WEBVTT - No-Shows Crimp Fine Dining Restaurant Profits 0:00:22.600 --> 0:00:23.760 Welcome to Chopping It Up. 0:00:24.079 --> 0:00:26.360 I'm your host, Mike Halon, the senior restaurant and food 0:00:26.360 --> 0:00:30.440 service analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. Today we're joined by Matt Tucker, 0:00:30.520 --> 0:00:34.040 the CEO of Talk. Talk is a reservation platform for 0:00:34.120 --> 0:00:36.760 high end restaurants. So thanks for doing this, Matt. 0:00:37.040 --> 0:00:39.480 Thanks for having me, Mike, looking forward to the conversation. 0:00:39.920 --> 0:00:41.760 Yeah, same, And we mentioned. 0:00:41.760 --> 0:00:44.120 As I mentioned to you before we got started, I 0:00:44.159 --> 0:00:48.160 noticed that you're a fellow Hoya. You're the third I'm sorry, 0:00:48.200 --> 0:00:51.920 the second Hoya. Actually a fun fact, our first guest 0:00:51.960 --> 0:00:55.920 ever was also a Hoya. The gentleman's younger than both 0:00:55.920 --> 0:00:59.560 of us. Greg Frankfurt covers restaurants stocks for movies. 0:00:59.600 --> 0:01:01.320 Yeah, yeah, I know the name. And you're going to 0:01:01.400 --> 0:01:04.240 have the Sweet Green Guys on at some point as well. 0:01:04.240 --> 0:01:08.360 They're kind of famous Holier restaurant tours. Yeah. I mean, 0:01:08.400 --> 0:01:10.600 I grew up down the street from Georgetown and my 0:01:10.600 --> 0:01:13.560 mother worked there for forty years. So proud to have 0:01:13.600 --> 0:01:16.600 gone there for grad school. Like you played football on 0:01:16.640 --> 0:01:19.840 the roof of the building a little bit, then you 0:01:19.880 --> 0:01:21.880 did it for real. I did it for fun in 0:01:21.920 --> 0:01:24.240 grad school. But yeah, it's great to be on with you. 0:01:24.600 --> 0:01:26.920 Yeah for sure, man, Yeah, George sounds a great place. 0:01:26.959 --> 0:01:27.640 I love getting back. 0:01:27.640 --> 0:01:29.840 There's amazing, It is amazing. I mean that's why I 0:01:29.840 --> 0:01:34.000 got a lot of my formative hospitality experience. So oh yeah, 0:01:34.640 --> 0:01:35.400 yeah for sure. 0:01:35.720 --> 0:01:39.080 So yeah, okay, yeah, so you had mentioned you mentioned 0:01:39.120 --> 0:01:41.759 you worked as a bouncer, what other any other. 0:01:41.920 --> 0:01:45.960 Hospital I've worked in restaurants too, So yeah, I worked 0:01:46.000 --> 0:01:50.240 as a bouncer at some bars in Georgetown and nearby 0:01:50.280 --> 0:01:55.240 that I'm sure you remember. And I worked as a 0:01:55.240 --> 0:01:59.800 bus boy, a bar back, a waiter very very briefly, 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:02.320 I want to I won't call it a samlier. That will 0:02:02.360 --> 0:02:07.200 do a disservice to incredible professionals in that business. But 0:02:07.240 --> 0:02:11.080 I recommended wines and a private club downtown. And it 0:02:11.200 --> 0:02:16.760 was terrifying because after maybe the first question, I had 0:02:16.760 --> 0:02:18.480 no idea what I was talking about, and they just 0:02:18.520 --> 0:02:22.160 prepped me in the morning and I was certainly not qualified. 0:02:22.200 --> 0:02:25.680 But it was a new private club and they moved 0:02:25.720 --> 0:02:28.200 me off of that job very quickly to just a 0:02:28.240 --> 0:02:31.200 regular waiter job. But yeah, so a lot of formative 0:02:31.240 --> 0:02:34.280 years in Georgetown related hospitality establishments. 0:02:34.560 --> 0:02:35.320 That's really cool. 0:02:35.480 --> 0:02:38.320 I actually kind of regret that I didn't work more 0:02:38.400 --> 0:02:41.800 in restaurants. I did a little stint as a short 0:02:41.919 --> 0:02:44.440 order cook, you know, on a kind of an as 0:02:44.560 --> 0:02:49.000 needed basis for a friend of mine, but that was 0:02:49.080 --> 0:02:51.160 really it. So I definitely wish it, you know, now 0:02:51.200 --> 0:02:54.160 that I'm you know, covering the restaurant industry, I wish 0:02:54.240 --> 0:02:57.120 I had some more experience being a server and stuff 0:02:57.160 --> 0:02:57.520 like that. 