Tech on Toast, The Hospitality Tech Podcast

Chris sits down with serial entrepreneur Roger Wade, the man behind one of the UK’s original streetwear brands and the creator of the world’s first pop-up mall.

From getting fired three times before the age of 22 to building Box Fresh, launching Box Park, and now reshaping hospitality real estate with Box Kitchen, Roger shares the lessons, mistakes, and mindset that have shaped his journey.

This is a conversation about brand, resilience, physical retail, and why most businesses are solving the wrong problems.

• Why getting fired early might be the best thing that ever happens to you

• The real reason Box Fresh worked — and why Roger sold too cheap

• How a simple idea turned into Box Park, the world’s first pop-up mall

• Why food became the hero and retail fell away

• The three reasons people go into business — and which one actually matters

• Why physical retail still beats online (and it’s not even close)

• How Box Kitchen is changing the economics of hospitality development

• The truth about raising money and why it’s often overrated

• How AI is levelling the playing field for creative entrepreneurs

Early Life & Mindset

• Fired from three jobs before 22

• Realisation: “If I don’t employ myself, no one else will”

• A near-death experience at 16 that shaped his outlook

Building Box Fresh

• Started in Greenwich and Camden markets

• One of the UK’s original streetwear brands

• Learned the hard way: brand is everything

Creating Box Park

• Built from shipping containers with no blueprint

• Food operators became the unexpected winners

• Community-first approach in Shoreditch and Croydon

• Scaled to millions of loyal customers via the Black Card

The Business Frameworks

• 3 reasons to be in business: Ego, Money, Legacy

• 3 pillars of a brand: Product, Traffic, Delivery

Retail Reality Check

• Online conversion: 1–2%

• Physical retail: closer to 10%

• Why the high street still matters more than people think

Box Kitchen & What’s Next

• Modular kitchens, bars, and hospitality infrastructure

• Built for developers and operators

• Far stronger returns than traditional real estate

Lessons from Failure

• The eBay keynote disaster

• Why raising money isn’t success

• “Profit is sanity, turnover is vanity”

• “You make money by seeing something that’s growing and growing with it.”

• “Raising loads of money means nothing. You’ve got debt.”

• “If you’re not special to your customer, you won’t exist.”

• “Profit is sanity, turnover is vanity.”

• “I learned my best lessons from my biggest mistakes.”

This episode is powered by Lightspeed Commerce — the POS and payments platform built for modern hospitality.

From tableside ordering to fully integrated front and back of house, Lightspeed helps operators deliver faster, smarter service when it matters most.

If you want, I can tighten this into a more punchy, SEO-led version or a YouTube cut as well.

🎙️ Tech on Toast Podcast – Roger Wade (Full Episode)Episode SummaryWhat You’ll LearnKey MomentsStandout QuotesSponsor

Host: Chris FletcherGuests:

• Liz McKinnon – Strategic Accounts, Sky Business (13+ years at Sky)
• Jatin Chandwani – Chief Product & Growth Officer, Byte by Yum (overseeing KFC, Taco Bell, Habit Burger & Pizza Hut's SaaS platform)

Recorded live on stage, this episode dives deep into how reliable connectivity has become the backbone of modern hospitality operations — from QSR chains to stadia. The conversation covers how real-time data, AI-driven automation, and seamless guest experiences are all dependent on getting the fundamentals of connectivity right.

1. The Three C's of Connectivity (Liz McKinnon)

• Coverage – ensuring your restaurant has signal everywhere it needs
• Capacity – handling the growing volume of data traffic
• Connectivity – making it fit for purpose and reviewing it continuously, not just at install

2. Connectivity as a Data Continuity Engine (Jatin Chandwani)

• Connectivity has evolved from a utility (like water or electricity) to a mission-critical data pipeline
• Without it, team members work blind and guest experience suffers immediately
• Digital orders (mobile app, aggregators, kiosks) can make up 30–60% of revenue — all dependent on connectivity

3. Speed, Taste & Experience in QSR

• The challenge of serving fresh food (e.g. KFC's 15-min cook time) to customers who expect it in 2 minutes
• Technology and data forecasting are key to managing this tension
• AI forecasting for inventory and labor scheduling has delivered measurable improvements

4. Real-Time Data & Agentic AI

• Moving from "dashboard era" (acting on yesterday's data) to agentic workflows (acting within the shift)
• Fryer data, hot-hold systems, sales data and customer data combined = next best action in real time
• Properly connected stores can improve performance by 10–20%
• Kill switches and guardrails are essential — AI governance must be built in from day one, not added later

5. Guest WiFi as a Business Channel

• "Snacking data" — QSR customers connect briefly; stadia customers stay for hours; both need seamless WiFi
• Guest connectivity supports app check-ins, order status, and acquisition/retention
• WiFi splash pages can drive promotions, loyalty sign-ups, and personalized messaging

6. GDPR & Consent> "Bad consent kills good data. Good consent builds long-term customer relationships." — Jatin Chandwani

• GDPR is not a constraint — it's a trust engine
• Sky supports customers with a robust framework to handle data collection properly
• Targeted, meaningful consent leads to better, more relevant customer conversations

7. The Future: Unified Ecosystems

• Operators must move away from point solutions toward unified, connected ecosystems
• AI + connectivity together will automate mundane tasks, reduce team cognitive load, and elevate the customer experience
• "We're moving from the age of dashboards to the age of agent workflows for specific business outcomes." — Jatin Chandwani

• "You cannot function without connectivity." — Jatin Chandwani
• "It's not install and forget — you put it in and you re-look at it." — Liz McKinnon
• "We were dropping money on the floor because of poor connectivity." — Chris Fletcher
• "Humans are craving more human connection — tech should free up your team to provide that." — Jatin Chandwani

1. Treat connectivity like labour and food cost — it belongs at the boardroom table
2. Review and right-size your connectivity estate regularly as your tech stack evolves
3. Build redundancy and failover into your solution — downtime is immediately visible in sales
4. Partner with your connectivity provider; it's an evolving relationship, not a one-time install
5. Start collecting consented, structured data now — it's the foundation for everything AI will enable

Powered by Sky Business.

