00:00.00
vigorbranding
O sorry let me just 1 more thing it is Kevin Bentley right and it’s a Vp of technology and automation at pappainas pizzeria and Dangelo sub sandwiches. Okay, just making sure I don’t want to get on ambul like actually it’s Kevin you said it wrong all right? so.

00:04.71
Kevin Bentley
Yep.

00:08.59
Kevin Bentley
Um, yep.

00:19.69
vigorbranding
3 2 1 hey everyone today I’m joined by my friend Kevin Bentley he is the Vp of technology and automation at papaginno’s Pizzeria and Deangelo sub sandwiches if you’re from the northeast you know those names if you’re not from the northeast you’re about to learn a bit more about them. Before we dive in Kevin say hello give a little bit of backstory.

00:40.63
Kevin Bentley
Yeah Joseph thanks for having me on just a quick correction. It’s actually ca on it’s french no I’m just totally kid totally get it? Yeah ah no thanks for having me on I’m really excited to join you and have this discussion as.

00:45.78
vigorbranding
Oh kept. Ah I didn’t see the accent Mark. Ah.

01:00.30
Kevin Bentley
Joseph mentioned I’m the Vp of tech give you a quick backstory I know we’re gonna dive into my story a little bit so I’ll keep it really high level born or raised on the west coast in California was convinced to go to school in Chicago at northwestern to play football. Don’t ask me how they got a kid from the sunny California west coast to. Go to the Midwest where was cold and raining and snowing all the time but they got me. There had a great time at northwestern play 10 years in Nfl went back got my Mba from rice a masters in technology from northwestern and actually prepare for my doctorate. At Usc and organizational leadership. Yeah I’m a glutton for pain when it comes to education. So don’t fault me too much.

01:43.70
vigorbranding
I love it. Yeah I mean the professional journey and then and then the the academic journey as well is really interesting to see happen so you did start as a well I would say start but you you had a stint a long stint in the Nfl playing for a number of teams. But then you forward into this restaurant world which I find really interesting because a lot of times at least the Nfl players that I know and I do know some believe it or not um, they they didn’t really do that I see a lot of Nfl players go from Nfl and then some go into commentary or become personalities. Um, even if they weren’t a so ah star to say the least um and rare do I see Nfl leaders going into actually leadership of companies that I would consider not ancillary to the sports world. Um. So your restaurant industry experience started with inspire brands. Now you’re a papanos. Oh and you’re also a snowboard instructor for those that are wondering. Um, so what benefits and unique insights have been empowered and fueled.

02:45.31
Kevin Bentley
Yep, yeah.

02:52.48
vigorbranding
By those various roles and experiences both professionally and academically.

02:55.67
Kevin Bentley
Yeah, so really I would say the biggest benefit of the eclectic background is been able to fit in any environment I think we had a chance to meet in Vegas at murtech and right off the bat. You’d have thought you and I were friends for some time and that’s just because i’m. I’ve had so many different experiences. It allows me to connect with people naturally and organically and I think that’s a huge benefit that people in today’s society don’t really leverage is that connection piece right? and it’s always that old adage. It’s not what you know is who you know. And you get to know people through connection. So I think my background really lends itself well to the ability to connect with people from all walks of life and I think that’s a strong suit of mind the the football piece really. Allowed me to hone in some leadership skills some soft skills that are really hard to come by and corporate covers those kind of skills which we develop naturally over time right? You’re forced into a locker room with 60 different guys. From all across the world different walks of life and oh by the way we need to go win games and figure out how to work together to be successful and so those soft skills really are what led me to really dive deeper into the path of leadership as I mentioned I’m going to work I’m a ph d in organizational leadership. I think there’s a gap in corporate. What people believe are true leaders versus what corporate looks at leadership as and to me it is a leadership and corporate really is someone who is a. Me in one area that becomes a leader but they don’t really understand how to manage and connect with people and so I think I think the background really lends itself to some of those soft skills.

04:38.81
vigorbranding
Yeah. Yeah, if you could give um, maybe let’s dig into the reality or or the behind the scenes look at professional sports specifically the Nfl because you know as a fan as a Las Vegas raiders fan for those that do not know one of the biggest in Atlanta I’d like to think. Um, it’s easy as a fan to watch the Tv any given Thursday Friday Saturday or Sunday and what you see I would say is pretty rudimentary but in the locker room working as a team I think there’s a lot more that goes on especially like you said helping you? ah. Hone those skills to build teams that are diverse not just racially but culturally and even you know mentality-wise what does that look like how do you even begin to collect. Ah, group of people like that together and what role did you play in that.

