Tech on Toast, The Hospitality Tech Podcast

Hosted by Chris Fletcher

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193

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Jul 2026

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About the show

Connecting hospitality with the tech that makes it better. Hosted by Chris Fletcher — former operator, now tech matchmaker — Tech on Toast brings you sharp, unfiltered conversations with the people shaping hospitality’s future. Each week, we sit down with operators, founders, and innovators to unpack the tech, tactics, and trends transforming how the industry works. From smarter kitchens and AI-driven scheduling to loyalty apps and next-gen EPOS, we cut through the noise to find what really works on the ground. Whether you run a pub, lead a restaurant group, or build tech for the sector

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July 8, 2026Episode 21038 min

People Buy People: Ruth Carpenter on Tech, Trust and the £55 to £11 Ad Story

This week Chris sits down with Ruth Carpenter, Sales and Marketing Director at Black Rock Restaurants, the Brighton based collection behind Burnt Orange, The Salt Room, Coal Shed, Tutto and new pub concept The Crazy Goose. Ruth rejoins the show (she was number 32 in the harem, now back at 210) fresh from three and a half years at Pizza Pilgrims, where she helped grow the business from 16 to 31 sites. They get into what it actually takes to market six premium brands at once, why the Pizza Pilgrims one big campaign model does not translate, and how Ruth has gone properly old school by building a network of the 100 most loyal customers per site and getting under the skin of what they want. The tech chat is a good one. Ruth talks through inheriting the stack, why Airship does the CRM job, and how bringing in EDGEY took cost per customer from £55 down to £11 in three months, all trackable and wired into SevenRooms so there is no arguing about ROI at board level. Plus why she picked Glu for gifting and loyalty, and the recurring theme of the episode: you are buying into people, not just tech. Elsewhere they cover the £2 million Salt Room refurb (driven by data showing the audience had aged with the brand), making premium dining accessible without a race to the bottom on price, merging sales and marketing into one team, and a proper honest take on AI. ChatGPT as the hardest working colleague on the team, but everything gets a human lens on top, and stay curious. Closes on the best sign off this podcast has ever had. Chill out, follow the plan, stay true to who you are. Topics Marketing six premium brands with a small team The 100 loyal customers strategy and guest segmentation Paid social done right and proving ROI (£55 to £11) The tech stack: Airship, EDGEY , Glew Merging sales and marketing The Salt Room £2m refurb and repositioning for a younger audience Accessibility versus price Using AI without losing the human lens Guest Ruth Carpenter, Sales and Marketing Director, Black Rock Restaurants. Say hi on LinkedIn (Ruth Carpenter) and check out Black Rock Restaurants.

June 30, 2026Episode 17839 min

The Hospitality Front Door: Gregers Knudsen on Comms, Culture and Killing App Fatigue

Your team doesn't think about ops, people and culture as separate problems. They just want to know when they're working and where to find stuff. So why do most hospitality businesses still run their workforce across six or seven different apps? This week Chris sits down with Gregers Knudsen, founder of Monotree, the employee "front door" app that pulls comms, learning and operations into one place for multi-site hospitality. Gregers came up through Planday and built Monotree off the back of watching businesses with 1,000+ employees run their entire company on Facebook groups and WhatsApp. They get into why that's a problem, how you actually move a workforce off WhatsApp, and what changes when your engagement data finally lives in one place. Plus the open API, customers building reports straight into Claude, and a smart idea on capturing what people know before they walk out the door for good. Honest, operator-first chat about the bit of the stack everyone has and almost nobody has properly fixed. A few lines that stuck: "Good tech is just when you don't really think about it." "We want to be the heavy use guys." "If your providers don't have an open API, switch them now. Your data is your precious thing." Find Gregers and Monotree at monree.com, on LinkedIn, or just at dinner. He eats out a lot. This episode is supported by Lightspeed. EPOS and payments built to keep service flowing when the patio's packed and the game's on every screen.

June 26, 2026Episode 725 min

CrunchTime: Why the World Cup Is a Back Office Problem with Shamik Mojaria.

Chris sits down with Shamik Mojaria, who marks his first year at Crunchtime, to dig into what it really takes to run consistent, efficient operations across a hospitality estate. They get into why years of grabbing the best available tech has left many operators with fragmented, disconnected systems that create more problems than they solve, and why the conversation is shifting firmly toward unified back office solutions. With the World Cup as a backdrop, they talk through what unpredictable demand actually looks like on the ground, why that 15 minute halftime window can make or break a venue, and how good forecasting changes everything. They also get into what practical AI means in a hospitality context, why ROI is still the hardest question in the room, and how brands like Cafe Nero have used Crunchtime for nearly a decade to digitise and scale their operations. If you're running multiple sites and still logging into six different systems to get a picture of your business, this one's for you.

