- 2 days ago
Mehdi Zarhloul chased the American Dream — and caught it. As the founder of Crazy Pita, he grew his restaurant brand into a Las Vegas favorite, expanded with new concepts like Salad Madness and Chicken Genius, and even opened inside a Walmart.
Watch now for the story of how Mehdi Zarhloul built a thriving Las Vegas restaurant group, created his own holidays, and proved you don’t have to wait for permission to succeed.
Sponsored by:
• TOAST - All-In-1 Restaurant POS: https://bit.ly/3vpeVsc
Watch now for the story of how Mehdi Zarhloul built a thriving Las Vegas restaurant group, created his own holidays, and proved you don’t have to wait for permission to succeed.
Sponsored by:
• TOAST - All-In-1 Restaurant POS: https://bit.ly/3vpeVsc
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NewsTranscript
00:00We celebrate two holidays, National Pita Day and National Crazy Pita Day.
00:04I claimed my own holiday.
00:06Like I said, I use resources.
00:08In America, you can claim and create your own holiday.
00:18Welcome to Restaurant Influencers presented by Entrepreneur.
00:22I'm your host, Sean Walchef.
00:23This is a Cali BBQ Media production.
00:25In life, in the restaurant business, and in the new creator economy, we learn through lessons and stories.
00:32I am extremely excited today because we are filming at Crazy Pita in Las Vegas inside of a Walmart.
00:41And the craziest part about this story is that I'm sitting down with a master storyteller, my man, Mehdi.
00:48Mehdi, welcome to the show.
00:49Thank you for having me, Sean.
00:50Great honor to be in your show.
00:52So what excites me is that you and I have seen each other at conferences, but I feel more connected to you because you're willing to share your truth.
01:03You're willing to talk about your business.
01:05You're willing to use all of the tools that are available to business owners and restaurant owners to connect.
01:12And because of that, I've been following you and I feel like we're close friends.
01:16So thank you for being here on the show.
01:17Sean, you and I have known each other for quite a long time.
01:22We're very good.
01:23Actually, you did a video of me a couple of years ago in NRA show.
01:28That's right.
01:29Yeah.
01:29That's right.
01:30We did some taping.
01:31That's right.
01:31And I'm glad that we kept in touch.
01:34And here we are.
01:35Now I'm going to share my story with your fans and audience and tell you all about it.
01:39So let's go with my favorite random question, which is where in the world is your favorite stadium, stage, or venue?
01:47Las Vegas.
01:49By default, I'm a Raiders fan.
01:52Raiders, Allegiant Stadium is one of the best stadiums in this town.
01:56Amazing.
01:57We're going to go to Allegiant Stadium.
01:58We're going to talk to Toast, who sponsors this show.
02:00They believed in this show back in 2022 when we first launched.
02:04We're going to talk to Entrepreneur, get some other brands involved.
02:06But we're going to put on a different type of hospitality conference.
02:09We say this is a storytelling conference, more of like a TEDx style.
02:14And I'm going to put you on the 50-yard line in front of an entire stadium full of restaurant owners, hospitality professionals, and say,
02:22Mehdi, when we look back at this keynote of yours, what will you have built?
02:28What are you building?
02:29What is Crazy Pita?
02:30Well, first, let me tell you about Crazy Pita.
02:33We started Crazy Pita about almost 19 years ago, this August 16, 2006.
02:40We started it here in Las Vegas in Henderson.
02:43And here we are now with multiple concepts and few stores, and we're looking for a great expansion plan.
02:51Crazy Pita is a fast, casual Mediterranean restaurant.
02:55It's specialized in fresh grilled to order skewered meat, salads, and rotisserie chicken.
03:00We can say our menu is kind of a cross-path world between the past and the present, more of the classic and the modern.
03:11And we kind of merge both of those theories together.
03:14And hence, our menu has been successful for so many years.
03:18And, of course, we're innovating from the culinary side and bringing and keeping in touch with the modern world and kind of implementing all those new items.
