EMERGING Summer

Introducing F&B insights

The platform that helps bars, restaurants and hotels, streamline partnerships with suppliers, monetize sales data, reduce turnover and raise profits. Schedule

Why partner with F&B Insights?

Monetize your sales data to create a new revenue stream. Data is the world's most valuable resource and you're sitting on tons of it. F&B Insights is the only platform that helps you sell your monthly sales data to suppliers who want to know how their brand performs in your venue.

Raise profits with Al-driven menu pricing.

Leverage nationwide market intelligence to see how venues near you price particular items so you can raising pricing with confidence and without affecting demand.

Maximize revenue with brand education and competitions.

Partner with suppliers to maximize staff education and contests that boost sales. Keep our staff engaged with cash reward incentives.

Monetize the sales data you already collect.

Your point of sale system is already collecting valuable data. F&B Insights is the only platform that helps you monetize it by creating sales performance reports for suppliers. Schedule a Demo

Uncover the value in your data.

Suppliers want better insight into their brand’s on premise performance. Your POS data holds all the answers. F&B Insights transforms your sales data into valuable insight-rich reports and delivers them to suppliers.

Optimize your current supplier partnerships. Already working with suppliers? Great! F&B Insights helps you streamline supplier relationships. Send program proposals to the suppliers you already work with, or ones that you have contact information for.

Maximize profits by building new relationships.

The F&B Insights marketplace connects you with suppliers interested in brand insights from venues like yours. Visit the marketplace to connect with suppliers and build new relationships.

Social Adventures In Interactive Smart Rooms

DIVISIONS

Grow Smarter with a Single Strategic Platform

One Platform Secure, Access to All Data Cost Efficiencies and Insights. Learn More

Data Science

We provide insights for the food and entertainment industry.

Supply Chain

Buying power, category specialists and broadline / negotiation expertise to multiunit restaurants.

Real Estate Solutions

We are an extension of the operator’s team, evaluating the real estate opportunities across the country.

Revenue

FB Insights monetizes POS data, optimizes menu pricing, and increases revenue through menu education.

Finance

The industry resource for companies ready to grow sustainably and prepare for their next capital event

Hiring Tech

A proprietary technology that is revolutionary for hiring

EMERGING Fund

Founders, CEOs and Industry Leaders investing in Restaurants and Restaurant Technology (ResTech)

Virtually unlimited Performance and scale With Sales Expansion

EMERGING Fund

Founders, CEOs and Industry Leaders investing in Restaurants and Restaurant Technology (ResTech)

INDUSTRY LEADING FOUNDERS

EMERGING Fund

RESTECH & RESTAURANT INNOVATION / COLLABORATION

LARGEST ACCELERATION PLATFORM

F1 Arcade opening in Seaport

Formula 1 has today announced it will be launching its first US-based F1® Arcade venue at Boston Seaport in early 2024 as the sport continues to enjoy unprecedented growth in the country.

Adam Breeden on Creating the Ultimate Social Entertainment Venues

For many restaurants, millennials make up almost one-third of their revenue. This generation chooses restaurants that can offer “a new experience.” They look for experience-based environments, like live entertainment, game night, unique ambiance, and unusual food. They’re looking for the ultimate social entertainment venue.

Adam Breeden, the creator of some of the top social entertainment venues in the UK and the U.S., is delivering. The co-founder of Puttshack, Flight Club, Bounce, All Star Lanes, Hijingo, and Kindred Concepts has made entertaining diners his mission, combining sports with technology to create unsurpassed innovative concepts.

The Beginning of Fun & Food Breeden’s first business was The Lonsdale cocktail bar in London, winner of Time Out Bar of the Year and an overnight success. Then, in 2006, the beginning of his establishments that combined food

and fun emerged with All Star Lanes, a concept that brought glamour, good food, and cocktails to bowling. He handed off the successful enterprise when inspired to create the first social ping pong club known as Bounce.

He told EMERGING, “I think the real tipping point was when I created an entertainment concept with ping pong. At that point, no one had really fused an activity that had previously been just for fun with food and beverage.”

Like his first endeavor, Bounce was a huge success, with a second one opening

just three years later, in 2015. It opened in Chicago under the name AceBounce and prompted other founders in the entertainment space to wonder what other activities could work. According to Breeden, it was at that point that a lot of entertainment concepts came quickly to the UK. “I think that is why the UK is so ahead of the rest of the world in terms of the variety of concepts that exist there and the competitive socializing space compared to other markets in the U.S.” He was quick to point out that it will soon be everywhere on a global scale.

Competitive Socializing Continues to Advance

Since then, he created a flurry of additional concepts, including Flight Club.

Flight Club won the Best New Venue in London award within five months of opening. A second one opened just two years later, in 2017. From there, they headed to the U.S., opening the first one in Chicago, with plans to roll out across the nation. It offers a twist on the classic social darts game at British pubs, combining state-of-the-art technology with one of the oldest established English pub games, including instant video replay.

Of course, the enterprising entrepreneur didn’t stop there. His thoughts turned to other sports that could fit into this concept, and the world’s finest mini golf experience was born. The Jolliffe brothers, founders of Topgolf, helped bring their golf technology to mini golf. “The two

guys that invented Topgolf came to me with a technology that is effectively a computer in a golf ball, which enables you to automatically score mini golf.”