05:40.21
Kevin Bentley
Yeah, that’s interesting so early in my career I was just trying to fit in right? You’re as a rookie. It’s be seen not heard and so you just try to fit in. You’re trying to learn the playbook and and earn the team. Your other team members respect.

05:50.15
vigorbranding
That’s right.

05:57.85
Kevin Bentley
That’s really where it starts is at the respect level right? So you come in you work hard. You show what you can do you show? you’re willing to go the extra mile and guys start to embrace that because we are all left for None common goal which is the win the super bowl right. There’s there’s nothing else that really matters. Yeah, you want to win games but the ultimate goal is to come together to win a super bowl. You only get None chances to do that in a regular season and you get None chances depending on where you fall in the playoffs right? So it’s a really short window to come together collectively and. Do the best you can each week to win and so for me early on in my career like I said it was really about fitting in in my second year I became a starter so more responsibility but with that responsibility now you’re worried about yourself. But you’re also worried about bringing the guys behind you along because if I were to get hurt. Need the guy behind me to play well in my absence not too well because then I wouldn’t get my spot back but you know well enough to keep us going. Um, and so I really embraced that kind of role early on in my career which is helping develop the guys behind me.

06:49.20
vigorbranding
Um, yeah, right.

07:04.75
Kevin Bentley
Shared a story a lot. There were guys that were way more talented than me way more experienced and probably should have beat me out but based on my understanding of the playbook and my ability to help bring guys along. It kept me in Nfl for 10 years

07:17.23
vigorbranding
Yeah, learning that Playbook is is incredibly important and I don’t think a lot of people understand that especially sports fans for instance, but there is a direct correlation to especially the restaurant industry in that we have playbooks we we have training.

07:33.63
Kevin Bentley
Yep.

07:34.10
vigorbranding
We have operational manuals and yet you’ll still find people that want to go rogue or want to go Antonio Brown on that and just be rock stars and I don’t like the way our tacos are made I want to put extra spice on it. Um, and so it makes a lot of sense I think.

07:39.70
Kevin Bentley
Um, yeah.

07:50.10
vigorbranding
None thing that I’ve picked up from your cv and also being able to talk to you not only in Vegas but throughout our work together. So full transparency vigor is working on the Papaginnos website. So there is another connection there to Kevin not just ah, a colleague and a friend. Um. But None thing that I think that really threads everything together that you do is this determination to succeed and not just individually, but as a team. How do you bring that to the table and help elevate that same determination within the teams in your charge. Not not only in your charge but also parallel to you.

08:21.51
Kevin Bentley
Yeah, so I’ll use ah Papa Gennos as a great example. So when I came in as the vp I had ah ah, ah, inherited a department that was pretty much leaderless for about 8 to nine months and I came in with a set of values cores and beliefs we talked about those beliefs within I brought the team along for the journey I wanted to hear what they what they thought what they expected of leadership. What their vision was for the company and then how we collectively bring that together. To move the company forward. It was interesting because when I first started talking about this team mentality for whatever reason you know corporate to me as a me me me I I type environment if you want to get promoted and those type of things is to kind of beat your chest mentality and I’ve never been able to do that. Sports really beats that mentality out of you. You know it’s when you when you win. It’s the team did great when it’s when we lose it’s I could have done a lot more to help us win and so my team was skeptical to be honest that I was going to put action to the words that I was telling them. Right in terms of helping getting them promoted help getting them raises invissibility and fast forward five months in almost six months in my team is singing my praises they like I can’t believe you’re still putting on this dog and pony show and then doing the things you said you’re going to do and I said hey guys listen. It isn’t a dog and pony show. It’s who I am and it’s at the core I believe if we all win together. We’ll win individually and I’m gonna do my best to continue to promote from internal lily get you visibility across the business and we started to actually bridge the gap. With the business. You know I t in the business usually operates in separate silos and I I dispelled that right away because in order for us to help the business move forward. We have to understand objectives to goals and things like that. So my team’s in every meeting.

10:08.40
vigorbranding
Who.

10:20.70
Kevin Bentley
I t rate related or business related and we’re sending the fruits of that with some of the things we’ve been able to initiate in the IT department

10:27.66
vigorbranding
Yeah I mean it’s It’s a brilliant None step and I think what?? what’s great about you coming in here. Fresh is you’re not already beaten down by what could be corporate politics not saying papaginno has that but most most organizations do you? You have the old guard that’s been in there for a while. They have tried to do something. They’ve gotten beaten down for whatever reason and then they end up just stagnating and they don’t want to even put in the effort anymore but putting technology actually taking technology out of its silo. It’s like no no, no technology is actually literally a part of every single department in this organization and so you either.

10:58.73
Kevin Bentley
Um.