03:28For example, you start with the menu, start with the spices from Casablanca, Morocco, which where I grew up and lived there.
03:35And I grew up in a beautiful, wonderful family who were catering for friends and families all the time, every weekend.
03:42And that's why it got stuck with me, all this hospitality.
03:47And then when I moved here at the age of 16 in the United States, I was in Washington, D.C.
03:52And I started working in restaurants.
03:54Believe it or not, one of my first restaurants was called Skewers.
03:58Skewers, really?
03:59At the age of 16 years old, I got a job there, and they put me as a dishwasher.
04:06I sucked at it big time.
04:08Me too.
04:09I was a bad dishwasher.
04:10Terrible.
04:11The gentleman fired me, and then he put me as a cook.
04:14And guess what?
04:16I hated it.
04:17They gave me a case of chopped parsley, making tabouleh, a whole case.
04:23You chop it with knife.
04:24I had no idea how to use a knife.
04:25The only thing I knew about restaurant then was you go and eat, right?
04:30Sucked at it.
04:31And then the onions came, and you have to slice on the onions, and then you're crying.
04:36And, of course, you grow up in a family.
04:37You're used to your parents, and your mothers, and your aunts, and all of them cooking for you.
04:42And now you have to do it yourself.
04:44Sucked at the kitchen.
04:46They moved me as a busboy.
04:48Broke every single glass.
04:50Couldn't do it, you know, when you have balance in your trays, and you don't even know what to do.
04:56And the owner, like, they couldn't figure out what to do with me.
04:58But here we go.
04:59And he gave me a message that I learned from him and I still use.
05:03As he was like, he goes, Matty, since I put you in all those positions, and now you know how they go, I'm going to have you become a supervisor and kind of help everybody.
05:13And that's where the management and the leadership started.
05:17I became one of the best managers for him at the age of, I'll say, 17, 18.
05:24I was running the store, and here's the guy who trusted me with those.
05:28He gave me the key to the restaurant.
05:29And since then, I've just been, my career in the food and beverage, I just loved it and enjoyed it.
05:37I was going to computer school at the same time.
05:39Before you go on, there's something that I started talking with Jeff Alexander, who is the CEO of WowBow.
05:46We've had him on this show.
05:47But we talked about this moment where you get trusted with keys to become a manager.
05:53So many people that are listening to this, there's also a moment when you give up the keys.
05:58Can you share when you gave up the keys and came into an ownership role?
06:03Well, it took quite a while after I got the keys.
06:08I joined a company called the Four Season Hotels.
06:11Yeah, heard of them.
06:12And, you know, I worked with them for about 12 years, and I reached a position of food and beverage director.
06:20And I traveled the world, and I learned so much from different cultures from all the way to the Middle East, in Egypt, in Saudi Arabia.
06:27I assisted in some key openings here in the States, and what a great experience.
06:34And when the time came for me to start my own venture, when I moved here to Las Vegas, it was a different experience.
06:43Now you write your own check.
06:46Previously, with the Four Season, you asked for a, hey, can I have a coffee machine in this side?
06:52And magically, you show up two days later, and it just shows up.
06:56Yeah.
06:56Now you ask somebody to give you a machine.
06:59They tell you, write me a check for $3,000.
07:01And you go, what?
07:02What does this cost from?
07:04Yeah.
07:05But since we started, I mean, almost 19 years ago, it's been a great venture.
07:12We focus on what we do best, which is cook great Mediterranean food.
07:18And we serve it with the best service that we can give.
07:22As you know, today, it's all about experience.
07:27We have a few friends on Commons, and they all believe on the three Cs, the connection, the convenience.
07:33You know, it's just, that's what I go by, those things.
07:37You know, people, you believe in your people, you believe in your product, and the profit will come automatically.
07:42Four years ago, as you know, we got hit by the COVID, right?
07:47And you just kind of reinvent everything that we knew how to operate.
