Creating a New Podcast Network for the Restaurant Industry
Interview with Informa Restaurant & Food Group Editorial Director Sam Oches about hosting the National Restaurant Show, social media strategy, and creating new media for the hospitality industry.
Sam Oches, editorial director at Informa Connect’s Restaurant & Food Group, shares insights into the role new media plays in the restaurant industry in this interview live from the 2024 National Restaurant Show. As the largest event management company in the world, Informa has become an invaluable host of major industry happenings and content.
Watch now to learn about hosting the National Restaurant Show, social media strategy, and creating a podcast network for the hospitality industry.
Sam Oches, editorial director at Informa Connect’s Restaurant & Food Group, shares insights into the role new media plays in the restaurant industry in this interview live from the 2024 National Restaurant Show. As the largest event management company in the world, Informa has become an invaluable host of major industry happenings and content.
Watch now to learn about hosting the National Restaurant Show, social media strategy, and creating a podcast network for the hospitality industry.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Welcome to Restaurant Influencers, presented by Entrepreneur.
00:09My name is Sean Walchek, founder of Cali Barbecue Media.
00:13In life, in the restaurant business, and in the new creator economy, we learn through
00:18lessons and stories.
00:20I can't tell you how excited I am for this interview.
00:23Thank you to Toast for sponsoring this show, for believing in this show, for giving us
00:26the stage, the opportunity.
00:28We are at the National Restaurant Association show in Chicago.
00:32There are 55,000 restaurant professionals that are going to be here for four days, 12
00:37football fields of vendors, over 2,200 brands that are participating from all over the globe.
00:45And I get to interview Sam Okas, who I have been a huge fan of.
00:50He has been running Nations Restaurant News editorial director, is that correct?
00:55And editor-in-chief, yes.
00:56And editor-in-chief.
00:57So we'll get the nuances, but we created this show as a storytelling podcast to help
01:03all of those restaurant professionals that are all over the globe that might not be able
01:06to make it to this show, and for the ones that are at this show but are too busy.
01:11So high-level, Sam, I need to ask you, where in the world is your favorite stadium, stage,
01:16or venue?
01:17Oh man, stadium, stage, or venue.
01:20I'll go really niche on this one, okay, because my favorite is a coffee shop in Athens, Ohio,
01:25my hometown.
01:26My buddy Chris owns a coffee shop there, and I play shows there with my 80s cover band.
01:30Get out of here.
01:31What's the name of the coffee shop?
01:32Donkey Coffee.
01:33Donkey Coffee.
01:34Yes.
01:35How many, what does the venue sit?
01:36There's like 80 people in the back room, and there's this great little teeny stage where
01:40we squeeze our cover band on there.
01:42Beautiful.
01:43Play all the time, I love it.
01:44So Donkey Coffee, we're going to go there, we're going to rent it out, we're going to
01:47talk to Informa, we're going to talk to Toast, Entrepreneur.
01:50We're going to select 80 professionals that are playing the game within the game, people
01:55that truly believe in this industry, truly believe in restaurants, truly believe in storytelling,
02:00hospitality, and technology.
02:03And I'm going to give you the opportunity to give a TEDx talk.
02:06Okay.
02:07So I want to know from the highest level, Sam, tell us who is Informa, what are you
02:13guys doing here at the show, why do you make the investment to come here and do this kind
02:18of work?
02:19Sure.
02:20So Informa is a $4 billion global company, trades on the London Stock Exchange.
02:25It's the largest events management company in the world.
02:28And we're very proud to have them as our parent company, because as the largest events management
02:35company in the world, they really have incredible expertise in running events like this one.
02:41So the National Restaurant Show is in our portfolio, this is our show.
02:45And so we're thrilled that as part of that, we get to have this incredible access via
02:48this booth to meet with all the folks here.
02:51But yeah, Informa has events, it also has media.
02:54So within Informa, we have our Informa Food Service Vertical.
02:57And so we have six publications in the Informa Food Service Vertical.
03:01And we also have shows like Restaurant Leadership Conference, National Restaurant Show, Create,
03:06and several others.
03:07That's amazing.
03:08How many...
03:09You said six publications?
03:10That's right.
03:11Can you name those six publications?
03:12I sure can.
