Beware, Be Kind of Viral Influencers

In this episode of The Digital Restaurant, Carl is joined by Emmy Award–winning storyteller Mike Duffy of Yum Crunch. Together they break down five timely stories shaping restaurants and tech:

• McDonald’s bets on web ordering through DoorDash—does convenience outweigh control?
• Yum Brands’ Byte platform fuels $9B in digital sales and rewrites the restaurant tech stack.
• Social listening lessons: Cracker Barrel’s backlash vs. KFC’s potato wedge comeback.
• Drone delivery’s tipping point—new FAA rules, Texas rollouts, pizza robots in LA, and the Ghost Kitchen 3.0 vision.
• The power and peril of influencers—when viral moments can make or break restaurants.

Tune in for insights on how digital disruption, AI, and influence are shaping the future of food.

00:50 – Big Macs without an app?
McDonald’s and DoorDash team up on a web-based ordering channel. Does this remove friction or hand too much control to a third party?

06:20 – How Byte is fueling Yum’s digital revolution
Yum Brands surpasses $9B in digital sales with its in-house AI platform Byte, reshaping marketing, operations, and delivery.

14:35 – Social listening: when to hear and when to act
KFC wins big with a potato wedge comeback while Cracker Barrel faces backlash over redesigns. Lessons in consumer engagement.

22:55 – Drone delivery is set to take off
Regulations shift, GoTo Foods tests drones in Texas, Serve robots deliver pizzas in LA, and Ghost Kitchens 3.0 may be on the horizon.

32:00 – Should operators be influencers?
The risks and rewards of social media influence: a San Francisco chef’s career collapses after a viral TikTok, while CPK and Pinky Cole show how to turn moments into opportunities.

Chapters

• 0:00 The Digital Restaurant Aug 15 2025
• 1:04 Q1 - Big Macs without an app! What's this about?
• 6:33 Q2 - More details on how Byte is helping 25k Yum Restaurants
• 14:52 Q3 - How social listening is good for your restaurant
• 23:13 Q4. Drone Delivery is set to take off in a big way
• 32:15 Q5. Should operators be influencers or at least be ready for how to handle them?

Transcript

The Digital Restaurant Aug 15 2025
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Carl: [00:00:00] Happy Monday. We're back. The digital restaurant is here. We had a couple of weeks off, but that was [00:00:05] largely 'cause we had to spend some time preparing for a very special episode. Got a good friend of mine [00:00:10] here, Mike Duffy. And, uh, Mike, I think this is a first for me. I, I don't think I've ever [00:00:15] been able to have an Emmy award winner on the podcast, so I, I think that's something I [00:00:20] see over your left shoulder there.

Is that right? Am I, have I got my awards correct? [00:00:25] 

Mike: Yeah, I properly staged it. I guess this is the art direction background of me working. There you go. [00:00:30] 

Carl: Alright, good. Well, lovely to have you with with me, my friend. It's it's always a privilege to [00:00:35] spend time with you and we've got some really interesting stuff to cover this week.

So if it's all right with [00:00:40] you, why don't we get into it and then we'll we'll talk more about you and Yum Crunch towards the end. 

Mike: Sounds great. So glad [00:00:45] to be here, Carl.


Q1 - Big Macs without an app! What's this about?
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Carl: Awesome. Alright, well, really interesting news. I think we'll kick it [00:00:50] off with this one. You no longer need to have the app to buy a [00:00:55] Big Mac.

What's going on? What's the McDonald's been in the news for? 

Mike: So, I love this. This is, when we talk [00:01:00] about social commerce and we talk about the digital influence on restaurants. It's all [00:01:05] about removing friction. And McDonald's has just launched a new web-based ordering [00:01:10] channel@mcdonalds.com in partnership with DoorDash and allows customers to order delivery without [00:01:15] downloading an app or creating an account.

I think this is gonna be a a big deal [00:01:20] for McDonald's. I think it's a big deal for DoorDash, but it's not without its [00:01:25] potential pitfalls. There's a lot of opinions in the restaurant world about DoorDash. The fees that it [00:01:30] charges. The consumer experience. So when we get into this [00:01:35] I'm really interested to talk to you about sort of what we both feel are the [00:01:40] potential downfalls of an arrangement like this, but of course, the amazing upside.

Carl: [00:01:45] Yeah, it's a really interesting one, Mike, because you know, I have this phrase in the second book about counting the [00:01:50] clicks and every step to get to the point where the transaction is [00:01:55] done and the food is in process. On, on its way to you is a potential [00:02:00] step of inconvenience. And so, I don't know about you, I dunno whether you're an Apple user or Samsung, but [00:02:05] I'm a iPhone user, and if I don't touch an app.

I think within 30 days, [00:02:10] apple takes care of me by deleting it or at least partially deleting it off my [00:02:15] system. And I kid you not. The amount of times I've been in the McDonald's drive through lane and I'm [00:02:20] like, the thing's not there, and I'm having to redownload it, and then I've got someone behind me and [00:02:25] I'm, then I've gotta wait for the code to come through.

Oh my goodness. The idea of being able to have a [00:02:30] website only interface actually makes a lot of sense on a number of levels. 

Mike: So I'm glad you [00:02:35] brought that up. That exact consumer use case, right? You're in line at McDonald's. [00:02:40] You are. All you want is that Big Mac. You know that McDonald's has the kiosk ordering system [00:02:45] now.

They got the drive through. They're sort of every possible way they can get you a [00:02:50] big Mac and fries, they're gonna get it to you, right? But what's interesting with DoorDash is. [00:02:55] Because you don't have to download the app. And because it is a web-based [00:03:00] interface where you can, you don't have to start an account, you think that friction is just completely [00:03:05] removed.