07:51Before COVID, it was amazing.
07:53You come to work, you open your doors, speaking of the key, and you look at the sky.
07:58Oh, it's beautiful weather, 80 degrees.
08:00And you know exactly what your forecast is going to be that day or for that week.
08:05It's not like that anymore.
08:06Now we have, you know, we have all this digital that's happening all over between the third parties and the online orders and the habits of culture and chance.
08:18Plus, you have your dine-in and your catering, and you have to be there available for every single customer and the way they do business.
08:26Not everybody is the same.
08:27Right now, I do take orders.
08:29Yeah, if you want me to take your order by text, by all means, I'll do it.
08:32I mean, I still have customers for the last 18 years that still text me with their catering orders.
08:39And I will never say, no, here is the order.
08:42I will go and I will take it, and I will converse with them, and I will pass it along to my team, and, you know, we make sure we can deliver.
08:52Can you remember the most difficult time as being a restaurant owner?
08:56Can you tell me a story?
08:57Well, from difficult times, you know, two years ago, the whole industry had different times.
09:07Yeah.
09:08We, right, we come out of COVID, of course, we had a virus that kills people.
09:13Yeah.
09:13That was one of the most difficult times.
09:15I closed my doors on March 17, 2000.
09:18We just celebrated five years.
09:20Yeah.
09:20I don't know if we should say celebrate, but we just finished five years of COVID.
09:23I remember that day, I closed all my restaurants.
09:27I went around.
09:29I closed every single one of them, and I just, it brought me down to my knees.
09:33Everything, you work hard all your life, and all of a sudden, you have no idea what's going to happen.
09:39You pray, and you say, I'm going to go home, and I'm just going to wait and see what's going to happen.
09:45Now, a lot of people rush on this, and they want to start with the to-go and open their doors.
09:52I was pretty scared.
09:54I didn't want to give up my life cooking a pita.
09:57So, I waited until a month, month and a half, and thankfully, the government came through for us.
10:03I mean, that was, this is when governments are put into test, right?
10:06They came and they helped us.
10:08They helped us with the PPPs.
10:09They found us and helped us reopen, as you know, in this industry, you pay, today's money pays yesterday bills.
10:17And that was one of the most difficult moments for me that I ever, everything else we can do.
10:22As restauranteurs, and you come to many leaders or managers, you bring it on, we'll go through it, and then it's going to be the next thing.
10:30Five years ago, we had the millennia, before COVID, we had the millennial problem.
10:35Nobody has ever finished their issue.
10:37I think we just kind of moved on.
10:39And we got hit by COVID.
10:41Then after that, we have inflation came in now that we deal with.
10:46Before that, we have labor.
10:48We have logistics.
10:50It just kept going on.
10:51Just to summarize that for you, we went from all our expenses jumped by 30% to 40%.
10:59So we had to rewrite all our systems in place.
11:03We have to adapt to technology and then kind of make it happen and kind of filter it through.
11:09And as soon as we did it again, then you have inflation last year came up.
11:14Now you have to go and rewrite your book at the same time.
11:18And finally, now we finally kind of put it together.
11:21We put an amazing franchise deal in place.
11:26I'm not sure if you just recently looked and followed me.
11:30I put a crowdfund regulation together.
11:33You know, with the SEC, we were able to file.
11:36This is one of the most beautiful moments in my life.
11:41I finally, I am part of the 4,650 restaurants that are public.
11:46And my name is inside.
11:48It was the second most beautiful day.
11:51Because when I came to the country and you look at the Statue of Liberty, and now you are part of an American dream, right?
11:58You know, the resources that are available to us in this country are beyond my belief.
12:06You can use them if you know how to operate.
12:08And if you know how to seize them and take advantage of them, they are there for you.
12:12The system is designed for anyone that wants to do any kind of business can go and take it up there on their own.
12:19And luckily, I surround myself with some amazing team.
12:24We built the train and we embarked one of the best people in the industry.