Called Puttshack, it combines the best food and beverage, transforming miniature golf into a social entertainment concept. It’s launched in the UK and the U.S. Breeden shared that they’re looking to open 10-15 units a year in the U.S. and follow in the footsteps of Topgolf in terms of target valuations.

The next social entertainment concept to open was Hijingo, bringing a bingo concept to a younger audience. This bingo has transformed into a “very high-tech focused game with great lighting and sound, making it like a theater production.” Again, it’s been a huge success in London.

On to Formula 1 Racing

Not one to rest on his laurels, he then headed into the world of racing. “I think this is the biggest thing I’ve done yet. Formula 1 follows the same playbook, which is taking an activity, combining it with phenomenal food and beverage, and great design, and then forensically going through how to gamify the activity such that it can appeal to everybody. It’s racing for all standards, all backgrounds, and ages.” In February, Breeden and

Motorsport Games announced a global agreement with Formula1 to create the next-level competitive socializing experience. Breeden’s most ambitious project yet is an immersive state-ofthe-art F1 racing simulation experience introduced to a mass audience. Formula 1’s commitment is apparent as the global brand has taken a meaningful equity position. Up to 30 venues will roll out worldwide in the next five years. Like Breeden’s other concepts, it will cater to families, corporate events, social gatherings, and everything in between.

Technology Makes the Difference

According to Breeden, “I can certainly vouch for the fact that bringing technology into these businesses is the game changer. One of the things that we’re doing in the new F1 business is the systems architecture. We’re building in the back end of the business, which is critical in terms of our ability to upgrade and control the business. The data we can capture and analyze and what that means regarding property acquisition, procurement and supply chains, and loyalty, leverages and enhances our opportunities.”

EMERGING, is a strategic partner. We work with today’s leading restaurant and entertainment concepts. Using data science and data analytics, we coordinate the execution of our client’s business strategies in real estate, supply chain, data science, finance, and labor; maximizing our client’s returns while minimizing risk.

Batbox, the ultimate baseball entertainment attraction for your venue.

Are you looking to maximize revenue, monetize your spaces and attract new customers?

Batbox is an immersive baseball simulator experience and the perfect attraction and business unit to add into any new or existing venue.

Quote Your Simulator

Batbox is the perfect experience, attraction and amenity to add into any entertainment or hospitality venue, restaurant or sports bar.

We use Strikezon, the #1 premium indoor baseball simulators in the world, to offer a new and interactive indoor baseball and entertainment experience in America. About Batbox

SOCIAL ADVENTURES IN INTERACTIVE SMART ROOMS

Simply select your game and prepare to enjoy a truly unique immersive experience with your group. With motion tracking, projection mapping, touch screens and surround sound, Immersive Gamebox is like nothing you have experienced before!

Book Now

How Chowly Helps Restaurant Delivery Manage Third-Party Platforms

Since 2014, digital ordering and delivery have grown 300% faster than dine-in traffic. And according to Lightspeed, 60% of U.S. consumers order takeout or delivery once a week. To keep up with the ever-changing technology and demand, restaurants start with one delivery app, then add another. Before they know it, they’re dealing with five or more aggregators’ tablets and a staff member that only handles takeout and delivery.

But what about the many restaurants that are entering the virtual arena?

Every brand needs a tablet for every delivery platform, a mind-boggling scenario. So, what are restaurants doing to reduce this significant pain point? Technology to the rescue.

Managing Digital Orders and the Advent of Technology

As anyone in the restaurant industry knows, managing digital orders from multiple delivery platforms can be overwhelming. From tracking orders to reconciling costs and commissions, it’s error-prone, time-consuming, and the cause of many a headache.

The good news? Along with delivery, technology in the restaurant industry has risen at an incredible rate. Some of the top contenders are the increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) and digital ordering and payment systems. Technomic recently revealed that 56% of consumers prefer using a restaurant’s app or website to place their order, and 47% are more likely to place an order at a restaurant that offers mobile ordering.

While all that may not sound like good news to those who stay out of the technical fray, it does translate to companies that have designed incredible systems to take the pain away from digital orders.

One of those is Chowly.

Streamlining Operations

With ordering systems like Chowly, there’s

no more labor-intensive manual order taking and mistakes on customers’ orders due to human error caused by stress and overload. The many tablets have turned into one restaurant management platform. Now, whether guests order online or through a delivery app, all your orders from every platform are found in one central hub.

This all-in-one digital ordering platform consolidates customer touchpoints while integrating menus, smart pricing, and your POS system. The order comes in, goes directly to the digital ordering platform, and on to the POS system and the kitchen.

Customization is the Key

As with most businesses, customization is key—the element that makes you stand out from your competitors. Chowly creates a customized brand experience across a restaurant’s website, app, and third-party delivery services.

This customization turns more website visitors into customers, enabling enterprise-grade features and enhancing the customer experience no matter the size of your restaurant. Thanks to AI, the most popular paired items pop up when a customer makes an online order. This upsell feature makes it easy for customers to see additional products they may not have considered to enhance the meal.

Their smart pricing feature considers the busiest days, slow periods, weather, holidays, and the surrounding areas’ volume, optimizing the pricing strategy to boost profits, not just revenue. Their menu optimization creates an online and third-party menu that increases orders and size. The result is often a 7x higher conversion rate.

