Welcome back everyone to another episode of Data Delicacies, where we bring the best and brightest in the industry to talk all things tech, all things hospitality, and all things data.
And today we have a very, very cool guest, someone I had the very, very amazing pleasure of working with at my time at Seven Chips, the one and only Mr. David Ganton, the VP of Partnerships at Seven Chips.Dave, thanks for joining.
Thanks for having me, Aaron.Pleasure to be here. Yeah, man, it's good.It's good to have another Canadian on the show.So, yeah, yeah, we're representing it up here north of the wall.
So, Dave, you know, want to kind of dive into the meat of this conversation here, something that we were lucky to work together on for quite some time. is the labor problem, right?
And, you know, the theme of this is how data helps tackle the labor problem.I know Seven Chips has been around for quite some time and, you know, has obviously expanded its offerings of what they have now.
But, you know, talk about the vision of what Seven Chips has been trying to do and how they've been trying to incorporate data to make it easy for restaurants to tackle probably the biggest problem we've seen over the last 10 years in this industry, which is labor.
Yeah, it's a good question.
And I've been here for about two years now in the context of this obviously stretches back even further than the time I was here, but I think it's almost important to start, you know, almost looking five years back and looking at the ebbs and flows that the restaurant industry has kind of gone into that time.
And I think it's, it's obviously no secret that restaurant operators have gone through an absolute rollercoaster over that time.And you look at, Lockdowns, restaurant closures, worker layoffs, they all became kind of a reality for the industry.
And I think during the lockdown, you had a lot of restaurant workers just realizing that, hey, that demanding fast-paced job, it's kind of taking a toll on me. It's taken a toll on me physically.It's taken a toll on me mentally as well.
And you had a lot of workers during that time sort of looking maybe for more stability and benefits like health insurance.And they turned to gig work and self-employment for more flexibility.
They got job training, maybe started a new career and got education accordingly.And I think those that returned to the industry, um,
Some of them left again, there's because of the pandemic area challenges, like shortages, reduced hours, lower tips, that sort of stuff.And so I think in like a macroeconomic sense, this creates kind of a massive gap between supply and demand.
And that's really sort of materialized over the last five years.And we see this in the numbers that NRA has published.And it's something like 62% of operators say they can't staff up to meet their demand right now.There's another one, it's like 80%
say that they have a hard time filling positions.And I think a whopping 98% of operators have seen increased labor costs when they're trying to attract and retain employees.
And so I think kind of like within this whole context, we see a huge strain on one of the most important prime costs that operators face, and that is your labor costs.And that's the challenge here, right?And it's unfortunately rising.
And so solving for this issue has some tangible benefits.I'm going to get enhanced operational efficiency.If I tackle this, I'm going to get a reduction in waste.
If I tackle this, I'm going to get improved customer experience and better bottom line improvements.And this, I think, is where, and we believe here at Seven Chips, this is where data can really help.And I think this is where
you have savvy operators kind of regardless of their size or location or the store concept, they realize that they can use data to more efficiently manage their labor.
And so, you know, I think a few examples come to mind and one of them, and this is sort of obviously near and dear to us at Seven Shifts is just scheduling your labor appropriately based off sales forecasts.And it's such an obvious one, right?
But instead of saying like, Thursday nights are my busy night because we have half off wings and we have hockey on, right?Instead, you're looking at actual data.You're looking at sales forecasts and historical sales data.
And you are more intelligently scheduling the right amount of labor at the exact right time periods.And by analyzing all that, you're able to make those micro adjustments along the way as well.And if you overschedule,
That means your labor cost percentage goes way out of whack.And underscheduling probably means that you have a pretty subpar customer experience at that point.
So you can get really, really super granular on this stuff, see which labors or see which hours need more labor and make real time decisions on the fly.So I think that's one thing. I think the other is just like utilizing labor reports.
And again, a big thing for us at Seven Shifts, because there's a huge amount of data out there.And so, for example, I can see things like overtime pay.That costs a ton of money for operators today.
And so when we think about overtime, that can quickly eat away at your labour budget as well.And a labour report using data, of course, can easily call this up for you and allow you to make corrections.
And again, that labour report should tell the operator, I'm overstaffed, I'm understaffed certain times of day, even specific departments and which ones might need improvements. And then I think maybe just the third area to sort of hit on with data.
And again, this is one that we sort of live and breathe in our customer journey.Seven shifts is just around retention, right?It costs a lot to attract employees.It costs a lot if I need to rehire somebody who's not happy.
And so can I use data to understand, are my workers happy?Are they engaged?Can I retain them?
And I think, you know, there's a stat that says that, I don't know, I think it's restaurant workers stay on average of 110 days or so on a job before they switch, right?But that replacing them costs me probably over 5K or so.