11:03.45
vigorbranding
Have a say in this or or the technology is Goingnna steamroll you and you’re gonna be. You’re gonna be pretty pissed off I mean we’re seeing I mean right now the tech world. Yeah, not only need to tell you. But for those that are listening I mean pretty much every challenge within the restaurant industry is being tackled by a tech company right now so we just had Brian Hassan from kickfin on.

11:09.27
Kevin Bentley
But.

11:18.87
Kevin Bentley
Yeah, yeah.

11:23.27
vigorbranding
Doing amazing things with tipping out and gratuity. We have coming up elliswin Stanley or may have aired by the time this airs who who’s leading the charge with axial shift which is basically pulling managers out of that little tiny hole in the wall and getting them on the floor again. Everything. Everything and and so if you don’t have leaders in these silos understanding that embracing it and then finding an an ally not someone that wants to encamp but an ally in someone like yourself that that’s going to get a lot of great movement forward. Um.

11:55.77
Kevin Bentley
Yeah I think of one of the benefits for me is later in my days that inspire I was really I was actually on the operations team and so that really opened my eyes you know and I had worked with operations in the past but being on that team and.

12:03.73
vigorbranding
Okay.

12:14.80
Kevin Bentley
Inundate with operations day to day really open my eyes to how we really need each other to succeed and while I had a tech lens I was an operator and at the at the corridors 2 people that we really serve the operators that keep our restaurants open and the customer.

12:29.40
vigorbranding
And.

12:32.81
Kevin Bentley
And meeting that customer where they are in their journey and I keep those 2 things top of mind regardless of what I’m working on. Yeah yeah.

12:38.10
vigorbranding
And I think it’s in that order too operator then the customer and a lot of people think the customers first but it’s like no if you don’t treat the operators. Well if you don’t equip them Well the customer is never going to have a great experience. Um, you have to make sure they’re equipped.

12:51.48
Kevin Bentley
Yeah, it’s ah it’s interesting. You say that because I’m an avid reader and there’s a book called Lee with love by the only woman Ceo of Southwest Airlines and she speaks a lot about this topic your number 1 customer are your employees.

13:02.67
vigorbranding
Oh well. Okay.

13:10.55
Kevin Bentley
If they’re not happy. No one’s happy. No one’s getting the experience that you want to have and so the operator is detrimental and key to the success of the restaurant and making sure your guests have the experience that you set out.

13:15.40
vigorbranding
That’s right.

13:24.19
vigorbranding
That’s right? So let’s talk about Pappainnos for those that don’t know Pappainnos. Ah, it’s a Boston based or a Massachusetts based company. Um, they have a huge footprint in that northeastern area. The new england area. Um, and. Ah, hate to use the Seaw word but there’s something of a cult I mean you say papaginnos to anybody. That’s either been to Boston or born or raised in Boston they’re like pappucinos is where it’s at um, had had you come into contact with the brand prior to taking up your post and and. What do you think is the secret sauce to this brand being so cultish for for lack of a better term.

13:59.38
Kevin Bentley
Yeah, so I had not come across the brand prior to going up to visit and do my interview process but I will say it is definitely a cope. No matter where I go across the country if I meet someone from the Northeast or I tell them where I work and like oh my god. I grew up on the brand I loved the number None the pizza’s great like whoa whoa whoa you sound like a laker fan because we’re a cold too. But ah, but but yeah, it’s um, it’s amazing. The love and respect this brand has.

14:26.39
vigorbranding
I Love it.

14:35.78
Kevin Bentley
And at the core it started as a neighborhood pizzeria sandwich joint right? back in the sixty s so it’s been around for quite some time but I think what keeps people coming back is the quality of food I’ve I’ve worked at a number of fast food restaurant companies I will say the pizza is phenomenal.

14:45.37
vigorbranding
Is.

14:55.17
Kevin Bentley
Sandwiches are amazing. Um, and this isn’t a plug for them because I work for them. The food is actually really good and I think at the core as long as you continue to deliver quality food and quality experience that coat will continue I mean I’ve met people that oh I grew up on that brand since I was 5 We used to go there after our games and eat and have pizza and stuff like that and it’s like Wow they really have something special up here in the northeast.

15:21.88
vigorbranding
Yeah, and it’s something about that branding you know because it’s been around for so long. Um, it becomes a very delicate and sensitive scenario when you’re trying to usher it forward when you’re trying to continue to help evolve it because you have to maintain the magic. That’s there you have to maintain.

15:34.20
Kevin Bentley
Yeah.

15:41.12
vigorbranding
Enough basis. So you don’t alienate the ones that love a certain papaginoss but instead just reinforce that love as time goes on. So as you’re thinking about technology how much of that is in the back of your mind how much of it is yes, we’re going to embrace this this new technology. But it’s going to. Folster accentuate and build upon that that goodwill that we already have are there lots of discussions around that.