But as I was experimenting with ordering on, on the DoorDash [00:03:10] interface last night I couldn't figure out how to pick it up myself. It was [00:03:15] delivery only, so. Really, it only served DoorDash and I thought, [00:03:20] wow, that's a flaw in the system. You bring DoorDash into the relationship with [00:03:25] McDonald's, which, the Tim Snyder, McDonald's head of delivery said, this channel extends [00:03:30] our reach and offers a seamless and convenient way to have McDonald's favorites.

[00:03:35] The key on that is delivered. And you can only do that through DoorDash. [00:03:40] So here we have McDonald's in I, in a what I think is a little bit of an [00:03:45] overcorrection. Not they'll fix this. Of course, we know social listening works and we're [00:03:50] gonna get into social listening in a little bit. But you know, when we're talking about [00:03:55] something that is already the most convenient burger you can get anywhere in the world and you [00:04:00] bring DoorDash into it, what is McDonald's doing?

They're giving DoorDash access to consumer [00:04:05] behavior. They're putting DoorDash between them and their [00:04:10] consumer. At a time when you just want a Big Mac. And so there's a lot of risks [00:04:15] here, but my bet is that McDonald's and DoorDash, you know, with [00:04:20] their breadth of experience and the reach that they've got, they're gonna figure this out.

And I think it'll [00:04:25] ultimately be a really good thing for consumers and, and really great for both DoorDash and [00:04:30] McDonald's. 

Carl: Yeah, it, it'll be interesting, I wonder whether they've been able to [00:04:35] cut a few percentage points off the commissions and. You know, the, the area for me that [00:04:40] really stood out as a potential risk is actually about the [00:04:45] delivery driver availability area.

Today, if you were to order off the [00:04:50] app. You can take advantage of not just the DoorDash fleet, but also the [00:04:55] Uber Eats fleet. And I think what they're saying here is, is through the website orders, the [00:05:00] ones that come through the ww mcdonalds.com channel, that's going to be [00:05:05] ones where only DoorDash drivers are gonna have access to it, which is fine in places like where [00:05:10] we live, where there are plenty of DoorDash drivers around.

But you go to some of the, the heartlands [00:05:15] of where Uber Eats is perhaps more dominant, or GrubHub is more dominant, maybe. The actual [00:05:20] mcdonalds.com delivery will actually be slower than going through the app itself. And so [00:05:25] that's the thing I'm gonna be really interested in. In fact, as we get deeper into this in a [00:05:30] relationship, maybe that's a test we should do One time where, I don't know, over in New York and, and seeing how [00:05:35] much time it takes to order via the app relative to the website.

Mike: Exactly and [00:05:40] Ian Borden, the CFO of McDonald's says that, US business in delivery is [00:05:45] hitting all time highs in the first and second quarter of this year, or hit all [00:05:50] time highs in first and second quarter of this year. So. Obviously they're doubling down on this. [00:05:55] And the question is, does convenience, outweigh the control that McDonald's is [00:06:00] relinquishing to a third party app?

So remains to be seen, but you and I both know [00:06:05] we're gonna hear from the consumers, they're gonna be loud, they're gonna be vocal, and I have a feeling [00:06:10] McDonald's is gonna a adapt and adjust accordingly.


Q2 - More details on how Byte is helping 25k Yum Restaurants
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[00:06:15] 

Mike: All right, so as we step into the [00:06:20] next story in the episode today let's talk about Bite. And what's interesting [00:06:25] here is that Yum Brands, the parent to Taco Bell, KFC, pizza Hut the Habit, [00:06:30] burger Grill. They just hit a huge digital milestone. In Q2. In [00:06:35] Q2 earnings sorry. In Q2, the earnings call on August 5th, the company announced [00:06:40] system-wide digital sales surpassed.

$9 billion. With [00:06:45] digital me now making up 50% of total sales, a [00:06:50] 7% which represents a 7% year over year increase. There's a driving force behind [00:06:55] all of this. The driving force is bite by Yum. This is the company's [00:07:00] in-house AI powered restaurant tech. Platform. I don't know that much about that tech [00:07:05] platform.

So I'm, I'm interested to hear more about it from you and, and dive in on the [00:07:10] story. 

Carl: It's a, it's a fascinating one. I'm grateful for you to outline [00:07:15] some of the numbers there, quite honestly, because it is crazy when you think that digital now [00:07:20] accounts, like you said, 57% of total sales, right? It's just, it, it just tells you the [00:07:25] journey that these big brands are on.

The more you can get to digital sales, the more you [00:07:30] can get to that understanding of who your consumer is and when you're seeing. Brands like KFC, their [00:07:35] digital sales grew 22%, I think. And I think that's digital penetration. Something like [00:07:40] 60%. Now. Taco Bell, 41% of orders are now digital. You know, it just [00:07:45] shows you the, the fact that more and more consumers are heading in the direction of wanting to [00:07:50] order through digital interfaces.

And that's super encouraging because. This is not a small company. They've got [00:07:55] 61,000 restaurants across 155 countries, and therefore, perhaps no [00:08:00] surprise that they've chosen to invest in the core technology That's [00:08:05] really helped them see this level of explosion when it comes to digital sales. So if you [00:08:10] have been in a cave for the last couple of years, what I've touched on Bite in the, in the past, bite by [00:08:15] Yum.

Is an in-house AI driven SaaS platform. It was [00:08:20] launched in February of this year, but it's been in in creation for over five years. [00:08:25] I was on a panel at Food On Demand speaking with Shiv and Shiv was [00:08:30] there from the very beginning. And you know, you hear about that journey of starting to try and [00:08:35] a get leadership.

Aligned to the idea of what this thing was back then five [00:08:40] years ago. It just shows you that this really is about having the right leaders with the right [00:08:45] vision and then putting it to into motion. So what does it do? Well, it integrates online, [00:08:50] mobile ordering, point of sale kitchen delivery orchestration, menu inventory, [00:08:55] labor tools, team member dashboards, end-to-end restaurant infrastructure.[00:09:00] 

And it's of course being built from the ground up. So it's, it isn't just live, it's actually [00:09:05] being widely adopted. The article that we saw on this particular one says that now more than [00:09:10] 25,000 restaurants globally are using one element or more. Of the buy [00:09:15] platform, and I think Taco Bell is probably leading the adoption curve because as [00:09:20] we know, the company is largely a franchise organization, so you have to get those [00:09:25] franchisees on board and to really make a case as to why this, this thing has an ROI [00:09:30] attributed to it.