03:13Nations Restaurant News, Restaurant Hospitality, Restaurant Business, Food Service Director,
03:18and Supermarket News.
03:19And how many team members do we have across that entire portfolio?
03:2330 editors.
03:2430 editors?
03:25Yes.
03:26Right.
03:27Okay.
03:28And what kind of...
03:29Give us an idea of the type of content that we're publishing.
03:30So it's...
03:31Of course, these are all trade publications.
03:33So this is business content for the retail professional, in the case of CSP, that's C
03:38Stores.
03:39And in Supermarket News' case, of course, grocery stores.
03:42And then Restaurant Business, Nations Restaurant News, Restaurant Hospitality, or for the food
03:45service owner operator.
03:47Food Service Director is for the non-commercial food service operator.
03:50So the content that we're trying to provide is for the food business owner, leader, manager,
03:55executive.
03:56Here's content that can help you do your business better.
03:58We want to inform them, we want to educate them, and engage them.
04:02That's what we're always talking about because we build communities, we teach our communities
04:06via informing them of what's going on in the news, in our events.
04:10We're helping them to enrich them with knowledge and thought leadership.
04:14Our expectation is we want the industry to be better.
04:17So by passing on the news and information that we do, and hosting events where they
04:22can learn, we expect the restaurant and retail industries to be better.
04:26Because at the end of the day, that's what we're all out here to do, right?
04:29We want them all to be better, to perform better, be more responsible, of course.
04:33We have some values that we also want to...
04:35We're always all about diversity, equity, inclusion, and sustainability.
04:39We're really focused on making sure that this is a responsible industry, but that is, of
04:42course, performing very well.
04:44What did you go to school to study?
04:46I went to journalism school at Ohio University.
04:48Journalism school.
04:49Yeah.
04:50What did they teach in journalism school?
04:51Well, I said multiple times, I don't think I learned anything in journalism school, but
04:58go to school, kids.
05:00Because of course, what it did do is unlock doors for me.
05:02So I went to school to be a journalist because I was going to be the next Rolling Stone columnist.
05:06I wanted to be a music journalist.
05:08I'm a musician.
05:09As I mentioned, I'm in a cover band, I'm a drummer.
05:12And so I loved writing about music.
05:14So I have four years of school and I was destined to do that and graduated at the cusp of right
05:20before the Great Recession and realized, oh, journalism jobs are going away.
05:25So I pivoted to business journalism and fell into a couple of great opportunities, ended
05:30up as the associate editor at QSR Magazine, spent 12 years there and was the editorial
05:35director there when I left and then came over to Informa and Nations Restaurant News.
05:38What did you learn getting that first position?
05:41Everything.
05:42I mean, I was so immature.
05:44I was such a punk.
05:47You know, I was 22 when I started at QSR.
05:50It's hard to believe I was a baby.
05:51This is my 13th restaurant show and I see pictures of myself at the old shows and I'm
05:55like, what did I know?
05:56I didn't know anything.
05:59But look, I had a boss, owner of the company, really believed in me and he invested in me.
06:03And so I learned work ethic.
06:05I learned, you know, how to be responsible to and accountable to my coworkers and my
06:11bosses.
06:12I learned, you know, that was part of it.
06:14But then look, I learned the restaurant industry.
06:16I mean, this is a little embarrassing to say, but I've never worked in a restaurant.
06:20The jobs I worked as a teenager in college were just not restaurants for whatever reason.
06:24And so I really got, you know, a hard knock kind of education and what this restaurant
06:29industry is all about.
06:30And so now I've been covering the industry for 15 years.
06:33You know, this is this is my industry.
06:35Like I don't feel like I'm a journalist.
06:38I feel like I'm a restaurateur.
06:40I just happen to be in the media part of it.
06:42A little bit like you, Sean.
06:43Well, I love the fact you said 15 years.
06:46And I think one of the facts that I always bring up, we opened our restaurant in 2008.
06:51But on 2007, June 29, 2007, is when the first iPhone came out.
06:56Yeah.
06:57And I talk about that to give context to anybody that's listening to this to understand that
07:01we're in a different world.
07:02Yeah.
