Restaurant Rockstars Podcast Podcast By Roger Beaudoin cover art

Restaurant Rockstars Podcast

Restaurant Rockstars Podcast

By: Roger Beaudoin
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Tips, tools & resources to help restaurant owners and managers Rock Their Restaurant! Engaging conversations with industry leaders and fellow restaurateurs.All rights reserved Economics
Episodes
  • 506. Why Your Restaurant Is Busy but Not Profitable | Ami Alexander

    506. Why Your Restaurant Is Busy but Not Profitable | Ami Alexander
    Oct 4 2026
    Your restaurant is busy, but where’s the profit? In Episode 506 of the Restaurant Rockstars Podcast, Roger Beaudoin welcomes Ami Alexander of Barrel Aged Management to discuss restaurant profitability, rising labor costs, employee retention, menu pricing, and genuine hospitality. Drawing on her restaurant and hotel operating experience, Ami shares how thoughtful staffing, structured training, and ongoing employee development can help operators build stronger teams while maintaining service standards. You’ll hear: • How to align labor costs with guest volume and service expectations • Why hiring for attitude requires a commitment to training • How independent restaurants can give great employees reasons to stay • Why menu costing and product mix should guide pricing decisions • How cross-training and a welcoming arrival improve the guest experience • How to keep your restaurant concept relevant • Where AI could reduce administrative work and create more time for hospitality A full dining room doesn’t automatically mean a healthy bottom line. Listen for practical perspectives on protecting restaurant margins while delivering the quality and service guests expect. How is your restaurant doing? Get the FREE Prime Cost Score Card to calculate your prime cost and see how your restaurant measures up: https://www.restaurantrockstars.com Explore the Profitable Restaurant Operator Academy: https://www.restaurantrockstars.com/joinacademy Sponsors: Forward Financing Restaurants always need Capital when THEY need it! Problem is you don’t have time to wait, you need the cash now! Forward Financing has funded more than $5.4 billion to over 100,000 small businesses, and 10,000 restaurants just like yours. Forward funds anywhere from $5,000 to $500,000, often with same-day FUNDING. Head to https://go.forwardfinancing.com/restaurants?utm_campaign=53259160-Restaurant%20Rockstars&utm_source=Podcast&utm_medium=Audio Yelp Host In a busy restaurant missed calls mean missed sales opportunities. Yelp Host is an AI phone answering service that handles reservations, waitlists, and takeout orders 24/7. Yelp Host Speaks 17 languages, handles multiple simultaneous calls, answers questions, books tables and sends everything right to your kitchen. GO TO business.yelp.com/rockstars Smithfield Culinary Smithfield knows that to meat lovers, a great serving of their favorite cut is so much more than just food. It’s an experience. That’s why they’re committed to offering your restaurant the perfect protein for every dish at every daypart. When you partner with Smithfield, you will serve what you love…and your hungry, carnivorous patrons will love what you serve. For more information or to order products, visit http://smithfieldculinary.com/smithfield
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    40 mins
  • 505. Restaurant Operating Systems That Protect Profit | Matt Walls

