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Episodes

153

Latest episode

Aug 2026

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EN-US

About the show

Josh Sharkey (Entrepreneur, professional chef, and founder/CEO of meez, the culinaryOS for food professionals) interviews world class entrepreneurs in the food space that are shifting the paradigm of how we innovate and operate in our industry.

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August 11, 2026Episode 14459 min

Kenny Warner on How AI Models Really Work, Why Clean Data Wins, and the Future of Restaurant AI

#144Josh and Mike sit down with Kenny Warner, VP of Data Science and Engineering at meez, for a conversation that starts with Kenny's unlikely path into tech leaving college after his sophomore year to launch a cause-marketing startup and winds up deep inside the machinery of modern AI. Kenny breaks down what actually happens when a language model reads your data, explaining tokens, embeddings, attention, and inference in plain terms, and why you can't simply point a chatbot at a hundred-million-row database and expect good answers.He and Josh dig into the real difference between building a model and fine-tuning one, why clean and trusted data is the true competitive advantage, and how smaller, purpose-built models can beat the giants at specific jobs. They also get into where this is all heading for restaurants, from turning recipes, costs, and margins into something a system can reason about to the rise of MCP and agentic tooling, with a detour through Nobu, a Miami chef tour, and a few fun facts along the way. It's a rare, jargon-free look under the hood of AI from someone who builds it every day.Links and resources 📌Visit meez: https://www.getmeez.comFollow meez on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getmeezFollow Josh on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshlsharkey/?hl=enFollow Josh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-sharkey-406965b/Follow Kenny Warner on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennywarner/Visit Blanket: https://www.blanket.app/Follow Michael on Instagram: @michaeljacoberTimestamps08:04 Kenny's Path From College To Startup Founder12:01 Raising Capital And Hitting Hard Times15:01 Building A Model Versus Fine-Tuning One16:11 What Tokens And Embeddings Really Are18:45 How Attention Works In Language Models26:01 Why Clean, Trusted Data Wins29:05 The Case For Smaller, Purpose-Built Models41:03 How AI Reads A Hundred Million Rows43:21 MCP And The Rise Of Agentic Tools50:01 What All This Means For Restaurants

August 4, 2026Episode 14356 min

From Dishwasher to Restaurant Empire: Cameron Mitchell on Loyalty and Culture

#143Josh sits down with Cameron Mitchell, founder and CEO of Cameron Mitchell Restaurants, to explore the leadership philosophy behind one of the country's most respected independent restaurant groups. Cameron shares the remarkable journey from high school dropout and dishwasher to building more than 100 restaurants, reflecting on the goals he set at 18 years old that ultimately shaped his entire career. Together they discuss why culture always outweighs strategy, the importance of promoting from within, and how creating opportunity not just jobs has helped his company retain leaders for decades. The conversation dives into Cameron's approach to goal setting, accountability, leadership retreats, and maintaining values through economic downturns, rapid growth, and even the sale of part of his business. He explains why restaurants succeed or fail based on people rather than concepts, why family and work must thrive together, and how his commitment to long-term relationships has become the foundation of both his business and his life. It's an insightful conversation about entrepreneurship, resilience, hospitality, and what it really takes to build a company that lasts.Links and resources 📌Visit meez: https://www.getmeez.comFollow meez on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getmeezFollow Josh on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshlsharkey/?hl=enFollow Josh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-sharkey-406965b/Visit Cameron Mitchell Restaurants: https://cameronmitchell.comFollow Cameron Mitchell Restaurants on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cmrcolumbusFollow Cameron Mitchell on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/camsaysyesLearn more about Cameron Mitchell's book Yes Is the Answer. What Is the Question?: https://cameronmitchell.com/book/Timestamps03:54 Scaling From One To Ten Restaurants In The Nineties07:01 From Dishwasher To Restaurateur14:14 Opening The First Restaurant Against The Odds18:59 Where The Drive Came From29:19 Making The Hard Decisions Vision Demands36:18 Fear Of Failure Versus Fortitude42:02 Reputation, Trust, And Accountability49:10 Retreats That Invigorate The Team55:19 A Sous Chef, A Disney Trip, And Generosity1:04:38 Selling The Company And Protecting The Culture