Tech on Toast Podcast – Episode: Yaro Tsyhanenko, Founder of Pickpad

In this episode, Chris Fletcher sits down with Yaro Tsyhanenko, Ukrainian-born entrepreneur and founder of Pickpad, a smart hardware startup solving one of hospitality's most overlooked problems: the pickup area.

What we cover:

• Yaro's journey from building a delivery marketplace across 15 Ukrainian cities to relocating after the outbreak of war
• How he went from Ukraine to Ireland to Chicago to Arizona State's entrepreneurship program to the UK
• Why he spent hours sitting in QSRs with a stopwatch to understand the real pain in restaurant operations
• The Pickpad concept: a modular system of smart pads using weight sensors and machine learning to automate order management at the pickup area
• How Pickpad integrates with existing POS, KDS, and online ordering systems. No capital investment, live in under an hour, from £9/month
• The "ARC" framework: Accurate, Ready, Completed. The three order states restaurants are currently flying blind on
• Why 15% of fast food/QSR orders are inaccurate, and how Pickpad tackles this
• Coverage from TechCrunch and Forbes, and winning a CES National Award in the AI category
• Integrations already in place with Square, Olo, Toast, and Oracle, with UK EPOS partnerships in progress
• Yaro's vision for zero-friction ordering: AI, smart glasses, robots, and a universal interface between local businesses and their customers
• Advice for founders: get out of your head and talk to your customers

Find Pickpad:🌐 pickpad.com💼 Yaro on LinkedIn

Tech on Toast – Hospitality technology, straight talking.

Chris sits down with the team behind Bizimply, the Dublin-based workforce management and HR platform serving over 1,300 hospitality businesses and 100,000+ shift workers across the UK and Ireland. Emily and Conor share how they're marrying workforce scheduling with smarter HR tools, and what AI really means for the people powering the hospitality industry.

Key Topics Covered

🍺 Bizimply's Story
From a startup two doors down from the Guinness Brewery, Bizimply has grown into a 50/50 UK-Ireland business with a fully regional sales force. Founder Gerard's passion for hospitality people management sparked a product built for the 70% of the world's workforce on shift-based contracts, underserved by traditional HR software.

👥 Workforce Management Meets HR
Why "stick to your knitting" is their product philosophy. Bizimply doesn't do payroll natively. They do workforce management and HR really well, and integrate with the best payroll providers. The mission: let managers manage, not fill in spreadsheets.

📊 The Data Problem in Hospitality
Clean, trustworthy data is the foundation of everything. Without it, AI is just noise. Bizimply is investing heavily in data quality so that what surfaces to operators is accurate, actionable, and meaningful.

🤖 AI: The Smart Intern on Your Shoulder
Conor's take: AI is like a brilliant intern, fast but always looking at the past. Emily's view: the goal is to answer questions before they're even asked, removing noise and showing each persona exactly what they need to know.

⚡ What Bizimply Is Building Next
Intelligent demand planning and automated scheduling, performance management tools tied to revenue and retention, a new UI designed around simplicity, and an operations hub connecting POS, payroll, inventory, and people.

🔮 The Illusion of Control
Multi-site operators often believe technology gives them control. Conor's argument: it doesn't. Technology gives your people the tools to do their jobs well. That's what creates a great operation.

📱 The TikTok Test
If your rota app isn't as intuitive as Uber Eats, you'll lose your workforce's attention. Emily and Conor discuss the generational shift in product expectations.

🎸 Bono Bonus
Yes, Bono was an early investor in Bizimply through a connection to the founder. He's still a shareholder, but Conor admits they haven't spoken to his office in years.

Sponsor
Lightspeed is the EPOS and payments platform trusted by 165,000+ businesses including Big Mamma, Mildreds, and Qubit House. Fast funding, no hidden fees, real-time insights.
👉 lightspeed.co.uk/techontoast for a free demo.

Quotable Moments

"Technology should allow people to do what they're really good at." - Conor Shaw

"AI is like a really smart intern sitting on your shoulder who answers questions very quickly, but isn't always right." - Emily Kane

"The illusion of control: technology won't give you that. But it'll give your people the tools to do their jobs well." - Conor Shaw

"Remove the noise. What are the top three things you need to know right now?" - Emily Kane

Find Bizimply: bizimply.com

In this special live panel from our Service event at BrewDog Waterloo, three leading hospitality operators share honest insights about creating memorable guest experiences in modern hotels. From sensory design to technological innovation, discover what really makes guests come back.

🏨 What Guests Really RememberThe panel opens with a fundamental question: "When you think about your own hotels, what do guests remember most—the flawless execution or how the experience made them feel?"

Eljesa kicks off the discussion by explaining how The Mandrake is specifically built for the senses, with their "stay beyond yourself" ethos creating feelings at the forefront of every guest's experience.

• Why people remember care over service perfection
• The importance of human connection versus flawless execution
• How elevated service can create bigger problems when mistakes happen
• The debate: do you need operational excellence before emotional connection?

✨ Creating Memorable Moments

• The critical importance of first impressions and initial interactions
• Moving beyond scripted service to authentic human connections
• The Mandrake's unique character-finding check-in process using shapes
• Why the beginning of any relationship matters most

🎯 Personalisation at Scale

• Balancing boutique experiences with operational growth
• Empowering teams to create personalized interactions
• "Freedom within a framework" - giving teams autonomy within clear boundaries
• How 77% of guests now expect personalized experiences

💻 Technology's Role in Hospitality

• Using tech as an enabler, not a replacement for human interaction
• The importance of getting your tech stack right from the start
• Why contactless payments represent the gold standard of hospitality tech
• WhatsApp vs. email for building genuine guest relationships
• The danger of COVID-era efficiency replacing experience

🎭 Design vs. Experience

• The balance between architectural design and service design
• Why we spend millions on buildings but underinvest in experience design
• Creating experiences that work in any physical space
• The Mandrake's "portal" - a black space designed to separate guests from the outside world

💡 Key Takeaways

• Operational excellence provides the foundation, but emotional connection drives loyalty
• Know your brand identity and who you're NOT for
• Aim for perfection, even if you don't achieve it every time
• Hospitality's core purpose: changing someone's day for the better through care
• The emotional connection starts within your team, then flows to guests

"No one ever fell in love with a QR code." - Paul Spencer

"Service is about trying to find a way of delivering something that feels special, but also doing it in a way that feels human." - Paul Spencer

"Once you figure out who you do not want to be and who you are not, you can then pinpoint exactly who you are." - Eljesa Saciri

"If you have the chance to make someone's day, take it." - Host

"Forget how perfect your drink is, but remember the person that brought it to you." - Paul Spencer

• Eljesa Saciri
• Stephen Nash
• Paul Spencer

Listen now to discover how these hospitality leaders are redefining guest experiences in 2026 and beyond.