So yum's tech economy, like stretches beyond the logistics, it's [00:09:35] radically transforming their marketing capabilities as well. Supposedly in [00:09:40] 2025 alone, Yama has dispatched over 200 million AI generated [00:09:45] communications and get this Mike, they've delivered up to five times more incremental sales compared to [00:09:50] traditional channels, right?

So their outgoing CEO David Gibbs says rightly, I [00:09:55] think this isn't just marketing evolution, it's revolution. When you hear those kind of numbers, [00:10:00] you can understand why he is not using hyperbole there. That seems very true. It isn't just a marketing [00:10:05] engine. It's a decision making ally as well.

There's this thing called Bike Coach, which is a component [00:10:10] of the bike platform, which provides AI powered operational insights to over [00:10:15] 30,000 restaurants. And it's really giving the managers real time guest feedback or [00:10:20] dynamic information sometimes. This is aggregated from social or delivery platforms, and that's [00:10:25] helping them maybe adjust routines or operations or maybe later tweak the menu or labor [00:10:30] shifts maybe service processes.

And it's all of course, aimed at improving [00:10:35] day-to-day restaurant performance. Their incoming CEO guy called Chris Turner [00:10:40] says it takes the guesswork out of running a restaurant. And being the former CFOI [00:10:45] suspect that is quite warming to his heart. The other side of this going to what we were just [00:10:50] talking about with DoorDash, you know, yum is also using this Byte Connect [00:10:55] platform to help 'em tackle third party delivery inefficiencies.

And that's where [00:11:00] their AI integrated menu, their order synchronization platform, because it's been built [00:11:05] in-house, is dramatically reducing costs and it's enabling them to do things which would [00:11:10] otherwise have taken like maybe nine months of time to develop down to just three. [00:11:15] So it's focused on streamlining things like order accuracy or lowering, I don't know, [00:11:20] cancellation rates, and ultimately giving these franchisees better economics than using [00:11:25] outsourced alternatives or various different SaaS platforms off off the shelf.

And then the [00:11:30] last thing we talked about this in the podcast a few months ago, but voice ai, right? They've got this partnership with [00:11:35] nvidia. They've got, I think now 600 restaurants where they use in this voice ai. [00:11:40] Outperforming, according to them all industry benchmarks where the voice interface [00:11:45] is enhancing, ordering, of course the drive-through also over the phone, and it's got really [00:11:50] good speech recognition and context of where interaction.

So a lot of that, of course, was the hype [00:11:55] last year around how voice AI was coming to the drive-through. But the thing for me about Nvidia, which [00:12:00] is interesting, is it's all about bringing that level of edge compute. To the [00:12:05] restaurant location because as we get deeper and deeper into this world of ai, the [00:12:10] closer you are to the compute, the greater cap capacity you have a compute, the more it's gonna be [00:12:15] outta handle.

So really interesting place. What's clear from Yum's results is they're [00:12:20] not just layering AI on top of existing processes, the rebuilding the entire [00:12:25] engine from the inside out and by owning byte. It's full stack of [00:12:30] capabilities. They're tying together marketing, operations, delivery, customer experience into this one [00:12:35] coordinated system.

And when you hear things like five times sales payoff, it's clearly [00:12:40] working. So yeah, I'm pretty excited about it. If they have been out to make sure that the [00:12:45] data has been cleaned and is flowing fast through the system, this should be [00:12:50] something we hear more about in the months and years to come.

What's your taking up?

Mike: Mean, I, you know, this is just [00:12:55] another example of how. And there's no such thing as a sort of single [00:13:00] faceted company anymore. You've got Yum Brands, which is of course known for all their [00:13:05] QSRs and their food experiences, but they're really becoming a technology company.

[00:13:10] That's just absolutely fascinating to me. How AI is being incorporated into [00:13:15] improving the consumer experience. Looking at. These things where you're getting consumer feedback [00:13:20] in real time. The ability also to, help these [00:13:25] franchisees manage, everything from inventory to projections and, it's a, it's an [00:13:30] extraordinary use of technology and I'm excited to see how this [00:13:35] technology as SaaS offerings will now then start to be.

Shared with [00:13:40] smaller companies and businesses across the US and the globe, as Yum [00:13:45] and Bite start to deploy this as a SaaS service to up and comers. I wouldn't [00:13:50] be surprised that, we would see this starting to take place across much more [00:13:55] localized integrations.

I'm interested in, in seeing how I can get a better [00:14:00] taco. And what happens when. You are able to dial in inventory and. [00:14:05] The, localized tastes, what happens in the spicy south [00:14:10] versus maybe the less spicy north. What happens when you're going for richer food in [00:14:15] the Midwest versus more like coastal offerings out here in Los Angeles [00:14:20] or on the West coast.

These are the kinds of takeaways that technology like this can [00:14:25] quickly. Deploy into those franchises and we're gonna see [00:14:30] menus evolving rapidly based on this kind of consumer feedback. It's really cool.


Q3 - How social listening is good for your restaurant
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Carl: [00:14:35] Yeah. I'm glad you mentioned that because it actually ties into our next question because [00:14:40] KFC have been in the news.

And they have been doing this thing called social listening. You mentioned this [00:14:45] earlier. So it'd be good to get your definition on what is social listening for those folks that don't [00:14:50] know, but also how it's helping even perhaps when you don't want to hear [00:14:55] it. And I think there was another article from Cracker Barrel, which perhaps touches on that one.

Mike: So I love [00:15:00] this. So this topic, there's two sides to the coin of social listening. To answer your question on what is social [00:15:05] listening, it is exactly as it sounds. It is when you have [00:15:10] consumer opinions being expressed in social media in the comments, in [00:15:15] posts, in reaction to what the brand is saying in social media.