July 28, 2026Episode 1421 hr 3 min

Drew Nieporent on Nobu, Tribeca Grill, and the Art of the Restaurateur

#142Josh sits down with Drew Nieporent, one of the most influential restaurateurs in American dining and the man behind Montrachet, Tribeca Grill, Nobu, Corton, and Bâtard. Over four decades he opened 40 restaurants and has partnered with some of the world's best chefs, from David Bouley to Paul Liebrandt to Marcus Glocker. Recorded at Nobu Downtown, the conversation centers around Drew's belief that the restaurateur is the director, and the chef, the wine, the service, and the room are the cast. His new memoir "I'm Not Trying to Be Difficult" traces the whole arc.Drew digs into the complicated relationship between a restaurateur and the chefs he builds alongside, why he refused to name a restaurant after a chef ("if it fails, you can never use your name again"), and what actually keeps a restaurant alive for decades: affordable rent, replicable quality, a comfortable room, and gentle prices. He breaks down naming Nobu over Matsuhisa, pruning the menu to a core that has barely changed in 32 years, and how a teenage job at McDonald's led to the Daily Burger at Madison Square Garden, 2,000 a game. There are detours through Danny Meyer, Keith McNally, Robert De Niro, and Muhammad Ali, and it closes on the hard truth of his own metaphor: they can make a movie about your life, but the director never gets to walk up and take the awardLinks and resources 📌Visit meez: https://www.getmeez.comFollow meez on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getmeezFollow Josh on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshlsharkey/?hl=enFollow Josh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-sharkey-406965b/Follow Myriad Restaurant Group in LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/myriad-restaurant-group/Visit Myriad Restaurant Group: https://www.myriadrestaurantgroup.comFollow Drew on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drewnieporentTimestamps02:49 The Kitchen In The Window06:49 The Restaurateur As Director07:54 Growing Up In 1960s New York12:52 Danny Meyer And The Rise Of Shake Shack14:51 Losing Chefs: Boulud, Liebrandt, And Corton24:30 What Makes A Restaurant Last39:15 Signature Dishes And Naming Nobu43:28 The Daily Burger At Madison Square Garden51:56 Coppola, De Niro, And A Life Around Film57:44 What He's Most Proud Of

July 21, 2026Episode 1411 hr 7 min

Maddy Shannon on 'the Anticipate and deliver' approach, the price of a restaurant meal, and the Ai paradigm

#141Josh sits down with Maddy Shannon, Head of Product Strategy at SpotOn, who has spent her career making independent restaurants more profitable. From a start at Bain, to the business team at The Alinea Group under Nick Kokonas, to the finances at SingleThread Farms in Healdsburg, to a Stanford MBA and now leading SpotOn's reporting, Profit AI, and analytics teams, Maddy sits at the rare intersection of hospitality and product. The conversation keeps circling one idea: great hospitality and great product design solve the same problem. Both anticipate what someone needs before they ask, and both disappear when they work. She calls it the invisibility problem, and it reframes everything from how a point of sale should feel to why diners undervalue what a restaurant gives them.The two dig into what a restaurant meal is really worth, and why pricing a plate off the cost of the prawns misses the wine glass that gets refilled and the person clearing your crumbs. Maddy floats David Nayfeld's idea of billing a meal the way a plumber does, materials, labor, total, so guests see what they are paying for. From there it turns to leadership, where she sets Nick Kokonas's clarity of vision against Kyle Connaughton's prove me right approach at SingleThread, and Josh on unlearning twenty years of knowing every station when he moved into tech. On AI, they land on the line that anchors the back half: data is plentiful, attention is scarce. Both agree the real unlock is not another dashboard but software that tells an operator what to do, the way a doctor diagnoses rather than asking where it hurts. It closes on mastery, the donabe rice pot Maddy treasures, and the tension that restaurant economics rarely leave a chef room to master one thing. Her parting advice: next time you sit down to eat, take a beat, look around, and do not look at the prices so closely.Links and resources 📌Visit meez: https://www.getmeez.comFollow meez on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getmeezFollow Josh on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshlsharkey/?hl=enFollow Josh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-sharkey-406965b/Visit SpotOn: https://www.spoton.comFollow Maddy Shannon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maddyshannonTimestamps03:29 From a Bain Offer to a Life in Restaurants13:37 Scaling Impact From Fine Dining to SpotOn17:38 Jobs to Be Done and Building Profit AI20:40 Why the Best Hospitality Is Invisible27:56 Why Guests Undervalue Restaurants34:58 Rethinking How Restaurants Price the Experience38:39 Leadership and the Nightly Grind of the Kitchen48:32 Journaling, Therapy, and Building a Second Brain59:46 Data Is Plentiful, Attention Is Scarce1:06:29 Mastery, Craft, and Going Against the Grain