Data at Your Fingertips

Your restaurant management platform consolidates the data across all your

locations and all delivery platforms. Effortlessly access all delivery and takeout orders and view the total sales at a glance. Check the basket size, view cancellations, and monitor sales trends.

Now, you can identify your top-selling items and the delivery platforms that outperform the others. You can easily pause delivery platforms when the kitchen gets backed up, and you’re concerned the massive delivery orders will start to affect the experience your in-house guests receive.

Integrations

The system handles over 150 customer touchpoints, from Google ordering to online ordering and marketplaces like DoorDash, Uber Eats, GrubHub, and more. It integrates with over 50 restaurant POS systems, like Toast, Square, and Clover.

It’s easy to see why over 12,000 restaurants turn to Chowly to simplify and enhance their digital ordering system. Some well-known brands that have jumped on board include Dickey’s Barbecue Pit, The Halal Guys, Pizza Ranch, and Sweet Charlie’s. One of the best features of Chowly is its 30-day riskfree trial, enabling you to see if the system is right for your restaurant before making a commitment.

As you can tell, we’re excited about what this brand offers our partners and those in the restaurant industry. To say it’s been a long time coming would be an understatement.

The All-In-One Ordering Platform for Your Digital Storefront

With Chowly Online Ordering, POS integration, Smart Pricing, delivery services, and best-in-class reporting, you can create a personalized ordering platform that streamlines your digital orders right into your point-of-sale system.

How it Works

Not only will your POS be able to integrate digital orders, it will also allow you to manage all of your firstparty and third-party menus, in the same place, at the same time. You know what that means? No more tablet chaos.

Chowly’s omni-channel POS integration benefits restaurants of any size, as well as cafes, bakeries and more. Small businesses that don’t have their own tech staff can especially benefit as it takes much of the burden off your shoulders.

DATA SCIENCE

Insights for the food and entertainment industry

Acutely uses experience and data science to generate real-time, evidence-based observations that reduce risk and maximize revenues across the food, entertainment, and retail industries. Our Data Scientists work as your in-house Business Intelligence Data Partner. We utilize big data and client-specific POS data to glean actionable insights to increase your revenue.

SCHEDULE A DEMO

Target Workforce is a proprietary technology that is revolutionary for hiring.

Hire smart and find the highest quality, trained staff, at the lowest recruiting cost.

CONTACT US

Advanced Geo-location

Target Workforce uses advanced geo-location to give you ways to connect to the highest qualified restaurant workers to build your team.

Identifies potential hires and their location

Workforce Target accurately identifies potential hires and their location using mobile tracking and IP address verification technology.

Geoframing and GPS to select “like” restaurants and operators

We look back at these nearby restaurants and see what staff personnel have shown up consistently for the past 60 days. So we know they are trained and dependable workers.

Targeted ads to the right person at the right time

Workforce Target will send targeted ads on the most popular websites to the right person at the right time. So your money goes much further.

We made amazing strides in generating more applications than ever before in the face of an applicant-challenged environment and they exceeded their commitment in the measurables around their campaign for us. When it came time to re-up our commitment in a new longer-term agreement, the decision was an easy one versus other digital campaigns that we conducted in the past.

Larry Mench Sr. Director of HR, Training, & Development Dunken Donuts

The Most Popular Summer Drink of 2023

Restaurants and bars are officially in the mid-summer swing, with regulars and travelers showing up to spend time on beautiful outdoor patios or coming in for a cold one and to get away from the heat.

Are you optimizing your summer beverage program and offering the trending summer drink for 2023? Hint: think light, refreshing, elderberries, and sparking water.

The Weather’s Effect on Our Favorite Beverages

No, you’re not imagining it and the changing weather patterns. According to experts (i.e., the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere have set records, making 2023 the hottest summer ever, with more on the horizon.

What does that mean for your restaurant or bar? If you have a lovely air-conditioned interior or misters on the patio, you should be seeing an influx of requests for drinks filled with ice and a bit of fresh fruit on the side.

The Drink of Choice

Aperol Spritz, Dirty Shirley, and Negroni Sbagliato all made the top trends over the last few summers. Aperol and Negroni have amaro in common, an Italian liqueur, all be it different brands. In fact, there are hundreds of different brands of amaro, with many finding their way into the finest restaurants around. Sotto, in Los Angeles, offers over 20 selections of this bittersweet digestif made by infusing grape brandy with various mixtures of herbs, flowers, citrus peels, spices, and aromatic barks.

Aperol offers a citrusy, slightly sweet flavor that provides a refreshing beverage when combined with soda water and prosecco. Negroni sbagliato’s amaro of choice is Campari, a slightly bitter version with spice-forward notes. Mixed with sweet vermouth and prosecco, it’s become all the rage thanks to TikTok, Emma D’Arcy, and HBO’s House of the Dragon Series.

But that was October of 2022. And, while definitely a social media star that’s still bright on the horizon, there are a few other summer drinks surpassing it as the “most popular.”

Drum Roll, Please

St. Germain has become increasingly popular on Google Trends this summer, as reported by Delish. This somewhat new arrival on the cocktail scene is an elderflower-based liqueur that offers a floral note, a popular palate pleaser in the summer months. (Try and say that three times fast).

St. Germain came to life in 2007. A French liqueur, it boasts handpicked elderflowers, with up to 1,000 of these carefully selected flowers found in every bottle. It’s also the world’s first elderflower liqueur, inspired by the St-Germain-des-Prés quarters in Paris.