If I can keep them happy and if I can keep them engaged and make them stick around longer, they're going to improve every single metric across the board for me there, because people are the ultimate sort of contributor or variable to success.And so,
Data can help me.And so the plug for seven shifts I'll say there is if you use the right tool, I should be able to see data.Like who's engaged, who's on time, who's late, who's dropping shifts, who's picking up shifts, who's switching things.
What sort of shift feedback are they leaving?And ultimately I should be able to look at this data and the trending of it over time and be like, are these people happy? Are they engaged?Are they disengaged?Are they likely to leave?
Is this going to cost me $5,000 to replace this person at the end of the day?And just having that data on hand just allows me to make some really, really valuable decisions and get in front of those before they ultimately become problems.
Yeah.No, I mean, it's almost like déjà vu listening to all this stuff, right?You're living in that world that's happened just for quite some time.And I think you hit the nail on the head.
And, you know, this concept of, I think even, you know, I mean, the pandemic obviously was a pivot for a lot of people in terms of incorporating tech.
And, you know, we know that hospitality has been a little bit of a laggard when it comes to adopting tech. you know, for obvious reasons, right?It's the margins are super thin, so it's tough for them to make those bets on tech and go.
And they were able to kind of operate the way they were.
And, you know, seeing that, and especially on our side too, where it's kind of very much like front of house technology, customer facing loyalty, where now they can use, you know, data to pinpoint marketing rather than just, hey, throw stuff at the wall and see what happens.
You know, what I wanted to get your sense of is, you know,
do you best message that or get folks to adopt that mentality of using data where, especially a lot of SMB folks are, again, they're great chefs, they kind of run the kitchen, but when it comes to the business side of it, it's sometimes maybe a little bit overwhelming.
I think there's an overwhelming sense of tech and platforms out there probably call them every single day, right?And everyone's claiming data, everyone's claiming AI, and everyone's claiming this and that.
How do you really simplify that message down to operators to show them, obviously the value is there, but to get them to buy in and kind of like, you know, with all the noise that's going on, show them that like, hey, data is truly going to help you with your labor problem.
Yeah, it's a great question.Like, obviously, partners play a huge role in helping us tell that story as kind of a trusted advisor.
But one of the things that we've really been doing is teaming up with other partners of ours as well, and telling the story around kind of prime cost management, right?
And when you talk to operators, their two biggest pain points are the cost of food and the cost of my labor, and those are rising, right?
So if you take the, you know, show don't tell approach and be like, hey, let me show you how you can save money on the food side of things.Let me show you how you can save money on the labor side of things.
You know, those are two pain points that resonate with every operator that we talk to and just getting in front of them, getting in front of them. at shows.
We've been running workshops actually in the US on prime cost management with some of our partners to say like, we know these are the two biggest pain points.We've listened to you and let us show you.
Let's actually take, you know, the seven shifts hat off and just educate at this point to be like, there are solutions out there that can help you with these very specific things.Not a sales pitch, but an educational thing right now.
And I think operators just appreciate the non-salesy approach of just being like, help me, right?Help me solve these real challenges.
Yeah.And I think that, you know, I think that's a big gap from what I see.Right.I mean, you know, you partner with a lot of different folks and you probably chat with a lot of other partners in the industry.
But I think just tech in general, you know, us on the vendor side, we don't always do the best job of educating our customers, right?Like we know the platform inside and out.Sure.Maybe drink the Kool-Aid a little bit, maybe.Right.
But at the end of the day, if you look at it from a restaurant's perspective, you know, they have, I mean, million people reaching out to them on a given day on different stuff, right?
You know, their suppliers, their hardware, and then on the tech side.
But then I think the big gap, and this is what, you know, even talking to a lot of operators on the show, they say like, hey, for a lot of, and a lot of times they don't even know what these platforms do, right?
Everyone's claiming AI, everyone's claiming ML, everyone's claiming all this stuff. but they don't really know, okay, well, what does the platform actually do?
And I think that's what, you know, I know this from the seven-chip side where you do a really good job of educating folks.So they understand it just as well as you do.
And I think that helps because I know that a lot of the folks on the seven-chip side come from restaurants, they can speak that language and truly resonate again and speak the language of what these folks are asking for.
But I think, you know, it's a gap, I think, especially with platforms have become more and more complex, is that that bridging of education of exactly what the platform does and what's it actually solving or what's the pain that it's solving, right?
Is it just there to, you know, I mean, you know, going to these shows, you go to NRA goes different show.I almost say that, like, if you take all the logos or brands names off the You wouldn't be able to tell what a lot of these companies do.
You couldn't tell them apart because a lot of them are saying the same thing.Oh, data, AI, ML, this, that leverage, this leverage that.Right.So, but kudos to y'all for, for educating.
Cause I think what I've heard just from everyone is that that's a huge gap today in the market.Totally. Um, what I mean, you, you, you kind of segwayed into this, and I'm glad that you did is this, this, this chat of partnerships, right.