12:29Now, I haven't announced most of them yet, but I will eventually soon if you follow me.
12:35But we're taking Crazy Pita.
12:38And of course, you know, we added two more concepts.
12:41Solid Madness and Chicken Genius.
12:45They're doing amazing virtually.
12:47We opened a few satellite locations.
12:50And online, actually, they're so amazing.
12:53They all have the Mediterranean DNA.
12:56They're actually beating me, beating Crazy Pita.
12:59I feel like I'm competing myself up there.
13:02But again, it's unlimited charter up in the sky.
13:06You can do anything you want.
13:08So that's been very successful.
13:10And we are getting ready to place them and put them as brick and mortars.
13:14And hopefully, with the franchise team that we have in place, we will be able to target most of the cities that we are targeting in our future.
13:26Did you know that Toast powers over 140,000 restaurants across the United States, Canada, and UK?
13:34It's an incredible company.
13:35I'm on the Toast Customer Advisory Board.
13:37They are proud sponsors of this show, Restaurant Influencers.
13:40We couldn't do it without their support.
13:42They power our barbecue restaurants in San Diego.
13:45If you have questions about Toast, if you're thinking about bringing Toast on to be your primary technology partner at your restaurants, please reach out to me.
13:53I'm happy to get a local Toast representative to take care of you.
13:57You can reach me at Sean P. Welchef on Instagram.
14:01Once again, thank you to Toast for believing in the power of technology, the power of storytelling, the power of hospitality.
14:07Back to the show.
14:08So before we started recording, you gave me a microphone for a video that you were going to use.
14:16Can you share what did we make and why did you make it?
14:20And when did you first start making videos for the Internet?
14:23Well, you have to keep up with the trend.
14:28First, we had Facebook, so we were all over Facebook.
14:31Yep.
14:32We had no idea how to do videos, right?
14:34You go and you tell, you take a picture and you post it.
14:37And that was great.
14:37That was wonderful.
14:38And people knew what you were doing.
14:40Then we have Instagram.
14:41Now we have TikTok.
14:42And all those are social that are available to us.
14:46And they're for free, right?
14:48So if you get, I'm not an influencer.
14:52I don't get like the millions of views.
14:54But if you add up all the views that you can do between TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook, and every YouTube, they can add up to a number amount of views.
15:02I get about 20, you know, an average of 500 views per post.
15:09And if you multiply it, you get about 2,000 to 3,000 per week.
15:12And that could add up to 20,000 views.
15:14These are people that actually don't know who you are, that now actually.
15:18But if they continue to see you and you keep updating them or what's happening.
15:22We started a video because I like to communicate directly with my customers and with my team.
15:29So people know.
15:30Everybody knows Instagram.
15:32Everybody follows us.
15:34And it's a great way to communicate and let people know what we're doing.
15:37This coming Saturday, we're going to start doing a great program.
15:41It's National Pita Day, which we celebrate it every year.
15:46We celebrate two holidays, National Pita Day and National Crazy Pita Day.
15:50I claimed my own holiday.
15:52Like I said, I use resources.
15:54In America, you can claim and create your own holiday.
15:57You just give it to yourself.
15:58You know, in leaderships, when you're up on top, and you know this, Sean.
16:04You're a restaurant operator, too.
16:06If you don't pat yourself once in a while on the shoulder and you stop and take a moment and pause and say, look what I have accomplished.
16:13Nobody's going to do it for you.
16:16I had a boss one day at the Four Seasons and I'll mention his name, Frank Heinen.
16:22Great guy.
16:23He was German.
16:24So, you know, you got to salute.
16:26And the old days when in the kitchens, you get screamed at constantly, you know.
16:32Not anymore.
16:33You cannot do that.
16:34Chef Ramsay still does it.
16:36But it's okay.
16:38It's part of the show.
16:39It's part of his brand.
16:40The more he does it, the bigger deals he gets.
