The Simmer

The Simmer explores and explains hot topics in restaurant technology and the future of hospitality. It's led by two industry veterans with a lot of opinions. Kristen Hawley has spent over a decade covering the beat for her newsletter Expedite and top titles including Fast Company, Business Insider, Bon Appetit, Eater, and Food & Wine. Brandon Barton is CEO of Bite, an industry-leading intelligent kiosk ordering software provider with nearly two decades of experience in restaurant tech. Each episode, the hosts interview some of the smartest people in hospitality to dissect what's happening now

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24 episodes
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Avg 43 min
English

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Yesterday · 37 min
Yusha Hu, Co-founder and CEO, Sightline OS
Few people would call supply chain a sexy part of the restaurant business — not even Yusha Hu, who’s made a career out of it. Yusha spent time at Chipotle and Sweetgreen before launching Sightline OS for AI-powered supply chain management. In this episode we discuss AI, food safety, and what happens when the stack of cups runs out.
September 1 · 37 min
Michelle Fischer, CEO, TripleSeat
Events and private dining have become vital revenue streams for many restaurants, but booking — or just inquiring about — an event can be a clunky and confusing experience. In this episode, we discuss restaurant events and why they’re important, how booking works now and how we got here, plus a better model for the future. (Brandon has particularly strong opinions on this one!)
August 18 · 46 min
Adam Weisblatt, Co-Founder, Last Word Hospitality
Adam Weisblatt is not a tech guy, he says, but he *is* a restaurant guy. As co-founder of Los Angeles-based Last Word Hospitality, Adam helps to run seven distinct restaurants (with more on the way) in Southern California. His new book, For the Love of Restaurants, details the ups and downs of opening one of those restaurants, Found Oyster, in East Hollywood. In this episode, we talk about openings, operations, and what Adam wants every restaurant tech company to know.
August 11 · 50 min
Joel Montaniel, CEO, SevenRooms
Would SevenRooms CEO Joel Montaniel have considered a delivery app an ideal acquirer when he started the reservations and customer relationship management platform in 2011? Probably not! But a year after DoorDash (which didn’t exist in 2011) acquired SevenRooms, its role inside the reservations industry is getting clearer. In this episode, we talk about consumer reservation fatigue, SevenRooms’ new, DoorDash-backed features, and Joel’s vision for a more open ecosystem.
July 28 · 39 min
Maddy Shannon, Head of Product, SpotOn
Maddy Shannon started her career as a Bain consultant before pivoting to the back office at some of the country’s most prestigious restaurants. It’s given her a nuanced perspective on the right balance of tech and hospitality that we appreciate. In this episode, we discuss personalization, good restaurant AI, and the modern point of sale system as the technological heart of a restaurant.
July 14 · 39 min
Randall Hom, Co-Founder & CEO, Hostie
Hostie, an AI-powered “restaurant concierge” headquartered in the Bay Area, just announced $12 million in Series A funding. Randall Hom is Hostie’s co-founder and CEO. He’s also a San Francisco restaurateur who knows firsthand the challenges of engaging with human guests in the age of artificial intelligence. In this episode, we discuss guest preferences and engagement, AI for restaurants and “the city.” Which city? You’ll have to listen to find out.
June 23 · 38 min
Reservations Wars, June Edition
In this special episode, Kristen and Brandon discuss two major developments in the reinvigorated reservations wars: American Express moves to acquire European booking platform TheFork for $700 million and DoorDash-owned SevenRooms launches a tool (and a stake in the ground) to make it much easier for restaurants to aggregate reservations from multiple sources. Together, these moves represent a big shift in the business. When the Amex deal closes, it’ll have more bookable restaurants than OpenTable. Meanwhile, SevenRooms wants to force its competitors' hands, making it much easier for restaurants to use multiple booking channels. Watch this space!
June 16 · 50 min
Joshua Sharkey, Founder & CEO, Meez
Kristen and Brandon have shaken out the cobwebs and are back with a new episode of The Simmer featuring friend-of-the-pod, Joshua Sharkey, founder and CEO of Meez, a culinary operating system and recipe management tool. Pre-Meez, Josh spent time in the kitchens of several restaurants, including New York’s Tabla and Bouley. In this episode, we cover recipe scaling and sourcing (and more nonsexy but totally essential back-office tech) plus a whole lot about AI and how it’s primed to change how we all interact with everyone and everything.
April 14 · 41 min
The Simmer Live: Judy Thelen, Co-founder and CEO, Beli
A Simmer first! This LIVE edition was recorded on April 10 at the Boston University Hospitality Leadership Summit. We’re joined by Judy Thelen, co-founder and CEO of white-hot social restaurant list-keeping and recommendations app Beli. In this episode, we talk about professional criticism, Beli’s plans to work with restaurants, and its big bet that we really just want to hear from people we trust.
