The Rise of AI and Location Intelligence in QSR, with Gladys Kong

Brandon Landry joins QSR Uncut this week to discuss what’s ahead for Smalls Sliders, a brand that leapt onto the scene and appears ready to hit its growth stride. We discuss what’s next, what’s driving consumer interest these days, and also take a dive into some thoughts around leadership and what's needed to build an organization with lasting power.Registration is now open for QSR and FSR's Women in Restaurant Leadership Summit. Find your network. Get empowered. Learn from the best. You can find out more and sign up here.

All of sudden, bagels are one of the hottest categories in QSR. Let’s meet Tiki Bagel, a St. Pete-based brand that endured early craziness (what else is new in foodservice?) to emerge stronger on the other side. Now, it’s targeting growth via franchising and taking its unique and bold labor model forward into a future rife with potential.Registration is now open for QSR and FSR's Women in Restaurant Leadership Summit. Find your network. Get empowered. Learn from the best. You can find out more and sign up here.

Few restaurant brands have generated as much buzz in recent months as Mike's Red Tacos, a San Diego-founded concept that has hundreds of units lined up through franchising agreements. CDO Patrick Cunningham joins QSR Uncut this week to discuss the early push and what it's been like stepping into a role with so much whitespace ahead. Can Mike's Red Tacos define a category? We're about to find out.Registration is now open for QSR and FSR's Women in Restaurant Leadership Summit. Find your network. Get empowered. Learn from the best. You can find out more and sign up here.

Tim Busa and Brian Herr of Crunchtime join QSR Uncut this week as we tackle some of the industry’s most-pressing technology topics, from fragmented bloat to why surface-level API integrations haven’t solved the problem yet. We’ll introduce a new vision of a true "Connected Kitchen" and begin to lay out a roadmap for the future of operations in a more-connected restaurant world.This episode was brought to you by our partners at Crunchtime.

College roommates Eric Ongaro and Matt Salts joined forces at RCO Limited, the first Raising Cane’s franchise partner. Together, they helped grow the company to nearly 50 Ohio locations and $200 million in annual sales before Raising Cane’s bought back the enterprise in late 2021. While scaling RCO, however, the two kept running into development challenges, leading to the creation of an inside operation that ultimately became OLIO Development Group.Today, OLIO works with brands like Cane’s, Panda Express, 7 Brew, CAVA, Shake Shack, and more. Ongaro and Salts joined QSR Uncut to discuss their journey and what the state of development looks like for restaurants today.Registration is now open for QSR and FSR's Women in Restaurant Leadership Summit. Find your network. Get empowered. Learn from the best. You can find out more and sign up here.

Cofounder and executive chairman Steele Smiley returns to QSR Uncut to share his thoughts on why wellness and fitness remain major whitespace opportunities within the restaurant industry. We discuss how Crisp & Green is tapping in from an authentic angle, and what some brands are getting right and wrong about how America really wants to eat.Registration is now open for QSR and FSR's Women in Restaurant Leadership Summit. Find your network. Get empowered. Learn from the best. You can find out more and sign up here.

Industry vet Michael Sien joins QSR Uncut this week to talk about a recent leap—starting faSHOW, a specialist consultancy dedicated to helping organizers, exhibitors, and operators get more out of their industry events. We’ll explore what’s going wrong with the current model and how partners, leaders, and everyone in between can improve ROI while attending in-person experiences (including September’s QSR Evolution Conference).

At just about 90 locations open across 12 states and 230 signed for development in the coming years, the fast casual tenders focused brand is hitting the growth lever. Andy Howard, known as the “Chicken Guy,” has had stops from Kenny Rogers Roasters to Ranch One to Wingstop before taking on this corner of the category. What’s ahead, how is Huey Magoo’s winning over customers and franchisees—we get into all of it as we explore the future of a surging chicken contender.Registration is now open for QSR and FSR's Women in Restaurant Leadership Summit. Find your network. Get empowered. Learn from the best. You can find out more and sign up here.

Chick-fil-A owner-operator Jon Harmeling, a former West Point instructor in systems engineering, joins QSR Uncut to chat about his journey with the category leader, but also to break down how he’s developed 10 AI systems that run inside his store. Harmeling speaks to restaurant, franchise, and other frontline leadership audiences about using AI to lead and develop people. His Frontline AI Leadership keynote focuses on coaching, meaningful recognition, and following through on employee goals. Explore Jon’s keynote.Registration is now open for QSR and FSR's Women in Restaurant Leadership Summit. Find your network. Get empowered. Learn from the best. You can find out more and sign up here.

Gladys Kong, CEO of Azira, joins QSR Uncut this week to break down some rising technologies and how restaurant brands can better understand their customers, optimize operations, and compete in a market where consumer behavior is quickly changing. Is it time to move beyond basic foot traffic reporting and into predictive, data-driven decision making? Should you worry about privacy regulations? A lot to get into as innovation continues to flood the foodservice world.Registration is now open for QSR and FSR's Women in Restaurant Leadership Summit. Find your network. Get empowered. Learn from the best. You can find out more and sign up here.