Part of the Tech Podcast four-part Service event series featuring operators from Fulham Shore Group, Wahaca, Bill's, Cote, Kerb, and more.

🎙️ LEADERS SERVICE: Scaling Hospitality with Chaos & Control

A live panel from BrewDog Waterloo featuring hospitality leaders sharing raw insights on growth, culture, and operations.

🎤 HOST:Phil Street - Founder, Hospitality Meets Podcast

🎯 PANELISTS:

• Marcel Khan
• Caroline Ottoy
• Matt Bigland
• Gemma Glasson

⚡ KEY TAKEAWAYS:

On Managing Complexity:

• Vision clarity beats speed every time
• 10-15 core processes are enough - don't overcomplicate
• "Automate the boring, focus on guests"
• Red lines create space for creativity within structure

On Scaling Systems:

• EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System)
• 90-day planning cycles with quarterly "rocks" (goals)
• Weekly structured meetings: on track = move on, off track = solve it
• Watch House achieved 26% turnover and 14% 90-day turnover using intentional culture

On Culture Under Pressure:

• Clarity > Speed. Always.
• Right people, right seat - track it weekly
• "Calmness is a competitive advantage" - Marcel
• Never compromise on product or people, even when cutting costs

On Leadership Philosophy:

• "Done is better than perfect" is BS - aim for perfect pizzas (Marcel's hot take)
• Hire slow, fire fast - but have difficult conversations early
• The gift of silence: let people fill the space with their own solutions
• Accountability charts prevent chaos

On Protecting What Matters:

• Stay true to core focus (Watch House example: stopped chasing matcha trends)
• Platform over personality (Blend's brand accelerator model)
• Communication platforms are critical at scale
• Annual festivals to reconnect everyone to the vision (Wahaca's "Wahaca Fest")

💡 STANDOUT QUOTES:

"The unreasonable person adapts society to themselves. Therefore all progress is due to the unreasonable person." - George Bernard Shaw (via Matt)

"If the CEO can't have a conversation during service, that's the beginning of the end." - Matt

"We scale platforms, not personalities." - Matt on food halls

"Chaos is fun - but without control, it's carnage." - Gemma

"Done is better than perfect? I flipping hate that phrase. I want perfect pizzas." - Marcel

📚 RESOURCES MENTIONED:

• EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System)
• "People Dare to Build an Intentional Culture"
• Insights Discovery
• People Analyzer

🎯 BIGGEST MISTAKES SHARED:

• Not hiring the right people at the right time (being too tight on salary)
• Ignoring values misalignment when too busy
• Not creating clear accountability charts early enough
• Getting lost in detail instead of hovering above the business

🔥 FINAL WISDOM:When asked what matters most - people, systems, or purpose?

• Caroline: People. Vision is irrelevant without the right people.
• Gemma: All of the above (but especially people + purpose)
• Marcel: Purpose underpins everything else
• Matt: People and purpose together

Powered by Lightspeed EPOS

Recorded live at Service, BrewDog Waterloo, February 10th

What's the difference between a viral moment and a loyal customer base?

In this live panel from Service 2026, hospitality marketing leaders from Dave's Hot Chicken, Rolled, Cote, BlackRock, and Kerb reveal why 70% of guests never return, and exactly how to fix it.

Forget follower counts. This is about building habits that drive real revenue.

Recorded live at BrewDog Waterloo | Powered by Lightspeed

• Why 70% of first-time guests never come back
• The metrics that actually matter (hint: not followers)
• How to turn hype into sustainable habits
• Loyalty strategies that work (and don't require discounts)
• What to do with £10K in marketing budget
• Handling bad reviews like a pro
• The role of influencers in 2024
• Why your team is your best marketing asset

Laura Reed Marketing Director KERB
Anaïs Dixie Brand Manager Côte Brasserie

Keyana Mohammadi Head of Marketing Dave's Hot Chicken

JJ Miller Marketing Manager Rolled
Ruth Carpenter Sales & Marketing DirectorBlack Rock Restaurants

Hosted by: Chris Fletcher - Tech on Toast

00:00 - Intro: The 70% problem
05:30 - Why hospitality struggles with repeat visits
12:45 - Case study: Pizza Pilgrims' 10th birthday pilgrimage (£750K ROI)
18:20 - Dave's Hot Chicken: Building hype into lifestyle
24:10 - Coates' "Happiest Menu" campaign (100K new app users)
29:40 - The metrics that actually matter
35:15 - Why follower count is a vanity metric
41:50 - Loyalty without discounts: BlackRock's approach
48:30 - The £10K question: Where would you spend it?
56:20 - Biggest marketing shift for 2024
1:04:15 - Influencer strategy: Macro to micro cascade
1:12:40 - Handling bad reviews
1:18:30 - Empowering your team for hospitality excellence

🔥 "Don't manufacture loyalty—be worthy of loyalty." - JJ Miller, Rolled

🔥 "It costs zero pounds to know your brand." - JJ Miller

🔥 "Our job as marketers is to get people in, but if the experience doesn't match what we marketed, they're not coming back." - Anis, Coates

🔥 "Shit happens. Sorry. Here's how we're gonna fix it." - Ruth Carpenter, BlackRock

🔥 "Don't try too hard—guests can see right through it." - Kiana, Dave's Hot Chicken

• Lightspeed EPOS system
• Pizza Pilgrims' Naples pilgrimage campaign
• Coates loyalty app
• BlackRock's Polaroid fridge magnet strategy

#Hospitality #Marketing #RestaurantMarketing #CustomerLoyalty #HospitalityIndustry #FoodAndBeverage #PodcastNotes

Key Topics Covered:Featured Guests:Timestamps:Quotable Moments:Resources Mentioned:Connect:

Great hospitality tech should work quietly in the background. When it doesn’t, operators feel it immediately.In this episode of the Tech on Toast podcast, Chris is joined by Colin Jackson, Head of Partner Technology at Dojo, to unpack why integrations are one of the most important and most overlooked parts of hospitality technology.They discuss what good integration really looks like, why the word seamless is often overused, and how poor connections between systems create hidden costs, lost revenue, and operational headaches for teams on the ground.The conversation explores payments and EPOS integrations, guest expectations around flexible ordering and payment, and how clean data flow helps operators make better commercial decisions.Colin also shares Dojo’s approach to open partnerships, why no single provider can do everything well, and what operators should look for when choosing technology partners at scale.This episode is a practical look at how integrations underpin reliability, trust, and better guest experiences across modern hospitality.

