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.

Out-of-the-box tech systems help restaurants launch fast. Online ordering, loyalty, location pages—they’re quick, functional, and affordable. But they’re not built to carry you forever.

In this episode, Joseph Szala unpacks the lifecycle of restaurant tech adoption:

• Why out-of-the-box solutions are the right move early on

• The tradeoffs every brand eventually faces

• The $5M sales inflection point where custom experiences become critical

• How to unify your digital experience to reduce friction, maximize pull-through, and build stronger guest relationships

If you’re leading a multi-unit brand or pushing digital transformation in restaurants, this episode will give you clarity on when to optimize, not just operate.

McDonald’s new DoorDash-powered ordering flow works like a charm… but not for brand building. I break down the experience in real time, calling out what’s smooth, what’s broken, and what it teaches every multiunit restaurant leader about protecting your brand in the age of tech partnerships.

📄 Spotify Description (Optimized for discovery + listens)

Full custom websites deliver the highest revenue potential for restaurant brands—but they can also overwhelm budgets and timelines. In this episode of Little Raps, we unpack a phased build strategy that lets you:

• Move off monolithic platforms without disruption

• Add guest-facing features in stages

• Boost transactions and AOV faster

Perfect for multi-unit restaurant brand leaders who want digital transformation without the wait.

If your restaurant brand is operating with a split-site digital experience—like marketing.com linked to orders.brand.com—you’re not alone. But before you invest in a full custom digital build, you need to capture the right data today to prove ROI tomorrow.

In this episode, we break down:

• Why revenue alone isn’t enough

• Key metrics every restaurant brand should benchmark now (AOVs, conversion rates, drop-offs)

• How cross-domain tracking across marketing and ordering sites unlocks real performance insights

• A proprietary Olo-to-GA integration that delivers a frictionless analytics setup

This is must-know info for restaurant CMOs, marketing directors, and digital leads at multi-location brands aiming to validate growth and make smarter, data-backed decisions.

📈 Ready to become the rockstar your brand needs?

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Most brands obsess over drive-thru and print menus—but leave their online menus untouched. In this episode, Joseph Szala unpacks why that’s a missed opportunity, and how classic menu engineering principles can drive real gains in digital ordering. Tune in for tips, examples, and ideas you can apply right now to your digital experience.