In this special episode of The QSR Experience Show at the National Restaurant Association Show, Bobby speaks with Ming-Tai Huh, Head of Food & Beverage at Square and Partner at Cambridge Street Hospitality Group. Ming-Tai shares his journey to becoming a leader at Square and his passion for community involvement.
He dives into how Square’s technology is revolutionizing the food and beverage industry by streamlining restaurant operations and enhancing decision-making. Ming also offers invaluable advice for aspiring restaurateurs, including the importance of leveraging AI and knowing the right time to expand.
Topics discussed:
- Insights on how Square’s technology helps streamline operations and enhance decision-making in the food and beverage industry.
- Challenges and strategies for integrating technology into restaurant operations, ensuring seamless transitions and improved efficiency.
- Effective marketing strategies, including targeting specific segments to stand out and drive customer engagement.
- The importance of focusing on the employee experience to create a positive and productive work environment.
- Knowing the right time to expand and create new restaurant concepts, based on market demand and operational readiness.
- The value of talking to other operators to make informed decisions and avoid reinventing the wheel in the restaurant business.
- How to maximize the benefits of attending industry trade shows by setting clear goals and gathering relevant information to improve your business.
Guest Quotes:
“In particular, one restaurant called Craigie on Main, unfortunately closed in Covid, but really kind of got enamored about the business, hospitality, being a VIP, being treated well, and my thoughts on that experience, where I’d love to invest and, you know, find myself being more attached to a business like this. Yeah, I got a call one day from one of the assistant general managers who had left and was interested in starting a new place. And I got kind of really excited about the idea and said, you know, I want to do this.”
“So year one was awesome. It was also crazy. And year two came along and it really hit us as in like, hey, wow, you actually have to run a successful business at some point. The hype is over and, you know, now you have to carry yourself through actual quality.”
“And ultimately, how do I get a p and l in my hand that I can actually make decisions on? And so implementing above store reporting was one of our first things. Second thing that we implemented was on the guest side, which was, how do we marry our guest data and our sales data in one place so that we could truly do some segmentation and marketing that would ultimately be beneficial.”
“Well, I mean, I’m a data guy, so anything associated with data and automation and AI is really helpful. I’m excited about deploying, even in my own restaurants, the ability to engage with guests in a hospitable way with technology like AI, whether it’s emails or messaging, like square messaging.”
“So my best suggestion is that you talk to as many operators as possible so that you can make an informed decision about what you want to do differently. What do you want to not reinvent the wheel for? There’s some things that you just should not try to reinvent the wheel and then use that as the way for you to risk your launch.”
Get in touch with Ming-Tai Huh:
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Get in touch with your host, Bobby Marhamat:
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