One of the cocktails associated with St. Germain is the Hugo spritz, a beverage with a 500% jump in search volume. Have you heard of it? It’s also known as the St. Germain spritz. It also has about 290 million views on TikTok. It’s a low-alcohol,

St‑Germain Hugo Spritz

The Hugo cocktail is the Italian cousin of the classic St-Germain Spritz.

Ingredients

40 ml St-Germain

Elderflower Liqueur

60 ml Martini Prosecco

60 ml Soda water

8-10 Mint leaves

Lime wedge for garnish

refreshing, sparking wine cocktail with a combined mix of mint and floral flavors. Does anything sound more summer-like?

To make this most popular summer drink of 2023, you’ll need the following ingredients:

2 oz. St. Germain

3 oz. Prosecco

2 oz. Sparkling Water

8 Mint Leaves

Fill your glass with ice, add St. Germain and mint leaves, lightly crushing the mint leaves as your stir. Complete with prosecco, sparkling water, and a lime wheel for an added garnish and a touch of summer citrus.

You may be thinking, “That sounds quite a

bit like an Aperol spritz.” And you would be right. The difference lies in the minty and floral flavor found in a Hugo spritz, leaving the bitterness of Aperol by the wayside.

However, for those (and there are many) who took to Aperol like water to a duck’s back and aren’t ready to bestow the “Most Popular” title to another beverage just yet, here’s a rendition of the fan favorite:

3 oz. Prosecco

2 oz. Aperol

1 oz. Club Soda

Add to a glass filled with ice, stir, and garnish with an orange slice.

Not only are these drinks refreshing, but oh-so-simple. Of course, there’s nothing more enjoyable than heading to your

favorite neighborhood eatery and letting someone else do the work for you while you enjoy your beautiful surroundings. Some foods that pair well with Hugo spritz, the most popular summer drink, include tomato bruschetta and charcuterie boards with added French and Italian cheeses.

A votre santé and bon appétit!

Are you curious about what your surrounding competitors may be serving this summer? F&B Insights makes it easy to find out, thanks to the world’s largest menu database. Not only can you find out what the surrounding restaurants offer, but also their price point and any recent changes. To explore this remarkable platform, contact F&B Insights today.

Florida’s Summer Restaurant Scene in 2023

Can you feel it? The days are warming, the flowers are blooming, and before you know it, it will be time to head to your favorite summer hotspots. For many people, one of those spots is Florida. According to Forbes, over 137 million people visited the Sunshine State in 2022, the most visitors in the state’s history.

EMERGING CONCEPTS RESTAURANT EXPERIENCE RESTAURANT INDUSTRY INSIGHTS

So, after a day on the beach or at Disney, where do you head for a delectable dinner? The good news is you’ll have no shortage with over 41,300 restaurants to choose from. From beautiful outdoor patios to indoor entertainment meccas serving food from around the world, your only challenge may be how to fit in all the great options.

We’re hoping to make it a little easier for you. Here, we’ll explore Florida’s newest restaurants, the leading outdoor brands, and those that made the Michelin Guide in 2023.

Florida’s Newest Hotspot

Miami is blessed with one of the most talked about new restaurants this summer—Casadonna. This powerhouse restaurant comes from the Tao Hospitality Group, Groot Hospitality (acquired by Live Nation in 2019), and designer Ken Fulk. It’s expected to open in June or July.

Half of the 20,000-square-foot restaurant is on a deck overlooking the waters of Biscayne Bay. Here, you’ll enjoy coastal Italian selections in a building built in the 1920s with elegant architecture, chandeliers, and floating lanterns.

The Restaurants Receiving a Michelin Star

In June 2022, 15 Florida restaurants received Michelin stars for the first time, and 11 were in Miami. This year, in April 2023, 11 restaurants in Florida received the esteemed Michelin star, with eight in Orlando and three in Tampa. Diners seeking Michelin star approval may want to consider these latest contenders.

Miami

• Ariete

• Boia De

• Cote

• The Den at Sushi Azabu

• Elcielo Miami

• Hiden

• Le Jardinier

• Los Felix

• Stubborn Seed

• The Surf Club Restaurant

• L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon Miami

Orlando

• Doshi

• Edoboy

• Juju

• Kaya

• Otto’s High Dive

• Toledo

• Twenty Pho Hour

• Victoria & Albert’s

Tampa

• Lilac

• Noble Rice

• Ponte

Restaurants Designed for Outdoor Dining

If you’re looking for a seat outside that offers incredible views, you’ll find some of the best options in Florida. With beaches on the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, Florida’s coastline spans 825 miles.

According to a survey by Holidu, Orlando came out with the most outdoor dining, with a whopping 672 possibilities. Miami was a close second, followed by Tampa, Jacksonville, and Fort Lauderdale. While hard to narrow down this extensive list, we’re covering a few for everyone, from fine dining to the casual Tiki bar.

As the name implies, Sunset Grille & Raw Bar is home to some of the best sunsets in the Florida Keys. You’ll also find a pool and beach party every Sunday. Yes, it has a pool.

Pierre’s Restaurant, the Rayburn Family’s fictional resort in Netflix’s Bloodline, looks like an old colonial-style two-story residence on a beautiful white sand beach that looks out over Florida Bay. Enjoy French fusion cuisine, tropical flowers, and stunning sunsets.