June 17, 2026Episode 19435 min

Confidence, Courage, Clarity: What Actually Holds People Back with Lorraine Copes

Lorraine Copes, Founder of Be Inclusive Hospitality Chris sits down with Lorraine Copes, founder of Be Inclusive Hospitality, for a proper chat about the people side of the industry. From bringing Shake Shack to the UK to procurement boards at Gordon Ramsay Group and Corbin & King, Lorraine has built a 24-year career, then walked away from the "proper job" to build something with purpose. Six years on, BIH has trained 2,000+ leaders. We get into the data on who makes it up the chain, why confidence beats everything, and the gap between what boards say about people and what they actually do. From logistics to leadership. The "safe" degree, falling into hospitality supply chain, and pushing into procurement for the wins and the impact. The Shake Shack effect. Danny Meyer, "Setting the Table" as her ops bible, and the lesson that stuck: take care of your people and they take care of your guests. Why she pivoted. Not away from procurement, but towards purpose. She never once said "I want to be an entrepreneur." She wrote the plan in her garden, took redundancy, and went for it. Be Inclusive Hospitality, six years in. Launched June 2020 into a sector finally ready to listen. Two halves: training leaders on inclusion and belonging, and an upward social mobility arm running mentorship, scholarships and education. The Better Hospitality Campaign. An industry-wide survey looking at the consequences of what's happening, plus a leadership committee building a set of standards. Report drops end of September. The numbers. Entry level is the most diverse part of the industry, the boardroom rarely reflects it. Hospitality has the ingredients to be the best, if it builds real career pathways. Confidence, courage, clarity. The three things that show up when Lorraine coaches leaders, with confidence at the top. Why she refuses to call it "imposter syndrome." The board-level gap. It always comes back to people. Investing in them costs little and lifts every KPI you sweat over. Restaurant: Akoko on Berners Street Tech that earned its place: Fixr (the expense tool Chris put her onto) Best advice: Find your tribe bihospitality.co.uk lorrainecopes.co.uk LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok: Lorraine Copes and Be Inclusive This episode is powered by Lightspeed. The EPOS and payments platform built to keep service flowing when summer gets busy. Don't just keep up with the rush, own it with Lightspeed. What we coverQuickfireFind Lorraine

June 10, 202634 min

Como's Rubén Recio Nogales on loyalty that actually works, frictionless data and why WhatsApp is coming for UK hospitality

Loyalty used to mean a stamp card and a prayer. Not anymore. This week Chris sits down with Rubén Recio Nogales, VP of Business Development at Como (now Como Sense), to unpack what modern customer engagement really looks like, and why most operators are sitting on a goldmine of data they're not using. Como describes itself as a data company that specialises in customer engagement. It sits between your operational side and your CRM, pulls in every transaction (identified or not) and surfaces the insights that actually move the needle. Think 3,000 lapsed members targeted in two clicks, or spotting the customers one stamp away from a reward who'll react to almost anything you send them. Rubén and Chris get into penetration rates (why 15 to 30 percent is normal and how one client hit 80), why loyalty members consistently outspend everyone else, and the frontline staff who quietly make or break the whole thing. They also look ahead at WhatsApp marketing, automated segmentation, AI driven reporting, and the holy grail Live Nation are chasing: card tokenisation that identifies the guest with zero friction at the till. Honest, practical and refreshingly free of hype. If you're an operator with data you don't know what to do with, this one's for you. Key talking points: Why "loyalty" got a bad name, and what's changed Penetration rate explained, and why 80 percent is wild The two click campaign and reading customer behaviour WhatsApp marketing: massive in the Middle East, heading to the UK Card tokenisation and frictionless loyalty (the Live Nation play) Where AI fits: segmentation, reporting and machine learning Why your GM matters more than your software When to change systems, and when to leave a good thing alone Guest: Rubén Recio Nogales, VP of Business Development, Como Find Rubén: LinkedIn (Rubén Recio Nogales). Como are also on the Tech on Toast marketplace. Chapters: 00:00 Intro and Lightspeed 01:05 Meet Rubén, single parenting and 19 year old cucumber dramas 02:18 Spain to the UK, an ice cream stall in Westfield 03:01 What Como actually does 04:25 Acquired by Global Payments, what the name means 05:09 The state of hospitality tech 08:06 Why the old loyalty schemes failed 09:24 The value exchange and the Starbucks lesson 11:00 Penetration rate and business insights in two clicks 12:29 The Nando's chilli effect 15:31 AI and machine learning in the product 16:11 Como across 50+ countries 17:26 WhatsApp marketing and cultural differences 21:02 Loyalty members spend more, and why 23:07 Penetration rate explained, and the 80 percent client 24:52 The frontline staff who make loyalty work 27:20 Should you switch systems? An honest answer 30:47 Live Nation, tokenisation and the frictionless holy grail 32:47 How to get hold of Rubén 33:41 Chris leaves his daughter at the vets