16:41But he always tells me, if you want the silver platter, you have to go get it.
16:46It will never come to you.
16:47And that's what I've been doing all my years when, you know, when I started Crazy Pita and they built the three restaurants and now we're franchising small here and there.
17:01You know, it was a, it's a lifestyle brand.
17:05And now we're getting to the point where I want to create it to be a legacy.
17:10I want to leave something behind for my, I recently became grandfather twice.
17:15Congratulations.
17:15Thank you so much.
17:18I still hold the sexiest crap on earth, so I'm not giving that up.
17:24I'm not sure if I can say that.
17:26You can say that.
17:27This is for entrepreneurs.
17:27You can say that.
17:28Okay, great.
17:29What does, what does hospitality mean in Las Vegas?
17:34Hospitality.
17:36Everything we do in Vegas is about the hospitality.
17:39We welcome you the second you land in your plane.
17:42You land on that airport.
17:43You are welcome all the way to the second you leave.
17:48We will throw the red carpet for you from, you know, from the second we pick you up either in your taxi or you take an Uber all the way to your hotel or the way to your check-in all the way until you come to any restaurant and frequent any of our stores.
18:03Of course, Crazy Pita, you must try Crazy Pita while you're here in Las Vegas.
18:08It's about embracing your customers.
18:13It's about welcoming them.
18:15I grew up in a family that does events every single weekend.
18:19And then when you open the door to them, the first thing you do when you have guests is you hug them and kiss them and you offer them beverages and you offer them food and you cook for them.
18:30And when they leave, you clean up after them.
18:32And guess what's the best part about having a restaurant?
18:36It's the same thing we do, except they give you money this time.
18:39So I have to work three times harder than serving my uncle or my aunts or my cousins.
18:46So that's what hospitality is.
18:50So we have lots of incredible restauranteurs, operators, leaders that are going to see this show.
18:57We're filming inside of a Walmart.
19:00I love nontraditional locations.
19:03Can you share your Walmart story, the Crazy Pita Walmart story?
19:06Absolutely.
19:07Well, this is our first Walmart store that we just opened.
19:11We were approached and I knew a gentleman from Gen X Hospitality.
19:16His name is a friend of mine, Tom, that I've known for a while.
19:18And the opportunity, as you know, a lot of McDonald's have been exiting Walmarts.
19:23And the opportunity came.
19:25They love the food.
19:26They want Mediterranean.
19:28And we decided to start with the first one.
19:31And hopefully it will be the first one of many.
19:34This is a little different.
19:36We're serving it this like more of a chipotle style.
19:39Actually, you can make you a pita now in less than two minutes.
19:46It's the fastest pita making.
19:48And it's not done by a computer.
19:51It's done by a human being.
19:53It started.
19:54We have, we serve breakfast here.
19:56We started a new, I always wanted to launch a breakfast menu.
19:59Now we have the opportunity.
20:01The breakfast starts from 7 a.m.
20:03And we have a variety of Mediterranean breakfast style.
20:07Like we're doing a shakshuka.
20:09We're also doing an amazing Spanish omelet with the potatoes and the spicy marinara sauce.
20:16Believe it or not, we're serving baguettes here at Walmarts with the strawberry jam and the fresh butter.
20:23So we're bringing the Mediterranean and the European touch to this.
20:28And so far with the response, it's been amazing.
20:32It's that the community here has responded well to our existence here.
20:38And it's been just an amazing venture.
20:41And it will continue to grow throughout, hopefully, the nation in many more warmarts to come.
20:47Are there any other non-traditional locations that you're looking at for Crazy Fita?
20:52We're looking, listen, I look, I always say, if there is a community that has, if there is somebody, if what are their teeth?
21:00Yes.
21:00I want to be there.
21:01You're my customer.
21:03Stadiums, airports, colleges, shopping centers.
21:07The franchise team that we have in place, they're doing an amazing job and they have a plan.
21:13And they were going to start executing on it very soon.