And, um, I want to quickly kind of pivot the topic there, you know, and I had the privilege of, of working with you.
And, you know, I think you're one of the best partnership leaders in this industry and you bring a really cool kind of like ethos to what partnerships can be.
And I know we've both fought our respective fights in different orgs about, you know, the importance of partnerships and we see, because we live in it,
And, you know, it's something that is, is I think a different, I always love to chat with partners related to different companies, just to understand what they're going through.And for a lot of it, we kind of all go through the same thing.
I can probably start an AA group for all of us, but, you know, I think it's that, it's that narrative of us just being a lead gen, a lead gen center or a cost center for, for, you know, events and marketing.But in terms of, you know,
I want to talk about the importance that you think partnerships bring to the table and how that narrative should be flipped in terms of what partnerships can be in the table and the influence it can generate that can't always be tangibly measured.
Yeah, it's a good question, Arun.
And, you know, maybe I'll take a step back and just, you know, just talk about the team, what we're focused on, but where we're trying to kind of, to your point, sort of change the narrative there around what partnerships is.
We are today a team of eight.So I have seven folks on the team, amazing humans, just, you know, mission driven, um, just highly adaptable to varying situations, very creative.They give 110% every day.It's amazing.
Uh, and I feel really, really fortunate.To lead this team.And I'm in awe of just what they accomplish every day in the good times and the tough times as well.So partnerships, we are primarily a referral engine, right?We.
We're primarily measured on the amount of high quality leads that we drive into sales and PLG product-led growth. And we measure that in terms of PQLs, or Partner Qualified Leads.
A Partner Qualified Lead on the sales side is something for which a demo gets booked.And a Partner Qualified Lead on the PLG side means somebody just started a trial.And so, like any business, there are ebbs and flows in that, right?
And it depends on, there's a variety of factors that could get in our way, despite our best efforts of sort of forecasting and modeling.
There could be, you know, we talked about macroeconomic conditions a little bit ago and there's partner priorities and those change all the time.We may not be privy to understanding what those changes are like.
And there's just the speed of getting new partners onboarded and ramped and operational that takes time, sometimes misunderstood.So we obviously try our best to produce consistently despite all these variables, but it's a challenge.
This is where I think to your point, shifting the narrative from being simply a lead generation machine is really important.I don't want to say that of course we generate leads.
We generate leads and a bunch of them turn into sales opportunities and a bunch of those close and a bunch of those turn into revenue and hopefully a bunch of those turn into happy customers.
We have methodology and data figured out to how to drive the right behaviors and track the numbers and make adjustments as needed.
But outside of this, there's a whole bunch of sort of tangible and sometimes not number driven or not trackable things that we do that impact various positive outcomes for the organization beyond leads and MRR.
And this is, you know, these are sort of those nodes of partner influence that I think partnership professionals need to do a better job telling the story about.And so, you know, a few that come to mind for me are
You know, let's think about like mid-market accounts, for example.There's a ton of collaboration that happens between partners on a mid-market account.It could be responding to an RFP together.
It could be leveraging a partner's existing relationships to reach the right stakeholder there.Does it, you know, it could be expanding the size of the deal.It could be bringing it in sooner because again, those nodes of influence.
And did that necessarily originate from a partner lead? Usually not.But are partners playing a major, major role in helping us secure some of these larger brands?Absolutely.
And I think some of the other things that we start to look at too are all the expansion revenue opportunities that happen.A partner might identify a lead It's partner attributable to bring it in for a single location.And that's great.
It's usually like 99% of the leads that we have come in is to solve a very specific scheduling need, for example.We should talk about seven shifts story a little bit later on too.But
And we do our best to close that customer, you know, as an organization, solve that specific initial problem.
But later on, we can utilize those same partners to, again, provide influence on the other products that we have that solve other challenges for people.And it could be something like tasks.It could be something like tips.
It could be something like payroll layering on.And those aren't new leads coming in. But our partners are providing influence through the trust that they have with that customer to say, I can help you solve this new specific challenge now.Yeah.
A partner can help do this stuff.Right.And there's all sorts of other things we can dive into as well.Like, you know, pulse on the product or market or churn risk and customer escalations.
Like we deal with that stuff all the time as partner professionals.Guess what?If a customer is not happy, sometimes they'll call into seven shifts and say, Hey, I want you to deal with this thing.
Sometimes they'll go back to their partner and say, Hey, that thing that you told me to buy, I'm having problems with it right now.And guess who hears about it, right?
It's the partnerships, people that are helping to stick handle that, not just for the customer, but for the overall relationships that hopefully we can extract value from that partnership later on.
And so there's a lot of other things that we do in the background that I think are sometimes misunderstood, maybe not even fully appreciated throughout the organization as well.
So I think what you really encapsulated really well, and another piece I think that it's hard to give a tangible value on, but it's the brand presence that partnerships has, right?
