Restaurant AI

Matt Wampler

Restaurant AI with Matt Wampler is your weekly deep dive into the rapidly evolving world of artificial intelligence and its transformative impact on the restaurant and hospitality industry. Hosted by tech entrepreneur and industry insider Matt Wampler, this podcast explores how AI is reshaping everything from kitchen operations and customer service to marketing, labor management, and the guest experience. Whether you’re a restaurant operator, tech innovator, or hospitality enthusiast, each episode delivers insights, expert interviews, and real-world use cases that help you stay ahead in a competitive and tech-driven landscape.

  1. Jul 21

    Podcast Legend Eric Cacciatore on How Independents Take Back the Restaurant Industry

    In this episode of the Restaurant AI Podcast, host Matt Wampler, Co-Founder and CEO of ClearCOGS, sits down with Eric Cacciatore, founder and host of Restaurant Unstoppable, the longest-running podcast in the restaurant industry with nearly 1,300 interviews of America's most successful restaurateurs. Eric grew up in his parents' small-town restaurant, spent a decade becoming a commercial pilot, and walked away at 27 to pursue hospitality. Thirteen years later, he has the deepest archive of operator conversations in the industry, and some uncomfortable conclusions about where it is headed. Matt and Eric trace restaurants back to the colonial public house, the original social platform at the center of every town, and dig into why Eric believes the obsession with scale is pulling the industry away from its roots. Eric makes the case for fewer restaurants and more owners, breaking down the models proving it works: employee ownership trusts, one percent partner buy-ins, and depth-over-span growth. Then the conversation sharpens: Eric argues the digital marketplace is owned by technology platforms, whoever spends the most wins, and independents are feeding a marketing machine that was never built for them. On the hopeful side, he shares why AI has him optimistic, including the operator who vibe codes every morning and replaced his software subscriptions for ninety dollars a month, and lays out his vision for taking the industry back through community, ownership, and the Restaurant Unstoppable Network. Visit Restaurant Unstoppable: https://restaurantunstoppable.com Connect with Eric on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-cacciatore-ab41b375 Connect with Matt Wampler on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewjwampler Learn more about ClearCOGS: https://www.clearcogs.com

  2. Jul 15

    Shaz Khan: Running a Restaurant Brand with an Engineer's First Principles Mentality.

    In this episode of the Restaurant AI Podcast, host Matt Wampler, Co-Founder and CEO of ClearCOGS, sits down with Shaz Khan, Co-Founder and President of Tono Pizzeria + Cheesesteaks. Shaz calls himself an accidental restaurateur. He studied electrical engineering at the University of Minnesota and was building a career in industrial automation when his best friend Antonio Gambino convinced him to enter the pizza business in 2016. A decade later, they are building out their sixteenth location across four brands, and Shaz serves on Toast's Customer Advisory Board. Matt and Shaz dig into the 1 a.m. no-show call that turned an engineer into a restaurant systems guy, why five and ten unit restaurant groups are building tech stacks light years ahead of large organizations, what Shaz has actually built internally with AI and why he rolls it out slowly on purpose, and why he believes hospitality must always sit above the systems, no matter how capable the technology becomes. Whether you are a restaurant operator wondering where AI actually fits, a multi-unit founder building your own tools, or a hospitality tech leader watching small operators close the gap, this episode is one of the most grounded conversations yet on running restaurants with an engineer's first principles mentality. Connect with Shaz Khan on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/shazkhanmn Learn more about Tono Pizzeria + Cheesesteaks: tonomn.com Connect with Matt Wampler on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/matthewjwampler Learn more about ClearCOGS: https://www.clearcogs.com

  3. Jun 16

    David Cantu: The $150 Billion Problem Hiding in Restaurant Back Offices

    In this episode of the Restaurant AI Podcast, host Matt Wampler, Co-Founder and CEO of ClearCOGS, sits down with David Cantu, CEO of Craftable and one of the most experienced operators and builders in hospitality technology. David co-founded HotSchedules and spent over two decades scaling it into one of the most widely used labor management platforms in the restaurant industry. He later served as CEO of Black Box Intelligence before joining Craftable's board and stepping into the CEO role with a clear mission: build the back office the restaurant industry has always needed but never had. In this conversation, Matt and David dig into why restaurant margins are higher than most operators realize and why the industry has been conditioned to stop looking too soon. David shares the story of saving 600 basis points in five months at an iconic Austin restaurant simply by tying managers to all controllable costs, not just food and labor. He breaks down why the painful end of week inventory count may soon be a thing of the past, what it actually takes to get managers emotionally connected to profitability, and why he sees the SaaSpocalypse as noise compared to the real opportunity sitting inside the back office right now. Whether you are a restaurant operator trying to unlock hidden profitability, a multi-unit brand still running on legacy back of house tech, or a hospitality tech executive watching the AI boom unfold, this episode gives you one of the most grounded and practical perspectives on where the industry is heading and what it will take to get there. Connect with David Cantu on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jdavidcantu Learn more about Craftable: craftable.com Connect with Matt Wampler on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/matthewjwampler Learn more about ClearCOGS: clearcogs.com