The sort of interactions and [00:15:20] the engagement that we're seeing with these brands across their social [00:15:25] channels. We know now that in social media it's not about views. It's not about [00:15:30] frankly, anything else other than engagement. And so very clearly the most important [00:15:35] thing you can do when you're driving a lot of engagement is listen to what your consumers are saying.

[00:15:40] So when it comes to Cracker Barrel and u and and KFC. You have these two sides [00:15:45] of that coin on the one hand. Cracker Barrel recently released [00:15:50] images of their essentially redesign, basically they're facing social media [00:15:55] backlash over their restaurant redesigns that replaced the classic country aesthetic.[00:16:00] 

With a more contemporary look while on the other side. [00:16:05] KFC successfully brought back potato wedges with a simple post that [00:16:10] reached 55 million views. So let me double click on what both of those mean. On the one hand, [00:16:15] cracker Barrel decided to redesign their interiors of their [00:16:20] restaurants. I love Cracker Barrel because when I go there, I think of it like it's [00:16:25] a bit of a gold rush.

Not only does it feel like it's of the Gold Rush sort of [00:16:30] era. Literally with picks and shovels and axes hanging on the walls. And you can [00:16:35] get your chicken fried steak at the same time, but you're in a store that feels [00:16:40] eclectic and curated and interesting, and so you. The Cracker Barrel [00:16:45] experience, is very different than any other southern Diner experience.

You [00:16:50] go and you think you're gonna find a little something that you can't find anywhere else, and you're gonna get [00:16:55] that dish that you love. A Cracker Barrel. But what Cracker Barrel just did [00:17:00] was they removed that very thing from 20 to 30 of [00:17:05] their, and this is notable, over 660 restaurants are being they have in the [00:17:10] us, but only 25 to 30 of them were redesigned.

But the backlash to this [00:17:15] redesign. Was massive. And when the consumers come out and they [00:17:20] say things like, can we please go back to the original look, the nostalgia is gone. [00:17:25] Surely there's another approach to bringing in more customers. You gotta listen to that. [00:17:30] Interestingly though, the, a Cracker Barrel's official statement on this is that this was a very [00:17:35] vocal minority who feel differently about this, but based on the [00:17:40] strong performance of these locations that have been redesigned, this affirms that were moving in the right [00:17:45] direction.

I dunno about that. It's it's an interesting [00:17:50] sort of, they sort of threw a little bit of shade at people who felt strongly about [00:17:55] this, which I think is a huge mistake on Cracker Barrel's part. But they're also doing something that [00:18:00] to me is, is missing an opportunity. And the opportunity I think, [00:18:05] comes in what KFC just did.

So in 2020, KFC, discontinued. [00:18:10] They're potato wedges. This led to a backlash [00:18:15] unlike anything KFC had seen since people begged for the secret recipe. [00:18:20] And that is that they started a campaign. Fans of the potato wedges [00:18:25] started a campaign saying, please bring these back. Here we are in 2025. And [00:18:30] what did KFC just do with one single Twitter post they [00:18:35] announced?

That they're bringing back the potato wedge. And this post is amazing. It has two [00:18:40] words and it has a picture of a potato wedge. And those words are here, [00:18:45] damn. To me, this is a perfect social media post, right? [00:18:50] Two words say, okay, we heard you. We've been social listening [00:18:55] here, we're bringing this back.

And Dan saying, Hey, we get that [00:19:00] you had a strong opinion about this too. We we're appreciating that and [00:19:05] we're sort of leaning into it and with a wink, we're saying, we heard you, let's bring this back. [00:19:10] So I think KFC handled it perfectly, took 'em five years, but, you know, better [00:19:15] late than never, I think Cracker Barrel could maybe take a cue from what KFC has done [00:19:20] and respect their consumers a little bit more and be better social listeners.[00:19:25] 

Carl: Yeah, it's a fascinating couple of examples, Mike. I think the. The [00:19:30] interesting thing for me is, is that they have only done this across 30, 40 restaurants, right? So [00:19:35] in a way, it's a good opportunity for them to be able to use social listing to get some initial [00:19:40] feedback from customers. The other side of this, of course, is how do we know whether those [00:19:45] customers are actually true, loyal, ongoing customers?

That's the challenge with social [00:19:50] right, is that you could. Perhaps just be a follower of various different restaurants. Maybe you are not [00:19:55] a regular, ongoing customer, so there's something here about trying to identify [00:20:00] who is your loyal following. Capturing their opinions in a way that to, in the [00:20:05] past was really impossible to be able to do.

When I was running my C-store network, I would [00:20:10] bring in people to be able to give us feedback on a particular product. You wouldn't necessarily have the [00:20:15] opportunity to necessarily get a wide range of people's perspectives [00:20:20] into something that might have been a transformative change for the business.

When we [00:20:25] rebranded our network. We didn't do anything like this to be able to get that feedback. So I think the first [00:20:30] point is every change has an opportunity for you to listen. The trick, [00:20:35] I think, is how do you identify the appropriate consumer segments to listen to, and the [00:20:40] ones to maybe respectfully listen to, but maybe not take action to.

And then thirdly, the ones to [00:20:45] ignore. And then similarly, how can you use this as a way of. Also [00:20:50] thinking about playing into old Robert Cialdini's influencing tactics, which I think is what many of the [00:20:55] big chains do with the potato wedges. Scarcity, right? If you say something's [00:21:00] back, bring it back for a limited period of time.

Maybe it's on the shelves, right, for three [00:21:05] months or so, and then they take it away again. We see that time and time again. When you do that, [00:21:10] it still is a great way to get attention and build the business, and most, most [00:21:15] personally, right now, drive traffic, which is on everyone's mind. 