So, you know, partnerships will tend to be your face at shows, in front of partners.I mean, they do a lot of external facing stuff.And I mean, I remember my time at Seven Shoes where it was like,
it was almost like a few people would represent Seven Chips.Like, oh my God, like Taylor at Seven Chips, like Hannah at Seven Chips.Yeah, I love them because, you know, and that piece of it is so important too, right?Like your brand presence.
And, you know, I think some of my proudest moments at Seven Chips is when we're at these shows and to have customers just come to the booth and just shout out how great the people are.
A lot of that stemmed from the work that Partnerships did to have that external presence and build that brand, which is, again, that's who people want to work with.
People want to work with people they like, especially in an industry where there is so much noise and there's so much saturation across all the different
you know, parts of the tech stack, to have that stand out, I think that's always been something that, you know, so it's just been unbelievable about it.I think a lot of that is also, you know, partnerships has kind of led that charge.
And some of the other things that, you know, I know, Min, you worked on is just, you know, being the spear to test out so many different things, right?You want to test out a potential embedded or white label partnership?
Do you want to look at international expansion, right?Like, yeah, hey, I have a partner that can help us.They're already there.I think there's a lot of things from, you know, just you could talk about cost of acquisition too.
It's typically your lowest cost of acquisition, your highest stickiness, your better chance to close, all these different data and metrics.Just going back to the data conversation,
And so a couple of things I wanted to just take from here is, first, you're obviously one of the best when it comes to partnerships.What was your journey to get to where you are from a partnership perspective?And think about things the way you do.
You worked at a couple of big companies before this one, Password.And then the kind of second piece of that is,
you know, what can we do better as partnership leaders, whether it's through conversations like this or better, better unmasking of the data around partnerships to, to, again, one, create a career path for all people that want to get into this, because I know there's a lot of interest.
I'm sure you have conversations with people, but to also show a lot of these organizations the importance that partners can bring to the table at a very early stage, right?
Not something that just comes on later, but part of the core leadership structure of a company as they grow.
Cool.A lot in there.So like double click on any areas if like I forgot to answer a specific part of it, but like all really good points that I do want to talk about.So maybe the first part is I'll take a step back just on sort of my journey.
And it's been, I mean, most people don't leave. school, university, college, wherever you go and like jump into partnerships, right?But oddly enough, I kind of did, which is, which is a really unusual path to take.
Normally you're, you know, you're in sales or product or you're a BDR, support, or you have some sort of thing.And I jumped right into a company called Research in Motion back in the day.
So BlackBerry channel sales right from day one out of university, and really cut my teeth in that.And those were the days when like BlackBerry was cool.BlackBerry was unstoppable.Everybody had one on their hip, right?
like Obama is bringing his into the White House and Oprah's slinging them out to her audience like you got one you got one and no business use was ubiquitous everybody wanted it and it's you know, there's a major rise and fall while I was there.
And I think as a young professional in partner stuff, in channel stuff, you learn a lot during the rise and fall of a big major company like that.You learn what to do and you try to repeat those things throughout your career.
And most importantly, you learn what not to do and avoid those things later on in your career.So I spent seven years there, which seems like an eternity in sort of the world of tech these days, right?
But went from there to places like LG, managing handset businesses, jumped into software for a while, a company called AirWatch, which is doing mobile device management.We got acquired by VMware.
So I, you know, I was one of 30, 40,000 people, but doing some really, really cool stuff with with telcos here in Canada and the US. Um, got my first stint building a program from scratch, um, into a company called my vision.
And we did kind of traffic detection and management to better optimize the flow of traffic through cities and make it safer for people.And was able to build that program from scratch to sort of where it is today.Spent a few years there.
Went to one password and did the same thing and built up the partnership side, uh, on the go-to-market team.Uh, again, from scratch, spent a year and a half there. Um, and then just got attracted over to seven shifts here.
And it was something, a completely different challenge of, it wasn't building something from scratch because you guys had a really fantastic program and partnership.
It was just, uh, it was just more about focus and optimization, driving greater efficiencies, reworking ourselves a little bit, you know, to maybe better approach some of the challenges that we had ahead.Um,
But I look back and like, look, I'm in my early forties and I've spent like almost 20 years of this stuff.Right.And it's fun.And I've been fortunate to, I think, work for some great companies, some great leaders.
I've made a ton of mistakes, but I'm a big believer.And I tell my kids this all the time, too, like you either win or you learn.All right.There's no lose in this stuff.
And I think it's a really, really important thing just for us, even as partnership leaders and people on our teams that there are going to be obstacles, there are going to be mistakes made along the way.
And you take each of those as a learning opportunity, you pivot, you grow, you do different things.And so I think as you know, like, partnerships is passion for me, I think it's a passion for you.
And you get to, you know, do some cool stuff, build some high performing teams, build some new programs that do really, really cool things that tackle interesting problems that consumers and customers have.