0:02:58.040 --> 0:03:01.320 Yeah, there's I mean, the restaurant is so broad. You 0:03:01.639 --> 0:03:05.239 described talk for fine dining, and certainly that's the category 0:03:05.760 --> 0:03:07.840 or the segment we started in, but there's so many 0:03:07.880 --> 0:03:11.120 different segments. Even if you had an amazing experience, you know, 0:03:11.200 --> 0:03:14.400 in one segment of the restaurant industry doesn't even necessarily 0:03:14.440 --> 0:03:18.400 translate to others. I mean that the vast difference in 0:03:18.520 --> 0:03:21.040 experience between someone like me, who was just a waiter 0:03:21.360 --> 0:03:26.360 briefly and professional staff who work in these fine dining 0:03:26.400 --> 0:03:29.800 restaurants who have worked in the industry for decades. In 0:03:29.840 --> 0:03:34.880 many cases, it's hard to even compare. It's like professional 0:03:34.920 --> 0:03:40.280 basketball player versus junior varsity So sure, yeah, it's not 0:03:40.400 --> 0:03:41.760 one industry, that's for sure. 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:44.320 Yep, all right, good stuff. 0:03:45.040 --> 0:03:49.720 Let's start with I guess if you could give us 0:03:49.720 --> 0:03:52.760 a little information about your career prior to Talk and 0:03:52.760 --> 0:03:55.160 what attracted you to this opportunity. 0:03:56.400 --> 0:03:59.440 Yeah, sure, happy to talk about that, Micah. Prior to Talk, 0:03:59.520 --> 0:04:02.040 for just under ten years part of Talk, I was 0:04:02.080 --> 0:04:04.760 the president and chief operating officer of a restaurant tech 0:04:04.760 --> 0:04:08.280 company named Olo, or called Olo. You know some of 0:04:08.320 --> 0:04:12.120 the Olo folks. You had one on recently, Juwan George, 0:04:12.160 --> 0:04:15.160 who I must say did an amazing job. That was 0:04:15.160 --> 0:04:18.960 a great podcast. Juan was awesome. So I was there 0:04:19.040 --> 0:04:24.159 for nine years, Mike and joined Noah Glass, the founder 0:04:24.200 --> 0:04:27.080 and CEO, when there were ten people and we were 0:04:27.120 --> 0:04:29.440 doing I don't know, two million dollars in revenue, and 0:04:29.560 --> 0:04:32.840 left a year after we went public with a couple 0:04:32.839 --> 0:04:37.360 of hundred million revenue and probably eight hundred or so employees, 0:04:37.680 --> 0:04:41.680 a very different company than when I started there and 0:04:41.839 --> 0:04:46.200 prior to Olo, I've been in the really the software 0:04:46.279 --> 0:04:50.280 and e commerce space for a long time since the 0:04:50.480 --> 0:04:53.680 late nineties, starting at the first startup I worked at, 0:04:53.920 --> 0:04:57.080 which is called lending Tree, which is still around. It 0:04:57.200 --> 0:05:01.120 was a startup when I joined, eventually went public. It 0:05:01.160 --> 0:05:04.119 was eventually acquired by Interactive Corp. Then it was spun 0:05:04.160 --> 0:05:07.080 back out as a standalone public entity, and so I've 0:05:07.120 --> 0:05:09.400 been the e commerce and software space for a long time, 0:05:09.480 --> 0:05:14.720 like and yeah, joined Talk. Asked me why I joined Talk? 0:05:14.880 --> 0:05:18.080 So it was really I wasn't sure I wanted to 0:05:18.080 --> 0:05:20.839 stay in the restaurant technology world, to be quite frank, 0:05:21.120 --> 0:05:25.160 you know, after nine years and watching the growth of 0:05:25.240 --> 0:05:28.640 Volo and the digital ordering part of the restaurant industry, 0:05:29.480 --> 0:05:32.600 I wasn't totally sure I wanted to stay in it 0:05:32.760 --> 0:05:35.679 solely because I like learning about new industries. I always 0:05:35.680 --> 0:05:38.480 find that fascinating, and I didn't want to, you know, 0:05:39.000 --> 0:05:41.480 get bored in a certain area, and I again like 0:05:41.520 --> 0:05:45.880 I like to learn. But in meeting with Anthony Caslanoos, 0:05:45.920 --> 0:05:48.920 the founder of Squarespace they acquired Talk about two and 0:05:48.960 --> 0:05:52.039 a half years ago, and spending time with Nick Kokonas 0:05:52.200 --> 0:05:56.919 was the founder of Talk. Those two guys are incredible entrepreneurs, 0:05:57.279 --> 0:06:00.080 and you know, I felt like I was in a 0:06:00.080 --> 0:06:04.080 good place. And I felt ultimately like like, you know, 0:06:04.120 --> 0:06:07.440 the fine dining category was one that is, like I 0:06:07.480 --> 0:06:09.760 was saying in the intro, like it's a different business 0:06:10.040 --> 0:06:13.839 in a different world, and I felt like I really 0:06:13.880 --> 0:06:17.120 needed to understand that I have my own perspective on 0:06:17.400 --> 0:06:23.520 fine dining, having not historically you know, been you know, 0:06:23.640 --> 0:06:25.960 had been someone who had grown up in the fine 0:06:26.000 --> 0:06:29.720 dining world at all, wasn't used to find dining as 0:06:29.720 --> 0:06:32.320 a consumer to a very large extent as well. So 0:06:32.400 --> 0:06:34.880 I felt like this is a great opportunity to learn 0:06:35.720 --> 0:06:37.719 a very, very different part of the world. And the 0:06:37.760 --> 0:06:40.160 more I dug into talk, the more I realized we served, 0:06:40.880 --> 0:06:44.599 you know, beyond fine dining. We served the hospitality industry, 0:06:45.040 --> 0:06:48.320 you know, outside of restaurants and hotels and private clubs 0:06:48.400 --> 0:06:50.800 and wineries, which is a big part of our business. 0:06:51.720 --> 0:06:55.839 So the challenges were were interesting and clear, and I 0:06:55.839 --> 0:06:58.760 felt like my background was the appropriate one and I 0:06:58.760 --> 0:07:01.960 felt like I could learn I had I've learned so much, Mike, 0:07:02.040 --> 0:07:04.000 it's been It's been an amazing experience. 0:07:04.480 --> 0:07:07.800 Yeah, fine dining is definitely a different animal, uh than 0:07:07.839 --> 0:07:09.520 a lot of the companies I'm sure you worked with 0:07:09.520 --> 0:07:10.920 with Olo for sure. 0:07:11.640 --> 0:07:14.240 Yeah. Absolutely, it is a totally different animal. And I 0:07:14.240 --> 0:07:18.720 had a perception based on some fine dining experiences when 0:07:18.760 --> 0:07:22.800 I was younger, that you know, we're radically different from 0:07:23.080 --> 0:07:25.680 you know, what I found when I joined the industry, 0:07:26.160 --> 0:07:29.720 and the people who are in the fine dining industry. 0:07:29.800 --> 0:07:34.840 Their passion for service and hospitality, for the food, for 0:07:34.920 --> 0:07:39.000 the wine, for the experience. It's just amazing. I mean, 0:07:39.120 --> 0:07:42.080 they're they're I was going to say they're artists, but 0:07:42.120 --> 0:07:45.720 they're way beyond that. They are incredible people to work with. 0:07:45.960 --> 0:07:48.760 And you know, we do our best to Talk to 0:07:48.760 --> 0:07:52.280 create an incredible software and e commerce product and get 0:07:52.280 --> 0:07:54.080 out of the way, you know, get out of the 0:07:54.120 --> 0:07:57.320 way of hospitality, make the product is easy to use 0:07:57.880 --> 0:08:00.800 so they can do their job and that's served and 0:08:01.000 --> 0:08:04.800 serve them with passions. So it's been great to watch 0:08:04.880 --> 0:08:05.800 and participate. 0:08:06.920 --> 0:08:08.320 Very cool. And can you talk a little bit of 0:08:08.400 --> 0:08:09.760 how Talk is unique? 0:08:10.960 --> 0:08:14.200 Yeah, for sure. So when Nick started the company about 0:08:14.200 --> 0:08:17.760 a decade ago, his original idea, Mike, was pre payment 0:08:17.920 --> 0:08:22.440 for reservations. And you know, so the idea of pre 0:08:22.560 --> 0:08:26.760 buying something isn't unique, but the applying of that idea 0:08:26.840 --> 0:08:30.160 to the restaurant industry was indeed unique. And so you know, 0:08:30.240 --> 0:08:33.000 we're buying tickets ahead of time for lots of things, 0:08:33.080 --> 0:08:37.439 you know, sporting events, concerts, and Nick's idea was, well, 0:08:37.440 --> 0:08:40.880 wait a minute, we have you know, demand that far 0:08:40.920 --> 0:08:44.600 exceeds supply. Yet at the same time we have this 0:08:44.800 --> 0:08:47.439 no show issue at restaurants in the you know it's 0:08:47.480 --> 0:08:50.720 in the twenty percent still, twenty percent of people just 0:08:50.840 --> 0:08:55.920 make a reservation don't show up. So his thought was, well, wait, 0:08:56.200 --> 0:08:58.560 I could charge for this. I mean, I should charge 0:08:58.600 --> 0:09:01.440 for this. If I charged for this, I know the 0:09:01.480 --> 0:09:03.839 revenue I'm gonna have, I have the cash in the door. 0:09:04.360 --> 0:09:07.520 I could pay my you know, my food providers. I 0:09:07.559 --> 0:09:10.520 could pay my service people properly. I could pay my rent. 0:09:10.640 --> 0:09:13.560 I know the money is coming in. And the original 0:09:13.600 --> 0:09:17.120 idea behind talk was merely that was the pre payment 0:09:17.800 --> 0:09:21.040 of reservations. Obviously, going along with that is you know, 0:09:21.120 --> 0:09:23.360 the table management and everything else you did, and the 0:09:23.520 --> 0:09:26.280 sort of core reservations platform. But that was the idea. 0:09:27.240 --> 0:09:30.640 The company started inside of the linear group that next 0:09:30.640 --> 0:09:32.520 in a linear and then really spun off from there. 0:09:32.520 --> 0:09:35.960 But I really caught fire amongst the fine dining world 0:09:36.040 --> 0:09:38.600 because you know, they had the same no show issues. 0:09:38.600 --> 0:09:41.720 They had the same high food cost, high labor cost. 0:09:41.760 --> 0:09:43.600 I mean, we talked about people who worked in fine dining, 0:09:43.640 --> 0:09:46.240 they've done it for decades. They cost more, they turn 0:09:46.280 --> 0:09:49.520 over less, but they cost more the food they serve. 0:09:49.559 --> 0:09:53.080 You the component parts of that dish costs more, and 0:09:53.160 --> 0:09:56.120 so you know, talk really took off from there and 0:09:56.160 --> 0:10:01.240 really spread, you know, very rapidly into fine dining establishments 0:10:01.280 --> 0:10:04.600 all over the world. Today we serve restaurants in thirty 0:10:04.600 --> 0:10:08.000 three countries, and we've moved beyond fine dining. But that 0:10:08.080 --> 0:10:10.400 was the original genesis of the idea. That was one 0:10:10.440 --> 0:10:14.200 way we're different. We continue, certainly, in my opinion, to 0:10:14.320 --> 0:10:17.320 be by far the most innovative of the the reservation 0:10:17.480 --> 0:10:19.920 platforms out there. There are many of them. They're probably 0:10:21.040 --> 0:10:24.240 more than a dozen reservation platforms out there, because every 0:10:24.280 --> 0:10:28.360 point of sale provider now has basic reservations that they 0:10:28.400 --> 0:10:30.400 give away to get you to buy the point of sale. 0:10:30.559 --> 0:10:33.800 But what we do from an innovation perspective continues to 0:10:33.880 --> 0:10:36.240 lead the industry across the board. 0:10:36.760 --> 0:10:40.000 What's a typical amount that the high end restaurants will 0:10:40.040 --> 0:10:42.880 charge for those reservations and are they able to set 0:10:42.880 --> 0:10:44.079 that themselves. 0:10:44.400 --> 0:10:47.480 So they can absolutely set it themselves. It's a great question. 0:10:47.520 --> 0:10:50.040 What's typical. I mean, there's probably an average might but 0:10:50.360 --> 0:10:54.040 typical is completely up to them. So and they may 0:10:54.160 --> 0:10:57.880 charge differently at different days of the week, different times 0:10:57.880 --> 0:11:01.120 of the day. So you're all a card you, you know, 0:11:01.200 --> 0:11:04.160 on a Tuesday night could be very different from your 0:11:04.240 --> 0:11:07.000 price fix on a Friday night or a Saturday night, 0:11:07.200 --> 0:11:12.520 And so we don't take control of that pricing at all. 0:11:12.600 --> 0:11:15.480 We leave it in the hands of our customers, the 0:11:15.520 --> 0:11:20.240 restaurant tours, who are far more capable of pricing. They 0:11:20.280 --> 0:11:23.360 know their guests better. But we do create products that 0:11:23.480 --> 0:11:27.000 allow them to experiment. We just release something called multi 0:11:27.040 --> 0:11:30.400 Experienced tables that we allow you now to take the 0:11:30.520 --> 0:11:33.560 risk out of pricing an interesting meal on a table. 