Restaurant Technology Podcast

TECH MENTIONED: * Toast Marketing — Retargeting and Loyalty * Marqii — One-Stop Listing Management * Google Business Profile — Local Search Visibility * Palona.ai — AI Voice Automation * Ovation — Real-Time Guest Feedback You can also join the conversation on our Rising Tides Live series every Wednesday and Friday at 10am (PST) What’s on your Community Tech Stack? Building a restaurant is about the people who gather around the table as much as it’s about the meal. At my restaurant Cali BBQ in San Diego, we’ve found that magic happens when the connection you build with guests continues long after they’re done eating. My mission with my company Cali BBQ Media is to share the tools that have helped us turn casual guests into a true, lasting community. This is the second installment in our 4 Cs series (Commerce, Community, Content, Communication). We previously broke down our Commerce tech stack, and we are releasing the next two soon—Communication and Content—so make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss those deep dives into how we run our business. Here is the breakdown of the Community Tech Stack we use to stay connected. 1. The Digital Front Door: Your Website The most important asset in our community stack is our own website. While social media is great for reach, your website is where you truly own the relationship. I see so many owners creating incredible content on social media, but that work often stays on those platforms instead of living on their own “digital storefront”. By hosting content, selling BBQ, and managing catering orders on our site, we can re-target the guests who visit us and treat them with actual loyalty. It’s the one place where content, commerce, communication, and community all live under one roof. * Link: CaliBBQ.media * Link: BeTheShow.media 2. The Relationship Driver: Toast Marketing Maintaining deep relationships with guests is hard work, and I’m so happy that Toast built marketing tools directly into their platform. It prevents us from having to manage six different disconnected systems just to stay in touch with our community. We use the data from people spending money online and in our restaurant to retarget them through integrated loyalty, email, and SMS marketing. It allows us to reach back out to the people who already love what we do and keep that conversation going. * Link: Toast Marketing & Loyalty 3. The Listings Master: Marqii There are dozens of spots online where your restaurant information lives, from TripAdvisor and Yelp to Tesla and Apple Maps. It is incredibly easy for someone to get your hours of operation or your menu wrong. We use Marqii as our single source of truth. Instead of logging into every individual site to fix a typo or update holiday hours, we use one dashboard to push the correct info everywhere. It even allows us to respond to all our reviews from one place, ensuring our community feels heard without our team getting lost in a dozen different browser tabs. * Link: Marqii 4. The Local Hub: Google Business Profile Google is making massive investments in how small businesses show up locally. If you are a restaurant owner, this is digital real estate you cannot ignore. We treat our Google Business Profile as a living document. Keeping it updated is the fastest way to stay connected to the local community exactly when they are searching for what we do in real-time. If you haven’t logged in lately, now is the time to get it updated and engage with the people looking for you. * Link: Google Business Profile 5. The 24/7 Host: Palona.ai We now have “Shawn AI” answering our phones. It’s an incredible automation that ensures we never miss a community connection just because the restaurant is busy. On Father’s Day alone—one of our busiest days of the year—Palona.ai answered over 150 calls that my staff didn’t have to touch. The AI gives directions and even allows guests to place orders via Toast using Voice AI. It keeps the phones ringing and the guests happy without adding stress to the team during the holiday rush. * Link: Palona.ai 6. The Problem Solver: Ovation Ovation is one of our favorite tools because it allows us to have a conversation with a guest before a bad experience becomes a permanent public review. If we forget a side of jalapeño cheddar cornbread in a to-go order, the guest can text the manager on duty immediately through the app. This gives us a chance to fix the problem in real-time. When we make it right, it actually encourages people to write more five-star reviews on the platforms that matter. It’s about being proactive and leading with hospitality. * Link: Ovation 7. The Live Connection: Rising Tides & Pitch the Tide To build community, you have to stay connected and avoid “posting and ghosting” on social media. We host live shows every week to stay connected with other owners and our local fans. Rising Tides is our virtual town square where owners, operators, and tech pros gather every Wednesday and Friday at 10 a.m. Pacific to share secrets. We also just launched Pitch the Tide on Fridays, where tech brands pitch their products and you—the community—get to ask questions and give them direct feedback. It’s all about lifting each other up. * Link: Rising Tides Live Join the Digital Hospitality Community We’ve been in the restaurant business for almost two decades, and the media business for half of that. We’re giving away everything we’ve learned for free on this Substack and wherever you find our content. Whether you have questions about newsletters, B2B content marketing, or social media, we have the resources to help you. Make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss the next part of our 4 Cs series! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit restauranttechnology.substack.com