You can also dine on the water’s edge at La Mar by Gaston Acurio. Explore AsianPeruvian fusion fare while overlooking Biscayne Bay and the Miami skyline.

And the Food City of the Year Goes To…

Miami! In 2023, Bon Appétit magazine proclaimed Miami the “Food City of the

Year.” According to editor-in-chief Dawn Davis, “The always-evolving city is buzzing with opportunity, and a wave of creative chefs and restaurateurs have picked up on that air of possibility.”

Some of the magazine’s top selections include Itamae—a Peruvian-Japanese restaurant; Suite Habana Café—a coffee shop; Rosie’s—highlighting their Southern brunch; Zak the Baker—nominated for the prestigious James Beard Foundation 2023

Outstanding Bakery; Broken Shaker—a cocktail bar at the Freehand Hotel with

FAQS

Where do celebrities go for dinner in Miami?

a backyard oasis; and Jaguar Sun—a restaurant also recognized by Yelp as one of the best in the country.

Miami, of course, isn’t just about food. The Magic City and, more notably, Miami Beach, is famous for its nightlife. In fact, in 2022, Time Out’s survey placed Miami as the runner-up for the world’s best nightlife scene. For those interested in a restaurant-club hybrid that offers fine dining and dancing, Sexy Fish may be your place. Seafood-centric, it offers Japaneseinspired cuisine and dancing mermaids.

According to Gayot, the top restaurants for spotting celebrities are in Miami Beach. These include Casa Tua, Cecconi’s, Joe’s Stone Crab, Juvia, and Prime One Twelve.

What is the oldest continuously running restaurant in Florida?

The Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City is the oldest restaurant in Florida. Surprisingly, it also claims the title of the largest Spanish restaurant in the world! Opened in 1905, it remains a family-owned restaurant through five generations. Today, it seats 1,700 diners throughout its 52,000-square-foot space.

Real Estate Solutions for the industry’s top restaurant and entertainment concepts

We are an extension of the operator’s team, evaluating the real estate opportunities across the country. As real estate experts we negotiate with developers and landlords on our client’s behalf to most efficiently and effectively maximize returns and minimize risk. SCHEDULE A

We work with industry leaders.

Concept Strategy

The process of formulating a strategy with short and long term goals between investment, real estate, and operations.

Customer Intelligence

Capturing relevant data and information to develop market positioning and complete picture of customers.

Strategic Expansion

Helping clients to grow with confidence, brilliance, and the pursuit of a perfect deal.

Lease Negotiation

Utilizing experience of hundreds of letter of Intents negotiations to position the terms in the most favorable but fair manner.

Predictive Analytics

Analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of current sites to optimize site selection with data science.

Expanding? Neighborhood Data Helps Select the Right Real Estate

In our conversations with restaurant operators, we often hear exasperation when it comes to available restaurant data and harnessing it for actionable insights. They know their restaurants make enormous amounts of data, otherwise known as big data, but how do they optimize it to make critical decisions, like where to open their next unit, reducing risks while maximizing profits?

The answer lies in using advanced analytics to clean, organize, and integrate the massive amounts of data your business creates. From this, patterns, forecasts, and predictions emerge. You understand your customer demographics and can use this to determine the neighborhoods designed for your concept.

While these decisions are often complex and require extensive exploration, one of the essential cornerstones when selecting real estate is neighborhood data. This can provide powerful insights with hyperlocal forecasts that identify target areas. Let’s explore the basics and what to consider when extending your brand.

A Neighborhood Analysis

Location analytics and demographic data are critical components when deciding where to expand. Because most people dine in restaurants close to where they live or work, a trade area analysis can help determine where your customer base lives and how far they would need to travel to reach your new location.

Whether your brand carries weight in a business or residential district or both will define the starting point of a neighborhood analysis. We note residential areas and commercial districts around possible locations, noting major roadways and highways that would affect

how your target market will reach you. Additionally, it’s important to consider the other businesses in the area that help bring in traffic, whether entertainment sites or retailers.

Competitor Analysis

Knowing your competition is critical in any business, particularly so in the restaurant industry. Through big data, we gain insight into competitors in the neighborhood, including concepts, sales, and marketing tactics. This information ensures you’re offering a unique product and can differentiate your concept.

Predictive Analytics

Imagine opening a restaurant in an upand-coming neighborhood before it becomes the next hot spot. Such is the experience for those brands who saw the writing on the wall and came up with a prime location before rents went through the roof and high demand left little choices. Predictive analytics, or using data to predict future events and trends, can help make this experience a reality.

Know Your Neighborhood

While it seems obvious, many restaurateurs get invested in a concept without determining if the type of cuisine

and overall ambiance is fit for the neighborhood demographics. If you’re determined to open in a specific area, it may benefit you to be flexible regarding your concept. If you’re steadfast in your concept, it’s recommended you choose the neighborhood accordingly, include weighing the neighborhood’s price point and expectations.

At EMERGING, our team is made of real estate experts and data scientists focused solely on the restaurant and entertainment industries. First, we’ll determine your target market by capturing relevant data and defining your VIP

customers in their entirety. Then, we narrow down the options for expansion, analyzing weaknesses and strengths based on data analytics and numerous other considerations. We evaluate real estate opportunities across the country and, once a location is determined, negotiate with developers and landlords, maximizing returns and minimizing risks.