  4. May 26

    R.AI Special | Shawn Walchef: What Really Happened on the Floor of the Biggest Restaurant Show on Earth

    In this special episode of the Restaurant AI Podcast, Matt Wampler sits down with Shawn Walchef, founder of Cali BBQ and Cali BBQ Media, fresh off the floor of NRA 2026 in Chicago. They break down what the show actually looked like this year, why confusion was the biggest theme around AI, what the best brands did differently, and why getting outside your four walls matters more than ever. Shawn also shares how Cali BBQ nearly went out of business in 2008 and how betting everything on social media saved it. Connect with Shawn Walchef on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/shawnpwalchef Learn more about Cali BBQ Media: calibbq.media Connect with Matt Wampler on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/matthewjwampler Learn more about ClearCOGS: https://www.clearcogs.com #RestaurantAI #NRAShow #NRA2026 #RestaurantTech #AIinHospitality #CaliBBQMedia #RestaurantLeadership #RestaurantStorytelling

  5. May 15

    David Corts: The Intelligence Layer Your Kitchen Has Been Missing

    In this episode of the Restaurant AI Podcast, Matt Wampler sits down with David Corts, CEO of Fresh Technology, the company behind Fresh KDS. David spent 25 years in enterprise software watching digital transformations unfold across media, e-commerce, and ad tech before betting everything on the most underleveraged asset in the restaurant industry: the kitchen. Matt and David dig into why billions of dollars have flowed into front-of-house technology while the kitchen has been running on paper tickets and gut instinct. David breaks down why average ticket time is one of the most misleading metrics in the industry, what a true system of intelligence for the kitchen actually looks like, and why the Fresh KDS composable layer gives operators the flexibility they have always wanted without the complexity that comes with it. The conversation goes deep on the dot-com parallel playing out in AI right now, why doing AI for the sake of AI is the fastest way to build nothing, and how Fresh KDS is partnering with ClearCOGS to bring predictive analytics directly to the kitchen screen, turning a reactive operation into a proactive one. Connect with David Corts on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/davidcorts Learn more about Fresh KDS: freshkds.com Connect with Matt Wampler on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/matthewjwampler Learn more about ClearCOGS: https://www.clearcogs.com

  6. Apr 21

    The Brain of the Restaurant: How AWS Thinks About AI with Deborah Matteliano

    In this episode of the Restaurant AI Podcast, host Matt Wampler, Co-Founder and CEO of ClearCOGS, sits down with Deborah Matteliano, Global Head of Restaurants and Food Tech at AWS. A founding member of the Uber Eats sales organization who scaled the platform to over 200,000 restaurants across the US and Canada, Deborah later led Uber's Virtual Restaurants segment to 700% global growth before joining Amazon Web Services, where she now advises the world's largest quick service restaurants, food tech brands, and delivery platforms on AI and cloud strategy.  Matt and Deborah dig into why 90% of the world's largest QSRs run on AWS and what that actually means for how AI gets deployed at scale. Deborah breaks down the two stats dividing executive boardrooms right now, shares what it really takes to build the digital GM assistant every operator wants, and explains why the biggest obstacle for most restaurants isn't missing data but missing connectivity between systems.  The conversation goes deep on buy vs. build, data standards, and why so many AI pilots stall before reaching production. Deborah also draws on Amazon's own supply chain, Rufus, and Alexa Plus to illustrate what AI looks like when it actually earns consumer trust at scale, and closes with her full vision for the agentic restaurant: orchestrated AI agents handling supplier negotiations, inventory, GM-level decisions, and employee support all at once.  Whether you're a multi-unit operator figuring out where to start with AI, a restaurant tech executive weighing build vs. buy, or a founder designing a concept from the ground up, this episode gives you one of the clearest pictures yet of where the industry is heading and what separates the brands that will win.