21:16And you will see us in so many local and communities here in the United States.
21:24How do you build a team to scale?
21:28Well, first, the way I build my team is with connections.
21:35It's a people and networking that I've known throughout the years in my industry.
21:41I build the best on what they do and they're good at what they do.
21:46They're good at scaling concepts.
21:48They're good at being, they know more than me.
21:50I hire the people and let them do what the best what they do.
21:55I created a number of departments and I'm bringing leaders in those departments and who will actually, I am learning from at the same time.
22:04All what I can do is I give them my vision and they will execute on it from the marketing side to the franchising side to the technology.
22:13Even we're looking at adding, if you look at that fridge over there, we're adding a new CPG line to the brand.
22:20And that's going to, we're working with the company right now where we will be taking it to another level.
22:28And it will be solely a CPG, you know, consultant that will take it and run with it.
22:35As you know, I cannot do it.
22:36All what I can do is provide all my team with the resources that they need to establish their jobs.
22:44So I heard you on a friend of ours, Zach Oates, his podcast, Ovation, Give an Ovation.
22:49I'm here sitting at your guest feedback, which is on every single table, which is pretty incredible.
22:56Why is feedback so it's such an important part of the Crazy Pita story?
23:00Well, getting your first, the system that Zach Oates created is an amazing system.
23:06It helps me communicate with my guests as I cannot be in all the locations.
23:11I like to know exactly what's happening at first hand, and this will allow my manager, if the customers give you feedback within the restaurants, you can go and answer to them.
23:21The second important thing is when you're inside the restaurant, you can go and manage them.
23:27But when somebody gives you feedback somewhere in the air, digitally on Yelp or Google, you're not there by person.
23:35And one of the things that I work with, Zach, is they have the ability to respond to that customer.
23:41And so far, it's been amazing.
23:44I welcome the opportunity when a guest gives me feedback.
23:47You can call it a complaint or you can call it.
23:49I look for it because I seize the opportunity to get in touch with that customer.
23:55There's times where I call the customer personally, and I make sure I apologize, and I work out exactly what happened.
24:02The second you are connected with that customer, now you have them, you gave them for a lifetime.
24:10If somebody is coming now, if you do your math, it's a tremendous amount of dollar revenue.
24:16At the end of the day, we're in the business to make money.
24:21And I will do whatever it takes to keep my customers happy and come back to me.
24:27I tell my marketing team all the time, once you do a number amount of two and as much they have their theories and their systems and all the place,
24:39you already get a decent amount of people inside your store.
24:43Just make them come back twice.
24:45Yep.
24:46And you get more than your 20% return investment.
24:49You get more and more and more.
24:51If you do 1,000 people a week, just get 30% of them to come back.
24:58And that's a better marketing.
25:00And the way you do that is by the team that you have available in your store, the systems that you put in place, the greed and our culture is based on be kind.
25:12Yes.
25:12All my system is written based on kindness.
25:16The way that the B stands for something like B, be the best.
25:20E, I make eye contact.
25:22The K, be knowledgeable.
25:24I, you know, have an eye for detail.
25:28Be informed.
25:30And the last, the D is like you have to wow your customer.
25:33And once you follow that sequence of service using our kindness program, the customer will come back.
25:42We touch, we're one of the only restaurants where you can see and you don't see a trash can in your, in the, in the dining room.
25:49We try to hide it because we want to approach you.
25:52We want to grab the plate from you and say, can I get you anything else?
25:58Is there anything I can do for you?
25:59Or we check within, would you like some extra pita bread?
26:02We don't even charge for extra pita bread.
26:04What are you dining with us?
26:06We'll give you as much.
26:07We grew up in an environment.
26:09You go to a restaurant.
26:10First thing you do, you get water and you get bread and butter.
26:13And he was, now you go to certain places.
26:15They charge you a lot of money for a bread basket.
26:18Yeah.
26:18I still today give it complimentary on the house.
26:23Bread and condiments.
