This episode of Little Raps dives into the books worth gifting to the restaurant leaders, entrepreneurs, and operators in your life. I unpack the titles that have inspired me, challenged my thinking, and strengthened how I approach brand, leadership, and growth.

You’ll hear my take on powerful works from friends and industry pros including David Feldman, Peter Lazar, Chip Klose, and Jason Brooks, along with insights behind my own books, The Bullhearted Brand and Mass Behaving.

If you want to fuel someone’s leadership journey with ideas that actually change how they show up, this list will get the job done. Tune in, take notes, and share the titles that shaped your year.

Restaurant leaders love to borrow moves from the big dogs. It feels safe. It feels validated. It also sends far too many brands straight into bad decisions. In this episode, Joseph breaks down how survivorship bias and confirmation bias collide to push operators into tech stacks, marketing programs, and partnerships they cannot sustain.

You will learn how to evaluate decisions from your own operational reality, how to avoid chasing “best in class” solutions that don’t fit your brand, and how to build a decision making process rooted in clarity instead of imitation.

If you’re navigating tech choices, evaluating partners, or pushing growth with a lean team, this episode will save you money, time, and regret.

Follow, share, and rate the show on Spotify to help more restaurant leaders make smarter decisions.

In this episode of Little Raps, Joseph shares insights from his talk at Branders Fest in New York City—where he unpacked why so many restaurant digital experiences fall flat and how to fix them. He breaks down seven essentials every brand should evaluate to drive more revenue, stronger loyalty, and happier guests. From site speed to seamless integration, this is your checklist for turning digital disappointment into delight.

Follow Little Raps for quick, strategic takes on branding, hospitality, and the digital experiences that move people—and profits.

AI isn’t coming to the restaurant industry. It’s already here, shaping how brands show up, operate, and grow. In this episode, Joseph Szala breaks down the real opportunities for restaurant brand leaders to adopt AI with purpose. Learn how to build visibility inside AI ecosystems, transform data into action, and use tools like GPT-5 to enhance—not replace—your brand’s story.

Whether you lead marketing, tech, or operations, this episode gives you a playbook for integrating AI without losing the soul of your brand.

Listen to discover:

• How AI search is changing visibility for multi-unit restaurant brands

• The simple data systems that turn insights into weekly decisions

• How to train GPT models to reflect your brand’s tone and personality

• Why leadership must own AI strategy from the top

#RestaurantLeadership #AIinHospitality #RestaurantMarketing #GPT #BrandGrowth

Ever wonder why guests land on your ordering site, then vanish? It’s not a mystery—it’s cognitive overload. In this episode of Little Raps, Joseph Szala exposes how bloated digital menus, over-designed apps, and confusing checkout flows create mental friction that kills conversions.

What you’ll take away:

• How digital confusion destroys guest trust

• The 4 places where cognitive overload hits hardest

• Simple ways to streamline your online ordering experience

• Real-world UX tactics that actually drive sales

This is the episode every restaurant CMO, digital director, and founder needs in their ears.

🎧 Subscribe and stay sharp. Weekly drops that cut through the fluff and hit where it matters—brand, experience, and growth.

In this episode, Joseph Szala welcomes Warwick McLaren to 3Owl—and together, they unpack what restaurant brand leaders really need to hear right now. Warwick brings years of experience from Cisco, PepsiCo, and major MarTech deployments across the restaurant space.

They cover:

• Why many brands are drowning in “technical debt”

• How lean teams can actually get ROI from complex systems

• The myths (and realities) of loyalty programs

• Why hospitality—not tech—still drives true guest loyalty

If you’re leading a restaurant brand and feeling the weight of tech decisions, franchise pressure, or loyalty fatigue, this episode is packed with strategies to help your team soar.

Restaurant tech and marketing leaders: before you trim that digital experience (DX) budget, listen to this.

In this short, sharp episode, we challenge the common end-of-year impulse to “optimize spend” by cutting digital investments. Whether you’ve built a basic WordPress site or a custom, integrated ecosystem, the job isn’t done once it’s launched—it’s just taking flight.

🎯 Learn why the smartest operators double down post-launch

📊 How DX directly ties to revenue (with measurable ROI)

🛠️ What innovations you can’t afford to ignore

🚀 A real-world case from Krystal (yes, sliders!) that proves the power of frictionless guest engagement

This is your blueprint for staying ahead—not just keeping up. The digital experience is your modern storefront. Let it slide, and you’ll get overtaken.

🔔 Subscribe for more insights on restaurant innovation, marketing ROI, and smarter digital strategies.

Let’s soar into 2026 with smarter investments.

#RestaurantTech #DigitalExperience #QSRMarketing #BudgetPlanning #DXStrategy #RestaurantInnovation

Cracker Barrel brought back the old logo and calmed the pearl-clutchers. But let’s not get distracted. A rebrand won’t fix long wait times, food inconsistency, or a pricing perception gap. In this episode, I break down the real reasons Cracker Barrel is losing relevance—and what it needs to do to get back in the game.

We’re talking guest expectations by age group, the myth of the logo fix, and why value and speed are the critical pressure points for restaurant brands today. If you’re in restaurant leadership, strategy, or branding, this one’s for you.

Timestamps:

00:00 - The nostalgia bait-and-switch

01:35 - Why the rebrand happened in the first place

03:10 - What each generation really wants from Cracker Barrel

06:45 - Value and speed: the red thread

08:20 - Why logos don’t fix operational problems

10:05 - What Cracker Barrel needs to do next

12:30 - Your move: how restaurant brands can learn from this

Listen, like, and share if you’re building brands that actually matter.

Follow for bold takes on restaurant branding, business strategy, and leadership.