0:11:33.640 --> 0:11:36.160 So you know, if I have a table available, a 0:11:36.240 --> 0:11:39.760 four top on a Friday, I may want to put 0:11:39.760 --> 0:11:42.680 a six course tasting menu on it and charge five 0:11:42.760 --> 0:11:45.440 hundred dollars, But maybe I'm a little nervous about that. 0:11:45.679 --> 0:11:47.719 I'm not sure people will buy it, so maybe I'll 0:11:47.760 --> 0:11:50.280 put a I'll have that on there for a couple 0:11:50.320 --> 0:11:52.880 of days, but after two days, if no one's bought it, 0:11:53.160 --> 0:11:56.120 I can also offer a five course tasting menu for 0:11:56.160 --> 0:11:59.280 four hundred dollars or an ALLA card menu. So we 0:11:59.440 --> 0:12:03.319 allow you to control not just everything that's going on 0:12:03.559 --> 0:12:05.880 inside the four walls of the restaurant, but down to 0:12:05.920 --> 0:12:09.200 the table level. You can have this dynamic pricing at 0:12:09.240 --> 0:12:13.080 a table level. So again, we don't tell the restaurant 0:12:13.120 --> 0:12:16.160 to our customer what to charge, but we do give 0:12:16.240 --> 0:12:20.280 them the tools to sort of maximize revenue. I've described 0:12:20.320 --> 0:12:24.560 TALK before as a revenue management company, and I think 0:12:24.559 --> 0:12:27.080 that's probably a decent way to think about us. So 0:12:27.400 --> 0:12:29.960 you know, if you have a restaurant, we can help 0:12:30.000 --> 0:12:34.000 you maximize revenue. Yes, we know, we help drive butts 0:12:34.000 --> 0:12:37.679 and seats, which is critical. We help manage the tables, 0:12:37.840 --> 0:12:41.040 we help the front of house staff, but all of 0:12:41.080 --> 0:12:45.000 that is in service of maximizing the revenue for the restaurant. 0:12:45.400 --> 0:12:49.439 Yeah, it's an interesting way to apply dynamic pricing, right 0:12:49.480 --> 0:12:53.120 because I think surge pricing has people and it tizzy 0:12:53.160 --> 0:12:57.160 at the moment. Oh yeah, so doing it at the 0:12:57.240 --> 0:12:59.160 table level is really interesting. 0:13:00.160 --> 0:13:02.880 Yeah, I mean I think you know, it's interesting because 0:13:02.920 --> 0:13:07.440 we're obviously laughing at you know, the Wendy's example, right, So, yeah, 0:13:07.480 --> 0:13:11.000 they really stepped in it there. Well, I suspect it 0:13:11.040 --> 0:13:13.560 wasn't their intent, just poorly communicated, you know. I think 0:13:13.559 --> 0:13:17.880 in retrospect they said they were talking about lowering prices. 0:13:18.360 --> 0:13:22.679 But you know, the qs R consumer, you know, I've 0:13:22.760 --> 0:13:25.720 done a lot in the QSR space before they you know, 0:13:25.840 --> 0:13:29.120 generally speaking, you know you're if you're hitting the drive 0:13:29.160 --> 0:13:33.040 through line at Wendy's, you know, in a lunchtime crowd, 0:13:34.200 --> 0:13:36.560 you know exactly what the price is going to be. 0:13:36.720 --> 0:13:39.559 You may even have the exact change in your hand, 0:13:39.679 --> 0:13:44.160 and so you're really potentially screwing around with something that's 0:13:44.200 --> 0:13:46.880 almost sacrisanct to the guests and can drive the guest 0:13:46.960 --> 0:13:51.280 away to another store. For for talk, restaurants, they do 0:13:52.000 --> 0:13:54.440 have the ability to dynamically priced. They could do it 0:13:54.440 --> 0:13:56.120 by day of the week, they could do it by table, 0:13:56.160 --> 0:13:58.640 they could do it by type of meal. Again, all 0:13:58.640 --> 0:14:03.080 the card versus price fix. But the consumer still has 0:14:03.120 --> 0:14:05.000 a choice. I mean, they're not pulling up to the 0:14:05.080 --> 0:14:07.720 drive through asking for their regular burger and being charged 0:14:07.720 --> 0:14:11.960 something differently. They are pre paying in many cases, but 0:14:12.200 --> 0:14:14.480 they know exactly what they're paying for, and they can 0:14:14.559 --> 0:14:16.840 make some of those choices before they go to the restaurant. 