26:24I give free taziki and free homemade harissa hot sauce.
26:27Yeah.
26:27As much as you, as, as you want.
26:31Gluten free.
26:32We, we, uh, you know, if you have, if you have gluten free issue, you're sensitive.
26:37I will mix.
26:38I will swipe that bread for you for a gluten free pita or a wrap.
26:42And I won't charge you extra.
26:44I don't hate to penalize somebody because they have a condition.
26:47Yeah.
26:48It just doesn't make sense because you were born with a condition and I'm going to penalize
26:52you every time.
26:53Uh, you know, this is not the thing we don't try.
26:55We don't nickel and dime people.
26:57And those are the small little things that you can do for your guests that can, there's
27:02some keeps coming back over and over and over.
27:04So I have customers for the last 19 years that have been in business, you know?
27:08Uh, so you mentioned national restaurant association show we filmed over there.
27:14A lot of restaurant owners, it took me 14 years before I left Cali barbecue to go to Chicago
27:21to actually get outside of my restaurant, to start to learn more and network more.
27:26Can you share, why do you make it a priority to network and, and learn more?
27:32Well, in, in, in this industry, things change constantly.
27:36Quickly.
27:37And if you're faster now than they ever have.
27:39And if you're not informed and if you're not playing the game, you will be left behind.
27:45There is so much competition right now.
27:47Uh, and as a, as a small company, if you don't know what their other companies are doing and
27:53what they do and share information and share knowledge, it's getting harder and harder for
27:59a small mom and pop to open a business.
28:01The cost of opening a small restaurant right now, if you're lucky, if you find a second
28:06gen store, or if you put it in the wrong location, it's the, the, the, the, the cost behind it
28:13is just, uh, it's horrifying to, to put a small restaurant like this nowadays cost seven
28:19to $800,000.
28:20And, you know, so, and luckily we, we looked at tweaked all those formulas and we kind
28:25of, we, we bring in that, uh, two and a half to three on three cash, uh, the formula has
28:30been designed.
28:31That's what I said.
28:32We've been working on all this in our current restaurants and, uh, we tweaked it, but you
28:37got to continue to know what's going to come ahead and you have to kind of go further and
28:42further.
28:43Uh, we create, uh, we create, we have a new system that does our, that's connected with
28:47our POS and it's, uh, it's so amazing of the, the analysis that it does for us.
28:53Now it's in the palm of my head.
28:55I can just like look at it.
28:58Um, and, and it tells me exactly how I'm going to forecast for the next, uh, we're using AI.
29:05Now he has this ability where he, instead of having your manager constantly looking and
29:10checking the inventory, you can not predict your ordering for the next orders.
29:17Uh, you can predict your forecast, your labeling, and you kind of match it.
29:21You still have to keep on.
29:22But instead of having three managers, like the old days, one for breakfast, one for dinner
29:27and one, now you can cut down to like about one managers for each stores and let technology
29:33help and assist to do more of the work.
29:37Uh, not to the fact we're replacing human being.
29:40We're not, we're just enhancing and giving them the tours and the ability.
29:44So for all those tech people out there, keep inventing, keep creating.
29:48We need you, uh, and make our life a lot easier.
29:52Absolutely.
29:53Uh, if you guys are watching this, we want you to be a guest.
29:55We have a show called Rising Tides Live.
29:57We do that every Wednesday, every Friday.
29:59Uh, you can go to betheshow.media slash rising tides.
30:03It's a chance for you to come and meet our community.
30:05We have digital hospitality leaders that are in sales, marketing, restaurants, content creators
30:10from all over the globe.
30:12Uh, please go to betheshow.media slash rising tides.
30:15Uh, before I let you go, Mehdi, I need to ask you about your personal tech stack.
30:20So do you use an Android or an iPhone?
30:23Android.
30:24Android.
30:24And this is for the iPhone people.
30:26Once you change to an Android, your life will improve so much better.
30:31Why is that?