June 3, 202642 min

Authentic Marketing in a World of AI Noise, with Visha Kudhail

Visha Kudhail has spent nearly two decades in marketing across Channel 4, Thinkbox, Google, Pinterest and Square, where she and Chris first crossed paths on the hospitality side of the business. Now she has written a book on authentic marketing, and this episode digs into what authenticity actually means once you strip away the buzzword. We get into the difference between being truthful and being authentic, why trust is the connecting thread through everything, and how operators can stand out in a climate of rising misinformation, AI fatigue and a cost of living squeeze. Visha makes the case that brand is not just the marketing team's job, that you have to earn the right to be in the room with a customer, and that AI should be your sparring partner, not your content machine. Plenty here for marketers, founders and tech vendors alike. What we cover 02:01 Visha's career path from TV and Thinkbox to Google, Pinterest and Square 06:20 The book reveal and why she wrote it 08:11 Why authenticity matters now: misinformation, political noise, cost of living and only 38% of people eating out 10:17 What authentic really means: your words matching your beliefs as an operating principle 11:38 Truthful vs authentic, and why even honest brands can feel fake 13:32 Keeping authenticity intact as you scale a business 14:03 The rise of content creators like Topjaw and why operators lean on them 16:37 AI as a sparring partner, and why critical thinking cannot be outsourced 18:47 The three tests of a great insight: brand truth, relatability, actionability 19:50 Why none of it works if your data is not clean 20:51 Building trust, with real examples from Google and Pinterest 23:48 Why brand belongs to the whole business, not just the marketing room 27:58 Earning the right to be in the room with the customer 29:34 The Bread Ahead story and the power of one great piece of customer-led content 31:26 Will AI make fake authenticity easier? The Coca-Cola Christmas ad cautionary tale 32:47 AI rejection, dumb phones and the cultural shift back to analog and craft 34:29 What Visha would build first if starting a brand from zero 35:16 Profitable authenticity, with Patagonia, Nike, e.l.f. and Pieminister 37:30 Book launch plans and what she hopes it changes 40:30 Where to find Visha A few takeaways Truth is being factually accurate. Authenticity is the feeling you create. Brands can be honest and still come across as fake. A strong insight passes three tests: is it baked into your brand truth, does it relate to your product, and can it actually shift behaviour. Use AI for productivity and efficiency, not as a cost cutting exercise that strips out the people doing great work. You always have to earn the right to be in the room with a customer, no matter how big you are. Authentic brands that stay true to their values can still drive profit. Patagonia, Nike and e.l.f. are the proof. About the book Visha's book on authentic marketing is out 3 June in the UK and the US. It is built as a reusable, practical guide drawn from real strategies and frameworks she has applied day to day, with several chapters on data and a deep dive on how to think about AI. Links Pre-order and find the book via Visha's website Connect with Visha on LinkedIn

May 27, 202640 min

From AI implementation to impact with John Raguin from CrunchTime, Tim Cross from Caffè Nero UK, and Andrew Winter from SSP Group plc

In this episode, we're joined by Tim from Caffè Nero, Andy from SSP, and John from CrunchTime for a no-nonsense conversation about AI in hospitality. What's actually delivering ROI, what's failed, and what the future looks like for operators on the ground. Less LinkedIn hype, more real talk. What's Actually Working AI forecasting is the clearest ROI win — CrunchTime saw adoption jump from ~1% to 50% of locations in 12 months Caffè Nero is piloting AI-driven stock availability and assisted ordering SSP is using AI for labor forecasting, trading hour optimization, and upsell recommendations The Data Problem Bad data kills AI results — CrunchTime's own support AI was 3% accurate until they cleaned up their data sources The sweet spot for forecasting data: 400 days (more doesn't meaningfully improve accuracy) 82% of UK operators use tech forecasting, but average accuracy is only 62% Change Management is the Hard Part John: The #1 reason implementations fail isn't the tech — it's change management in operations Andy: SSP is shifting from technology-led to business transformation-led change Keep humans in the loop — let GMs enrich AI forecasts, not just override them What's Coming Voice-based AI for managers: ask your phone for stats or tomorrow's forecast, no back-office report needed Managers move from the back office to the floor — John's timeline: 5–7 years for widespread adoption One Piece of Advice Each John: Pick a small pilot with engaged managers and start there Andy: Understand the business problem first — don't implement tech for tech's sake Tim: Find an internal AI subject matter expert; you don't need a Head of AI