  7. Mar 24

    Why Most Restaurant AI Is Just an If-Then Statement | Toby Malbec

    In this episode of the Restaurant AI Podcast, host Matt Wampler, Co-Founder and CEO of ClearCOGS, sits down with Toby Malbec, a 30+ year restaurant technology veteran who has led technology strategy for brands including Church's Texas Chicken, Subway, and Saks Fifth Avenue. Known in the industry as an "operational technologist," Toby shares why most of what restaurants call AI is really just if-then statements, why the industry's fragmented tech stack remains its biggest obstacle, and what it actually takes to deploy technology inside the four walls. The conversation covers kiosks, drive-through voice AI, camera vision, and kitchen production, along with the real reasons these technologies succeed or fail in practice. Toby also dives into the franchise relationship, explaining how brands can collect and share data back to operators in a way that builds trust, and why the best technology decisions start with strategy, not a vendor pitch. Whether you're a franchise operator modernizing your tech stack, a technology leader navigating buy-versus-build decisions, or a restaurant executive evaluating AI solutions, this episode offers a candid, experienced perspective on what works and what's worth waiting for. Links: Connect with Toby Malbec on LinkedIn: 🔗 / toby-malbec-8989322 Connect with Matt Wampler on LinkedIn: 🔗 / matthewjwampler Learn more about ClearCOGS: https://www.clearcogs.com Chapters: 00:00 Intro & Coming Up 03:55 Welcome, Toby Malbec 05:07 What Is AI, Really? 06:44 Descriptive, Predictive & Prescriptive Analytics 10:11 Why Restaurant Data Doesn't Play Nice 14:15 AI Coding and Legacy Systems 18:19 Buy vs Build: Who Creates the Restaurant OS? 22:46 The Kiosk Debate 28:00 Drive-Through Voice AI 33:37 Evaluating Voice AI Vendors 38:46 Franchisees and Technology Decisions 44:31 Data Sharing and Franchisee Trust 51:52 Operational Efficiency in the Four Walls 57:35 Predictive Analytics That Work 1:01:13 How AI Changes the Restaurant Workforce 1:09:48 Advice on Deploying Technology 1:14:02 Where to Find Toby

  8. Mar 3

    Josh Kopel on AI, Systems, and Why Restaurants Must Evolve Now

    In this episode of the Restaurant AI Podcast, host Matt Wampler, Co-Founder and CEO of ClearCOGS, sits down with Josh Kopel, restaurateur, coach, marketing strategist, and founder of the Restaurant Scaling System. Josh has built, scaled, and exited restaurants, including earning a Michelin star, but he’s blunt about what actually matters in this industry. From marketing myths to hiring systems powered by AI, this conversation dives into what separates restaurants that survive from those that scale. Josh shares why most restaurants are stuck in “performative marketing,” how to think differently about social media, why chasing awards won’t buy you freedom, and how AI can dramatically improve hiring and delegation. They also unpack the hard truth about industry consolidation, what “strategic ignorance” really means for owners, and why better questions, not more effort, unlock growth. Whether you’re an independent operator, founder, or scaling a multi-unit concept, this episode delivers sharp insights and practical frameworks you can apply immediately. Episode Links: Connect with Josh Kopel: https://joshkopel.comConnect with Matt Wampler: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewjwamplerLearn more about ClearCOGS: https://www.clearcogs.com Chapters: 00:00 Intro & Coming Up 01:53 Welcome Josh Kopel 03:03 No Marketing → Performative Marketing → Effective Marketing 03:39 Why Social Media Is Low Intent 07:54 Why a Michelin Star Didn’t Create Freedom 09:43 “Do What You Think Is Cool” Philosophy 16:04 Using AI to Hire Better Employees 18:19 Hiring for Natural Predisposition 26:59 The Industry Reckoning: Top 30% Will Cannibalize 90% 52:34 Strategic Ignorance Explained 1:06:46 Why Knowledge Alone Isn’t Enough 1:07:26 Final Advice for Restaurant Owners

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About

Restaurant AI with Matt Wampler is your weekly deep dive into the rapidly evolving world of artificial intelligence and its transformative impact on the restaurant and hospitality industry. Hosted by tech entrepreneur and industry insider Matt Wampler, this podcast explores how AI is reshaping everything from kitchen operations and customer service to marketing, labor management, and the guest experience. Whether you’re a restaurant operator, tech innovator, or hospitality enthusiast, each episode delivers insights, expert interviews, and real-world use cases that help you stay ahead in a competitive and tech-driven landscape.

Information

  • Creator
    Matt Wampler
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    36
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 50ea2b40-7e07-11f0-8ada-cb39d436df27
  • Show Website
    Restaurant AI