it could it it couldn't be more true
20:53That there is this stigma about running restaurants and managing restaurants, but it needs to be reframed and it's
21:00So much bigger than running restaurants. You are running multi-million dollar businesses
21:04hundreds of thousands of dollars in payroll costs of good
21:07I mean so many moving parts to run a restaurant business that um, it needs to be celebrated more
21:13I couldn't couldn't agree with you more
21:15um
21:15Share a little bit about the vision. What's the vision for the future?
21:19What does it look like? I mean the coolest thing about podcasting and it is these times capsules
21:24So, you know, we could look back in 2026 and be like seth
21:27You remember that that conversation we had in 2026 and now it's 2030
21:31You know, did you underestimate or overestimate what you were what you were able to accomplish as a restaurant group
21:36and as a team?
21:37Oh, man. Oh, man
21:38I mean I try to adopt a mentality of just like it's only we're only as good as our last
21:42project
21:43Especially at this size like I could dream all I want. Yes. I'd love to grow the company
21:47I'd love to be at 20 restaurants in the future
21:49But if I don't execute this one then nothing matters
21:53Um, so I don't like to get too far ahead of myself
21:55I mean, I think my my real aspirations
21:58Sit with trying to figure out a way to be impactful to the industry at large
22:03I really care about where this business is headed. I care about my staff
22:08I want us to be proud of working in this industry
22:11And I want people to see restaurants differently in society
22:16Both from the guest point of view as well as from the
22:19You know industry professional point of view
22:22And whether or not your destiny is to be in here as your career
22:26Even if you're in the business for two years
22:29It can be an amazing stepping stone to build skills maturity learn important lessons
22:35And graduate into the next thing. I think we have this idea that because it's not the career choice forever
22:42for everyone
22:43That it's not a valid career and that's a really silly way of looking at it
22:47We need to figure out a way to reframe just like you were saying we need to figure out a
22:51way to reframe
22:52Our our point of view around this business and i'd love to be a part of that as much as
22:56possible
22:57It's incredible. Uh people that watch the show, uh listen
23:01They know how much we believe in technology. Um, can you share your tech stack restaurant tech stack?
23:08Run us through the the the partners that you have the partners that you believe in and how it helps
23:12you enhance hospitality not
23:13Not deter from it. Sure. Yeah, I mean, you know, we are partnered with toast. That's our pos
23:20Um, we use ovation for feedback and and reviews. We're a big fan of that
23:25We've been loyal open table partners for a long time
23:28Um, we use plate iq. Um, we use quickbooks
23:32um, we use um
23:36We use me's for recipes and some costing stuff. That's kind of like the core of what we use
23:42There's some other ancillary stuff, you know, to be totally honest
23:45I'm starting to dabble and get more interested in seeing what we could
23:48Uh within reason start to build ourselves and and leverage some ai stuff
23:52I think there's a lot of interesting conversations in that arena
23:56Um, but you know technology should help us and enhance the guest experience and the hospitality experience
24:02I think I do have to be very frank some concerns with
24:07um
24:08How technology has been kind of integrated into our business and have hopes for how I think it might change
24:14in the future
24:15Um, but you know, we we know that technology provides efficiency and opportunity
24:20That will help make us better operators and provide a better product
24:24I think it's just really aligning interests on what you know, the technology companies
24:29Do and how they generate revenue and then how restaurants really works that it's sustainable long term
24:34Speaking of technology companies, we believe deeply in storytelling
24:37Obviously, I wouldn't be putting on a podcast that goes on every single platform omnichannel storytelling
24:42We wouldn't be able to connect with people. I mean
24:45It's been the biggest gift for me of getting outside of my restaurant in 2017 and realizing like if I
24:50start a podcast
24:51I can realize that i'm not alone as a restaurateur and I started interviewing other restaurant owners other business owners
24:58and
24:59No one listened to the beginning, but if you do it long enough
25:03Your stupid idea can become something of of value and you can build a community can you talk about how
25:09you guys approach
25:10Storytelling um in the modern age how you handle social media and running your accounts multiple accounts all of those
25:16things
25:17Yeah, I mean
25:18I've only very recently leaned more into social
