Author: Brandon Barton

Kristen and Brandon have shaken out the cobwebs and are back with a new episode of The Simmer featuring friend-of-the-pod, Joshua Sharkey, founder and CEO of Meez, a culinary operating system and recipe management tool. Pre-Meez, Josh spent time in the kitchens of several restaurants, including New York’s Tabla and Bouley. In this episode, we cover recipe scaling and sourcing (and more nonsexy but totally essential back-office tech), plus a whole lot about AI and how it’s primed to change how we all interact with everyone and everything.

A Simmer first! This LIVE edition was recorded on April 10 at the Boston University Hospitality Leadership Summit. We’re joined by Judy Thelan, co-founder and CEO of white-hot social restaurant list-keeping and recommendations app Beli. In this episode, we talk about professional criticism, Beli’s plans to work with restaurants, and its big bet that we really just want to hear from people we trust.

We love repeat guests on The Simmer! In his return to the podcast, Olo founder and CEO Noah Glass explains the next phase of his company’s evolution: the Olo Network. In this episode, we talk about Olo’s move from a publicly traded company to a privately held asset last year, plus the power of an ordering network and why Olo coined a new term — “second-party ordering” to describe its big bet on the future.

Former Jose Andres Group CEO Sam Bakhshandehpour recently joined Bilt, a $10 billion loyalty platform that rewards people for paying their rent and mortgage on Bilt cards, helping to fuel the so-called “points economy.” Recently, the company released a flashy video full of top-name chefs and restaurateurs to launch Bilt Hospitality, a kind of digital concierge service targeted at restaurants. But what is it, exactly? And how does it work? In this episode, Sam answers these questions and more — including when we might see a launch video with more than one woman in it. 

Check out the latest episode of The Simmer, where Brandon and Kristen sat down with Ben Leventhal, the mind behind Eater and Resy. Now he’s onto his next chapter: Blackbird, a loyalty and payments platform built specifically for the restaurant industry.

They get into:

• How restaurant loyalty is evolving (and why most programs still get it wrong)
• The so-called “reservations wars” and what they mean for operators
• Some genuinely great restaurant recommendations

Ben has shaped how we discover, book, and experience restaurants more than almost anyone. This conversation does not disappoint.

Remember when ghost kitchens were the future of food? Yeah, us too. But here’s the thing: while most of those virtual brands have quietly faded away, the need for a smart digital strategy hasn’t gone anywhere; it’s actually become more critical than ever.

In this episode, Brandon and Kristen sit down with Maxx Freedman, founder of Spice, a growth and marketing agency that’s helping restaurants win in today’s digital landscape. Maxx pulls back the curtain on what restaurant owners are actually asking for right now (spoiler: it’s not what you think), what they really need to succeed, and how the game has completely changed since the ghost kitchen gold rush.

Whether you’re in the industry or just fascinated by how restaurants survive and thrive, this conversation is packed with insights you won’t want to miss.

In this special edition of The Simmer, Kristen and Brandon talk through that viral Reddit delivery post (and its aftermath), look back on what they got wrong (and right!) about 2025, and offer a few thoughts on the year ahead.

It’s a good time to be a chicken chain. New concepts are taking off and legacy brands, like the 50-year-old El Pollo Loco, are poised for serious growth. The fire-grilled chicken brand, currently open in eight states, is planning a larger expansion. In this episode, Jill Adams, the brand’s chief marketer, talks customer expectations, AI for better and more efficient marketing efforts, and why she’s optimistic restaurants will have a good 2026.

It’s been almost a decade since Avi Goren launched Marqii to help restaurants get found on the internet. That challenge remains, but search and discovery methods and technology have changed… a lot. In this episode, we talk about discovery in the age of generative AI and the continued challenge of reputation management for restaurants.

Longtime restaurant exec and OpenTable advisory board member Chris DeSaye knows the bookings business as well as anyone and has a clear view of what comes next. In this episode, we talk DoorDash, artificial intelligence, and, of course, the always-evolving reservations biz.