What's the difference between a viral moment and a loyal customer base?

In this live panel from Service 2026, hospitality marketing leaders from Dave's Hot Chicken, Rolled, Cote, BlackRock, and Kerb reveal why 70% of guests never return, and exactly how to fix it.

Forget follower counts. This is about building habits that drive real revenue.

Recorded live at BrewDog Waterloo | Powered by Lightspeed

• Why 70% of first-time guests never come back
• The metrics that actually matter (hint: not followers)
• How to turn hype into sustainable habits
• Loyalty strategies that work (and don't require discounts)
• What to do with £10K in marketing budget
• Handling bad reviews like a pro
• The role of influencers in 2024
• Why your team is your best marketing asset

Laura Reed Marketing Director KERB
Anaïs Dixie Brand Manager Côte Brasserie

Keyana Mohammadi Head of Marketing Dave's Hot Chicken

JJ Miller Marketing Manager Rolled
Ruth Carpenter Sales & Marketing DirectorBlack Rock Restaurants

Hosted by: Chris Fletcher - Tech on Toast

00:00 - Intro: The 70% problem
05:30 - Why hospitality struggles with repeat visits
12:45 - Case study: Pizza Pilgrims' 10th birthday pilgrimage (£750K ROI)
18:20 - Dave's Hot Chicken: Building hype into lifestyle
24:10 - Coates' "Happiest Menu" campaign (100K new app users)
29:40 - The metrics that actually matter
35:15 - Why follower count is a vanity metric
41:50 - Loyalty without discounts: BlackRock's approach
48:30 - The £10K question: Where would you spend it?
56:20 - Biggest marketing shift for 2024
1:04:15 - Influencer strategy: Macro to micro cascade
1:12:40 - Handling bad reviews
1:18:30 - Empowering your team for hospitality excellence

🔥 "Don't manufacture loyalty—be worthy of loyalty." - JJ Miller, Rolled

🔥 "It costs zero pounds to know your brand." - JJ Miller

🔥 "Our job as marketers is to get people in, but if the experience doesn't match what we marketed, they're not coming back." - Anis, Coates

🔥 "Shit happens. Sorry. Here's how we're gonna fix it." - Ruth Carpenter, BlackRock

🔥 "Don't try too hard—guests can see right through it." - Kiana, Dave's Hot Chicken

• Lightspeed EPOS system
• Pizza Pilgrims' Naples pilgrimage campaign
• Coates loyalty app
• BlackRock's Polaroid fridge magnet strategy

#Hospitality #Marketing #RestaurantMarketing #CustomerLoyalty #HospitalityIndustry #FoodAndBeverage #PodcastNotes

Key Topics Covered:Featured Guests:Timestamps:Quotable Moments:Resources Mentioned:Connect:

Great hospitality tech should work quietly in the background. When it doesn’t, operators feel it immediately.In this episode of the Tech on Toast podcast, Chris is joined by Colin Jackson, Head of Partner Technology at Dojo, to unpack why integrations are one of the most important and most overlooked parts of hospitality technology.They discuss what good integration really looks like, why the word seamless is often overused, and how poor connections between systems create hidden costs, lost revenue, and operational headaches for teams on the ground.The conversation explores payments and EPOS integrations, guest expectations around flexible ordering and payment, and how clean data flow helps operators make better commercial decisions.Colin also shares Dojo’s approach to open partnerships, why no single provider can do everything well, and what operators should look for when choosing technology partners at scale.This episode is a practical look at how integrations underpin reliability, trust, and better guest experiences across modern hospitality.

Payments should never slow service down, but too often they do.In this episode of the Tech on Toast podcast, Chris is joined by Tom Usher, Engineering Manager at Dojo, to explore how modern payments technology is being built specifically for the realities of hospitality.The conversation dives into Dojo Pocket, a handheld ordering and payments device designed to keep teams on the floor, reduce friction during service, and help operators turn tables faster without compromising guest experience.Tom shares why Dojo chose to build its own hardware and payments stack, how reliability and uptime are critical in hospitality, and why even small moments of friction can have a big impact on revenue, staff stress, and customer satisfaction.The episode also covers cloud infrastructure, resilience at scale, security and trust at the point of payment, and why intuitive design matters in an industry with high staff turnover.If you’re thinking about tableside payments, handheld devices, or how to give time back to your team, this episode is a must listen.