July 14, 2026Episode 1401 hr 15 min

Deirdre Auld On Leading With Curiosity, Not Fixing

#140Josh sits down with Deirdre Auld, CEO and partner of Coda Restaurant Group in Boston, whose portfolio includes SRV, Baleia, Gufo, The Salty Pig, and the soon-to-open Celine. Deirdre traces her circuitous path into hospitality leadership, from an early love of architecture and a stint in private equity to years running restaurants and eventually stepping away to earn a master's degree and a leadership coaching certification from Northwestern. She and Josh dig into the coaching philosophy she's built her career around: assuming people are whole and complete, leading with curiosity instead of trying to fix, and helping leaders ask better questions rather than hand out answers. The conversation moves through Dierde's approach to running one-on-ones and leadership meetings at Coda, her mental models for hiring, firing and performance improvement plans, and where she sees restaurant technology and AI heading over the next several years. Deirdre is candid about both the promise and the risk of leaning on AI as a thought partner, why she still believes human connection is the ohardest thing to replace in hospitality, and what it took to build a leadership culture that can absorb constant change. It's a wide-ranging, thoughtful conversation about leadership, mentorship, and what it really takes to develop people well.Links and resources 📌Visit meez: https://www.getmeez.comFollow meez on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getmeezFollow Josh on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshlsharkey/?hl=enFollow Josh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-sharkey-406965b/Visit Coda Restaurant Group: https://www.codarestaurantgroup.com/Follow Deirdre Auld on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deirdre-auld-b40666162Follow Deirdre Auld on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/deirdreauld/Timestamps01:19 From architecture and private equity into restaurant leadership08:59 The story behind naming a restaurant Celine15:11 Growing up in Raleigh and moving to Chicago for school18:17 Finding her way back into restaurants after stepping away20:54 Choosing to go back to school for a master's and a coaching certification29:54 Building a coaching product for restaurant leaders35:01 Where coaching ends and therapy begins44:18 Using AI as a thought partner without losing critical thinking50:07 Skill thinning, governance, and the hollowing out of middle management59:43 One-on-ones, team structure, and weekly rhythms at Coda1:06:30 Do performance improvement plans actually work1:12:00 Closing thoughts and an invitation to visit Coda's restaurants

July 7, 2026Episode 1391 hr 13 min

Xavier from OEO on restaurant bookkeepers vs Ai and how to charge corkage fees

#139Josh and Mike sit down with Xavier Mariezcurrena Vega, co-founder of Over Easy Office and ChouxBox to trace the winding road that took him from busing tables as a teenager to running a 400-person back-office operation spanning Philadelphia, Bogotá, and Manila. Xavier shares the story of opening and losing a restaurant in Dallas, the friendship with his business partner Tony that grew out of a failed concept in Philadelphia, and how their shared frustration with messy invoices and unreliable financial reporting led them to build a company designed to bring transparency and accountability to restaurant operations.The conversation digs into how Xavier and Tony built their Philippines-based team from scratch, the early days of scanning invoices by hand to win over skeptical operators, and the cultural and logistical challenges of training a team to understand the chaos of restaurant data. Xavier offers a candid take on why he believes bookkeepers and the human-in-the-loop will remain essential for the foreseeable future, even as AI tools improve, and explains the difference between administrative bookkeeping and the deeper financial insight that helps operators actually run their businesses. He also weighs in on the limits of automation and robotics in restaurants, the realities of working with razor-thin margins, and what keeps him optimistic about the future of independent restaurants. The episode closes with a lighter detour into wine, corkage fees, and the debate over whether a good bottle can ever really be bad for you.Links and resources 📌Visit meez: https://www.getmeez.comFollow meez on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getmeezFollow Josh on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshlsharkey/?hl=enFollow Josh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-sharkey-406965b/Follow Xavier on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/followxavier/Follow Xavier on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/winepeopleproblems/Follow Overseasoned (Xavier and Tony's podcast) on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/overseasoned.us/Visit Over Easy Office: https://www.overeasyoffice.comFollow Michael on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-jacober-713104124/Visit Blanket: https://www.blanket.app/Follow Michael: @michaeljacoberTimestamps08:24 Xavier's Path From Busboy To Restaurant Owner13:39 Meeting Tony And The Failed American Oak Concept17:16 The Idea Behind Over Easy Office And ChouxBox21:01 Building The Team In The Philippines From Scratch24:38 Winning Over Skeptical Restaurant Operators32:01 Landing Early Clients And Learning The Hard Way41:23 Are Bookkeepers Going Extinct With AI48:01 Defining What A Bookkeeper Actually Does56:31 The Limits Of Automation And Robotics In Restaurants01:02:43 Rising Costs, Shrinking Margins, And The Future Of Restaurants01:07:24 Wine, Corkage Fees, And Closing Thoughts