    505. Restaurant Operating Systems That Protect Profit | Matt Walls
    Sep 27 2026
    Restaurant profits don't disappear in one place. They leak through labor, food cost, poor systems, weak training, and missed opportunities. In this episode of the Restaurant Rockstars Podcast, Roger Beaudoin sits down with restaurant industry veteran Matt “Walls” Walls, whose career has included Domino’s, CKE Restaurants, Caribou Coffee, Roti, and Edible Brands. Matt breaks down the operating systems he uses to build stronger restaurant teams, control labor and food costs, protect margins, and create a better guest experience. You'll discover how to: • Control restaurant labor hour by hour • Find hidden labor waste between peak shifts • Improve food cost through portion control and smarter SKUs • Create value without constantly discounting • Build a deeper bench of restaurant leaders • Recruit people for careers instead of simply filling jobs • Turn frontline employees into a source of new ideas • Improve onboarding and employee retention • Use AI to uncover trends and opportunities faster • Use technology without replacing human hospitality Matt also shares how a frontline employee's idea became a successful Roti menu item and why some of the best innovations in a restaurant can come directly from the people working in the stores. And when it comes to AI, Matt has a clear philosophy: use technology behind the scenes to make the business smarter while keeping the guest experience authentic and human. If you're a restaurant owner, operator, general manager, or hospitality leader looking for practical ways to run a more profitable restaurant, this episode is packed with ideas you can put to work. Subscribe to Restaurant Rockstars for more restaurant business, leadership, marketing and profitability strategies. Thank you to our sponsors: Smithfield Culinary: Smithfield knows that to meat lovers, a great serving of their favorite cut is so much more than just food. It’s an experience. That’s why they’re committed to offering your restaurant the perfect protein for every dish at every daypart. When you partner with Smithfield, you will serve what you love…and your hungry, carnivorous patrons will love what you serve. For more information or to order products, visit http://smithfieldculinary.com/smithfield Yelp Host: In a busy restaurant missed calls mean missed sales opportunities. Yelp Host is an AI phone answering service that handles reservations, waitlists, and takeout orders 24/7. Yelp Host Speaks 17 languages, handles multiple simultaneous calls, answers questions, books tables and sends everything right to your kitchen. GO TO business.yelp.com/rockstars Forward Financing: Restaurants always need Capital when THEY need it! Problem is you don’t have time to wait, you need the cash now! Forward Financing has funded more than $5.4 billion to over 100,000 small businesses, and 10,000 restaurants just like yours. Forward funds anywhere from $5,000 to $500,000, often with same-day FUNDING. Head to https://go.forwardfinancing.com/restaurants?utm_campaign=53259160-Restaurant%20Rockstars&utm_source=Podcast&utm_medium=Audio
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    43 mins
  • 504. How Restaurant AI Captures Missed Sales - Cliff Cate

    504. How Restaurant AI Captures Missed Sales - Cliff Cate
    Sep 19 2026
    What if your restaurant is losing revenue every time the phone rings? During a busy shift, an unanswered call could mean a missed reservation, takeout order, catering inquiry, or private event opportunity. In this episode of the Restaurant Rockstars Podcast, Roger Beaudoin speaks with Cliff Cate, Yelp for Restaurants, about how AI-powered restaurant tools can capture more sales while freeing employees to focus on the guests directly in front of them. Cliff explains how Yelp Host can answer multiple calls simultaneously, provide restaurant information, manage reservations and wait-list questions, and take commission-free food orders through POS integrations. It can also support conversations in 17 languages while maintaining the voice, tone, and personality of the restaurant. You’ll discover: Why unanswered calls represent missed revenue How AI is changing restaurant discovery Why your Yelp profile, hours, menu, and restaurant details must remain current How voice AI can manage reservations, wait lists, and takeout orders How restaurants can customize the AI host to reflect their brand How call transcripts, summaries, and analytics reveal what guests want Why restaurant AI can strengthen hospitality instead of replacing it How Yelp Guest Manager and Yelp Host work together What operators can expect during the onboarding process According to Cliff, approximately 70% of the restaurant calls analyzed by Yelp are connected to revenue-generating activities. Yelp has also seen some customers increase their takeout volume by more than 20%. Learn more about Yelp Host: https://business.yelp.com/rockstars Learn more about The Profitable Restaurant Operator Academy: https://www.restaurantrockstars.com/joinacademy This episode is sponsored by: Forward Financing Restaurants need capital when they need it, and operators do not always have time to wait. Forward Financing has funded more than $5.4 billion to over 100,000 small businesses, including 10,000 restaurants. Forward provides funding from $5,000 to $500,000, often with same-day funding. Learn more: https://go.forwardfinancing.com/restaurants?utm_campaign=53259160-Restaurant%20Rockstars&utm_source=Podcast&utm_medium=Audio Yelp Host In a busy restaurant, missed calls mean missed sales opportunities. Yelp Host is an AI phone-answering service that handles reservations, wait lists, and takeout orders 24/7. It speaks 17 languages, handles multiple simultaneous calls, answers questions, books tables, and sends orders directly to your kitchen. Learn more: https://business.yelp.com/rockstars Smithfield Culinary Smithfield knows that, to meat lovers, a great serving of their favorite cut is more than food. It is an experience. That is why Smithfield Culinary is committed to offering restaurants the perfect protein for every dish and every daypart. When you partner with Smithfield, you serve what you love, and your guests will love what you serve. For more information or to order products, visit: https://smithfieldculinary.com/smithfield
    Show more Show less
    42 mins
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