0:14:16.840 --> 0:14:19.560 They can also make choices once they get there. I mean, oftentimes, 0:14:20.080 --> 0:14:21.960 I'm sure you've seen it. You go into a restaurant, 0:14:22.360 --> 0:14:25.000 you have a reservation, they want to potentially upsell you 0:14:25.080 --> 0:14:28.040 with the you know, the wine selection. The seller selection, 0:14:28.200 --> 0:14:31.600 maybe it's a caveat upgrade, whatever the case may be. 0:14:32.240 --> 0:14:35.280 So it's very clear, I think to the consumer, you know, 0:14:35.320 --> 0:14:38.840 how the restaurant is, you know, is sort of marketing 0:14:38.880 --> 0:14:41.080 the products that they're putting out in front of you. 0:14:42.080 --> 0:14:45.280 Very cool and talk allows the customers to keep their 0:14:45.320 --> 0:14:45.760 data ring. 0:14:46.960 --> 0:14:50.520 Oh yeah, for sure. I mean we are not stepping 0:14:50.720 --> 0:14:55.400 in between our customer, the restaurant and their guest data. 0:14:55.600 --> 0:14:58.320 I mean I saw it alllough with third party delivery 0:14:58.360 --> 0:15:02.160 providers that we worked with and Uber that they would 0:15:02.160 --> 0:15:05.880 take the data from the restaurant and the data being 0:15:05.920 --> 0:15:08.640 the guest data, and then convert that guest or that 0:15:08.720 --> 0:15:14.320 consumer into a door dash consumer in a sense, a 0:15:14.440 --> 0:15:19.240 very real sense, stealing that consumer from the restaurant. And 0:15:19.280 --> 0:15:21.600 there's no way we would allow that to talk. Now, 0:15:21.640 --> 0:15:24.800 some of our competitors own that data as well, and 0:15:24.840 --> 0:15:26.880 they're going to market to that guest. They may try 0:15:26.880 --> 0:15:29.560 to steer that guest to a different restaurant if they 0:15:29.680 --> 0:15:33.240 open that app. That's not our job. Our job is 0:15:33.280 --> 0:15:36.920 to help the restaurant, help the restaurant market themselves. Restaurants 0:15:36.960 --> 0:15:39.280 are amazing marketers, and so we want to give them 0:15:39.320 --> 0:15:43.720 a platform to show great videos and great pictures and 0:15:43.800 --> 0:15:47.320 great descriptions, but we are not stepping in the middle 0:15:47.360 --> 0:15:48.560 of that relationship that. 0:15:48.600 --> 0:15:53.320 Is their guest awesome, you know, And you mentioned talk 0:15:53.480 --> 0:15:55.240 is more of a revenue management tool. Can you talk 0:15:55.240 --> 0:15:57.800 about how you're helping restaurants generate repeat visits? 0:15:59.080 --> 0:16:01.360 Yeah, well, that's kind of the key. I mean that 0:16:01.360 --> 0:16:05.240 that's something that is almost regardless of the segment you're 0:16:05.280 --> 0:16:12.520 at QSR fast casual, regular casual dining, elevated casual, fine dining, 0:16:13.640 --> 0:16:17.240 wineries for us, you know, private clubs and hotels that 0:16:17.280 --> 0:16:20.000 we work with, it's trying to figure out a way 0:16:20.080 --> 0:16:24.800 to get the guest back. And I think you're seeing now, 0:16:25.480 --> 0:16:27.880 you know, in some of the economic data coming out 0:16:28.200 --> 0:16:31.200 with you know, how people are spending their discretionary income. 0:16:31.240 --> 0:16:35.120 To the extent they have discretionary income, they don't want 0:16:35.160 --> 0:16:38.520 to always go back for the same old menu. And 0:16:38.560 --> 0:16:42.000 so I talked earlier about this multi experienced table product 0:16:42.040 --> 0:16:45.360 that we just released. That's a way that we help 0:16:45.920 --> 0:16:49.640 the restaurant market something different to the guest. It's not 0:16:49.720 --> 0:16:52.760 just about the regular menu. It's like, here's an experience. 0:16:52.800 --> 0:16:55.840 So if you're a you know, an oyster bar, you 0:16:55.880 --> 0:16:59.160 know in Georgetown, you know, have an oyster shucking class. 