16:05.83
Kevin Bentley
Oh yeah, I’ll give you a perfect example, we’re exploring Ai as many people are probably in industry both in drive do and answer and phoneams in store and one of the big hangups for us is the brand is used to having a person with that. Strong new england boston accent and how do we combat that to make sure we’re getting the technology forward but not losing the essence of the brand and so we’ve decided to actually go in with a person none just to see what the response is and how our guests are reacting to that experience. I don’t know if we’ll ever get to ai because of that neighborhood feel right? That doesn’t lend itself well to what our brand stands for but we’re trying to push that forward while being mindful of the brand’s essence and I wouldn’t even say it’s in the back of our mind. It’s at the forefront. Um, and if you you know Dina.

16:46.75
vigorbranding
Yeah.

17:01.74
vigorbranding
Yeah.

17:03.71
Kevin Bentley
She continues to push that as well. Well Kevin great idea. But how does that fit into our neighborhood concept and so we’re really yeah, we’re really mindful of that.

17:08.11
vigorbranding
Yeah, she’s she’s a good protector of the brand in that way. Yeah that’s amazing. So I have this vision in my head of a bostonian teaching. Sorry y’all this is gonna be a gross stereotype but a room full of like indian and Bangladeshi and Sri Lankan people how to speak with the accent I don’t know if you recall, but there was a bunch of advertisements ten years ago at this point I’m sure for a product called the hopper. Which I think it was through comcast which allowed you to like record videos and our ah Tv and blah blah blah blah again, it’s very old y’all but there was a guy teaching people how to speak with a bostonian accent and None of my favorite lines was you put your khakis in your khakis and not the other way around.

17:46.65
Kevin Bentley
I.

17:56.20
Kevin Bentley
Ah, yeah I.

17:57.64
vigorbranding
You know so car keys in your khaki pants. Yeah, it’s ah it was pretty great. So I imagine a similar scenario with trying to get a a call center up to speed on ah a neighborhood field. Um.

18:08.99
Kevin Bentley
Yeah, you know it’s interesting because you drop the art of None time you say car keys up there. They don’t use Rs for whatever reason it’s lobster and I’m like lobster they’re like no lo I’m like where’s the r and that. Ah.

18:16.72
vigorbranding
Um, yeah, yeah, that’s right, That’s right, it’s.

18:27.99
Kevin Bentley
But it is a unique, ah dialect you know I think you and I are both here in the south and we have our own slanger twin if you will we use y’all a lot and that kind of stuff and they’re like well you sell an extra country I’m like have you heard yourself speak? Yeah, ah.

18:34.21
vigorbranding
Ah, for sure. Um, yeah, let me record you? Yeah I Love that or my favorite down here is y’alls the the plural y’all like yeah.

18:47.60
Kevin Bentley
It and it yeah the plural y’all is like y’all isn’t enough. No, there’s more to y’all? Ah, but but it’s funny because Bostonians will swear they do not have an accent. Well, what do you mean? I don’t have an accent.

18:56.21
vigorbranding
Y’alls is the top.

19:01.41
vigorbranding
Yeah.

19:06.12
Kevin Bentley
But get all up tight I’m like you really haven’t heard yourself speak you, you probably should record yourself. Ah yeah, ah.

19:08.39
vigorbranding
Yeah, yeah, you’re tone deaf come on I Love it. Well I need to I need to get serious Now. Um. Question whether or not I should even ask this question because I know it can be very sensitive to a lot of people. Um, pineapple on pizza or no I know I know.

19:33.29
Kevin Bentley
Who moment of silence I’m probably gonna get crucified for my answer here I am a pineapple on pizza type guy. 1 of my favorite. What am my favorite pizzas.

19:49.46
vigorbranding
That’s right.

19:53.15
Kevin Bentley
Is a pineapple pizza and I just sometimes I replaced the ham with chicken but I love pineapple one pizza It is it. Yeah, it tastes amazing.

19:56.00
vigorbranding
Yeah I love it. Yeah I’m a huge pineapple on pizza guy too. Anyone that argues it says fruit shouldn’t be on pizza I’m like bro tomatoes are fruit. The end they go hand in hand. My friend.

20:11.12
Kevin Bentley
Ah, yeah, yeah, it is it. It just adds that little touch of sweetness and then the crunch from the pineapple right? if you get the right pineapple and it’s not soggy it. It gives that piece of just a delicate touch that.

20:13.74
vigorbranding
Sweet and savory. They’re best friends. They are best friends.

20:22.40
vigorbranding
Me.

20:29.73
vigorbranding
Yeah.