June 30, 2026Episode 13852 min

28 years inside Nobu with Chef Thomas Buckley, why Nobu's legacy continues to grow, lasting relationships, and Thomas' $250 Grilled Cheese

#138Josh sits down with Thomas Buckley, Corporate Executive Chef of Nobu Restaurants and one of the key culinary leaders behind more than 60 Nobu locations worldwide. Thomas shares the unlikely path that took him from a vegetarian upbringing in a seaside town in England to some of the world’s most influential kitchens, including The Connaught, Daniel, El Bulli, and ultimately Nobu. Along the way, he reflects on discovering his passion for cooking, learning classical French technique, and how a transformative experience in Spain changed the way he thought about food forever.The conversation explores what has kept Thomas at Nobu for nearly three decades, the philosophy and leadership style of Nobu Matsuhisa, and the challenge of maintaining consistency across a global restaurant empire. They discuss grower relationships, sourcing, Japanese culinary principles, opening restaurants around the world, the evolution of Nobu’s menu, and the lessons Thomas has learned from working with some of the greatest chefs of his generation. He also shares stories from early Nobu Miami, the realities of opening restaurants at scale, and why simplicity, restraint, and respect for ingredients continue to define great hospitality.Links and resources 📌Visit meez: https://www.getmeez.comFollow meez on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getmeezFollow Josh on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshlsharkey/?hl=enFollow Josh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-sharkey-406965b/Visit Nobu: https://www.noburestaurants.comFollow Nobu on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/noburestaurants/Follow Thomas on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-buckley-385a27a/Follow Thomas on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fissionchips/Timestamps00:02 Growing Up Vegetarian In England02:14 Discovering Cooking And Culinary School05:05 Moving To London And The Connaught10:10 Working In France And Michelin Kitchens13:47 From Daniel To Nobu18:55 The Philosophy Behind Nobu’s Food25:24 Building Global Consistency Across 60+ Restaurants31:51 Tempura, Rice, And The Details That Matter40:56 Opening Nobu Miami And The Early Days48:51 Nobu Hotels, Future Projects, And What’s Next

June 23, 2026Episode 1371 hr 6 min

Jenn Saesue and Chat Suansilphong of Fish Cheeks, Bangkok Supper Club and now Bubs Bakery on Thai cuisine and how to actually make good gluten free baked goods

#137Josh sits down with Jenn Saesue and Chat Suansilphong, co-founders of 55 Hospitality, recorded at Bangkok Supper Club. Chat learned to cook in his father's restaurant in Thailand before the CIA and Colicchio & Sons. Jenn opened her first restaurant at 22 and watched it fail. The two met managing a Thai restaurant group in Hell's Kitchen, then built Fish Cheeks, Bangkok Supper Club, Fish Cheeks Williamsburg, and the allergen-free Bub's Bakery. The thread through all of it: do fewer things, do them with intention, and trust people to run them.Jenn and Chat explain why Fish Cheeks opened with under twenty items and no pad thai, even after friends asked if they were stupid (pad thai, Chat notes, was pushed by the Thai government and is something most Thai people eat once a year). They get into refusing to dial down the spice, why sourcing is the only real moat once recipes leak, and why the stigma against machines in a kitchen is both shortsighted and bad for keeping good cooks. The back half turns to Bub's Bakery, born from her husband's intolerances and a seventeen dollar chocolate truffle at the green market, built with Chef Melissa Weller (Per Se, Bouchon, Sadelle's) on one rule: taste good first, allergen-free second.Links and resources 📌Visit meez: https://www.getmeez.comFollow meez on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getmeezFollow Josh on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshlsharkey/?hl=enFollow Josh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-sharkey-406965b/Follow Jenn Saesue on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenn-saesue-7794341b3/Visit Fish Cheeks: https://www.fishcheeksnyc.comFollow Fish Cheeks on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fishcheeksnycFollow 55 Hospitality on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/55hospitalityVisit Bangkok Supper Club: https://www.bangkoksupperclub.comVisit Bub's Bakery: https://www.bubsbakery.com/Timestamps00:00 Parenting, reward systems, and life with young kids03:15 The origins of Fish Cheeks and Bangkok Supper Club06:20 From CIA and Bouley to Per Se and Noma13:20 Why Fish Cheeks refused to serve Pad Thai18:05 The philosophy behind authentic Thai flavors24:10 Essential Thai ingredients and sourcing challenges28:50 Building Bubble Dogs and pairing champagne with hot dogs34:40 Grower champagne and what makes it special40:10 Opening a gluten-free bakery that actually tastes good50:15 Technology, AI, and the future of restaurant operations

June 16, 2026Episode 1361 hr 13 min

Ming-Tai Huh on Square's 40% layoff, the restaurant tech stack, and the dream of one day quantifying the ROI of marketing.