0:16:59.240 --> 0:17:02.320 You know, if you're known for your your beer selection, 0:17:02.720 --> 0:17:05.560 you have a beer tasting menu. Like these are things 0:17:05.560 --> 0:17:09.280 that are not unique. And again, restaurant tours are so creative. 0:17:09.320 --> 0:17:11.720 They come up with this stuff on their own. We're 0:17:11.840 --> 0:17:16.440 just trying to help them touch the guest additional times 0:17:16.520 --> 0:17:20.560 and show the guests something that could be just another 0:17:20.760 --> 0:17:23.920 occasion to come back into the restaurant, you know, not 0:17:24.000 --> 0:17:28.200 just Mother's Day brunch, not just you know, Saint Patrick's Day, 0:17:28.800 --> 0:17:31.240 you know, green beer that you have, not just the 0:17:31.320 --> 0:17:34.840 Thanksgiving you know, takeaway meal, whatever the case may be. 0:17:35.040 --> 0:17:38.280 We want to give restaurant tours the experience, the ability 0:17:38.359 --> 0:17:43.640 to be creative, be thoughtful. It's not just about experiences. 0:17:43.680 --> 0:17:46.080 But that's one way that we, you know, help them 0:17:46.160 --> 0:17:49.400 drive guests right back in. And we also give restaurant 0:17:49.400 --> 0:17:53.560 tours a marketing platform to reach out to guests. Again, 0:17:53.640 --> 0:17:56.879 we don't own that guest, so we just need to 0:17:56.880 --> 0:18:00.199 provide the tool to the restaurant tour so they can 0:18:00.240 --> 0:18:03.080 continue to have a conversation with their guests at the 0:18:03.080 --> 0:18:03.840 appropriate time. 0:18:04.600 --> 0:18:07.280 Right, and you're looking to expand into other restaurant types 0:18:07.359 --> 0:18:08.359 right outside of fine dining. 0:18:09.160 --> 0:18:12.440 Well, we've certainly spent a lot of time over the 0:18:12.520 --> 0:18:16.080 last year expanding beyond fine dining mics, So it is important, 0:18:16.560 --> 0:18:20.080 you know, I think that certainly our heritage is in 0:18:20.359 --> 0:18:24.680 fine dining clearly, and that's still a category that's incredibly 0:18:24.720 --> 0:18:29.120 important to TALK. But if you look at just a 0:18:29.160 --> 0:18:32.880 product advisory board that we formed early in twenty twenty three, 0:18:32.960 --> 0:18:36.760 you could see across that just that product advisory board, 0:18:36.760 --> 0:18:40.320 we have very much fine dining folks on that board 0:18:40.320 --> 0:18:45.719 who are incredible contributors and upscale casual, neighborhood casual restaurants. 0:18:45.800 --> 0:18:49.479 So you know, the total addressable market for restaurants is 0:18:49.680 --> 0:18:53.359 quite large, but the total addressable market for fine dining 0:18:53.440 --> 0:18:59.399 establishments is a tiny segment of restaurants. So, no doubt, 0:18:59.440 --> 0:19:02.520 in order for TALK to grow, we have to look 0:19:02.560 --> 0:19:06.639 at restaurants beyond fine dining. Now we will never not 0:19:06.800 --> 0:19:09.840 be in that category. And we're really lucky, Mike, Like 0:19:09.880 --> 0:19:13.000 when I walked in the door, we've done so much 0:19:13.040 --> 0:19:16.040 for fine dining that it's a matter like so much 0:19:16.119 --> 0:19:19.920 innovation had occurred at TALK, we can apply so much 0:19:19.960 --> 0:19:25.359 of that to casual dining establishments to upscale casual. You 0:19:25.400 --> 0:19:28.960 know I just talked about experiences. Well, I'm very fortunate 0:19:29.040 --> 0:19:31.000 to have spent nine years at OLO, and now I 0:19:31.040 --> 0:19:34.000 know a lot of restaurant tours at much larger chains 0:19:34.000 --> 0:19:38.040 who can use the same exact concepts. They're probably not 0:19:38.080 --> 0:19:41.120 going to do pre payment. That's very unique, I think 0:19:41.160 --> 0:19:44.000 to you know, fine dining to a large extent, but 0:19:44.040 --> 0:19:47.560 there are plenty of other features and products that Talk 0:19:47.720 --> 0:19:50.760 already has. That's just a matter of marketing them to 0:19:50.840 --> 0:19:52.800 a different segment in the restaurant industry. 0:19:53.560 --> 0:19:54.760 Great, it's exciting. 