In this episode, Chris Fletcher is joined by Blair Lundie, Head of Business Development at Tayl, a learning management system built with one obsession: ease of use.They dig into why training in hospitality often becomes a tick-box exercise, what good looks like when you want real engagement, and how operators can use learning content to solve genuine business problems, from improving guest experience to reducing early staff churn.You’ll also hear a practical take on personalising induction, making compliance feel less painful, and why involving frontline teams in content creation can massively lift adoption.What you’ll hear in this episodeAn honest look at why compliance training gets treated like a chore, and what to do about itHow Tayl helps operators keep the basics simple: assign, track, complete, repeatWhy personalisation matters just as much in training as it does in CRMHow to build an induction pack that makes new starters feel welcome, not overwhelmedPractical ideas: GM welcome videos, local tips, “how we do things here”, and FAQs that stop managers repeating themselvesWhy relevance drives engagement, especially on high-risk topics like allergensThe trade-off between customising course content and keeping accreditationWhy short, TikTok-style videos made by frontline teams can outperform top-down training contentHow adoption differs by generation, and how to get older cohorts comfortable tooWhat mid-market operators (10+ sites) typically struggle with before switching LMSHow reporting should work in the real world: simple, readable, and actually usedBlair’s view on AI in training: helpful for speeding up content creation, but risky for compliance if accuracy slipsWhat “good” looks like in numbers: 75–85% completion as a common benchmark, and why 85%+ is strongUsing training as a strategic lever: tying learning to Google reviews, service confidence, retention, and early tenure drop-offStandout momentsTraining should start with culture, not compliance: make new starters feel like the company caresThe easiest wins often come from reducing repeated questions and giving staff instant answersGeneric e-learning can tick the box, but real examples from your menu and your operation drive learning that sticksCustomer support and onboarding matter as much as features if you want adoption to lastAbout TaylTayl is a learning management system designed to make hospitality training easy to roll out and easy to complete, with a focus on simple user experience for both deskless teams and managers.Find TaylWebsite: tayl.netConnect with Blair on LinkedIn: Blair Lundy

Reliable connectivity now sits alongside water and electricity for modern hospitality.

In this Sky Business–powered episode, Chris sits down with Shona Goodlad (Head of Existing Accounts, Sky Business) to unpack what really happens when you move from “one site” to “thousands of sites”.

They talk honestly about why tech projects feel risky, what commonly goes wrong, how strong governance and communication reduce downtime, and why operators should start with the problem (not the product).

If you’re planning a rollout in 2026, this is your practical playbook for making change land smoothly across sites, teams, and suppliers.What you’ll learnWhy connectivity is the foundation that enables every other tech decisionHow big rollouts break down (and how to plan for the uncontrollables)The role of governance, comms, and internal ownership in rollout successHow to avoid “speed obsession” and fix the real causes of poor experienceWhat a strong 30/60/90-day post-go-live cadence looks likeHow to align suppliers to business KPIs (loyalty, data, CX, risk)Why operators should bring partners in early to shape the journey, not just quote the priceKey moments00:00–01:20 Sky Business series intro + why “solve the operator problem” beats “sell the product”01:20–03:30 Shona’s background and what her team does for existing mid-market customers03:30–05:20 One site vs one thousand sites: what changes at scale05:20–07:30 Cost vs cyber vs downtime: what operators say they worry about vs what they really fear07:30–10:20 “Things will go wrong”: building trust, credibility, and mitigation plans10:20–12:40 Comms failures, site readiness, third parties, and why rollouts slip12:40–16:10 Post-go-live reality: stragglers, service cadence, and staying close to strategy16:10–18:20 Being unapologetically commercial (and why ROI matters for both sides)18:20–21:10 Connectivity as a utility + the real cost of downtime21:10–23:40 What operators should ask suppliers: “What will go wrong and how do we handle it?”23:40–26:20 Where mid-market operators should invest time when they don’t have a CTO26:20–28:40 Openreach realities: escalation paths, process, and why hospitality finds it alien28:40–29:50 How to reach Sky Business + meet the team at Tech on Toast’s February eventReach out to SKY at https://business.sky.com/s/medium-business

Workforce is still the biggest lever (and constraint) in hospitality. Labour costs keep rising, guest expectations keep rising, and “just work harder” isn’t a strategy.