07:04And the world that we live in and what you studied in school and what I studied in school
07:06and as a restaurant owner, what I thought was going to happen if I built a great business,
07:10I thought that legacy media was going to come and report on how great my restaurant was.
07:15Well, nobody came.
07:16Yeah.
07:17You know, nobody came.
07:18And I realized that that thing that's in my pocket, that iPhone that's in my pocket is
07:21an incredible tool that allows me to communicate with the world, communicate directly with
07:26customers.
07:27Can you talk about the evolution of 13 years ago when you started the show to now we're
07:31literally in new media row, old media row, legacy media.
07:35I mean, this is communications, but it's modern communications.
07:38I can't tell you how much I appreciate Informa giving us a media pass, allowing us the access
07:44that we've been able to have to come and cover this event because we have so many incredible
07:47partners like Toast and Restaurant 365 and Ovation and Marquee.
07:52The list goes on and on.
07:53Yeah.
07:54But we know that they're putting so much time and effort investment here to help our industry,
07:59help move it forward.
08:00Going back to 13 years ago, what were you doing?
08:02Did you have a pen and paper or you weren't podcasting?
08:05No, no.
08:06I've been podcasting for maybe six, seven years, but definitely not then.
08:10Yeah.
08:11Back then.
08:12I mean, yes, I was walking around with a notepad and taking notes and I might've had an old
08:14school recorder, you know, not my phone that I was, I now take notes on, right?
08:18Yeah.
08:19And what's incredible is a setup like this with cameras and microphones, of course we
08:22have our own right here too.
08:24And you know, we've been doing that for the last three years and it's an incredible opportunity
08:28to tell story in the way people are wanting to be, you know, receive stories.
08:33I mean, you know this better than anybody, storytelling today, I mean, I think it's something
08:37like 60% of Gen Z learns through video.
08:39Yes.
08:40And so we receive that information and said, okay, if we don't adapt to that, then today's
08:46Gen Z is tomorrow's CEO, CEO is our core reader.
08:51And if we're not adapting to their, you know, what their wants and needs are, we're going
08:54to be irrelevant five, 10, 20 years from now.
08:59And so that's why we bring cameras here now.
09:00That's why, like you're doing, you know, we want to record video interviews.
09:04We want to get this really dynamic content for the podcast, for videos, because the access
09:09to people here is incredible.
09:10Yes.
09:11So yeah, I mean, to your point, like when I was at my first show here, it was very old
09:14school.
09:15Yeah.
09:16I think, I think there was a Twitter wall.
09:17That was the fancy thing that you remember those, like everybody's tweeting and at whatever
09:20and it comes down here and we go, Ooh, there's me, there's me.
09:24It's amazing how far we've come because like now, like that's not going to do it.
09:29You know, it's, it's today it is with what we have in our pockets, our cell phones, like
09:34we're consuming all of our content that way.
09:36And if you're not crafting the story according to what's going via the phone, you're losing
09:42them.
09:43Right.
09:44Again, we just don't want to be irrelevant.
09:45So, so that's the huge difference in just those 13 years.
09:47Can you tell us a little bit about what's your personal approach to social content?
09:52My personal approach is interesting because it's like I, my personal Instagram, for example,
09:56I actually have locked, I post pictures of my kids and so, you know, if anybody wants
10:02to follow me, you can.
10:03I accept everybody, but it's like, you know, and I have a TikTok that I just pretty much
10:08creep on people.
10:09I just follow.
10:11And so for me, LinkedIn is really, is where I find most of my traction, which is I'm posting
10:15daily on LinkedIn because.
10:17What kind of content on LinkedIn?
10:19Increasingly, I'm trying to do more video, right?
10:21Because we've all seen that LinkedIn video is, is the biggest.
10:25I think it's the fastest growing, you know, multimedia out there right now.
10:30LinkedIn has said that's what people want more of.
10:31So I'm trying to figure out what that looks like for me and what kind of video, what value
10:35I provide in video on LinkedIn.
10:37You know, of course I'm linking to stories.
10:39I have sort of a personal mission that every day I want to share a story for my team.
10:42Yeah.
10:43You know, I, I don't write as much anymore.
10:45Now I'm more in management.
10:46Do you miss it?
10:47I like writing.
10:48I'm a really slow writer and so I don't miss deadline for that reason.