We understand leases and the unexpected fees and stipulations that can find their way into the small print. The time to negotiate is before these legal documents are signed. One consideration for a new brand is a variable lease rate or a percent rent deal that limits excess costs until you get your establishment well-known in the area. Getting tips from those already in the area can also help establish reference points when making financial projections and negotiating the lease.

Looking Beyond Your Physical Location

Today, restauranteurs are thinking beyond their physical locations, adopting other streams of revenue. From catering to delivery, selling branded merchandise online, cookbooks, and selling data to suppliers, the last few years have left an indelible mark that will forever affect our industry. Considering these avenues in relation to your expansion plans can significantly affect your bottom line.

To schedule a demo or learn more about our data-driven process, contact EMERGING today.

Cristina T. Bartender / Server

THE FASTEST WAY TO LEVEL UP YOUR TEAM

See how global brands level up and fire up their people 45% faster with our game-based coaching and development platform.

Interview with Sam Caucci—Creator of 1Huddle

Recently, Mathew Focht, CEO of EMERGING, spoke with Sam Caucci, the founder & CEO of 1Huddle. What brought these two passionate entrepreneurs together is EMERGING Fund, a team of leading restaurant and restaurant technology founders and CEOs that partner with leading entrepreneurs to accelerate market strategies.

What we didn’t expect was an inspirational story filled with bits of wisdom. But such is the nature of Sam Caucci. Let’s see what he had to say.

Mathew Focht: Sam, it’s great to have you here and learn more about your story and your awesome product, 1Huddle. It’s been great kicking off the partnership in recent months through the EMERGING Fund. In that short time, I’ve seen you take the market by storm. It’s already proven out with the responses from existing users and the people who are excited about jumping in on it. Thanks for the opportunity to work with you and

accelerate this awesome product that you’ve built.

Sam Caucci: Thanks, Mat. I’m equally excited.

Mathew Focht: So, let’s talk about 1Huddle.

Sam Caucci: Sure. In our current environment, there are a lot of challenges in the workforce. Employees are disconnected, disengaged, and oftentimes disoriented at work. Getting employees fired up and continuously excited to go to work is getting harder.

Today, there are five different generations at work for the first time ever. Now, when everybody gets tired of complaining about Millennials, they can complain about Gen Zs. And I think with all of that, we realized that there’s got to be a better way to get employees up to speed and continuously developed in today’s workforce.

Unfortunately, little has changed. About 91% of brands do employee training and development the old-fashioned way. They print the manuals, hole-punch them, and hope people read them. They create videos that they hope people watch and, even when they do, may not recall.

1Huddle to the Rescue

Sam Caucci: 1Huddle changes that. It takes everything an employee needs to know and turns it into a highly effective quick-burst mobile skill game. With this

approach, your employees can learn anything, whether a new server trying to learn the menu or a bartender trying to stay up to speed with a new beverage program. Now, any employee can perform their best at work. We work with hundreds of brands across the globe, and we’re very excited about the work we’re doing in hospitality and with restaurants specifically.

Mathew Focht: So, what was the catalyst that prompted you to create 1Huddle?

Sam Caucci: There were really two catalysts. First, I spent a decade in the sports performance world training highlevel professional athletes. I was on the Biz Dev side but worked very closely with athletes preparing for the NFL draft, major league baseball spring training prep, and the Olympics. I worked in environments where we had to quickly skill up new

coaches, front desk staff, sales reps, and marketing folks. And it was, in my opinion, getting harder and harder to respond to changes in the business, whether a new coach moving up or an employee voluntarily or involuntarily leaving the business.

We printed the manuals, sat people in a room for onboarding, and flew in Dale Carnegie or Zig Ziglar—name your flavor of sales trainer. And that experience was what got me out of the gate, wondering, how do we make training stickier and faster?

The second catalyst was my upbringing. I grew up with two blue-collar parents. My father was in construction, and my mother worked for 54 years as a legal secretary. She grew up at a time when you didn’t send girls to college, and I grew up sitting across from her, watching

her run a law office every day with a dozen attorneys. And even though she was probably smarter and more excited, energetic, and knowledgeable than many of the new younger employees coming in, she never had the same opportunities because she didn’t have access to education, learning and development, or credentials.

Because of those two catalysts, 1Huddle was born. On the one hand, it’s helping businesses develop high-performance learning environments with strong workhorses at the center of what they do. On the other hand, it’s providing employees with opportunities to rise in the workforce. Maybe someone that works in the BOH is your next best bartender, or a bartender turns out to be a great general manager because you gave them access to more opportunities.

Front Burner Society & 1Huddle

There were really two catalysts. First, I spent a decade in the sports performance world training high-level professional athletes. I was on the Biz Dev side but worked very closely with athletes preparing for the NFL draft, major league baseball spring training prep, and the Olympics.

Mathew Focht: That’s powerful. I can see your conviction coming through. Can you share a success story from an operator’s standpoint?

Sam Caucci: Sure. I can give you one that’s hot off the press. I was just in Dallas with our friends at F.B. Society, and they were going through the process of a grand opening for a new location for Mexican Sugar. They’ve worked with us for several years across all their concepts for onboarding, food safety, and menu training. But in this specific example, I think everyone can really resonate

with the changing nature of opening a restaurant—the things that move and ebb and flow until the minute the doors open. For the last 30 days, Mexican Sugar has been using 1Huddle to roll out all their FOH and BOH training and development.