And it's led me to led me to where I am today.And on this podcast with great humans like you.
Yeah.And I appreciate it, man.
And you know, it's, it's the one thing I tell folks, uh, and again, I, you know, I, I started my career in, in sales and all the way through enterprise sales, but with the flair of partnerships and then kind of like fully pivoted into it.
But the one thing with partnerships, you don't always have that like big glory. rah, rah, like you do in sales with a sense of like, a lot of the work can be thankless, right?
Because of, because of where in the funnel you're, you're bringing some stuff in, or you're working in the very early stages of the partnership, but then typically what gets celebrated, the leads that close and whatever.
So, you know, I, I tell folks that where it can be, it's a lot of work, a lot of stuff you do behind the scenes, but in a lot of cases it can go unseen because a lot of it's just like gritty stuff that you just have to do, like putting out fires and,
you know working through these like massive contracts and commercial agreements and managing an integration front through back right and you know and everyone's like okay when's integration gonna be live and when's this thing gonna be live when the deal's coming in but there's so much that has to happen that's like just the tip of the iceberg but I think that's um
And I'm learning this day by day to all the different things that can go into it and changes based on each partner.But I think what that that's also what excites me is that every partnership you create is so unique and so different.
And you have to put that you really have to put your brain to it and find a creative way to make that thing mutually beneficial.
Cause otherwise, you know, I think especially now where you're starting to see more partnership programs, the last thing you want is a cookie cutter partnership program, right?It's how can you go a level deeper?Okay.
It was like, Hey, we're, we're integrated, but like, how can we take this level deeper as opposed to just like passing each other leads and how can we do this and how can we do that?
I think that's the cool part of like solving that, you know, ever evolving Rubik's cube, which, which I think makes it super exciting for me.
Yeah.And I think. You hit the nail on the head that things are ever changing.We need to have a different lens and focus on these things.
And when I think about how we do partnerships at Seven Shifts, and this is how partnership leaders I think need to truly think, is that you're thinking about other people's outcomes before your own.And it's that concept of eating last.
And so if you start with the customer, and work outwards to your partner's objectives, and finally then your own, you prioritize things in the right way.
And so we need to do a really good job of telling a story to customers to provide an excellent customer outcome.Every partnership has to start there.If it doesn't start there, it's going to fail.
And then you work backwards and you're like okay partner, how can I incentivize and take care of you to tell me tell this story to help your customers solve this specific problem and solve those pain points, you know when you white glove all those early engagements and provide constant communication you support that.
And it's only then can then you say, okay, if I've done those two things correctly, the third one should be easy.I should get business.I should get leads.I should get referrals.I should get MRR.
But if I don't take care of the customer first and then my partner, I won't win.And we always, and I think sometimes people look at it in the reverse way where they're like, I need more leads.Where are my leads?And they put their hands out.
No, you can't think of it that way, right?And we have to eat last. in this entire thing.And I think it's something that we need to train organizations on as well.Yeah.Hey, let's think about customer outcomes.
And let's think about taking care of our partners and bringing them business and making their lives easier.And only when we do those two things.Yes.
Yeah, I agree.Sometimes one thing over them can be 10 fold back to you.Right.But I think it's that sense of, there's a lot of gimme, gimme, gimme going on.Right.Versus like the reciprocity piece.
Um, cause again, there's only so many times you can share your client list out.Right.And then you don't want to get to a point where you're like your clients.Okay.
Well, why the hell is eight different people claiming your partners are reaching out and
being very, I think, guarded from that sense, but at the same time being very strategic about what can you offer today to a client in a one plus one equals three fashion versus just like, hey, we have logo soup on our website and we're partnering with everybody.
But like, you know, it's one thing to have An agreement, like an agreement to me doesn't mean a partnership, right?It's two different things.A partnership is truly like, hey, can I rely on this person when a fire goes out?
Or, hey, if we're, you know, we're truly trying to solve something together.I think that's what we've seen have been some of our best ones. So you talked about this very briefly, but I want to shift to a more broader industry conversation here.
We're seeing consolidation happen now in the industry.I think a lot of people called for it to come this year.And I think over the next couple of years, we're going to see a lot more of it happen now with capital markets.
I mean, the valuations being given out aren't nearly as high as they used to be.Capital markets are a little bit more hesitant to dive into the restaurant industry like they used to be.
So, you know, consolidation within the industry is happening, or it's private equity coming in.From a partnerships lens, that can be challenging, right?Because you may have spent all this time partnering with someone,
and they get gobbled up by somebody else or they gobble up a competitor, which I know some just have been through.We've been through that here.
You know, how do you I mean, there's no clear answer to this, but I'd love to get your mindset of like, how do you kind of continuously stay ahead of that and keep you on the ground and navigate through, you know, an industry that's going through a lot of change?