10:52I have an amazing team.
10:54They're all better than me.
10:55So I just let them do it.
10:56I'm happy to do all the other things that I do.
10:59But you know, and I want to share my team stuff, right?
11:02Cause it's important for me to, to highlight them.
11:04But, but increasingly as you know, LinkedIn isn't just like, here's my content.
11:08That actually isn't what people want.
11:09They want, here's my perspective, right?
11:11Yes.
11:12And so that's what I'm trying to do more of on LinkedIn.
11:14Now I need to get more into Instagram and TikTok on a professional level.
11:17Because again, that's where the future restaurant leaders of America are glued right now to
11:22TikTok and Instagram.
11:23Correct.
11:24And YouTube.
11:25Yeah.
11:26And YouTube.
11:27And so if I'm not there, then they're not going to get to know me as a brand.
11:29And it feels a little dirty to say that, but as you know, like again, like this is what
11:32the future of media is all about.
11:34Can you talk about the relationship with National Restaurant Association?
11:37Yeah, sure.
11:38So National Restaurant Association, you know, of course this used to be their show.
11:42They owned it and they're still obviously heavily involved.
11:46Informa owns the National Restaurant Show now and the National Restaurant Association
11:50again is kind of everywhere as part of that.
11:53But you know, the association is a great organization for us to tap into for, you know, of course
11:58their thought leadership, their advocacy.
12:00So whenever we can, we try to collaborate with them.
12:03But I mean, just right before we hit record, Michelle Korsmo, the CEO of National Restaurant
12:06Association was here chatting with Jonathan Mays, my colleague.
12:09So, you know, keeping those lines of communication open with them is important because they are
12:14the largest, you know, advocacy group for this industry.
12:18Give us some insight.
12:19We're here, 2024 National Restaurant Association Show.
12:21What are the coolest things that you have seen?
12:23We're recording this on day two.
12:25So what are the coolest things that you've seen?
12:27What are you hoping to see?
12:28What is your takeaways so far?
12:30Midway point.
12:31Well, I did get to carry an Olympic torch, so I think that was pretty cool, right?
12:34Where was that at?
12:35At the Coca-Cola booth.
12:36The Coca-Cola booth.
12:37That is cool.
12:38Do we have video?
12:39Is that going to be on TikTok?
12:40There is video.
12:41We will splice in the Olympic torch video.
12:46That is great.
12:47I got to meet Laurie Hernandez, the gymnast that was over there.
12:49So that's why I did that.
12:51I haven't actually gotten much of a chance to walk around.
12:53I'm hearing boba is everywhere, apparently boba.
12:57Everybody's talking about labor and food costs, of course.
13:00I feel like ad nauseum.
13:01I mean, last year we were all talking about these things.
13:04Everybody's talking about just the sense of like, wow, Q1 was brutal.
13:07We saw that Q1 was brutal, but I see a lot of optimism here.
13:12I do too.
13:13This show is packed, busier than I've ever seen, which tells me if people are here, they're
13:17optimistic.
13:18They're looking to invest.
13:20So that's my general sense of things, but I need to get out.
13:22I want to see some of the tech, especially because obviously AI is everywhere right now.
13:26Let's talk about AI because it's obviously a hot button topic.
13:29You write about it.
13:30You see it.
13:32As opposed to a talking point, is there anything sticky that you've seen?
13:36Sticky for AI.
13:37I don't, well, I think AI, where it's like, I don't, you know, you know how trends happen.
13:43Yeah.
13:44We were talking about what are the things that actually, like.
13:47So here's what is not here as much this year is robots.
13:50And I know it's a little different, but just to make that point.
13:52No, there were a lot of robots here last year.
13:53There were a lot of robots last year.
13:54A lot of robot vendors.
13:55And so, and to illustrate my point is that, you know, last year I think the robots, the
14:01consumer facing robots, the flashy, oh look, here's a robot.
14:04I think everybody realized that's not where this tech is going.
14:07That's not saving the labor.
14:08Yeah, exactly.
14:09I think everybody realized consumer facing robots are a novelty.
14:13So automation to me seems to be going more back of house.
14:16It's in some, you know, it's like invisible tech, right?
14:20And so I think a lot of what you're going to see here is AI, you know, running the drive
14:24through.