Payments should never slow service down, but too often they do.In this episode of the Tech on Toast podcast, Chris is joined by Tom Usher, Engineering Manager at Dojo, to explore how modern payments technology is being built specifically for the realities of hospitality.The conversation dives into Dojo Pocket, a handheld ordering and payments device designed to keep teams on the floor, reduce friction during service, and help operators turn tables faster without compromising guest experience.Tom shares why Dojo chose to build its own hardware and payments stack, how reliability and uptime are critical in hospitality, and why even small moments of friction can have a big impact on revenue, staff stress, and customer satisfaction.The episode also covers cloud infrastructure, resilience at scale, security and trust at the point of payment, and why intuitive design matters in an industry with high staff turnover.If you’re thinking about tableside payments, handheld devices, or how to give time back to your team, this episode is a must listen.

In this episode, Chris Fletcher is joined by Blair Lundie, Head of Business Development at Tayl, a learning management system built with one obsession: ease of use.They dig into why training in hospitality often becomes a tick-box exercise, what good looks like when you want real engagement, and how operators can use learning content to solve genuine business problems, from improving guest experience to reducing early staff churn.You’ll also hear a practical take on personalising induction, making compliance feel less painful, and why involving frontline teams in content creation can massively lift adoption.What you’ll hear in this episodeAn honest look at why compliance training gets treated like a chore, and what to do about itHow Tayl helps operators keep the basics simple: assign, track, complete, repeatWhy personalisation matters just as much in training as it does in CRMHow to build an induction pack that makes new starters feel welcome, not overwhelmedPractical ideas: GM welcome videos, local tips, “how we do things here”, and FAQs that stop managers repeating themselvesWhy relevance drives engagement, especially on high-risk topics like allergensThe trade-off between customising course content and keeping accreditationWhy short, TikTok-style videos made by frontline teams can outperform top-down training contentHow adoption differs by generation, and how to get older cohorts comfortable tooWhat mid-market operators (10+ sites) typically struggle with before switching LMSHow reporting should work in the real world: simple, readable, and actually usedBlair’s view on AI in training: helpful for speeding up content creation, but risky for compliance if accuracy slipsWhat “good” looks like in numbers: 75–85% completion as a common benchmark, and why 85%+ is strongUsing training as a strategic lever: tying learning to Google reviews, service confidence, retention, and early tenure drop-offStandout momentsTraining should start with culture, not compliance: make new starters feel like the company caresThe easiest wins often come from reducing repeated questions and giving staff instant answersGeneric e-learning can tick the box, but real examples from your menu and your operation drive learning that sticksCustomer support and onboarding matter as much as features if you want adoption to lastAbout TaylTayl is a learning management system designed to make hospitality training easy to roll out and easy to complete, with a focus on simple user experience for both deskless teams and managers.Find TaylWebsite: tayl.netConnect with Blair on LinkedIn: Blair Lundy

Reliable connectivity now sits alongside water and electricity for modern hospitality.

In this Sky Business–powered episode, Chris sits down with Shona Goodlad (Head of Existing Accounts, Sky Business) to unpack what really happens when you move from “one site” to “thousands of sites”.

They talk honestly about why tech projects feel risky, what commonly goes wrong, how strong governance and communication reduce downtime, and why operators should start with the problem (not the product).

If you’re planning a rollout in 2026, this is your practical playbook for making change land smoothly across sites, teams, and suppliers.What you’ll learnWhy connectivity is the foundation that enables every other tech decisionHow big rollouts break down (and how to plan for the uncontrollables)The role of governance, comms, and internal ownership in rollout successHow to avoid “speed obsession” and fix the real causes of poor experienceWhat a strong 30/60/90-day post-go-live cadence looks likeHow to align suppliers to business KPIs (loyalty, data, CX, risk)Why operators should bring partners in early to shape the journey, not just quote the priceKey moments00:00–01:20 Sky Business series intro + why “solve the operator problem” beats “sell the product”01:20–03:30 Shona’s background and what her team does for existing mid-market customers03:30–05:20 One site vs one thousand sites: what changes at scale05:20–07:30 Cost vs cyber vs downtime: what operators say they worry about vs what they really fear07:30–10:20 “Things will go wrong”: building trust, credibility, and mitigation plans10:20–12:40 Comms failures, site readiness, third parties, and why rollouts slip12:40–16:10 Post-go-live reality: stragglers, service cadence, and staying close to strategy16:10–18:20 Being unapologetically commercial (and why ROI matters for both sides)18:20–21:10 Connectivity as a utility + the real cost of downtime21:10–23:40 What operators should ask suppliers: “What will go wrong and how do we handle it?”23:40–26:20 Where mid-market operators should invest time when they don’t have a CTO26:20–28:40 Openreach realities: escalation paths, process, and why hospitality finds it alien28:40–29:50 How to reach Sky Business + meet the team at Tech on Toast’s February eventReach out to SKY at https://business.sky.com/s/medium-business

Workforce is still the biggest lever (and constraint) in hospitality. Labour costs keep rising, guest expectations keep rising, and “just work harder” isn’t a strategy.

In this episode, Ben Dixon — Co-founder and CTO at Sona — breaks down why Sona is approaching workforce management differently: not as another scheduling tool, but as a way to scale great operator decision-making across every site.