0:19:55.720 --> 0:19:56.040 Cool. 0:19:57.160 --> 0:19:59.879 Let's talk a little bit more about fine dining, just 0:20:00.040 --> 0:20:02.320 because I find it to be one of the more 0:20:02.440 --> 0:20:06.520 interesting segments of the industry this year. I mean, we 0:20:06.600 --> 0:20:08.520 spoke a couple of weeks ago, and I mentioned to 0:20:08.600 --> 0:20:10.720 you it's hard to figure out where things are going 0:20:10.760 --> 0:20:14.200 because ye of year comparisons are easing, but the consumer, 0:20:14.440 --> 0:20:17.800 especially low end consumer, seems to be weakening. Fine dining 0:20:17.880 --> 0:20:21.320 had a really bad year last year, and so they 0:20:21.359 --> 0:20:25.679 have pretty easy year over year comps coming up. But 0:20:25.720 --> 0:20:30.160 we haven't seen things really improve that much just yet. 0:20:30.280 --> 0:20:32.240 So I guess, you know, if you could share any 0:20:32.240 --> 0:20:36.160 trends that you're seeing with fine dining covers and check 0:20:36.240 --> 0:20:38.240 sizes in that segment of the industry. 0:20:38.320 --> 0:20:43.480 Right now, we're seeing covers. Yeah. First of all, you're 0:20:43.560 --> 0:20:47.399 right like, we're still suffering from post COVID comps a 0:20:47.440 --> 0:20:50.560 little bit, you know, twenty three twenty four over twenty three, 0:20:50.600 --> 0:20:54.439 I think will hopefully normalize. We are. We are seeing 0:20:54.600 --> 0:20:57.960 cover count about the same in Q one as we 0:20:58.000 --> 0:21:01.840 saw Q one twenty twenty five three. We have seen 0:21:02.400 --> 0:21:06.679 a lot of variability and check size. We have seen 0:21:08.640 --> 0:21:13.359 less interest in some of the supplements that are offered. 0:21:13.359 --> 0:21:17.200 I talked before about you know, Cavea ourselves wine supplement 0:21:18.240 --> 0:21:22.840 that has kind of going up and down certainly over 0:21:22.880 --> 0:21:25.480 the last year and a quarter. And the year over 0:21:25.600 --> 0:21:31.320 year comps for Q one are difficult to understand. And 0:21:31.400 --> 0:21:34.399 I'm talking about sort of same store sales. I'm not 0:21:34.440 --> 0:21:37.120 talking about new customers in twenty four over twenty three. 0:21:37.160 --> 0:21:41.439 I'm talking about the exact same customer cohort. Now, the 0:21:41.520 --> 0:21:44.840 problem is sometimes you know, dates change, or a number 0:21:44.880 --> 0:21:47.000 of weekends in a you know, in a month. We 0:21:47.040 --> 0:21:49.480 had leap year this year, which throw things off, throw 0:21:49.720 --> 0:21:54.119 things off a little bit. Easter shift, Easter shift exactly. 0:21:54.240 --> 0:21:57.359 So we feel that pretty acutely in the numbers that 0:21:57.440 --> 0:22:00.400 we see come across the board. I will tell you though, 0:22:00.440 --> 0:22:02.680 I think to your point a minute ago, like it's 0:22:02.680 --> 0:22:05.560 so hard to read what's going on, and you see 0:22:05.560 --> 0:22:08.720 the numbers from this week. So now the FED may 0:22:08.760 --> 0:22:10.560 not be cutting this year, is what I read in 0:22:10.560 --> 0:22:13.359 the journal, you know, like who knows, and you know, 0:22:13.400 --> 0:22:16.400 Bloomberg's re pouring similar stuff, Like the numbers that are 0:22:16.920 --> 0:22:20.520 coming across are really hard to figure out. I had 0:22:21.280 --> 0:22:25.159 an exec at a well known chain come and speak 0:22:25.200 --> 0:22:29.160 to the Talk team recently, and he was saying, I 0:22:29.240 --> 0:22:33.399 was talking about sort of wine and caviar, people buying 0:22:33.440 --> 0:22:36.600 that or not buying that. He said the same thing 0:22:36.680 --> 0:22:39.640 in his chain. He said, it's not wine and caviar, 0:22:40.000 --> 0:22:43.600 but it was hot peppers and cheese sauce. And they 0:22:43.640 --> 0:22:47.200 saw a similar thing that people in twenty four and 0:22:47.280 --> 0:22:49.800 in twenty three as well were just not spending on that. 0:22:49.960 --> 0:22:54.919 So you know what's going on with income and you 0:22:54.960 --> 0:23:01.760