Mike: Absolutely. And I think that [00:21:20] when you have a, what you perceive as a problem that your consumers are highlighting [00:21:25] whether or not, those consumers are actual customers or not, we can always look at [00:21:30] that and see an opportunity an opportunity to, engage with, [00:21:35] uh, a vocal, even if they're a minority on social media.

But ultimately it's [00:21:40] about sort of making sure that the brand is has a brand voice and a brand identity, [00:21:45] and social media allows that to, be amplified, you know, whatever that brand [00:21:50] voice is and whatever that identity is, it can be amplified in social media. What's interesting [00:21:55] about what KFC's Post did was, first of all, 55 million [00:22:00] organic views in 48 hours.

Once they announced that it was coming back, it's the best [00:22:05] performing organic content the brand has ever seen. So they turned what was [00:22:10] essentially a negative and very smartly. To, to your point, they're bringing it back, I believe is a limited [00:22:15] offering, right at a time where we're heading into the back half of the fiscal year and [00:22:20] they need to really bump up numbers.

So I think it's a masterclass in how to [00:22:25] listen socially, and it's a reminder to all consumer facing brands [00:22:30] that their consumers need to be seen and heard. And when you do that you get rewarded for it. [00:22:35] 

Carl: Got it. So I think what you've told me is I just need to put a picture [00:22:40] of you and me on a post with, here is the word and this podcast will be the best [00:22:45] ever.

Right? It's what 

Mike: the people want. I mean, I listen, all we can do is, is [00:22:50] listen. And they know that by seeing us together, they've been seen and heard.


Q4. Drone Delivery is set to take off in a big way
---

[00:22:55] 

Mike: All right. [00:23:00] So I love this next topic. Drone delivery has been talked about for years, and [00:23:05] what we're about to see is drone delivery is gonna explode. The question is why, how [00:23:10] did we get here and what's about to happen? 

Carl: Yeah, it's it really feels like [00:23:15] 2025 might be the year where it starts to feel real, because it's not [00:23:20] just about the futuristic tech headlines anymore.

You know, there are three big things happening [00:23:25] at the same time. Right now. The, the regulatory environment is shifting. The technology is [00:23:30] proven itself in real world restaurant use cases, and the big brands are getting [00:23:35] involved. So let, let's deal with those in turn the regulatory side. Because in many ways [00:23:40] that's been the biggest break on progress in the US and what's happened in recent weeks is [00:23:45] the FAA has proposed new rules that would allow beyond line of sight [00:23:50] flights without requiring a visual observer on the ground.

That might sound like [00:23:55] a small tweak, but it's actually quite large, right? When you think that a pilot literally has to be able to [00:24:00] see the drone for it to operate legally in most cases, and now you can remove that [00:24:05] requirement. Suddenly you unlock the ability to run routes across towns, through neighborhoods, and [00:24:10] into major metro areas if you so wish.

And companies like Wing, Amazon, [00:24:15] Zipline, they're lining up to take advantage of this in cities like Atlanta, Houston, and Charlotte, who [00:24:20] have already been flagged as prime expansion markets. So what's interesting is that we're [00:24:25] already starting to see meaningful deployments even before those new rules take effect.

[00:24:30] So also in the last week, Texas, I think this is happening, go to Foods, which is the [00:24:35] company behind Schlotzky's Cone, Jamba, and and other brands. They've basically launched [00:24:40] drone delivery with DoorDash and Wing in Frisco, Fort Worth, and Plano. And it's not [00:24:45] just about the one brand novelty, the idea of this multi-brand delivery from the same [00:24:50] hub.

You know, promises to allow us to maybe get to customers within [00:24:55] 20 minutes. Now you are able to service the entire family through a really interesting way of [00:25:00] delivery. And in 20 minutes, that's faster than most car based delivery windows and it's being [00:25:05] executed at scale in real neighborhoods and not, not just test sites.

Meanwhile, also [00:25:10] on the ground, robots are, are quietly carving out their own place in the delivery landscape. You've got [00:25:15] server robotics. Who's partnered with Little Caesars and Uber Eats in, in places like where we are in [00:25:20] la deploying sidewalk robots that can carry a serious payload, right? These [00:25:25] things can carry something like four 16 inch pizzas, plus wings, bed bread, and maybe drinks, [00:25:30] right?

And they're basically targeting 2000 robots on the streets by the end [00:25:35] of next year. And those aren't gimmicky prototypes. They're fulfilling real customer orders, [00:25:40] and they're designed to integrate seamlessly into those existing delivery platforms. [00:25:45] But here's the thing, if we zoom out globally, you realize that the US is still [00:25:50] catching up.

There was a a chapter in our first book called The Maturity of Markets, if you recall. [00:25:55] And it was talking about when we looked out east and we talked to China and [00:26:00] companies like Mito one. And when we now talk about that in the context of drone delivery. [00:26:05] Mito one has normalized drone delivery. It's not just home to doorstep.

It's delivering to [00:26:10] kiosks in public spaces like parks where customers swing by to collect their meals on the way [00:26:15] home. It's embedded into the customer experience, not really treated as a novelty, [00:26:20] and I think that's the gap we still have to close here in the us. And we should be clear, there are, there are [00:26:25] still some big limitations here in the us right?

Firstly, there's the FAA changes which are still [00:26:30] only proposals. So most operators still need case by case waivers for long range [00:26:35] flights. Second, the payloads are small. So many drones today carry [00:26:40] between two and five pounds, and that's fine for maybe a couple of burgers and fries or even a [00:26:45] medium pizza.

So you and I might be all right, but if we're gonna feed the entire family with drinks, you're probably not [00:26:50] getting it in a single run. And then third, they're still weather sensitive, right? [00:26:55] Wind, rain, extreme heat. They can all ground operations and. The fact that the [00:27:00] per delivery economics aren't proven at mass scale and community concerns [00:27:05] over noise and privacy are real.

You can see why we're still perhaps in the early innings of change [00:27:10] here. But the key takeaway is that the stars are, start starting to align here. The regulatory [00:27:15] bottlenecks are starting to loosen. The technology is scaling beyond pilots and restaurants [00:27:20] now are wanting to partner with the tech companies to make this real.