20:30.12
Kevin Bentley
Can’t be be anyone who doesn’t try pineapple on pieces insane and that’s probably why they don’t go and eat it because they’ve never tried it because if they have it. It would become a part of their day. They’re their normal eating habits.

20:44.36
vigorbranding
That’s right I Love it with ah jalapenos on it. You know and so you get that spice the kick you got that. There’s like pops of sweet in there. The whole thing that’s magic to me man it doesn’t get much better than that. Well I’m glad we cleared it up.

20:47.99
Kevin Bentley
Yeah I’ll give it the little spice. Yeah, you know like when you think about? yeah like when you think about a chocolate chip cookie people put sugar in it and now there’s sprinkling Salt you’re like well it’s supposed to be a sweet cookie but that that balance is the same thing I look at I think about. Pineapple and pizza. Yeah.

21:13.10
vigorbranding
That’s right, Yeah, if if you all haven’t tried it and and you’re trying to be a hater Fine. You can hold on your hater aid. All you want go try a pineapple pizza. It’s so good and I don’t care and look this is coming from someone who’s parts Toicilian So I have a stakee in the game you and I mean like. I don’t care what you say Pineapple belongs on pizza I’m with you 100% were allies. Ah you right? That’s right, That’s right I speaking on Behalf of all sicilians.

21:30.68
Kevin Bentley
Well I agree with the piece apart but talk about Stereotypesicilian but I think you just stamp of approval. Ah. Ah, yeah.

21:45.82
vigorbranding
We approve it now who’s going to get crucified right? all right? So Let’s hop down. Let’s talk about more about this technology stuff that is what is in your purview that is what what you’re leading the charge with suffice to say the tech revolution in this industry is in full swing. How have you approached identifying the right partners at Papaginnos to ensure this brand is poised to grow with tech as its Backbone. What are the some of the elements that you’re looking for in a partner and when I when I say partner I mean like tech solutions I Just I hate the word solutions.

22:21.64
Kevin Bentley
Yep well I but I think you actually hit the nell on the head by saying partner because the the rate at which technology is moving. You actually need a strategic partner. That’s gonna come along with you for the journey you build a road map together and things of that nature. So I’m really looking at vendors long term and how we could be strategic together because and I use this all the time I may be smart in technology today. But I’m gonna be dumb tomorrow because that’s the rate it’s moving at right? and. And I’m not gonna know it all my vendors aren’t gonna know it all so it has to really be a partnership and then the none piece is I really understand operationally, what our operators need to be more efficient how we can automate certain task and then what to get in the none piece is what.

22:56.15
vigorbranding
Yeah.

23:10.88
Kevin Bentley
Where’s the guest that in the journey is it in store is it is it curveside is it three Pd is it delivery and what Technologies will enable the guest to have the best experience. You know when we were probably growing up. We were brand loyal right rather the brand suck tonight if we’re loyal. We’re gonna keep going there. The customer.

23:20.41
vigorbranding
Yeah.

23:27.12
vigorbranding
Yeah I’m a raiders fan. So yes, that’s right, Yeah, it’s character building.

23:30.54
Kevin Bentley
Yeah, yeah, so you know you haven’t won in forever in ages right? I feel like that is a lakequor fan right now too. By the way I’m not used to losing and not making yeah off yeah, it makes it stronger inside I’m um I’m really crying inside. But um, but.

23:42.73
vigorbranding
That’s right is.

23:49.47
Kevin Bentley
The customer today is fickle. They want things the way they want it when they want it and how they want it and if you don’t deliver that they’re onto the next right? and so loyalty becomes a big piece of that in the data but really understanding your consumer that is critical to what moves the needle right. Like Ai might not be for everybody digital menu boards might not be for everyone right? So you gotta understand your consumer base and what they’re looking at For instance when I was an inspire we were digital everything we’re heavily pushing digital in a neighborhood brand like piece like Papa John’s or D’angelo’s it’s like whoa that’s way too much what happened to our natural feel and if you’ve ever been to Boston the architecture and the buildings you don’t know who’s if it’s a house if it’s a restaurant if it’s.

24:38.23
vigorbranding
Um, yeah.

24:40.66
Kevin Bentley
And all that blends together and so you have to be mindful of that right and going back to your earlier point of keeping the brand essence at front of mind. Um, but yeah, we’re looking at all technology just like everyone else I go to conferences all the time I’ve been appointed to a couple of boards by 3 boards. Which is good for me because now I get Firsthand Information. Yep.

24:59.16
vigorbranding
Um, that’s right, Yeah, you know what’s coming down the pike you know one of the things that that is really top of mind for me is the ability for these platforms to talk to each other your sales guy will say they can you know? yeah.