14:25I mean, and that's consumer facing because you can have AI as a drive through order taker.
14:30But, you know, automating, you know, your purchasing, you know, like that's something
14:35that you're going to see AI doing.
14:36So it's not as sexy as robots, but automation is everywhere now in the back office, back
14:42of house, really helping to make operations more efficient, which is great because you
14:46need efficiency now more than ever as food costs, labor costs and everything, occupancy
14:50costs are up.
14:51So I want to go back to social because some things that never change are things like this
14:59big sign, the National Restaurant Association sign, a selfie sign wall, something that is
15:05big and bold.
15:07Every single person that walks past it, including us, we do our digital hospitality community.
15:11We've been doing meetups there every single day, but it's human behavior to want to like
15:17give something.
15:18And every single person that comes, they're posting that online.
15:22And I think there's an energy about this event.
15:25There's more businesses and vendors and partners that are understanding.
15:31Maybe I should talk about like, we talk to restaurant owners all the time and they never
15:36post content about the business of their restaurant.
15:38It's always B2C content.
15:41And what we teach is that the B2B, you improving your business is not a bad thing.
15:46Actually, your restaurant community, the people that come to visit your restaurant will appreciate
15:51the fact that you're investing in technology, that you're investing in education, that you're
15:55bringing your teams to things like this.
15:57Can you share a little bit about that?
15:58It's a great point.
15:59And yes, because I actually had this conversation recently with my friend Kate Finley, who runs
16:04a marketing agency.
16:05We were talking about influencers.
16:07And you know, she made this great point that, you know, yes, when we think about influencers,
16:11we think about influencers sitting in their car, eating your product and giving a review,
16:15right?
16:16Which, of course, there's a lot of that.
16:17But she made this point that influencers can also share the values of your organization.
16:22And that's the same of the leader of the organization, right?
16:25Like social media content is what people want on social media today.
16:29TikTok and Instagram is authenticity.
16:31They want realness.
16:32They want you.
16:33What are you thinking about?
16:34You know, and it doesn't have to be here's this flashy studio design, food plates that
16:39I'm going to show, right?
16:41It can be here I am at the restaurant show, to your point, investing in my business.
16:45And so I appreciated that point because, you know, maybe you get on your, you know, your
16:50brand's Instagram and you say, hey, look, here's what we're struggling with right now.
16:54Or, you know, here's here's what our commitment is to our team or talk about your values.
16:58Open the doors a little bit and show because I think people do really root for you at a
17:03human level.
17:05And social media is remarkably powerful in giving us the ability to see at that human
17:10level because it's all of us just raw.
17:13You know what I mean?
17:14So so I think that's a really great point because you're right.
17:18It just doesn't all have to be B2C content on social media.
17:20It really can be a peek under the hood of this is how this restaurant operates because
17:24I think people appreciate that that realness.
17:27So I would love this is one of the we believe in smartphone storytelling.
17:31We believe that every single person, every business owner can have their own media.
17:36We don't need to go and create YouTube or TikTok or Instagram.
17:40Those tools are free.
17:42We also believe that everyone has a personal tech stack that no one talks about.
17:45So I'm going to ask you about your personal tech stack.
17:47All right.
17:48So are you an iPhone or Android user?
17:50iPhone.
17:51Which version?
17:52Oh, I think I'm on.
17:53I think I have an iPhone 12, iPhone 12.
17:56But I'm due.
17:57So I told my wife, honey, get ready for it.
18:00We're getting new phones soon.
18:02Once I find some time in my life, which how many emails do you get a day?
18:07Man, it's ramped up so much lately.
18:11If I leave for a week on vacation, I will come back to probably 700 emails.
18:15700 emails.
18:16How many of how many emails do you enjoy reading every day?
18:20Enjoy.
18:21Enjoy.
18:22Well, I look for the Sean Walsh, you know, byline there.
18:26Clip that.
18:27Be sure to clip that one.
18:28Yeah.
18:29You know, I.
18:30Yeah.
18:31That's the great thing about, you know, not great thing, but it's like dilly, dilly, dilly,
18:33dilly, dilly.
18:34Stop.
18:35If I recognize the name, if I know the person, you know, that's when I enjoy reading it.