That includes getting general managers skilled up in the POS and scheduling software, menu training for servers, the beverage program for bartenders, and the protocols for the BOH.

Using 1Huddle, they create games instantly. That’s one of our biggest benefits. A game can be built in minutes on our game-building tool, reducing the friction that exists with managers who don’t have time to build a three-hour learning course or a traditional training module. With George Donahue and the

team at Mexican Sugar, we’re able to build games daily to get their new employees up to speed. And the outcome at their early grand opening was a team that was on fire—excited and energetic.

There’s a confidence that comes from knowing what to do and how to do it the right way. We have a number of stories in a lot of different environments, but I think that when you’ve got to do it right the first time, and you only get one shot to do it, you have to make sure that the entire team is on the same page and ready to roll. Mexican Sugar used our product to make sure that happened.

The Difference Between Learning Management Systems and 1Huddle

Mathew Focht: So, this industry is continuously evolving and always

changing. It’s the one thing that’s constant. When I hear education, I think of a Learning Management System (LMS). But when you mention that word to servers, for instance, they often look very uninterested. How do you respond to that, and what is different about 1Huddle and the typical products on the market?

Sam Caucci: We work with numerous industries, including Fossil and Nike on the retail side, and we recently signed contracts with the U.S. Air Force working with fighter pilots. We also work with Novartis and their pharmaceutical reps. So, we’re in a lot of verticals, not just hospitality, and this challenge is seen everywhere.

And I think it comes from the fact that we’re still very much in the first quarter of the football game when it comes to coaching and development software. The learning management system and the

tools that are available have only been out for about 10 to 15 years. They came into the workforce because those platforms ran out of colleges to sell to and, like any software, turned to the workforce. So, when I talk to companies, I always ask what software they’re using. Most grew into our environment and were essentially built for a world where the job doesn’t change very fast.

You get hired, and you get trained. Even the word trained is past tense. Once you check the box, you’re done. But I think, as operators, we all know that the game never ends. If you really want to build a high-performing brand, you have to be able to continuously develop your people. Particularly considering the speed at which our business is changing. Which means our software has to keep up.

And we’re doing this in the restaurant space with so many different products around the guest experience. Now, we have to ask ourselves, are we doing it with our workforce in every way possible? So, 1Huddle is not just a learning and training tool; we are a continuous development platform so that you can onboard, upskill, and keep your team fired up over the long haul.

The concept of a game is a good example because when you’re done with level one, you move to level two. As you continue to develop and evolve, things change, they may get harder, and different challenges emerge. So, it’s great that organizations have a learning management system in

"This thing is amazing. I’m awestruck with the power of this tool. 1Huddle makes running and operating restaurants fun and greatly increases our employees’ knowledge."

— Tony Daddabbo

Fmr. Director of Training at Tao Group

place. But what next? How do you take that to the next level? Because the next level to me is being able to keep your people in lockstep with the speed at which everything around your restaurant is moving. And you know, the LMS was never built for that. It was built for you to go to college, spend four years there, and take a course for 12 weeks. It was never intended for the workforce environment; it was adopted by it.

Mathew Focht: So, what are the foundational drivers that are different than a traditional LMS? There are a lot of platforms growing because of the need in the industry. So restaurants wonder, if we have an existing LMS platform, do we really want to scrap it?

Sam Caucci: So again, we operate from

a position of, if you learn something and you can’t transfer it to the field every day, I would challenge whether you actually learned it in the first place. So, there’s a difference between shallow learning and substantial and significant learning. There are three ingredients in our dish, I guess you could say, the three critical ingredients that have to be present to create a high performer in your business.

The Three Strategies for Creating a High Performer

First, it’s got to be challenging. The learning process has to be hard. I just got out of a meeting with generals at the U.S. Air Force who like our product because you learn through failure. The struggle is a fundamental requirement of the most effective learning environments in the

world, whether you’re learning to be a heart surgeon or a fighter pilot, or a first responder.

The only place where there’s the absence of struggle is in an LMS where you just have to survive the video and click through enough times to unlock a certificate. So, the first fundamental for us is it’s got to be hard, whatever product you use, even if you don’t use a tech. Struggle-based learning is the fundamental foundation of 1Huddle. There’s a tremendous amount of scientific evidence that proves because we made learning easy, it isn’t sticky. And so, it’s got to be challenging.

Second, it’s got to be continuous. It can’t be a one-and-done. Continuous development is a core principle to

Harvard Business Review just had a study come out that said 9-in-10 Millennials, when asked, say they’re better than a co-worker. So, there’s this competition factor that’s already inherent in your restaurant. Now, how do we get people to want to train every day? Well, we use the power of competition, and it gets people to come back continuously.

creating a high-performing workforce. If your software doesn’t allow you to, and if you don’t have a 52-week development plan for your workforce, I would argue you’re not serious about developing workers.

If you’re going to run a marathon or climb a mountain, you probably sign up with someone that would build out a specific program that lasts for months. If you want to get to the top of the mountain, you need a plan. It’s got to be scripted. It’s got to be continuous. Your software also needs to be a continuous development tool.

Third, it’s got to be competitive. The things that excite and energize us are the things that get us going every day. One of the first studies I read before starting to build 1Huddle was that the average Millennial will have spent over 10,000 hours on a game platform before 21. Today, Millennials and Gen Z make up 55% of the U.S. workforce, and this workforce is fundamentally wired to compete.