25:13.21
Kevin Bentley
Oh integrations.

25:18.93
vigorbranding
Yeah, just integrating in general right now just seems to be this. Um, it seems to have been not the the front and center of what they’ve built now a lot of systems have been backfilled built or they add the api after the fact, um, but it’s it’s extremely ineffective and I see a lot of these the behemoths trying to clamor to catch up with that.

25:21.64
Kevin Bentley
But.

25:38.88
vigorbranding
How much of a headache is integration still compared to maybe a few years ago

25:43.23
Kevin Bentley
It is a huge huge headache right? and it’s have you ever seen a lion King you know when he says Mu Fasa who say it again say it again. That’s how feel about it would me say the word integrations like who because.

25:49.70
vigorbranding
Um, yeah. Um, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

26:02.96
Kevin Bentley
Everyone will swear. They have an ah an open Api and then when you start digging into the weeds. It’s not so open but the reality is not every tech vender can do everything well and integrations are critical for the ecosystem. Um I’ll give you a perfect example right now I’m looking at.

26:06.86
vigorbranding
Right.

26:21.90
Kevin Bentley
Kitchen display units in my opinion qsr is one of the stronger players in the market but our pos provider toast also has a Kds they don’t have an integration and so I’m like well they have a stronger.

26:25.41
vigorbranding
A.

26:37.10
Kevin Bentley
Footprint in this space and can do a lot of the things we’re looking for where your technology is still evolving. How do we make that happen and the other piece is how long the integrations are taking right? Everyone’s really trying to build a all in 1 system now in my opinion and and hoard the business instead of saying you know what.

26:42.69
vigorbranding
Great.

26:56.69
Kevin Bentley
You do this? Well I’m gonna farm that out to you. We do this? Well we’ll take this component and I think what’s really I think that’s really the critical piece is the vendors have to come to the realization that they need each other as much as we need them.

26:59.16
vigorbranding
Right.

27:10.17
vigorbranding
Yeah, it’s it’s true I mean I think one of the things that holds that back is as software System X continues on their development roadmap. They really do need to inform all the other companies that are integrated because things break and it becomes a never ending development work stream.

27:26.16
Kevin Bentley
Yep.

27:29.53
vigorbranding
I mean I can see the appeal to have everything all in None um you know, especially when you you have a system. Maybe that’s really strong It’s so much but then it falls short in one critical area and I know that you just took a posted to toast and so that’s the mean rhyme there. Um, you know as an advisor. Um, but. Toast is great because it’s so prevalent now but there are so many shortcomings and I say that with a positive spin like I’m really excited for what comes next from toast. But I’m really excited about what comes next from toast because you know integrating with toast has been sort of unattainable unless.

27:58.50
Kevin Bentley
Yep.

28:06.89
vigorbranding
There is enough pressure so like for instance, an olo toast situation. Obviously that makes sense because Olo has the pressure to apply but there are so many startups out there that I mean I’ve seen some out of the corner of their mouth. Not publicly say and we’re about to integrate with toast. Don’t tell anyone and I’m like okay I mean.

28:23.34
Kevin Bentley
Yeah, yeah.

28:26.70
vigorbranding
I Guess I won’t but like for it to be like that I feel like that’s where toast is falling short I mean when you have such a huge footprints like open up your doors and of course be mindful of who you let in those doors. But if you’re going to be big and you’re gonna be huge you gonna be major player like you got you got to let some others feed right and integrate with you or else you’re goingnna start to? um. Fall short. Um, go ahead. Yeah.

28:48.84
Kevin Bentley
No, yeah, it’s interesting. You say that because I in my experience with toast I’ve dealt with some of that where we’ve had to apply pressure like we really need disintegration to happen. Um, not next year q three or q four like right now we need this integration to happen because it’s critical to our business need.

29:02.88
vigorbranding
Um, yeah.

29:08.48
Kevin Bentley
And they’re they’re starting to come around and do a much better job of that I think the other component we’re seeing is you’re seeing a lot of vendors either partner together acquire that skill set instead of by ah building it right? You’ve seen you’ve seen ollies.

29:22.90
vigorbranding
E.

29:28.16
Kevin Bentley
Partnerships now with different companies. Oh you have product X we have product wireless come together and now we have both and we’re stronger because of it and then the learning right? like I said technology is moving at such a pace that no one can keep up so the more players you have from different spaces.

29:39.10
vigorbranding
Yep.

29:46.40
Kevin Bentley
The more you can understand and innovate with technology.

29:50.93
vigorbranding
Yep, yeah, and there seems to be I mean with those those acquisition or mergers whichever they way they play out. Well there’s no such thing really as a merger. It’s always an acquisition but with the acquisitions I think would be.