We get into forecasting and demand (and why outlier days matter more than averages), how to build trust with managers, what “nudging” looks like in real life, and where agentic AI is heading over the next 12–18 months — including the idea of an AI “chief of staff” for GMs.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why “people” is the #1 limiter to growth for many operators

• The “best GM in the worst site” thought experiment — and what it proves

• How Sona encodes great decision-making across staffing, onboarding, and coaching

• Forecasting done bottom-up: why each location behaves differently

• Building trust: showing the “why” behind forecasts and recommendations

• Why agentic AI is more than dashboards — it’s prioritisation and action

• Realistic ROI: where savings can show up quickly (and what it depends on)

• Vibe coding vs SaaS: what vendors must prove going forward

• Scaling globally: labour compliance rules engines with AI + human validation

Guest: Ben Dixon, Co-founder & CTO, Sona
Website: getsona.com

Subscribe for more conversations on hospitality technology, operators, and what actually works on the floor.

#hospitality #restaurants #workforce #labour #operations #AI #forecasting #SaaS #management #hospitalitytech

This week’s episode opens with something special: Always Open at Christmas, Tech on Toast’s brand new charity single created by the Hospitality Community & Choir in just 72 hours. All proceeds support Hospitality Action. Stream it, share it, and help spread the message.

Then we’re joined by Regan Collins, CEO of Coentric and the team behind Connect a platform tackling one of hospitality’s biggest (and most overlooked) blockers: frontline access to the tools they’re meant to use.

Regan shares why giving teams “great tech” isn’t enough if they can’t log in, why adoption stalls when access takes 12 steps, and how “quiet tech” can unlock huge wins across comms, learning, scheduling, HR, and beyond.

• Why frontline enablement breaks down at the identity and access layer

• The hidden cost of clunky logins: “step four and they’re out”

• Moving from 30% adoption to 98% by removing friction

• What “one front door” looks like for shifts, leave, learning, and comms

• Why generic passwords on paper are still (shockingly) a thing

• How better access improves retention, productivity, and belonging

• Replacing WhatsApp inside organisations (and keeping knowledge in-house)

• What’s next: facial recognition kiosks, smarter nudges, and AI-powered insights

• A practical reminder: demo everything and understand how it works in real life

• Charity single: thehospitalitychoir.org

• Connect: connectfrontline.com

• Find Connect on the Tech on Toast marketplace (look for the big blue “C” logo)

If you’re trying to get more from the tools you already pay for, this is a must-listen.

This week Chris is joined by Mitz Patel, Global Head of IT Projects at Soho House, and David Broom, CIO at Prezzo Italian, for a festive-but-real chat about the tech challenges and breakthroughs shaping hospitality right now.

They dive into inherited systems, shaky connectivity, labour and inventory headaches, AI that’s finally useful, and why hospitality tech still relies on strong human relationships. All of that… plus Abbey Road, Christmas rotas, and Mitz’s legendary community Christmas in Twickenham. 🎅💻

🌟 A quick word about “Always Open at Christmas”

Before the episode begins, Chris introduces “Always Open at Christmas” – this year’s brand new hospitality charity single. Recorded at Abbey Road Studios in just 72 hours by volunteers from across our industry, it celebrates the people who keep hospitality warm, open and full of heart.

💛 All proceeds go to Hospitality Action, supporting workers and families who need a lift this winter.
🎵 Search “Always Open at Christmas – The Hospitality Choir” on Spotify, Apple or Amazon Music and give it a stream, save and share.

In this episode 👇

• Why only 18% of operators would recommend their tech stack

• The reality of inheriting legacy systems and trying to modernise without breaking everything

• Connectivity battles: patchwork networks, microwave links, backups and the 1:30pm meltdown

• AI moving from hype to real operational gains

• Big vendors vs smaller, more agile players — and why relationships still matter more than features

• Christmas in hospitality: on-call IT shifts, family traditions and community hubs 🎄

Wishing you a brilliant Christmas from all of us at Tech on Toast – and remember:
we are always open at Christmas. 💛

👋 What’s this episode about?

Chris is joined by:

• Sasha (Product Marketing, Dojo)

• Chris (Côte Restaurant Group)

• Jack (Founder, Pizza Rover)

to talk about what seamless tech really means when you are in the middle of a busy service – not on a slide deck.

They cover how to cut friction for guests, keep systems reliable, use data and AI smartly, and still keep hospitality human.

• Friction and the “V” of guest anxiety

  • Guests are most anxious when they arrive and when they want to pay 😬

  • Waiting to sit, waiting to order, waiting to pay – still the big three problems.

  • Côte’s “V” model shows where tech can smooth those pinch points without forcing one way to pay.

• Integrations vs “too many apps”

  • Jack on the pain of stacking loads of niche tools that do not talk to each other.

  • When tech sits between you and the guest, direct feedback can drop – so you need data to fill the gap 📊.

• Reliability > shiny features

  • Sasha explains Dojo’s “always on” mindset, multiple fail-safes and 4G backup.

  • Downtime in payments, bookings or reservations during peak trading can cost a fortune – and trust.

• Data, loyalty and personalisation

  • Mass blast offers make guests feel spammed or even “ripped off”.

  • The panel talk about moving towards thousands of micro customer types and more personal contact 💌.

• Where AI actually helps (today)

  • Côte’s AI phone assistant “Joe” answers every call and recovers lost bookings 📞.

  • Biggest gains for now: phones, CRM, training, compliance and back-office efficiency – not robots replacing people on the floor.

• Future wishes & Christmas pressures

  • Jack wants AI and computer vision to take complexity out of the back office and compliance, not the warmth out of service.

  • Chris dreams of tech that simply understands how each guest likes to dine.

  • Sasha sees AI agents taking admin off managers so they can focus on people and culture 🎄.

If you are an operator wrestling with clunky systems, choosing between “all-in-one” and “best in class”, or wondering where AI genuinely fits in your world, this live episode will give you real stories, not theory.

Hit play, follow the show, and share it with a fellow operator who is currently at war with their tech stack 🔁💚

🔑 Big themes👉 Why listen?

This week on the Tech on Toast podcast I’m joined by Brett Robbins, CEO of Snapfix – the 📸 photo-first “brain at the centre of your building” that helps teams stay on top of maintenance, safety and day-to-day ops in one simple app.