Yeah, um, yeah, you're right.There's a ton of consolidation happening, right?And we look at the toasts and the R365s of the world and the requiring customers and companies and really taking that all-in-one approach.And I think
Sure, all in one has its benefits and it's convenient and there's one vendor bill and if there's an issue there's one person to yell at and you know if things work well together and you know maybe I should use air quotes on that, then it could be a good experience but I also think.
you know, and this is what we talk about a little bit is there's downsides to sort of an all-in-one consolidated approach.And like, do I actually need everything that this platform offers?
Does each component actually meet and solve my operational challenges?Are these best-in-class components or are they just kind of throw-ins?And so despite all this consolidation, we play Switzerland.
We work with everyone and we believe we've done correctly if good relationships, tight integrations, that we shift the narrative really from all in one to all the best, right?And that's what we tend to focus on a lot with partners and with customers.
And we believe that that better solves the needs for most operators.Now, I don't want to get misquoted or misconstrued to saying I'm against the all-in-one concept.I think it has its merits, but I don't think everything needs to be
like consolidated around a point of sale.And so I think what you're going to start to see over time with consolidation just in the industry is you'll start to see specific clusters or groups of technology that focus on one specific aspect.
of restaurant management, as opposed to a broad all-in-one, here are specific nodes or clusters of all-in-ones.
And I think these will be tightly integrated to work with each other, these clusters, to provide the operators the best-in-class experience, but let them pick and choose, quote-unquote, the clusters, if you will, that kind of make most sense for them.
And I think you'll see the natural, there's a point of sale side, and it's my hardware, and my payment processing, and my invoices, and my menu management, my reporting.
really core operational components, just for like the commercial side of operating.
And I think you'll see a customer side cluster, right, of consolidation, like, you know, ordering and website, guest management, gift cards, loyalty, all those things, right.
And, you know, giving that focus on a very specific set of humans, your customers, a hopefully an optimized and bespoke experience.
I think you'll see like a staff side one and scheduling and training and tips and payroll and making sure a different set of humans is really, really happy and optimized.And that's your staff, right?
And again, it's all in one, but hyper focused on just your people.I think you'll see like maybe a back of house one and there's KDS and inventory management, recipe management, just overall kind of profit management stuff.
And sure, could somebody do all of these things?Yeah, some do, some try.But I think just giving operators kind of the best of breed across these is sort of the better approach that we tend to focus on with partners, customers, all that.
Yeah.Yeah.And, uh, you know, I mean, you know, it's, that's another topic, uh, in the industry today, right.It's this whole concept of like best for breed versus all in one.
And, you know, uh, you know, we're starting to see a lot of the point of sales kind of like either acquire or build and, and offer a lot of that stuff themselves.And then it gets to a certain point where they partner with others and,
I think that dynamic is always changing and it's very fluid but you know it's interesting to see how all that's happening and some of the folks that
know some of the players in our space that have never partnered before all of a sudden opening up their endpoints and saying hey now we need to partner and it's interesting to see that dynamic change.
You know just again another broader industry kind of question for you here.You know obviously you partner with a lot of different folks and you know you're to the ground as to kind of what's going on.What are some of the you know
new players or new tech that you're seeing that really excites you.So just like taking a very broad step back here, what's the stuff that you think is going to be big in the restaurant industry from a tech perspective over the next couple of years?
Yeah.And so I don't, I'm not going to cherry pick some of our partners over others.And we're obviously working with a ton of point of sale vendors, payroll vendors, you know, recipe, inventory management, back of house stuff right now.
I think that the one sort of commonality piece that I'll call out is everybody's talking about AI a lot, right.And it's, it's super buzzy and everybody wants to know how it's being applied in the restaurant industry.
And everybody wants to know how we're applying it and how other vendors are applying and how we're working together in that.And,
You know, I'm not an AI guru by any means, and probably need to get a little bit more versed in it, but just from a tech potential standpoint, it's a huge standout for what we're seeing and what customers and partners are constantly asking us about, like, what are you guys doing around AI?
I think AI and the thing that gets me a bit excited, and again, not pointing out specific partners, but generalities, is thinking about personalized guest experiences, for example.Thinking about things like voice ordering and optimization.
Thinking about things like automating marketing content, for example, and content creation.
You know, and even the things like kind of back house around being able to look at things like optimizing your inventory and your purchasing systems with your point of sale and utilizing AI to do that right so I think that's the stuff that's super buzzy but kind of cool at the same time.
And I think it's the things that probably excite us the most just as just as humans right now but like how is AI going to better myself, how is AI going to better my job, and how is AI going to, you know, better my operations within a restaurant.
So we're using, you know, we use AI to a certain extent, we're kind of LLMs, I guess, what does that stand for again?Large Learning Models, Language Models.
But we used to kind of perfect schedules and optimize labor and just, you know, using advanced AI to create the schedules, demand forecasts, make sure that we have the right staffing for a role and that we're kind of building
and automating the schedule creation based on a whole bunch of different factors, you know, labor costs and time off and availability and overtime, labor compliance and all those other things.