25:21Um, you know, my partner douglas has always been at the forefront and has done a phenomenal job telling his
25:26story
25:27And telling the story of media and our culture of generosity and how he views that
25:32And I think it's a lot of what has made us successful
25:34You know when people understand that there's a meaning behind the restaurant
25:38And those words like you said over time you repeat them enough they start to manifest
25:43Themselves in your brand your brand is repeated behaviors and habits and things that you say
25:49And I think when we talk about that, you know
25:51When i'm doing pre-shift in the restaurant where i'm hearing managers give pre-shifts in the restaurant
25:55I'm always scanning and looking at you know the stories that they tell
25:59It's funny like certain things that i've said years ago and how that like in a good way the game
26:04of telephone
26:05Has you know changed that story and sometimes made it better they have their own version of it
26:09Um, but you know it the lineage that you build when you start to pass these things down
26:16You know, we have managers staff members that are now general managers with us
26:20And then we have people that have maybe left me to to go and try something else that are killing
26:25it in other organizations
26:26And you know, we just really want if you have your
26:30If you have your resume and you see meat on there, you know, and you've been with the company for
26:35a year two years three years five years
26:36We know that that person is likely an absolute boss
26:40Um, and you know, we'll we'll continue to tell the stories that you know, I told in 2017 in pre
26:46-shift
26:47Um, you know, those are the things that make our industry great and uh, that family tree is probably the
26:53thing i'm most proud of
26:55Couldn't be
26:56I couldn't agree with you more if we at cali barbecue media cali barbecue at our restaurants and our media
27:02group like
27:03If somebody puts it on their resume, we want it to mean something and the only way it means something
27:07Is that if we show up every single day and do the work and we do the things that we
27:11say we're going to do because over time
27:13That compounds and that's what brand is that is brand equity. Yeah. Oh, so well said
27:18Uh, before I let you go, let's talk about your personal tech stack iphone android iphone uh, which version?
27:2611 I believe 11 when do you upgrade? Yeah, I don't know. I'm always behind. I'm always behind the times
27:32on that, man
27:32I like kids, you know, they'll get the upgrade first and then
27:37What's your notification management system? It's a disaster
27:41it's
27:43It's an absolute disaster. I don't do
27:45Be your type a I
27:48Have no idea. I'm just a type z something
27:51Dude, I don't do any push notifications on anything which helps me because I'm not getting blown up for every
27:57email
27:57Sometimes works against me because i'm like compelled to check it a lot
28:01um
28:02I honestly my fight my entire filing system is based on sorting my email
28:07Um as unread or even if I read it mark it back and i'm not ready to respond i'll mark
28:12it as unread
28:13Yeah, and then my life's mission is to just get through those emails and respond to as many as I
28:18possibly can
28:18So are you inbox zero by the end of the day like i'm pretty i'm pretty on it
28:22I'm pretty good. How many emails do you get a day?
28:25A lot more than i'd like to hundreds
28:28Probably a hundred hundred fifty emails a day. How many do you enjoy reading?
28:32uh, I love reading our nightly emails from the managers
28:36um
28:37and
28:38Every once in a while i'll get a i'll get a good deal on wayfair or something like that. That's
28:42nice
28:43No, that's about it. Honestly, I I think you know, I try to be
28:48pretty organized with how I structure communication and
28:53Find ways to say no to things so I don't think i'm as guilty as some other people about just
28:58getting bombarded with
28:59Constant stuff if I can't do it. I will would rather just say no
29:03Thank you and move on rather than continue to entertain email after email
29:08What tool does your company restaurant group use for communications?
29:12We use slack. You do use slack. Yeah, only for corporate communications not front of the house
29:18Uh, not for our hourly staff. We use on for scheduling
29:23You use what for for scheduling?
29:24Thought on formerly Dolce. Yep. Um, we like it. They have a lot of really good
29:29Um
29:30programming for certain labor law compliance things that are really important in massachusetts
29:36Um, so that's our preference for scheduling and timekeeping
29:40Um, but yeah, we're big on slack. We do a lot of slack reporting in the company
29:44Do you prefer phone calls or text messages?
29:46I prefer phone calls. I know that's not popular with the newer generation the younger generations, but I uh
29:52If you need something you pick up the phone and call. That's how I would do you listen to voicemails?