18:38If I'm getting if I'm hearing from people, friends of the industry, you know, of course,
18:42I'll stop on all my colleagues emails, but actually enjoy maybe one or two a day makes
18:49me very happy.
18:50Describe your notification management.
18:53Everything off.
18:54Everything off.
18:55On my phone.
18:56Everything off.
18:57Because no notification.
18:58It might be ADD.
18:59I don't know what it is.
19:00But notifications.
19:01I can be easily distracted.
19:02Do you even text?
19:03No, no.
19:04I do.
19:05Hey Sam, where are you?
19:06I do.
19:07Sam, we're supposed to be in the interview.
19:08I do get text notifications because I can't miss that stuff and I get calls.
19:11But no, all apps.
19:12Otherwise, all notifications are different on my computer.
19:15Certainly on my computer.
19:16I have teams and email notifications on because it's just, you know, orchestrating everything
19:20going on on the computer.
19:21Do you prefer photos or videos?
19:23Photos.
19:24How many photos are on your phone?
19:26If I looked at my phone right now, I would guess twenty five thousand.
19:29Twenty five.
19:30How many videos?
19:32I would guess a thousand.
19:33Are you taking more videos?
19:35I'm taking more videos because I have children.
19:37That's good.
19:38So I have a two month old now.
19:41Congratulations.
19:43There's lots more.
19:44Yeah.
19:45Yeah.
19:46I've got three, but he's the little one in the house.
19:47He's the little one?
19:48Yeah.
19:49Which map app do you use?
19:50Google Maps.
19:51Google Maps.
19:52Yeah.
19:53Which review site do you use?
19:56None.
19:57None?
19:58You don't read reviews for any purchases?
20:01No.
20:02No.
20:03Amazon.
20:04I do a lot of stuff on Amazon and I look at reviews on Amazon.
20:06I don't go to Yelp.
20:08I don't trust it.
20:09Yeah.
20:10Sorry if Yelp's watching.
20:11No.
20:12It's fine.
20:13You know, if I Google something and it pops up the Google rating, maybe I'd take that
20:17into account.
20:18But I know how that stuff works, you know.
20:20And is any of your music on any platform?
20:23Any of my music?
20:24Yes.
20:25Okay.
20:26Here we go.
20:28Not my...
20:29Okay.
20:30So it's just so funny.
20:31This always comes up.
20:32This is my all time icebreaker.
20:33My followers might even know this because I talk about it a lot.
20:35I had a punk rock band in college that was banana themed.
20:39Banana themed.
20:40And we wore banana costumes and we sang songs about bananas and it's called Bananarchy.
20:44Bananarchy.
20:45And if you go to YouTube...
20:46Can we get Bananarchy to play for the Savannah Bananas?
20:49100%.
20:50Yes.
20:51So I was in college...
20:52We're booking that deal.
20:53Savannah Bananas.
20:54This was 20 years ago.
20:55Bananarchy is going to play.
20:56If we could do that...
20:57What do you mean if we can?
20:58We will do that now.
20:59If you make that happen.
21:00We will make that happen.
21:01And it was the best thing I ever did.
21:04But the guys that I was in the band with, we've all been talking.
21:06We want to reunite.
21:07We had a couple practices a couple months ago because we're convinced, going back to
21:10our conversation, it would go viral.
21:12I'm convinced.
21:13But we were a band before social media.
21:14What better stadium than at the Savannah Bananas?
21:16Totally.
21:17No, I'm with you.
21:18Bananarchy.
21:19I'm with you.
21:20We're going to make it happen.
21:21It's happening.
21:22You're watching this.
21:23Bananarchy.
21:24There's a music video on YouTube.
21:25With the Savannah Bananas.
21:26There's a music video on YouTube.
21:27You can go watch it.
21:28Okay.
21:29Do you listen to Spotify?
21:30Spotify.
21:31Yeah.
21:32Fair enough.
21:33Slack.
21:34Are you guys on Slack?
21:35On Slack.
21:36Yeah.
21:37You're on Slack?
21:38And Teams.
21:39And Teams.
21:40So Slack is for my team.
21:41Yep.
21:42Teams is for corporate stuff.
21:43Okay.
21:44And how many apps do you have on your phone?
21:45Probably about 100.