So we're not gonna see. [00:27:25] Drones and robots replace all traditional delivery next year. I don't think we ever will. But for [00:27:30] operators, the smart move is to start figuring out your integration strategy [00:27:35] now, because when the shift happens, and it will, it's going to happen faster than most in the industry are [00:27:40] ready for.

You know, for me, this is almost like thinking about, I don't know, ghost Kitchens [00:27:45] 3.0, where you have a purpose-built dispatch center that combines automated [00:27:50] production lines with a dedicated drone launch infrastructure. Orders flow in food is assembled by a [00:27:55] mix of human and automated prep, and each item is packed into a drone compatible container.

The [00:28:00] second it's ready, and then from there it moves straight out onto a launchpad or conveyor system [00:28:05] that that basically loads drones in sequence. Drones perhaps could be managed by a [00:28:10] centralized system. I almost think like a, an air traffic control for a swarm of 2050, I don't know, a [00:28:15] hundred craft each launching routing and returning on a tight timetable.

And then of course they [00:28:20] have the recharging element of the battery's being swapped out. And so when you think about it through that [00:28:25] context, maybe operators then could start to see how the economics had finally tip. [00:28:30] If you can consolidate production, batch orders, run multiple drones. Have a [00:28:35] hub that allows them to be able to leave and come back easily.

You can start to see that, [00:28:40] that alongside the regulations to even fly the things that maybe there's something here. [00:28:45] So, yeah, I'm excited about by it and I think certainly 2, 3, 4 years [00:28:50] from now, we are going to see this maybe hovering over our heads a little bit more often than we could have even believed [00:28:55] a year or two back.

Mike: I'm so excited about it too. And the, this is what I love [00:29:00] about digital restaurant podcasts is, you're prognosticating, you're looking at the [00:29:05] trends and you're, pulling out the sort of the learnings and the insights that can be applied [00:29:10] to, how to run a successful restaurant business.

And, in this case, I'm gonna take a little bit of a left [00:29:15] turn here because. This whole drone thing cracks me up. It is. I mean, I'm [00:29:20] a Star Wars kid, right? I grew up, you know, on George Lucas's Star Wars, and [00:29:25] when I see these drones and I see these little R 2D two units, on the [00:29:30] sidewalks.

It's, everything that, that George Lucas saw back then [00:29:35] is coming real here we are, we joke about what the future of Back to [00:29:40] the Future looked like and how it didn't, it, the 2015 or whatever the year [00:29:45] was that we went into the future on in those movies, didn't look anything like our actual 2015.

[00:29:50] Here we are in 2025 and we have robots delivering food. [00:29:55] We have robots picking us up and dropping us off and talking to us. [00:30:00] We have robots flying around delivering chicken wings and burgers and pizza. [00:30:05] So we're there. And as these restaurants start to embrace this, I think it's [00:30:10] gonna be a a real game changer for them because at the end of the day, consumers just [00:30:15] want great food, and the restaurants want to get their food into the hands of [00:30:20] consumers as.

Fast as possible because it needs to be fresh, it needs to be [00:30:25] delicious, and that surprise and delight needs to be extended into every consumer experience. [00:30:30] The question is, will robots remove what I refer [00:30:35] to as the surprise and disgust? That sometimes happens when a delivery [00:30:40] shows up. And it is it's cold or it's dropped off at the wrong door or whatever it [00:30:45] is.

If Waymo, which is the autonomous, cars here in Los Angeles [00:30:50] and in, in some cities across the US is any indication I think Waymo [00:30:55] drivers are better than human drivers. I'm actually I'll ride behind a Waymo in Los [00:31:00] Angeles traffic and I'll follow what the Waymo is doing because.

It's a better driver than I am and it's [00:31:05] a better driver than the, the people driving around me. So I think if that's any indication we're gonna see. [00:31:10] The mass adoption of drone delivery and these little robots that crack me up when they run [00:31:15] into each other on the sidewalk and they don't know which way to go.

Carl: Yeah. Well said. You [00:31:20] know, I think the other angle on a lot of this is all around just this ability for us to [00:31:25] look at the value equation of delivery. It's, it's not great, right? There [00:31:30] are still a lot of restaurants out there that are looking at their numbers going. Am I making any money from this? [00:31:35] And so if you can make delivery more efficient, if this ultimately can make the [00:31:40] value equation stack up a little bit better for restaurants, then they're gonna be vested more into it.

Then they're gonna [00:31:45] advertise more on these platforms to get more delivery orders. And then you're gonna get more of the industry [00:31:50] at the levels of what we're seeing the ums of this world doing to be able to really drive [00:31:55] more and more orders to customers wherever they are, not just when they're inside their restaurants.


Q5. Should operators be influencers or at least be ready for how to handle them?
---

[00:32:00] 

Carl: Alright, let's get up to the, the last question, Mike. This one's really close [00:32:05] to home for you. And I'm really glad you were able to find a couple of articles that could help [00:32:10] us dive into this a little bit because, you know, I've always, I've always talked a lot [00:32:15] about the likes of Pinky Cole and the way in which she was able to drive slutty [00:32:20] vegan to levels I think had never been seen before for a chain of that size.

[00:32:25] But it really goes to show. The power of the influencer [00:32:30] community. But the question I've got for you today, and I, I think you've got a couple of articles to perhaps touch on in terms [00:32:35] of helping us think about this, is should operators, folks that are running [00:32:40] restaurants, really even think about playing that role themselves?

What are your thoughts? [00:32:45] 

Mike: You know, I, I, you're right, I do have big thoughts about this. My company, yum Crunch, is [00:32:50] focused on, helping food and beverage brands with social media and with [00:32:55] content. It's it's near and dear to my heart because, not only do I come from a restaurant [00:33:00] family, my older brother Brian Duffy is a, a longtime chef.