So we are utilizing it right now, but we get asked about that a lot.And I think just looking at the space overall, there's a lot of exciting things that people work in this space.
Yeah, man, it's, you know, it's so cool to see how it's become like a household thing, right?I think back in the day, you think about AI, you know, like first thing, like, oh, well, Terminator, Skynet, right?
And it's like, it was always like shown as like cool stuff that ended up in like doom and gloom.
But it's so cool to see the, you know, the everyday applications now and how it's helping everyone, whether you're a single location, all the way to these biggest brands, the way they're using this stuff is really cool.
And then even just in our own personal lives right now, you know, chat GPT. I feel like 18 months ago, people would be like, huh, what's that?I don't even know what that is to now.It's like a household name.
It's like, you know, the way you say Google, you say chat GPT, uh, and speak incorporate and all those different things that we do.So I think it's, uh, it's exciting.And I'm, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm very.
Curious to see how it's going to shape, not only just the hospitality industry, but other industries in our own personal lives.
Um, but more importantly, how it's going to be used to help a lot of folks just be more efficient and do a lot of cool stuff with the data that they have in the tech that they have.
Um, I think that's where a lot of the stuff is going to come into play and I think it's, it's going to be a. it's happening faster and faster than we think, right?
Like a year ago, think about a year ago to now, and a year from now, five years from now, right?Like it's gonna be, it's gonna change super, super fast, so.Dave, I wanna thank you again for jumping on.
You shared a lot of really cool stuff, and I feel like we spent a ton of time on the road and chatting.
There's so much more we could chat through, but I think when it comes to the theme of data and how you guys at Seven Chips are really helping solve that labor problem, which again, I was proud to say I was a part of for some time.
And it's amazing the stuff that you're doing and the people you have there and the team that you've built.And to talk about partnerships, kind of that ethos that you had and all the stuff you've taught me, I'll forever be grateful for.
I know the team loves you there.So you guys are doing awesome things.And again, just want to thank you for jumping on. Yeah, thanks for having me.This was fun.Yeah.So before we wrap up, what I do is a quick lightning round.
So just to get the folks to know you a little bit better.I know you obviously, but I know what some of these answers could be.But again, who knows?Let's test you here and see.So first thing, what's your current favorite cocktail of choice?
Ooh, I should probably say espresso martini.Shouldn't I?No, no, you got a good answer.It's a good answer.I'm not going to pander to my host.Um, you know, I just love a good gin and tonic right now.
I know it sounds basic, but like if I let actually, you know what, let's think about a burger for a second.A good burger means you got to have two good components, right?I've got to have a good Patty and a good bun.
Otherwise it's not a good experience with that burger.And to me, it's the same with the GNT.So like, I'm going to throw in, we have a great local one called Dunrobin.
which does like an Earl Grey gin, or a botanist is a nice generally available one as well.But you pair that with a good tonic like Fever Tree, throw a little cucumber on there.I'm easy peasy.
Yeah.Canada actually makes, I think specifically Ontario, we make a lot of our own really good gin here.
Yeah, there's a lot of great craft distilleries out there.
Yeah, yeah.And it's ironic enough, I don't I'm not a huge fan of gin.I want to start getting into it.And it's like right in our backyard.All this stuff I like is like made elsewhere and it's like super hard to find, but that's a different story.
So, uh, you're, you're based out of Ottawa.What's your favorite restaurant in the city of Ottawa and your favorite dish at that restaurant?
Oh, a tough one.Um, well, Little known fact, we are the shawarma capital of Canada.Don't know if you know that.Huge Lebanese population.
So just like if I'm looking for quick eats, like Mr. Shawarma around the corner from us, know those guys really, really well.They do a great shawarma.I love them.
If I'm looking for something like longer, nice sit down, we have some good Italian joints out here, Pocopazzo, big shout out to them.Just every pasta is amazing.Their arancini is amazing.
There's another cool spot called Next here as well in Stittsville.Chef Blacky does a great job there, like just pork bowl buns, ribeye tartare, just anyway, the flavours are just incredible there too.
Love it.So if anyone finds themselves in Canada's capital, which I'm sure a lot of folks on this pod listening don't know that Ottawa is the nation's capital.Most folks just assume it's Toronto.We live in the capital?
What?I thought it was Toronto.
Yeah, yeah.You got some good recommendations there.
So last kind of question here is, you know, for someone that's looking to get into the world of partnerships, right, doesn't, I mean, you know, first foray into it, what's advice that you would give them?
Or another way of asking this is what advice would you give yourself as you were first getting into this world of partnerships?
Yeah, it's, that's a really good question I think there's no there's no classic training or playbook or anything for partnerships right I think it has.
I think having a good grounding in sales in some way, shape or form helps you in terms of how to talk to people, how to solve problems, how to solve challenges, how to understand the product, how to sort of just think on your feet a little bit as well.