In this episode, Ben Dixon — Co-founder and CTO at Sona — breaks down why Sona is approaching workforce management differently: not as another scheduling tool, but as a way to scale great operator decision-making across every site.

We get into forecasting and demand (and why outlier days matter more than averages), how to build trust with managers, what “nudging” looks like in real life, and where agentic AI is heading over the next 12–18 months — including the idea of an AI “chief of staff” for GMs.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why “people” is the #1 limiter to growth for many operators

• The “best GM in the worst site” thought experiment — and what it proves

• How Sona encodes great decision-making across staffing, onboarding, and coaching

• Forecasting done bottom-up: why each location behaves differently

• Building trust: showing the “why” behind forecasts and recommendations

• Why agentic AI is more than dashboards — it’s prioritisation and action

• Realistic ROI: where savings can show up quickly (and what it depends on)

• Vibe coding vs SaaS: what vendors must prove going forward

• Scaling globally: labour compliance rules engines with AI + human validation

Guest: Ben Dixon, Co-founder & CTO, Sona
Website: getsona.com

Subscribe for more conversations on hospitality technology, operators, and what actually works on the floor.

#hospitality #restaurants #workforce #labour #operations #AI #forecasting #SaaS #management #hospitalitytech

This week’s episode opens with something special: Always Open at Christmas, Tech on Toast’s brand new charity single created by the Hospitality Community & Choir in just 72 hours. All proceeds support Hospitality Action. Stream it, share it, and help spread the message.

Then we’re joined by Regan Collins, CEO of Coentric and the team behind Connect a platform tackling one of hospitality’s biggest (and most overlooked) blockers: frontline access to the tools they’re meant to use.

Regan shares why giving teams “great tech” isn’t enough if they can’t log in, why adoption stalls when access takes 12 steps, and how “quiet tech” can unlock huge wins across comms, learning, scheduling, HR, and beyond.

• Why frontline enablement breaks down at the identity and access layer

• The hidden cost of clunky logins: “step four and they’re out”

• Moving from 30% adoption to 98% by removing friction

• What “one front door” looks like for shifts, leave, learning, and comms

• Why generic passwords on paper are still (shockingly) a thing

• How better access improves retention, productivity, and belonging

• Replacing WhatsApp inside organisations (and keeping knowledge in-house)

• What’s next: facial recognition kiosks, smarter nudges, and AI-powered insights

• A practical reminder: demo everything and understand how it works in real life

• Charity single: thehospitalitychoir.org

• Connect: connectfrontline.com

• Find Connect on the Tech on Toast marketplace (look for the big blue “C” logo)

If you’re trying to get more from the tools you already pay for, this is a must-listen.

This week Chris is joined by Mitz Patel, Global Head of IT Projects at Soho House, and David Broom, CIO at Prezzo Italian, for a festive-but-real chat about the tech challenges and breakthroughs shaping hospitality right now.

They dive into inherited systems, shaky connectivity, labour and inventory headaches, AI that’s finally useful, and why hospitality tech still relies on strong human relationships. All of that… plus Abbey Road, Christmas rotas, and Mitz’s legendary community Christmas in Twickenham. 🎅💻

🌟 A quick word about “Always Open at Christmas”

Before the episode begins, Chris introduces “Always Open at Christmas” – this year’s brand new hospitality charity single. Recorded at Abbey Road Studios in just 72 hours by volunteers from across our industry, it celebrates the people who keep hospitality warm, open and full of heart.

💛 All proceeds go to Hospitality Action, supporting workers and families who need a lift this winter.
🎵 Search “Always Open at Christmas – The Hospitality Choir” on Spotify, Apple or Amazon Music and give it a stream, save and share.

In this episode 👇

• Why only 18% of operators would recommend their tech stack

• The reality of inheriting legacy systems and trying to modernise without breaking everything

• Connectivity battles: patchwork networks, microwave links, backups and the 1:30pm meltdown

• AI moving from hype to real operational gains

• Big vendors vs smaller, more agile players — and why relationships still matter more than features

• Christmas in hospitality: on-call IT shifts, family traditions and community hubs 🎄

Wishing you a brilliant Christmas from all of us at Tech on Toast – and remember:
we are always open at Christmas. 💛