We chat about why simple software is secretly the hardest thing to build, how Snapfix grew from a seaside town in Ireland 🌊 to Dublin’s Docklands and beyond, and why taking a picture + scanning a QR code can 10x safety reporting on the floor.

We also dive into AI, sustainability and the real world of broken kit – from £30k of dead plants 🪴 to cameras spotting spills before a guest slips, and bots quietly reading your invoices to tell you when it is finally time to replace that AC unit ❄️.

🎧 In this episode you’ll hear:

• 📲 What Snapfix actually does and why Brett calls it “the operational brain” in your building

• 🧠 The “modern art” analogy – 10,000 hours of work behind a product that feels ridiculously simple

• 🏨 Real stories from hotels, factories, care homes and more (including the £30k plant disaster…)

• 🤖 Where AI really helps maintenance and facilities teams today (no robot butlers… yet)

• 🌍 Why sustainability needs more than a sticker on the bathroom door – and how ops tech can help

• 🇮🇪 Snapfix’s journey from rural Ireland to Dublin’s tech hub and into the UK & US

💡 Episode sponsor

This episode is brought to you by Lightspeed – the POS and payments platform helping restaurants smash the festive rush 🎄, speed up tableside service and keep FOH and BOH perfectly in sync.

🔗 Links

• 🔧 Check out Snapfix: snapfix.com

• 👋 Connect with Brett on LinkedIn – search “Brett Robbins Snapfix”

• 🥪 More from Tech on Toast: techontoast.community

From Tech on Toast – helping hospitality operators make smarter tech decisions (and have a bit of fun along the way). 🎙️✨

This series, Business in Better Shape, was born from new research by Tech on Toast and Square, The Long-Term Case for Smarter Tech Investment.We spoke to more than 150 hospitality leaders across the UK, uncovering an industry stuck between ambition and hesitation. Most hospitality teams buy tech only when something’s on fire - Square’s research shows just 6% plan purchases, while 94% react. That insight inspired this series, real conversations with operators who are finding ways to move forward, to simplify, to modernise without losing what makes hospitality human.Download the research here;https://www.techontoast.community/researchIn our second episode, Rachel Masing, People Director, Pool House - from the minds behind Topgolf & Puttshack, lays out how to flip that script and design people-first systems before opening day and use tech to create space for human leadership.Episode HighlightsTech-infused experience: ball & cue tracking, digitized scoring, and player-levelling to make pool competitive and inclusive.People blueprint: values → behaviours → role profiles → always-on feedback loops; hire for skill and behaviour.Scale by design: choose tools that work cross-city/country, not just for site #1.Noise killers: clear comms rules + project visibility (e.g., Slack for HQ, ClickUp for projects) so work doesn’t vanish into silos.Tech as strategy: not “keep the Wi-Fi up,” but a leader who scans the market and briefs teams on what to adopt next.AI where it helps: recruiting at scale and emerging AI-enabled coaching/L&D—augment humans, don’t replace them.GM = business owner: elevate GMs to run people, finance, sales, and ops—then upskill them to coach on site.Ownership mindset: equity for core teams and day-one employee ownership to hard-wire culture and commitment.Big missing piece: a light, continuous performance conversation tool (voice notes, auto-pull shift/attendance/peer signals, simple scheduling).This series is powered by Square - helping hospitality operators put their business in better shape through connected commerce, payments, and restaurant technology.https://squareup.com/gb/en

This series, Business in Better Shape, was born from new research by Tech on Toast and Square, The Long-Term Case for Smarter Tech Investment.We spoke to more than 150 hospitality leaders across the UK, uncovering an industry stuck between ambition and hesitation. Most hospitality teams buy tech only when something’s on fire - Square’s research shows just 6% plan purchases, while 94% react. That insight inspired this series, real conversations with operators who are finding ways to move forward, to simplify, to modernise without losing what makes hospitality human.Download the research here;https://www.techontoast.community/researchIn our third epsisode Jonny Bramwell, Regional Ops at Rosa’s Thai shares the operator’s view from the floor, pick tools that give time back, fit the brand, and lift service - not add noise.Episode HighlightsBrand-first fit: tech must support the Rosa’s experience (fast, fresh, friendly) without forcing guests down paths they don’t want.FSR: in full-service, tech should facilitate the theatre and human touch, not replace it.Test & learn (hard): run real trial sites, stress-test with frontline teams, and involve the partner directly in fixes.Time back for teams: main buying lens - does it reduce workload, protect work-life balance, and free GMs to plan (not just cover shifts)?Operator dashboard: mornings start with covers, like-for-like, delivery, and guest sentiment to decide where to lean in.Adoption signals: happier teams, lower turnover, stronger reviews, rising spend/head = tech is actually used and valued.Buying criteria: brand fit, guest experience, time back, scalable rollout (roadmaps alone are not enough).Work with reality: mistakes happen - what matters is a partner who stays to tweak and land it properly.Message to vendors: do the homework, tailor the pitch, and focus on the two outcomes that matter: enhance guest experience + coach/develop teams.This series is powered by Square - helping hospitality operators put their business in better shape through connected commerce, payments, and restaurant technology.https://squareup.com/gb/en

In this episode of the Tech on Toast Podcast, Chris Fletcher sits down with Joel Robinson, founder of Openr – a data orchestration platform transforming how enterprise hospitality brands manage their tech stacks.Joel shares his journey from Sainsbury’s digital transformation team to leading digital strategy at Azzurri Group, before building Openr to solve one of hospitality’s biggest headaches: fragmented data and disconnected systems.💡 What you’ll learn in this episode:Why mid-market operators (20–30+ sites) need dedicated digital leadership earlier than ever.How Openr creates a single source of truth for product, pricing, and menu data across POS, delivery, websites, kiosks, and more.The three big wins for operators: efficiency, agility, and accuracy.How Stonegate Group went from updating prices just 3–4 times a year to hundreds of changes with confidence.Why Joel prefers “agile pricing” over “dynamic pricing” in hospitality.How AI is helping automate event menus and unlock new revenue streams.The future vision for Openr: optimising profitability across sales, volume, and margin.🎶 Bonus: Joel reveals his surprising past as a classical singer, with appearances at Carols from King’s and even on stage with Dizzee Rascal!Chapters:00:00 – Intro & Lightspeed sponsor02:00 – Meet Joel Robinson, Founder of Openr06:30 – Lessons from Sainsbury’s digital transformation13:40 – Moving into hospitality tech at Azzurri Group19:25 – Why mid-market brands need digital leaders sooner24:50 – The birth of Openr: solving fragmented data32:15 – Efficiency, agility & accuracy – Openr’s three key outcomes39:10 – Stonegate case study: price changes at scale47:30 – Agile pricing vs. dynamic pricing53:50 – Integrations & sweating your tech stack1:02:00 – Practical AI use cases in menu management1:11:20 – ROI stories & customer success1:18:40 – Openr’s future vision1:23:00 – Joel’s unexpected singing career 🎤1:28:00 – Where to find Joel & OpenrLinks & Resources:🌐 Openr: https://www.weareopener.com🔗 Connect with Joel Robinson on LinkedIn: Joel Robinson