We, we grew up working in [00:33:05] restaurants ourselves. We know how, tough it is to run these [00:33:10] businesses. And we know that the margins are thin and that, when you face, any [00:33:15] issues from, the things like, like restaurants faced during pandemic or fires like we [00:33:20] faced out here in, in the Palisades.

Restaurants are just not set up to survive those kinds of [00:33:25] catastrophic things, but what happens when the catastrophe. Is a [00:33:30] self-inflicted wound. And so the first story that I wanna refer to is this San Francisco chef Luke [00:33:35] Sung he faced a social media mob and literally had to close [00:33:40] businesses.

After an interaction with a TikTok influencer named Carla Mark Ho. [00:33:45] He, look what happened was this Carla came in. To this [00:33:50] restaurant and she was there as an influencer dining at the restaurant. She was gonna be joined [00:33:55] by her boyfriend. She showed up early. According to her, she was very [00:34:00] respectful.

But when Chef Sung started interacting with her, things went [00:34:05] south really fast, he basically said to her, how large is your following? [00:34:10] And how come your, dining partner isn't here yet? He as [00:34:15] chef sometimes can be. He was very passionate and animated. And [00:34:20] apparently Carla felt she wasn't being treated kindly.

And so what happened [00:34:25] was she stormed out. As she walked out, she said There's gonna be consequences. And [00:34:30] she later posted a video as she's walking out where she's crying and she [00:34:35] said she was treated horribly. And the restaurant world is really small and there should be consequences [00:34:40] here. And sure enough, the backlash began, [00:34:45] thousands and thousands of people started commenting.

They started talking about this chef as if [00:34:50] he's a guy who needs to be canceled. And since then, he's actually separated from the two restaurants that he [00:34:55] was working at. One of them actually closed. So it's the sort of the [00:35:00] worst case scenario. And in fact, chef Sung said that this is, he couldn't imagine anything [00:35:05] being worse than what just happened.

Obviously he learned a really hard lesson here. [00:35:10] And the lesson is be kind. You don't, you don't know who has a large [00:35:15] following, and even if you don't have a large following, if you have a following at all, [00:35:20] you're going to have an audience who's gonna be be paying attention to you. And when you have a bad experience that you [00:35:25] talk about to your following, they're gonna rally.

What's interesting is this [00:35:30] influencer Carla gained. Almost [00:35:35] 460,000 followers from this incident. She had about 15,000 followers [00:35:40] before, and now she's at over 473,000. The video [00:35:45] that she posted was liked by 4.7 million people, so it was [00:35:50] a, a legitimate sort of viral moment. But the victim of this [00:35:55] is at least two restaurants and a chef's career.

Did he deserve [00:36:00] it? I don't think so. I don't know this guy. I know he made a mistake, but this is the [00:36:05] sort of risk that you take when you are engaging with influencers. But the question [00:36:10] is, should you be an influencer as a chef or should your restaurant have [00:36:15] a voice in social media? It. And the answer is yes, it should.

Because when you [00:36:20] look at the outsized results, 74% of diners choose where to eat [00:36:25] based on social media. 22% return because of it. 82% of [00:36:30] US restaurants are using social media marketing as their primary growth strategy. [00:36:35] And then when you look at the restaurant industry as a whole, it's a $1.5 trillion [00:36:40] industry with social media really driving discovery and and loyalty.

[00:36:45] I found this to be really interesting. A one star increase on Yelp, on a Yelp rating [00:36:50] equals 9% in revenue increases. So social drives real [00:36:55] business impact. I like to say as a company that really focuses on this, [00:37:00] don't try this at home. If you want to become an [00:37:05] influencer do it very intentionally.

Do it very mindfully. When you're small and you only have one [00:37:10] restaurant. Do it with kindness. Make sure that every interaction you have with the [00:37:15] consumer, maybe it is an influencer you don't know but especially when you're working with people who are [00:37:20] coming to dining at your restaurant and are there to promote it after the fact.

Be aware of [00:37:25] that. There's a good, the bad and the ugly of, social media marketing and [00:37:30] building brand voice and brand awareness on social media. And if you're looking to do [00:37:35] this, there's a lot of tools out there that you can use that you can learn from. You can watch [00:37:40] countless videos on YouTube on how to, you know, build your social media where you can work [00:37:45] with a company that does it.

This is where we at Yum Crunch, have built our services division [00:37:50] so that we can essentially guide these businesses into a brand safe [00:37:55] environment. Look at where the opportunities are and really establish a benevolent [00:38:00] brand voice a brand voice that is bold and can sort of stand out.

And when [00:38:05] things inevitably happen, where somebody has an opinion that isn't great for the restaurant or the [00:38:10] food and beverage brand. We manage that, we engage with that consumer and [00:38:15] we use this as a learning opportunity, and we oftentimes will bend over backwards to make sure [00:38:20] that they are whatever was wrong is fixed.

And that at minimum as we, talked about [00:38:25] earlier. That they're seen and heard. We're all human beings. We have a lot of [00:38:30] technology. This is a digital world that we're living in, but the heart and soul of [00:38:35] our existence is humanity. And when you ignore humanity or [00:38:40] you, act in, in a way that isn't seen as something that is a good thing for your [00:38:45] consumers or your diners. The odds of it coming back to you in a negative way are [00:38:50] really big odds. So it's important to be mindful of how you use it. 

Carl: I'm curious if [00:38:55] you were advising this particular restaurant when this [00:39:00] happened.

How would you have best helped them navigate through this? Because there's a [00:39:05] lot out there now that are using the phone, the social media the video capture [00:39:10] as a weapon, right? As a weapon. A to grow, a following and it doesn't always have to be the [00:39:15] truth, but the following is the following.

And the account is the account. I'm seeing [00:39:20] countless amounts of episodes of this happening on flights right now. I think recently there's been an American Airlines [00:39:25] one as well and air stewards having to, try and be incredibly professional, but it [00:39:30] almost feels like we need to train our restaurant teams now what to do in those moments.