Harvard Business Review just had a study come out that said 9-in-10 Millennials, when asked, say they’re better than a coworker. So, there’s this competition factor that’s already inherent in your restaurant. Now, how do we get people to want to train every day? Well, we use the power of competition, and it gets people to come back continuously. It’s why we see high levels of voluntary participation. It’s creating a world where employees want to get better.

The Insights That Enhance Training and Coaching

Mathew Focht: You’ve got great clients. You mentioned F.B. Society, Loews Hotel, and the U.S. military. But in the hospitality space specifically, many higher-end restaurants are focused on culture. They may ask, am I selling my culture to a technology platform, and am I going to miss the hands-on, one-on-one experience of educating and training my staff? Am I pushing it off to an app? How do you address that?

Sam Caucci: I think the most important part of our platform isn’t that we’re using a mobile app to communicate. It’s not that it’s games or that it’s digital. While

those are all important, I think the most important part is that we’re sitting on a very important data set that we can surface for an operator. And it tells them what their people know right now, which is not even the intention of an LMS. We stay in real-time all the time.

Let’s use a game example. Let’s say there’s a little number bubble over the head of your employees from zero to 100. A 100 means they know everything, such as what’s in every cocktail and dish. As you go down, say to 75 or 50; it’s going to get a little spottier. 1Huddle is essentially like double-clicking on every worker and seeing where they stand. It might say that Mat is a 95 out of 100. And if I double click on the 95, it says of the 10 most important topics in your restaurant, Matt is an 88 on this one, a 99 on this one, a 92 on this one, and a 95 on this one.

Those insights surface to the manager, the director of training, and the operations person so they can make informed decisions about how to do the live coaching. I would argue that we don’t replace hands-on tactile live training, with the stand-up stuff. We do enhance it because walking into training and coaching with just a hunch is not the way to be running our businesses today when there’s so much data around us.

And those numbers bubble up not just by the player, but also by your individual location. So, for instance, if your Tao Group, you could literally look at each one of your properties and say this one’s a 95,

It’s important what we do, but it’s more important why we do what we do every day. And I think that’s also part of what we’re trying to do with the product. There are a lot of folks out there, Mat, who don’t have coaches and mentors like we had, and they may be working in the BOH. They may even be working multiple jobs at the same time.

this one’s a 98, and this one’s a 65. What’s happening there?

And we can then put a plan in place with our trainers, coaches, and managers to attack knowledge gaps before they become performance gaps on your P&L. I think that is what we’re trying to solve for the operator. While at the same time creating an environment where your people are playing to get better every day and maybe playing to beat the person standing next to them as well.

Mathew Focht: Well said, Sam. So, when I look back on my career, there’s been some instrumental people along my journey that have helped me refocus and put attention and energy where I need to, which has allowed me to find fulfillment in a lot of ways. What does your

mentorship look like? Are there people you’ve met along your path that have been instrumental in your choices?

Sam Caucci: That’s a great question. You know, I’ve been lucky and privileged enough that there have been many people along the way. It started with my parents and watching the grit of what it takes and the long hours they worked to create opportunities for me. My high school football coach definitely exemplified the critical “make things hard” point I mentioned earlier.

More recently, when I started 1Huddle, I didn’t know what a tech company really was. Then, along the fundraising journey, I was introduced to Don Katz, the CEO of Audible, the audiobook company. Don said he loved what I was doing and

wanted to invest in it. Then, he asked what I thought about moving to Newark. I’d just recently moved to New Jersey after a year in the Bay Area, and I didn’t know much about Newark. Don offered me free office space, and I said I’d be there tomorrow. Part of Don’s vision was to try to use technology to affect the urban core of a city like Newark and then duplicate it.

In Newark, we went from two employees to 30. When I moved there, I started walking in Newark. I walked Broad Street; I interacted and ate in the community. Our team became volunteers at the Covenant House, a homeless youth shelter in Newark because those young people are our future workers. I sit on the Newark Workforce Development Board because a workforce is only strong if every worker can compete, whether it’s someone

It’s important what we do, but it’s more important why we do what we do every day. And I think that’s also part of what we’re trying to do with the product. There are a lot of folks out there, Mat, who don’t have coaches and mentors like we had, and they may be working in the BOH. They may even be working multiple jobs at the same time.

returning from prison or someone that’s out of work.

I can literally say, and I tell Don this all the time, we built 1Huddle by listening and walking and being in the community. It would never be what it is today if we didn’t come to Newark, and I didn’t have the opportunity to have a coach like Don. He could have put audible anywhere, but he chose this and, in doing that, created a culture and a fabric that affected the way we built 1Huddle.

It’s important what we do, but it’s more important why we do what we do every day. And I think that’s also part of what we’re trying to do with the product. There are a lot of folks out there, Mat, who don’t have coaches and mentors like we had, and they may be working in the BOH. They may even be working multiple jobs at the same time.

Sometimes it’s hard for employers to see the skills of their workers, and they end up saying things like a worker is unskilled, which is the worst thing you could say about another human. 1Huddle could be in their pockets and provide opportunities, opening doors and helping them show the world what they know. Don helped me see Newark and the opportunities and the people. And that helped us build 1Huddle and take it to where it is today.

Mathew Focht: Amazing. Inspirational talks are in your DNA, and I love listening to you and the cause. I’m excited to be a part of this story with you.

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