29:58.44
Kevin Bentley
Ah. Um, Meger’s a nice way to say it. Ah yeah.

30:07.20
vigorbranding
That’s right merger merger makes the acquired entity feel better. Um, so you know with the acquisitions like let’s take break and punch. Well you know they started with ah good integration out of the gate. But now now you’ve absorbed 2 different teams and you have to work closer together and and I think that needs to happen quicker.

30:25.57
Kevin Bentley
Um, yeah.

30:26.90
vigorbranding
Um, you see it. You know as they try to clamor ahead and try to ah nip at the heels of some of the other players. Um, and another example is level up in Grubhub um, you know Grubhub has developed their online ordering system and it’s like that’s great, but you’re kind of screwing over everyone else.

30:40.35
Kevin Bentley
Yep.

30:45.39
vigorbranding
You know and I’ve had firsthand experience with that where we tried to integrate a proprietary online ordering system with level up for None ars banging our heads against the wall to where we finally said to the client. Let’s just finish the website and then circle back on this and so we did we circled back. We got on the call with the ah the level up team and the team literally said oh no, we would never let you integrate with us and we were like um I’m sorry we were talking to your developers for None ars about this and you’re telling me it was never possible anyway and they’re like yeah but here’s the good news. We have our own online ordering system.

31:18.20
Kevin Bentley
Yeah, yeah.

31:23.20
vigorbranding
And I’m like I’m like we just built one. Um, so you have to be really careful with the salespeople and you really need someone subject yourself. But for other people that are listening. You really got to have a tech minded person someone who understands all this integration to be able to ask the hard questions and see through the bs.

31:28.97
Kevin Bentley
Yep.

31:42.79
vigorbranding
Because salespeople have a lot of it. Um, you know and you can get into a lot of danger.

31:44.20
Kevin Bentley
Know age you you know sales people are going to promise you the world right? You want that we can do it. We can build it. It’s already there and then all of a sudden you sign a deal and it’s like a no we can’t we don’t have it and we’re not going to build it unless you want to use our platform.

31:49.79
vigorbranding
Yeah.

32:02.60
vigorbranding
Yep.

32:03.58
Kevin Bentley
And it’s like well that’s kind of the Ropa dope there and it doesn’t help the industry at the end of the day it doesn’t help the industry and the industry given at times we’re dealing with a myriad of problems right? Labor challenges rising cost of good cost. Ah.

32:06.71
vigorbranding
Right.

32:21.31
vigorbranding
Recession Yeah less we forget.

32:22.49
Kevin Bentley
Recession a pandemic and so all of these yeah, all these things really have accelerated technology but it hasn’t accelerated the openness and willingness to share like I thought it would.

32:36.81
vigorbranding
Yeah.

32:39.14
Kevin Bentley
You know, even among’s brands I talk to some of my counterparts all the time like hey you have the same challenge How you’re dealing with it. They’re like oh no I got to hold that close to the vest like I can’t implement your solution. We’re just talking about ways to solve this challenge and I might actually make your challenge your solution better by talking through it.

32:53.33
vigorbranding
That’s right.

32:57.69
Kevin Bentley
And vice versa and so we really have to come to a point where we we all work better together and in the end it’s only going to serve our operators and consumers better right? It’s not like someone’s going to eat him Mcdonald’s or Papa Johns or Papainnos or arby’s every day.

33:13.55
vigorbranding
There.

33:15.98
Kevin Bentley
They’re going to go to other places so we might as well keep them coming through a ah good experience across the industry.

33:23.51
vigorbranding
That’s right, Yeah, there’s too much. Ah fighting over share of mouth. You know nobody eats the same thing every day except for me I’m weird ate the same lunch and breakfast every day but that’s a part of my meal plan. That’s my business. Um, that’s right, nice. It’s beautiful, clean.

33:27.56
Kevin Bentley
Yep.

33:34.93
Kevin Bentley
That’s how you keep your skin nice and has nothing that has nothing to do with this Georgia humidity right? it’s.

33:40.41
vigorbranding
Ah, yeah, the walk out the front door and your sunglasses fog up humidity. It’s great. Um, so we talked a lot about what’s coming next. But what are you excited about? um when it comes to the to the technology. What’s on like on the horizon that that’s getting you.

33:47.80
Kevin Bentley
Ah.

33:58.56
vigorbranding
Ah, pretty pumped up right now.

33:58.90
Kevin Bentley
Yeah, it’s interesting I’m just excited for the technology industry as a whole as it as it relates to the restaurant space right? It is again a pandemic has really accelerated it curbside is. Awesome! You know you’re seeing 3 Pd we’re investing in our own website that still has our brand feel but it’s really next level to anything we’ve had in the past and you guys have been a great partner there and so I’m really excited about what’s next.