30:32It does everything for me.
30:34It does everything.
30:35How long have you ever had an iPhone?
30:36Uh, never had an iPhone.
30:37Never ever.
30:38Okay.
30:38So always Android.
30:39I got you.
30:40Yeah.
30:40Um, I'm too old to switch or to learn.
30:44Uh, what email platform do you use?
30:47Um, HCL.
30:49HCL.
30:50How many emails do you get a day?
30:52Oh, countless, countless.
30:55Hundreds?
30:55Thousands?
30:56I'll say probably between two to three hundred.
30:59Okay.
30:59How many do you enjoy reading?
31:01Uh, probably, uh, 20.
31:0320.
31:04Do you prefer phone calls or text messages?
31:06Text messages.
31:07And do you leave voicemails?
31:09Nope.
31:10Do you take voicemails?
31:12Uh, nope.
31:14Which app do you use for, uh, for maps?
31:18Uh, Google Maps.
31:19Google Maps.
31:20What do you listen to music?
31:21Um, it is, there it is, my friend, Spotify.
31:31Spotify.
31:33Um.
31:33It's been so long, it's been on my phone that I forget the name of it.
31:36Do you prefer photos or videos?
31:38Uh, videos.
31:40What's your favorite social media platform?
31:43TikTok.
31:44How often are you posting TikTok videos?
31:46Uh, twice, three times a week.
31:48Amazing.
31:49And what do you do on LinkedIn?
31:51What's your advice to somebody that's listening to this?
31:53How they can, uh, take advantage of a platform like LinkedIn?
31:56Use the platform.
31:57Get connected with the people.
31:59Respond to, um, comments.
32:01Get involved.
32:02Tell us what you do.
32:03Let us keep informed.
32:05The, the, the restaurant community especially, it's, it's big.
32:09Um, post what you do.
32:11We can learn from you or you can learn from us and we can learn from each other.
32:15Amazing.
32:15If you guys are listening to this, please subscribe to the show.
32:18Whether you listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, however you're finding the content,
32:22please subscribe.
32:23Please reach out.
32:24You can find me at Sean P.
32:25Walchef, S-H-A-W-N-P-W-A-L-C-H-E-F.
32:30Instagram's the fastest, but I'm connected on all platforms.
32:33Weirdly available.
32:34Mehdi, how can people keep in touch with you?
32:36Uh, you can.
32:37And all the brands.
32:38You can go to LinkedIn.
32:39Mehdi Zarlul.
32:40You'll find me there.
32:41You can go to TikTok, Instagram, uh, eat crazy Pita, uh, Facebook at crazy Pita.
32:48You can find me anywhere.
32:49Go to my website.
32:50Send me an email info at crazy Pita.
32:52Come directly to me.
32:54Amazing.
32:55Thank you guys for listening.
32:56As always, stay curious, get involved, and don't be afraid to ask for help.
33:00We'll catch you next episode.
33:04Thank you for listening.
33:05If you've made it this long, you are part of the community.
33:08You're part of the tribe.
33:09We can't do this alone.
33:10We started.
33:11No one was listening.
33:12Now we have a community of digital hospitality leaders all over the globe.
33:16Please check out our new series called Restaurant Technology Substack.
33:21It's a Substack newsletter.
33:22It's free.
33:22It's some of our deep work on the best technology for restaurants.
33:26Also, go to YouTube and subscribe to Kali BBQ Media.
33:30Kali BBQ Media on YouTube.
33:32We've been putting out a lot of new original content.
33:34Hopefully, you guys like that content.
33:36If you want to work with us, go to etheshow.media.
33:39We show up all over the United States, some international countries.
33:43We would love to work with you and your growing brand on digital storytelling.
33:46You can reach out to me anytime at Sean P. Welchef on Instagram.
33:50I'm weirdly available.
33:51Stay curious.
33:52Get involved.
33:53Don't be afraid to ask for help.
33:54We'll catch you next episode.
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