And so I think having a grounding just in a medium like sales and being good at working on customer outcomes is just a hugely beneficial thing.I wish going back that I'd had more direct sales experience heading into partnerships.
Cause I think it would have made me a better and more well-rounded partnerships leader.
Uh, I didn't, it went right into channel sales right away, but, uh, I think if I was to look back, I would have preferred to have taken a few more years to, to understand that side of the business a bit more.
Yeah, no, I love it, man.And one last thing I'd love for you to share, which I think is, you know, amongst many things that you've taught me and helped, you know, with my career, is this concept of the art and the science, right?
Which is something I use all the time, but I always make sure I shout you out when I say it.
You know, I'd love for you to just talk about that concept, because I think it's very important for people to understand, especially in the partnerships world, but I think in general, right?
But especially when it comes to partnerships, this concept of the art and the science, I'd love for you to just speak on that really quickly, because I think it really paints a good picture of what you need to be a successful partnership professional.
Yeah, I love the art and the science conversation and I, you know, the, the art is really the relationship side of things right and it's about.
And like art, you can't measure art in terms of numbers and so it's things like building trust and building credibility and empathy and curiosity, and it's no different than a regular. human relationship at the end of the day, it takes time.
And I think it's important for us when we think about the art side is that partnerships are not actually built between companies, they're built between the people at those companies.And it's the art side of things that gets that moving.
It's the art relationship side.And you contrast that with the science side, which is hugely important too.And it's
the data and it's the ROI, it's being able to show a really tangible outcome on outputs like revenue and being able to show the relevant inputs like leads and activities that sort of generate those leads and it's being able to measure the overall effectiveness of a program like CAC and LTV and sales efficiency and relative efficiency of partner channels versus traditional inbound.
And so I think it's important, though, for people to understand that the science part doesn't happen without the art part first.And you need the art part to lead to the science.
And even when you get to the science part, there needs to be that harmonious balance between one cannot exist without the other.And I think Unfortunately, a lot of people think, oh, we have a partnership now, where are the outputs?
And it's like, that takes time because we haven't done the full journey of the art side of things to get to that science aspect yet.So understanding both sides is super, super relevant.
Yeah.I mean, amazing, amazing wisdom there.And we'll make sure to get a snippet of that and share that out because I think that's super, super important.And it's funny, when you were saying that, I also think about that
Just if you take a step back and you can kind of apply that across the industry to write like our platforms are the science right we're providing folks with data and dashboards and all this stuff, but ultimately the art.
of the operators is to take that and do something with it.
So you have to have the right culture, you have to have the right people in place to then apply all this data in a way that helps reduce your labor costs, helps you make it more efficient, helps you, you know, whatever problem you're trying to solve, there's a good mix of both of that.
And I think sometimes there's too much of a reliance to say like, hey, well, this platform told me it's going to do X, Y, and Z. It's like, it's going to give you kind of the tools and the data
but it's on you to apply that art piece and then apply it in a way that is going to be relevant to your business.So, Dave, I can't thank you enough for joining.
For folks that want to get in touch with you to chat, pick your brain on partnerships, seven shifts, whatever that is, what's the best way for them to reach out to you?
Yeah.Find me on LinkedIn.Send me an email.Dave.Ganton at seven shifts dot com or Dave Ganton at Gmail.There's the personal one.But yeah, hit me up anytime.And I think it's important
Um, to continue to tell the story about partnerships, how people can get into it, how to build things correctly, how to measure things correctly and look at it correctly too.
So happy to help anybody that's interested, looking to build something, looking to advance something.Um, I think it's imperative that all of us help the next generation of partnership leaders get to that point.
Yeah. Oh, man, Dave, pleasure as always.We're due for a good catch up and, you know, some espresso martinis, of course, when you're back in the city.
But again, this was Dave Ganton, VP of partnerships from Seven Chefs, sharing a lot of great, great insights on, I guess, two major topics here.
One was, you know, how data is helping to tackle the labor problem, which is something we've seen increase like crazy since the pandemic.But even before that, you know, it's going to be continuously going to be a challenge over the next few years.
And the second piece is just this world of partnerships, right?And how, you know, there's an art and a science, there's a big data aspect of it.
There's also an art as to how you present that and how you spread that across an organization and help, you know, connect the dots to help grow the business.So Dave, thanks again for joining on.This is another episode of Data Delicacies.
I'm your host Arun.This is powered by Instantivio. If you want to check out our episodes, go to our YouTube channel at Incentivio to check out all the amazing guests we've had on.If you're interested in being a guest, reach out to me directly.
We do have some spots available.Otherwise, you can find me on LinkedIn.Reach out to me at arunaincentivio.com.Always love to chat all things industry, all things tech.Or you can see me on the road, probably having a special martini.
So until next time, peace.Thanks, man.
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