[00:39:35] Because in a way, while perhaps there aren't any physical blows happening. [00:39:40] It's an assault of sorts, right? And you have to be ready for that type of [00:39:45] thing. Recognizing that your brand value is at stake, not just that particular customer's business [00:39:50] tonight and the rest of their visits in the future. It could be so much bigger than that.[00:39:55] 

Mike: Yeah. And when you're in a restaurant environment or a food and beverage environment, [00:40:00] hangar is real. If somebody doesn't get that dish or they get turned away, [00:40:05] or they're treated in a in a negative way. That's amplified. So what I would [00:40:10] do is I would advise this restaurant group to lean into acknowledging that they [00:40:15] made a mistake and that, that the chef made a mistake.

I would advise him to do that and to post a video [00:40:20] and say, man, we all have, weak moments. I gotta own this. I was in a weak moment. The [00:40:25] restaurant industry is hard and, and she didn't deserve the way that I talked to her. I wanna make this [00:40:30] right. And as a result, not only do I want to give her free food for a year, come [00:40:35] on in.

Anytime. I wanna give everybody that's a follower of hers, 15% off if they come into my [00:40:40] restaurant. Let's make this right. Let's fix this together. Turn a negative into a [00:40:45] positive, and all of a sudden this, these restaurants that had to close down would be open and [00:40:50] thriving. 

Carl: Did you hear about the TikTok video from California Pizza Kitchen [00:40:55] where a customer received only cheese and no macaroni in their order?

Mike: Yes. 

Carl: [00:41:00] And how so they turn that around into something which was this kind of mac and [00:41:05] cheese thing. I think the video was posted by someone called Front Truck. And [00:41:10] CPKs response was basically announcing a half off mac and cheese for [00:41:15] anyone nationwide using a certain code. I thought that was a great way of taking a [00:41:20] misstep into something that ultimately turned into a thing that worked [00:41:25] out great for the TikTok user as well as for the brand, right?

So this idea of how do you turn things to [00:41:30] your advantage is super powerful 

Mike: without a doubt. And that example is a great example [00:41:35] of. Digital media is SEO, especially when you're captioning and you've got the [00:41:40] right keywords in and your YouTube channels or your TikTok, you know, AI is constantly [00:41:45] scrubbing this content as well.

So when you think about it from that perspective, a [00:41:50] negative is that's getting engagement can very easily be turned into a [00:41:55] positive if you use it the right way. And in the case of [00:42:00] CPK, they acknowledged their mistake. They made a joke out of it. It's not [00:42:05] the end of the world. Their consumers weren't saying, let's boycott CPK, they were just making fun of them.

[00:42:10] So CPK did the thing that I think is the most important thing a brand can do, or [00:42:15] any public entity, which is. Laugh at yourself. Relax, [00:42:20] take a deep breath, and, don't let ego get in the way of, turning [00:42:25] what could be a bad customer service experience into a great [00:42:30] experience that will turn that customer into a customer for life.[00:42:35] 

Carl: Awesome. We've gone on a bit today, Mike, my goodness. Hopefully we've still got everyone at the end. I think that's [00:42:40] probably been the most pertinent piece of advice that we've received for a while. So, I would love to give you [00:42:45] a moment if you wouldn't mind just telling people a bit more about how to get in touch with you, who are you typically [00:42:50] helping out there right now?

Who you're targeting at Yum Crunch. And if people wanna reach out to, to [00:42:55] talk to you, what's the best way? 

Mike: Thank you so much. I, I'm at Yum Crunch on [00:43:00] all social media. Instagram is our main channel because we really believe in Instagram as the [00:43:05] brand safe environment. It's a visual medium and we like to say you make good food and beverage [00:43:10] content.

You're making your audience hungry and thirsty. That's our job is to create that sort [00:43:15] of visceral response. By, putting content out there that showcases the great [00:43:20] products. And so I'm working with some really awesome brands. We work with Lauer Family Foods. [00:43:25] They're at Lauer. Family Foods spelled like flour.

It rhyme with Lauer. So [00:43:30] Lauer Family Foods, give them a follow, check 'em out. They're this clean label barbecue [00:43:35] meat and deli meat company out of Richmond, Utah.

Another one is mellow. It's [00:43:40] a kava drink that is a alcohol alternative, , created by an amazing founder named [00:43:45] Amy Bet. And, um, at Mellow is, the, the handle. We're helping them build [00:43:50] their brand identity, launching them in the US market. You can find their product at Sprouts [00:43:55] and, many other , retailers in the US.

These two brands are two brands that I'm, I'm really [00:44:00] excited about working with. And give us a follow, give them a follow. It's all about sort of [00:44:05] using social media as a way to connect and to unify. If we can all [00:44:10] unify around food, food experiences and I think our world is gonna be a better place[00:44:15] 

we'll focus on, the right thing instead of the wrong thing. So I'm just so glad to be [00:44:20] on the podcast with you, Carl. I'm a huge fan and really honored to be sharing this [00:44:25] podcast with you. And thank you for allowing me to jump in and share a little bit more on Yum Crunch.[00:44:30] 

Carl: Fantastic. Well, I tell you why the people should re reach out to you and we're not gonna answer it now. It's [00:44:35] like they're gonna wanna find out how you won those awards behind your shoulders. So we're not gonna, they're gonna have to [00:44:40] definitely reach out to learn more about that story 'cause that's a good one as well.

But listen, Mike, thank you for your time [00:44:45] today. For those of you listening, really appreciate your tuning in. And if you've got any [00:44:50] thoughts about drone delivery, are you gonna start changing your strategy to incorporate that for the years [00:44:55] ahead? And what about this social listening thing we've been discussing?

How about changing your approach there [00:45:00] or doing more of it? What areas do you think you need to be tuning into to be able to really understand [00:45:05] what your guest is thinking and sometimes type in about your restaurant? But until next [00:45:10] time, thanks for