This week, Chris sits down with Victor Lugger, co-founder of Big Mamma and Sunday, to unpack how “invisible tech” (think: pay-at-table that just works) can lift guest experience, speed up service, and actually reduce the tech clutter on the floor. From 31 trattorias across 8 countries to Sunday now processing $4.2bn and hitting ~90% adoption in London, Victor shares the operator’s lens on what matters: faster, simpler payments; more time for hospitality; and real-world KPIs that move the P&L.

• Why “less tech, better service” wins: replacing terminals with phone-based payment, not piling on more tools.

• Adoption that sticks: 70% in months → ~85–90% in the UK when teams offer the option properly.

• Guest experience uplift: table turns +12–16% at busy brands; reviews surge when the Google prompt sits right after payment.

• Tips up, teams happier: 2–4× tips (UK) and ~+12% (US) thanks to AI-powered tip prompts.

• Loyalty that finally works in full-service: ~52% of Sunday payers enrol vs 2–5% on terminals; earn/burn becomes seamless.

• Enterprise scale: POS-agnostic (24+ integrations), terminals + pay-at-table + hybrid ordering where it fits.

• The “guest app” vision: payment as the universal touchpoint to identify 70–100% of guests and trigger CRM/loyalty, not just bookings.

• 00:00 Intro & sponsor: Lightspeed Restaurant

• 01:05 Meet Victor: Big Mamma (affordable luxury) → Sunday (pay-at-table)

• 07:20 Why paying is broken — and how Sunday made it 5-second simple

• 12:10 Staff first: freeing servers for real hospitality, not card machines

• 16:40 Adoption drivers: the team makes the metric

• 21:15 Fine dining vs casual: why higher spenders adopt more

• 25:30 Reviews & revenue: faster turns, Google love, real KPIs

• 31:45 Loyalty that isn’t cringe: enrol, earn, burn without friction

• 38:20 US scale, data-led operators, +12% tips

• 44:05 AI in practice: smarter tip options; ordering patterns; service recovery

• 51:10 UK market maturity: bookings, POS, checkout, CRM

• 56:00 What’s next: Dubai & US for Big Mamma; Sunday’s guest-app flywheel

• 59:30 Where to find Sunday & wrap-up

• “We’re not adding tech — we’re replacing old tech with something guests already have in their pocket.”

• “Give guests the option. If 82% choose phone, we’re doing something right.”

• “With Sunday, tips are 2–4× higher in the UK and about +12% in the US.”

• “On Sunday payments, ~52% of guests enrol to loyalty. On terminals it’s 2–5%.”

• “Dishoom Shoreditch went from ~10k reviews at 4.4 to ~38k at 4.8 in 18 months.”

Victor Lugger — Co-founder, Big Mamma & Sunday
Website: sundayapp.com
(Also live on the Tech on Toast Marketplace.)

Lightspeed Restaurant — the point of sale and payments platform helping operators fly through the festive rush and beyond.

• Big Mamma: 31 sites, 8 countries; Dubai opening; US expansion.

• Sunday: pay-at-table, terminals, hybrid ordering; 24+ POS integrations; $4.2bn processed YTD.

• Operators: want the numbers behind adoption, tips and table turns? Take our Tech Check and we’ll map your stack and intros.

• Suppliers: interested in a case study or Shift Talk slot? Get in touch via Tech on Toast.

What you’ll learnChapter markersPull quotesGuestSponsorLinks & mentionsCall to action

What is great service in 2025? In this episode of Tech on Toast, powered by Zonal, we unpack why hospitality is still (and always will be) a people business—and how that truth fuels loyalty.

Host Chris Fletcher is joined by:

• Antony Pender — Founder, Yummy Collection (people-first pubs, bars & seafood concepts)

• Darren Smith — Head of Operations, Flat Iron (consistent, craveable steakhouse experiences)

• Gillian Nicholson — Sales Director, Zonal (tech that blends into brilliant service)

They dive into:

• Defining modern service: “relaxed rigor,” natural interactions, and letting guests drive the experience

• Training that sticks: stories, shadowing, and Gen Z–friendly, bite-size learning

• Tech that empowers (not replaces): surfacing the right info at the right time, seamlessly

• Culture and retention: flexibility, share schemes, meaningful recognition, and clear, kind feedback

• Protecting brand magic: value over hard sell; community, authenticity, and doing one thing exceptionally well

Pull quotes

“Hospitality is the job of making people happy.”
“It’s kind to be clear; it’s unkind to be unclear.”
“We’re far more emotionally intelligent than AI—especially right now.”

Catch up on the series: Missed an episode? Dive into the rest of our Loyalty Series to get fully up to speed.

In this episode of the Tech on Toast Podcast, powered by Zonal, we dig into the misunderstood but powerful world of personalisation in hospitality. With inboxes overflowing and attention spans shrinking, how do brands stand out without becoming pushy — or worse, creepy?

Host Chris Fletcher is joined by:

• Tom James, Managing Director at Bill’s Restaurants, leading the brand through a digital maturity journey with a strong focus on customer insight.

• Dan Brookman, CEO of Airship & Toggle, who helps 400+ UK hospitality brands turn customer data into meaningful engagement and revenue.

• Gillian Nicholson, Sales Director at Zonal, a technology provider supporting operators for over 45 years.

☕ Grab a coffee and listen in as we cover everything from handwritten notes in delivery bags to AI-powered customer insights.