April 7 · 53 min
Noah Glass, CEO, Olo (Round 2)
We love repeat guests on The Simmer! In his return to the podcast, Olo founder and CEO Noah Glass explains the next phase of his company’s evolution: the Olo Network. In this episode, we talk about Olo’s move from publicly traded company to privately held asset last year, plus the power of an ordering network and why Olo coined a new term — “second-party ordering” to describe its big bet on the future.
March 31 · 41 min
Sam Bakhshandehpour, President, Local Merchants, Bilt
Former Jose Andres Group CEO Sam Bakhshandehpour recently joined Bilt, a $10 billion loyalty platform that rewards people for paying their rent and mortgage on Bilt cards, helping to fuel the so-called “points economy.” Recently, the company released a flashy video full of top-name chefs and restaurateurs to launch Bilt Hospitality, a kind of digital concierge service targeted at restaurants. But what is it, exactly? And how does it work? In this episode, Sam answers these questions and more — including when we might see a launch video with more than one woman in it.
March 10 · 48 min
Ben Leventhal, Founder & CEO, Blackbird
Ben Leventhal’s impact on the restaurant business can not be overstated. The serial founder successfully launched (and exited) restaurant editorial network Eater and reservations service Resy. Now he’s back with Blackbird, a loyalty and payments platform for the restaurant industry. In this episode we talk about evolving restaurant loyalty, the so-called “reservations wars” and, of course, some really great restaurants.
February 25 · 37 min
Pablo Rivero, CEO, Resy (round 2)
Big reservations news from American Express this week: this summer, restaurants on Tock will transition to Resy, marking the end of the Tock brand. On the first Simmer episode with a second-time guest, Pablo Rivero, Resy CEO / SVP and Head of Amex global dining, talks us through what’s changing at Resy — and what’s not.
February 10 · 40 min
Maxx Freedman, Founder of Spice
It’s been a minute (actually, years) since ghost kitchens and virtual brands dominated conversations about restaurant delivery. While those businesses have largely fallen out of view (with a few notable exceptions), restaurants still need a viable digital strategy. In this episode, we talk to Maxx Freedman, founder of Spice, a growth and marketing agency for restaurants, about what restaurants are asking for — and what they need — now.
January 8 · 34 min
Welcome, 2026!
In this special edition of The Simmer, Kristen and Brandon talk through that viral Reddit delivery post (and its aftermath), look back on what they got wrong (and right!) about 2025, and offer a few thoughts on the year ahead.
Dec 16, 2025 · 41 min
Jill Adams, Chief Marketing Officer, El Pollo Loco
It’s a good time to be a chicken chain. New concepts are taking off and legacy brands, like the 50-year-old El Pollo Loco, are poised for serious growth. The fire-grilled chicken brand, currently open in eight states, is planning a larger expansion. In this episode, Jill Adams, the brand’s chief marketer, talks customer expectations, AI for better and more efficient marketing efforts, and why she’s optimistic restaurants will have a good 2026.
Dec 9, 2025 · 44 min
Avi Goren, Co-founder and CEO, Marqii
It’s been almost a decade since Avi Goren launched Marqii to help restaurants get found on the internet. That challenge remains, but search and discovery methods and technology have changed… a lot. In this episode, we talk about discovery in the age of generative AI and the continued challenge of reputation management for restaurants.
Dec 2, 2025 · 46 min
Chris DeSaye, VP of Information Technology, Gibson’s Restaurant Group
Longtime restaurant exec and OpenTable advisory board member Chris DeSaye knows the bookings business as well as anyone and has a clear view of what comes next. In this episode, we talk DoorDash, artificial intelligence, and, of course, the always-evolving reservations biz.
Nov 4, 2025 · 42 min
Rachael Nemeth Co-founder & CEO, Opus Training
Rachael Nemeth runs a technology company, but she thinks like a hospitalitarian. Opus Training is a training operating system designed for multi-unit restaurants, helping empower front-line restaurant workers, including managers. In this episode, we talk about modern restaurant training, AI, and why the human touch is still supreme, even if the bots are helping.
Oct 21, 2025 · 46 min
Elizabeth Tilton, Founder & CEO, Oyster Sunday and OS Benefits
Elizabeth Tilton started her career cooking in New Orleans before moving to join the marketing team at Momofuku in New York City. Years later, she’s translated that back-of-house experience to her own consultancy, Oyster Sunday, which acts as a back office for restaurants across the country. That led to a second company, OS Benefits, which provides ACA-compliant health insurance and wellness benefits to independent hospitality businesses across the country. In this episode we talk through all the facets of dining out in 2025, and what we’re all excited for in the future.

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