34:21.29
vigorbranding
You know.

34:30.52
Kevin Bentley
Right? You’re you’re seeing it in terms of like there’s robots making pizza Now there’s robots making fries I think white castle is doing burgers with the flippy The possibilities are endless and if we can continue to have roundtable discussions podcasts.

34:38.78
vigorbranding
E.

34:47.83
Kevin Bentley
These conferences where we go and express our challenges. Someone’s gonna find a solution to it and that’s the beauty of it. You don’t know what’s next right? Lunchbox came out of nowhere toast came out of nowhere a lot of these other P O S systems a lot of the Ai components.

34:57.80
vigorbranding
That’s right.

35:05.47
Kevin Bentley
And so I’m just excited about each day I wake up like oh what’s new in ah in the news. What can I read about the Taco Bell I think it’s in Minnesota the digital only. It’s oh my god who would have thought about that right? and so the pandemic has really put us in a place of acceleration.

35:06.56
vigorbranding
And.

35:13.89
vigorbranding
Double decker. Yeah.

35:24.78
Kevin Bentley
And again the possibilities are endless and we can make it even more endless if we actually continue to share our challenges together.

35:30.98
vigorbranding
I love it man I agree full full full on I mean talking together collaborating you said it early on in this conversation. A rising tide raises all ships and that’s really what it’s about and you know I think creating that brain trust is incredibly important. Um, so final question sometimes it’s the hardest 1 if you had None final meal to eat where would you eat? What would you eat and why.

35:54.89
Kevin Bentley
Who So I’m a I a I got to go back to my football roots I’m a meat and potatoes type guy. Sometimes it gets me in trouble put on you know I didn’t need I didn’t need covid to get the Covid fifteen. But um, yeah, but um, one of my favorite places to go is Del friscos.

36:07.17
vigorbranding
Yeah, yeah, you’re already working on it.

36:22.49
Kevin Bentley
I love the stake there at del friscos and um, it would probably either be a New York stip or a strip or the bone in ribeye.

36:32.25
vigorbranding
Okay, hey Kevin are you there I think I lost you.

38:02.81
vigorbranding
Me.

39:26.39
Kevin Bentley
Are.

39:37.23
vigorbranding
Um, waiting.

41:34.00
vigorbranding
Oh my God that was so dumb. Um, okay, no no I think God I Hope not no, it should still be there. Um.

41:36.66
Kevin Bentley
Um.

41:43.44
Kevin Bentley
Um, the you use your whole interview.

41:51.99
vigorbranding
Like you stop real. Well let me just end it real quick. You answered the question right.

41:56.20
Kevin Bentley
Yeah, did so I said you know I’m a meat and potatoes type guy I I didn’t need covid to gain to covid fifteen. But um, if I have 1 place to eat. It would probably be del friscos I love to stay there and it would probably be a New York strip or the bonehead rabbi eye.

42:13.10
vigorbranding
Yeah man Del Fresco’s is awesome. Maybe I’ll have to have them on the podcast next um well Kate Kevin thanks for ah, thanks for being on and apologies for the technological difficulties. It’s always wonderful when you’re talking to a Vp of tech and your tech fails.

42:14.50
Kevin Bentley
Just so flavorful. Yeah.

42:31.40
vigorbranding
Um, where can people find you? How can they connect with you.

42:32.78
Kevin Bentley
Um, yeah, so you can find me on Linkedin. Um, obviously just use my name or my email which is Kevin Bentley at http://mac.com I’m usually on Instagram as well if you want to just see what I’m up doing the day to day when I’m coaching some of my athletes snowboard in or with my family I do share from time to time. And that handle is k bitley 57 so it’s my none initial my last name and my Jersey number.

42:56.45
vigorbranding
I Love him man. Thanks for taking the time out I Really appreciate this.

42:59.87
Kevin Bentley
Hey thanks for having me you know, ah just real quick. You asked earlier about where do we think technology is headed if someone could figure out the internet and wi-fi it would be amazing. Ah.

43:06.75
vigorbranding
Um, yeah.

43:14.39
vigorbranding
That’s right and why it just outright fails sometimes who knows well I mean for those that don’t know about Atlanta you can’t really dig too deep here because of granite and what ends up happening is if a storm’s running through or a car hits a tree oftentimes it just rips up the lines and.

43:15.54
Kevin Bentley
Um, yeah.

43:31.87
vigorbranding
You lose internet. It’s really weird but we live with it for now again man. Thanks so much and we’ll talk real soon. Of course.

43:32.26
Kevin Bentley
Um, you know all right? Thanks for having me.