🔥 What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• Why personalisation should feel like magic, not marketing

• The importance of the value exchange — what customers actually get in return for their data

• How brands like Bill’s and Pizza Express use loyalty to drive genuine connection, not just discounts

• The role of automation and segmentation in building brand voice at scale

• Why creepiness vs. annoyance is a real debate when using customer data

• Which channels are working best right now: email, SMS, WhatsApp, and apps

• How to measure success: from cover growth to visit frequency and customer lifetime value

• Where AI is taking us next — from predictive insights to smarter, real-time personalisation

🎧 Perfect for:
Operators, marketers, and tech leaders who want to use data more effectively to build loyalty, grow frequency, and keep guests coming back — without falling into the trap of discount dependency.

👉 Listen now and discover how to make your personalisation strategy feel truly personal.

In this episode of the Tech on Toast Podcast, Chris Fletcher welcomes back Dominic Child, VP of Sales at Ingredifind, for a conversation that goes beyond compliance and into the real operational and emotional impact of allergens in hospitality.

Together, they explore why allergen management is still largely manual in a digital-first industry, how it affects staff confidence, guest trust, and operational flow – and how Ingredifind is changing the game.

Dominic explains how their platform tackles the three biggest pain points:

• The lack of trust between suppliers and operators

• Friction between guests and servers

• The burden on staff under pressure to get it right

This isn’t just a conversation about technology — it’s a call to modernise how we handle one of the most sensitive parts of service.

🔥 What You’ll Learn:

• Why allergen management is the final digital frontier in hospitality

• The operational and reputational risks of ‘just ticking the compliance box’

• How self-service allergen tools boost repeat visits by 26% month-on-month

• Why training alone won’t solve the problem — and what will

• How Ingredifind’s plug-and-play platform works with existing systems

• The surprising scale of dietary needs — beyond the ‘top 14’ allergens

📊 Key Stats Mentioned:

• 74% of customers prefer to self-serve allergen info

• 30% of adults avoid certain foods due to adverse reactions

• 40% of diners will avoid restaurants if they can’t view menus in advance

• Diagnosed allergies affect 2 million UK adults – with children’s rates even higher

📲 Links & Extras:

🎥 Watch the full webinar demo of Ingredifind’s platform [insert link]

🛍 Visit Ingredifind on the Tech on Toast Marketplace [insert link]

📩 Contact Dom: dchild@ingredifind.com

📌 Coming Soon:

Ingredifind is teasing a major summer announcement that could revolutionise allergen matrices — keep an eye on their LinkedIn for updates.

In this episode, Chris is joined by Nikki Perry, VP of Product at TripleSeat, who flew in from Boston for her very first visit to London. They dive into Nikki’s journey from bussing tables at 13 to leading product strategy at one of the most exciting events platforms in hospitality tech.Expect a brilliant blend of real-world hospitality experience and cutting-edge product thinking — from how TripleSeat is cutting admin, increasing conversions, and transforming pre-orders in the UK, to how AI is quietly becoming the venue’s best friend.They also cover: • The rise of 3D event planning (think The Sims, but for weddings and private dining) • The difference between US and UK event culture (spoiler: pre-ordering cocktails is wild to Americans) • How AI integrations like AdSalt are streamlining inbound calls and converting more leads • Why TripleSeat’s newest tool, PartyPay, is making painful event payments a thing of the past • What’s coming next in the product roadmap (hint: AI assistants, natural language reports, and hotel tech upgrades)Nikki shares how TripleSeat remains laser-focused on one core user: the event manager — and how the team stays close to the ground through regular customer visits, product feedback loops, and actual party-throwing.✨ Key Takeaways: • 📊 Built by Operators – Most of the TripleSeat team has worked in restaurants or events, making the product truly hospitality-first. • 🧠 AI for Admin – From call-handling bots to natural language reporting tools, AI is embedded in the TripleSeat future. • 🍽 UK vs US – The cultural difference around pre-ordering food and drinks highlights the importance of local product nuance. • 🛒 Self-Service Sales – Tools like TripleSeat Direct and guest portals allow for faster bookings and better guest experiences. • 💳 Payments Solved – PartyPay means no more faxed credit card forms (yes, that was still a thing). • 🧭 Always Iterating – The product roadmap is fuelled by customer feedback, and prioritised by real impact, not just loud requests.🔗 Mentioned in this episode: • TripleSeat • AdSalt AI for hospitality • Tech on Toast📣 Connect with us:Got feedback, questions, or want to be featured?👉 Visit techontoast.community👉 Follow us on LinkedIn: Tech on Toast

This week on the Tech on Toast Podcast, Chris sits down with the always-insightful Joe Heather, Regional General Manager for Northern Europe at Deliverect, the Order Management Platform powering thousands of digital orders across hospitality and retail.From deep dives into the ever-evolving world of kiosk tech, third-party logistics, and marketplace dominance, to spontaneous chats about dogs, golf, and growing teams across borders, this one is packed with both insights and energy.What we cover:🍕 Why Deliverect is more than an integration platform📦 The retail delivery boom, and how Deliveroo and co-op might just replace your corner shop🛍️ How customer expectations from Amazon and Uber Eats are shaping hospitality tech🧠 Joe’s take on operator loyalty, tech partnerships, and the psychology behind marketplace ordering📊 How Pulse and Dispatch are giving operators more control over downtime, data and delivery🐶 Why a Labrador named Mars might be the best career move Joe’s ever made, seriouslyTop Takeaways: • The mid-market restaurant squeeze is real, and QR, kiosk and speed are winning. • Operators aren’t just thinking about “tech stacks” anymore, they’re thinking about order flow. • Retail’s on-demand revolution is just beginning, and Deliverect is building the rails. • Consumer convenience to price point. And speed is becoming non-negotiable.💬 “If it’s an order, and it needs managing, we want to be the platform to control it.” Joe Heather🔗 Want to connect with Joe? He’s very available on LinkedIn: Joe Heather on LinkedIn🖥️ Learn more about Deliverect: www.deliverect.com🎧 Like what you heard? Hit follow and check out more from Season 12 of the Tech on Toast Podcast, proudly supported by our pals at Lightspeed. For a demo of their all-in-one EPOS, head to lightspeed.co.uk/techontoast