29:58No, absolutely not. In fact, my voicemail says please send me a text message
30:01That is my voicemail messages, please
30:04Which is ironic because you want people to call you
30:07Well, I want you to call me, but if I don't pick up don't leave me a voicemail
30:10Don't leave me a voicemail because I don't have time to listen
30:14Just text me your question. I'm with you. I'm feeling you. Uh
30:19Uh, apple maps or google maps? Uh, I feel like I use both. I use both really
30:24Yeah, I think my I think apple maps is probably my default on my phone, but I use google maps
30:30a lot
30:31Um for reviews and things like that
30:34And also if i'm ever like looking at location stuff or real estate stuff
30:39Um, you know like street view. That's what i'll use. Uh, what's your favorite social app?
30:45Uh, i'm partial to instagram. I like instagram a lot, although in a weird way
30:49I've been on pinterest a lot more
30:51Although I don't use it as a super social mechanism. I guess you could consider it social
30:55Um, I just think it's a it's a i've been using it a lot for like inspiration and
31:01So, okay, um
31:03How do you listen to music what platform? I use spotify you spotify and uh, what app do you use
31:10the most for running the restaurants?
31:12Besides slack?
31:14Uh, I mean honestly slack
31:16Open table and and toast and the toast app
31:19Um, it's kind of where I live all the time checking sales checking labor
31:24Seeing where we're at reading guest notes and then communicating with my team. It's really all I need
31:29Awesome, and uh, what's an app that you use that you don't think our audience knows about that's valuable to
31:34you
31:35An app that I use
31:37Um, I don't know. I don't know if I have like an obscure app. I would have to go through
31:41my phone
31:41And think about it a little bit
31:43Um, i'm pretty plain
31:45I like to spend my I don't like to complicate my life with too many apps
31:49I keep
31:49Uh claude chat gpt or gemini
31:53Uh, I would I use all three
31:56I've started getting more into claude code for building purposes
32:01Um, I use chat gpt as my baseline for just back and forth question and answer chat troubleshooting
32:07Um, and I use gemini more and more for stuff because we use g suite as our email
32:13Um, and sometimes building presentations or
32:17Doing a lot of photo editing. I'm partial to gemini with the the nano banana. I think it's pretty good
32:22Amazing if you guys are watching if you're listening. We appreciate you. Thank you for subscribing. Please share this episode
32:27Please go check out the restaurants in the restaurant group in the new restaurant. Uh, la tavernata
32:32Is that right? La tavernata la tavernata. Uh, is it open?
32:37Like it's open. We just opened yesterday. It was our first day
32:39Ah, congratulations
32:42Phenomenal. Well, thank you for taking the time. It's such a busy time. We appreciate it
32:46If you guys are watching listening, you can reach out to me anytime at seanpwalcheff on instagram is always the
32:51fastest
32:52But i'm weirdly available on all platforms. We're looking for the best storytellers the best restaurant tours on the planet
32:57So no matter where they are, please send me a message so I can connect with them
33:00Uh, seth, thank you for taking the time when i'm in boston, which I do a lot of boston trips
33:05Um, i'm definitely going to hit you up. I look forward to meeting you in person one day
33:09Oh, yeah, can't wait. Thanks so much. Appreciate it as always guys. Stay curious get involved and don't be afraid
33:14to ask for help
33:14We'll catch you next episode
33:20Thank you for watching. Thank you for listening if you've made it this long you are part of the community
33:26You're part of the tribe. We can't do this alone. We started no one was listening
33:29Now we have a community of digital hospitality leaders all over the globe
33:33Please check out our new series called restaurant technology sub stack. It's a sub stack newsletter. It's free
33:40It's some of our deep work on the best technology for restaurants
33:43Also go to youtube and subscribe to cali barbecue media cali bbq media on youtube
33:49We've been putting out a lot of new original content. Hopefully you guys like that content
33:54If you want to work with us go to eat the show dot media
33:56We show up all over the united states some international countries
34:00We would love to work with you and your growing brand on digital storytelling
34:04You can reach out to me anytime at sean p welchef on instagram. I'm weirdly available. Stay curious get involved
34:10Don't be afraid to ask for help. We'll catch you next episode
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