21:46How many do you use on a daily basis?
21:47Probably five.
21:48Which are those five?
21:49Gmail, Outlook, ESPN, Instagram.
21:50What else do I go to?
21:51LinkedIn?
21:52LinkedIn.
21:53LinkedIn.
21:54LinkedIn.
21:55LinkedIn.
21:56LinkedIn.
21:57LinkedIn.
21:58LinkedIn.
21:59LinkedIn.
22:00LinkedIn.
22:01Yeah.
22:02Yeah.
22:03Fair enough.
22:04So sports news, emails, and Instagram.
22:06And what are the shows, podcasts that you produce or host?
22:11So I have my own podcast, Takeaway with Sam Okas.
22:14So that's where I interview restaurant decision makers.
22:17And that's everybody from an independent up to a big chain executive.
22:20That's weekly.
22:21Comes out on Thursdays.
22:22Takeaway with Sam Okas.
22:23You can find that everywhere.
22:25We also, Nations Restaurant News has a podcast called Extra Serving.
22:28And that's more me and my team talking about the industry.
22:31That comes out every Friday.
22:33But then we also, now that we're part of, with our six publications under the Informa
22:37Food Service Vertical, you hear it here first, we're about to roll out a joint podcast network
22:44with all of our shared podcasts, which is about 10 of them.
22:48And so A Deeper Dive with Jonathan Mays will be under there.
22:51RB Daily from our friends at Restaurant Business.
22:53We're gonna re-roll that out as Restaurant Daily, a joint effort between Restaurant Business
22:57and NRN.
22:58So those are some of the podcasts you can go check out now.
23:00That's awesome.
23:01That's a big deal.
23:02Yeah, we're really excited about that.
23:03So is there gonna be a podcast row, like Super Bowl, like new media row?
23:05Is that what's happening?
23:06That's where our heads are at.
23:07I think you guys are, you see where we're filming.
23:10This is gonna be, just like you see in the Super Bowl, new media row, podcasts from all
23:14over the world, new media, influencers, B2B content creators from all over the world.
23:19This is why we do the show.
23:20It's coming.
23:21And we're gonna look back and be like, we were sitting in it.
23:23We were there once upon a time.
23:25Now look at it.
23:26Remember it was just us?
23:28What's the best place for people to connect with you?
23:30LinkedIn.
23:31Find me on LinkedIn.
23:32Happy to always love following new folks on LinkedIn.
23:34You can follow me on Instagram, and I will accept you, but you just gotta look at pictures
23:38of my kids.
23:39That's awesome.
23:40So that's pretty much it, yeah.
23:41And if you guys wanna connect with me, it's at Sean P. Walcheff, S-H-A-W-N, P-W-A-L-C-H-E-F.
23:48Once again, thank you to Toast.
23:49Please check out Family Style.
23:51We're filming season two currently here in Chicago, so we've got an incredible season
23:55two that's on Toast's YouTube page.
23:59Thank you so much, Sam, for the hospitality.
24:01Thank you for allowing us to do all this content all over the place.
24:04I'm gonna go try to get on the roof, so I don't know if they're gonna let me on the
24:08roof.
24:09If it doesn't happen this year, it will happen next year, I promise you.
24:12We're gonna go do roof content.
24:14We absolutely appreciate it.
24:16Yeah, thanks, Sean.
24:17Thank you for listening to Restaurant Influencers.
24:20If you want to get in touch with me, I am weirdly available at Sean P. Walcheff, S-H-A-W-N.
24:25P-W-A-L-C-H-E-F.
24:28Cali Barbecue Media has other shows.
24:31You can check out Digital Hospitality.
24:34We've been doing that show since 2017.
24:36We also just launched a show, season two, Family Style, on YouTube with Toast.
24:42And if you are a restaurant brand or a hospitality brand and you're looking to launch your own
24:47show, Cali Barbecue Media can help you.
24:49Recently, we just launched Room for Seconds with Greg Majewski.
24:54It is an incredible insight into leadership, into hospitality, into enterprise restaurants
25:01and franchise, franchisee relationships.
25:04Take a look at Room for Seconds.
25:06And if you're ready to start a show, reach out to us, betheshow.media.
25:11We can't wait to work with you.