#136Josh and Mike sit down with Ming-Tai Huh, restaurateur, MIT graduate, former Toast and Square executive, and co-founder of Cambridge Street Hospitality Group. Ming shares the unlikely path that took him from management consulting and technology into the restaurant industry, beginning with a spontaneous decision to open a restaurant after becoming deeply involved in his local Cambridge community. He reflects on his early days at Toast, helping to build foundational products such as online ordering, loyalty, APIs, and partnerships, and explains how his experience as both an operator and a technologist shaped the way he thinks about restaurant software.The conversation dives into the future of restaurant technology, AI, SaaS, restaurant operations, and why supply chain management remains one of the industry's biggest unsolved problems. Ming discusses the rise of AI agents, the growing gap between experienced operators and first-time restaurateurs, the realities behind scaling restaurant software, and why he believes marketing attribution and ROI measurement remain major opportunities for innovation. Along the way, he shares stories about getting married inside an unfinished restaurant, building Puritan & Company from scratch, and what operators can learn from both the restaurant and technology worlds.Links and resources 📌Visit meez: https://www.getmeez.comFollow meez on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getmeezFollow Josh on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshlsharkey/?hl=enFollow Josh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-sharkey-406965b/Follow Ming-Tai Huh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mingtai/Follow Ming-Tai Huh on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mingtai/Visit Puritan & Company: https://www.puritancambridge.comVisit The Lexington: https://www.thelexingtoncx.comVisit Cambridge Street Hospitality Group: www.eatcambridge.comTimestamps01:03 Meeting Through The Boulay Alumni Network02:28 Getting Married In An Unfinished Restaurant08:22 From MIT And Consulting To Restaurants13:16 Finding The Right Chef Partner20:53 Building Products At Toast28:31 Creating Toast's Platform And API Ecosystem38:02 Joining Square And The Restaurant Opportunity46:03 The Future Of Restaurant Technology58:17 AI, SaaS, And The Operator's Toolkit01:19:40 The Biggest Opportunity Still Missing In Restaurants

June 9, 2026Episode 13558 min

Why the Best Champagne Comes From Growers, Not the Big Houses. Plus Per Se's Yes vs Noma's No, and working with your spouse.

#135Josh sits down with chef and sommelier Sandia Chang for a conversation that spans 20 years of restaurants on both sides of the Atlantic. From her start on the fish station at Bouley in 2003, to four years at Per Se under Thomas Keller, to a stint at Noma in Copenhagen alongside her now-husband James Knappett, Sandia eventually landed in London where the two opened Bubble Dogs (a champagne and hot dog bar on Charlotte Street) and Kitchen Table, now a two Michelin star restaurant. Along the way she became one of the UK's most knowledgeable voices on grower champagne and built Bubble Shop, her online platform for small-family producers most operators have never heard of.The conversation moves between the two service philosophies that defined her path. Per Se's "yes to everything" approach, where the team would prepare a different potato for Mick Jagger with every course, and Noma's "we will not make a cocktail because we are not great at making cocktails" approach. Sandia explains why both are right and how she's blended them at Kitchen Table. They dig into why simple food like a hot dog is harder to execute than a 20 course tasting menu, what actually changes when you get your second Michelin star (spoiler: the box checkers show up), the economics and politics of importing grower champagne into the UK, and the truth about running a restaurant with your spouse. It closes with the advice Sandia gave at the end: you don't go into something because you know what to do, you go into something because you want to learn how to do it.Links and resources 📌Visit meez: https://www.getmeez.comFollow meez on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getmeezFollow Josh on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshlsharkey/?hl=enFollow Josh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-sharkey-406965b/Follow Sandia on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/watermelonchang/Follow Sandia on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandia-chang-684152227/Visit Kitchen Table: https://kitchentablelondon.co.uk/Visit Bubbleshop: https://bubbleshoplondon.com/Timestamps03:55 Restaurant Life Around School Pickups08:34 From Hospitality School To Bouley14:47 Meeting James And Moving To Noma17:40 Per Se Says Yes, Noma Says No24:26 Casual But Excellent Service29:46 Grower Champagne Versus Big Houses40:02 Why Hot Dogs Work With Bubbles48:55 Bubble Dogs And The Champagne Shop01:01:09 Advice: Learn By Doing

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