May 19, 202624 min

Why "Just Get Some AI" Is the Worst Brief You Can Write, Rod Schneider, Workforce.com

Rod returns to the podcast after two years to discuss what has genuinely changed in workforce management, and what is simply being repackaged. A familiar pattern is playing out across the industry: leadership sees AI-branded software, decides it looks promising, and tasks an operations manager with finding it. One layer deeper, the desired outcome is rarely defined. The brief drives the purchase, rather than the problem. In this episode: The Workforce.com origin story, from a university bar with questionable timesheet accountability and 30,000 pound punch-card scanners to a cloud-based product built around that problem Why multi-region European payroll is so difficult, and how being built in Australia, home to some of the most complex earnings rules in the world, became a genuine competitive advantage The decline of the detailed RFP, and why discovery conversations uncover the real requirement that documents cannot The cost of poor alignment: mis-bought and mis-sold software, and how the sale gets celebrated while the operator's problem remains unsolved A measured view on AI: bullish on accessibility, sceptical of "world first" claims for capability that has existed for years The open question for the category: customisation in the operator's hands, or hardcoded into the system A practical, operator-first conversation for anyone evaluating workforce technology or trying to translate a vague AI mandate into a real outcome.

May 13, 202632 min

Diego Vega & Rory at Rye Energy, The Hidden Cost That's Eating Your Margins

Energy is the line on the P&L that nobody owns and everybody pays for. In this episode, Chris sits down with Diego Vega, Founder and CEO of Rye Energy, and is later joined by Rory, Head of Operations and ex-chef, to crack open a category most operators have been forced to ignore. Why this conversation matters Hospitality consumes three to four times more electricity per square foot than the average business. A coffee shop, per square foot, burns more energy than a petrol station. And yet, energy procurement remains one of the most opaque, broker-led, deliberately complex purchases an operator makes. Diego compares it to where payments sat five years ago, before Dojo and the new wave of providers pulled back the curtain. Rye is doing the same for multi-utilities. What Rye actually does Rye is a platform that unifies data and contract terms across electricity, gas, water (and soon waste) for multi-site operators. Three core jobs: procurement, real-time monitoring via meter data, and bill validation. It benchmarks your sites against each other (Manchester vs Leeds vs London) and against sector peers, so you finally know what good looks like. The 40% problem Only 40% of your energy bill is the actual commodity. The rest is non-commodity transmission costs, levies and fees financing the renewable transition. Lock in the best unit rate you like; the hidden cost stack is where margins quietly disappear. The cheapest kilowatt hour is the one you don't use, and reducing usage compounds savings because it pulls down the non-commodity charges too. The surprise finding from 100+ live sites Diego went in expecting efficiency to be the headline win. It wasn't. The bigger unlock has been growth. Operators trying to open 5, 10, 17 sites a year keep getting stuck on single-phase to three-phase upgrades, undersized meters, and MEP plans that don't match the kitchen they're trying to run. Nobody on the team owns this, and a £50k landlord capex contribution rarely covers it. Rye is quietly removing that drag on growth pipelines. Rory on what operators get wrong After eight years in energy and a previous life in kitchens, Rory has seen the patterns. The biggest culprits: HVAC and extraction systems left running on poorly configured timers, sucking money overnight. Defrost cycles spiking load profiles at 3am for no operational reason. Sites moving in and forgetting to sort utilities until the supplier starts chasing debt. The fix is process, not heroics. Rye builds an average load profile per site (half-hourly), overlays what good looks like, and quantifies the gap in pounds. Same shape, different scale. The well-run site becomes the playbook for the rest of the estate. The macro picture nobody's planning for Three major shocks in six years: Covid (demand-side), Ukraine, and now Iran (supply-side). Jet fuel reserves reportedly down to three weeks of supply heading into summer. Energy crises become food crises through fertiliser and transport costs. Wheat, rice and coffee feel it next. Diego's point: in the next 18 months, regulatory changes around half-hourly data access could cut costs by 40-50% for operators who know how to act on it. Most won't, because nobody on the team is watching. When to act If you're 6-12 months out from contract end, that's the window. Rye tracks the wholesale market up to a year ahead of your renewal and moves when the dip is right, rather than letting brokers run the clock down on you. The commercial bit Rye only charges once it starts saving you money. Book a call, get a demo, see where the gaps are before committing anything. Find Rye Website: https://rye.energy Marketplace: https://www.techontoast.co.uk/marketplace

April 15, 2026Episode 154 min

Roger Wade: The Man Behind Box Park on Building Brands That Actually Last

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