Restaurant Unstoppable

Recent Episodes

1. 1290: Danny Azzarello & Alan Frati, co-founders of CRACK'D Kitchen & Coffee

   Sep 14, 2026

   Danny Azzarello and Alan Frati, co-founders of CRACK'D Kitchen & Coffee, discuss their evolution from aggressive growth ambitions to a focused, quality-first regional expansion strategy. Since their last appearance 2.5 years ago, they've grown from 4 locations doing $7M in revenue to 5 locations generating $11.7M, while strategically exiting franchise and secondary concepts (CRACK'D Express, counter coffee) to concentrate on their core 2,000-2,500 sq ft corporate model. They share lessons on prioritizing brand integrity, people, and profitability over vanity metrics like unit count.

2. 1289: Jeremy Fitzgerald, founder and CEO of 86DeadStock

   Sep 7, 2026

   Jeremy Fitzgerald is the founder and CEO of 86DeadStock, a peer-to-peer marketplace for hospitality businesses to buy, sell, and trade surplus inventory. A serial entrepreneur with 20+ years in restaurant operations—including Subway franchises, Bar 145 (8 locations), and multiple hospitality concepts—Fitzgerald discusses his journey from franchisee to founder, his philosophy on restaurant ownership, and the problem 86DeadStock solves: helping restaurants eliminate waste and reduce costs by connecting them to a trusted community instead of fragmented marketplaces like Facebook and eBay.

3. 1288: Jesse Stein, founder and CEO of Hermetic AI

   Aug 31, 2026

   Jesse Stein, founder and CEO of Hermetic AI, discusses how his company uses AI agents to convert private event inquiries into bookings for restaurants, hotels, and entertainment venues. Drawing from nearly 30 years of entrepreneurial experience across e-commerce, digital marketing, skincare, and affiliate marketing, Stein explains how Mia—Hermetic's AI agent—responds to event leads within seconds, increases private event revenue by 54% on average, and reduces operational burden on event coordinators by handling repetitive tasks while freeing them to focus on hospitality and closing deals.

4. 1287: Meredith Tipping, General Manager and Head of Marketing at The Boston Sail Loft

   Aug 24, 2026

   Meredith Tipping is the General Manager and Head of Marketing at The Boston Sail Loft, a historic waterfront seafood restaurant in Boston's North End that opened in 1984. She discusses the restaurant's 40+ year legacy, operational model serving ~1,300 guests daily at peak season across 126 seats, revenue benchmarks ($5-10M annually), and the philosophy of owner-operator presence, relationship-driven vendor partnerships, and employee-first culture. Tipping reflects on family business succession, the role of sincerity and integrity in hospitality, and how the service industry transformed her from a shy person into a confident leader and parent.

5. 1286: Jason Santos, Chef/owner of Buttermilk & Bourbon Group

   Aug 17, 2026

   Chef and owner Jason Santos discusses his evolution from award-chasing hotshot chef to humble restaurant group leader. He shares his journey through Boston kitchens, his runner-up finish on Hell's Kitchen Season 7, the failure of his first 35-seat restaurant, and how that loss became his greatest teacher. Santos reflects on balancing television appearances with building the Buttermilk & Bourbon Group, learning to trust his team, and shifting his priorities toward family and community impact over fame and accolades.

6. 1285: Kathy Terry on Employee Ownership Trusts: Why P. Terry's Chose Legacy over an Exit

   Aug 10, 2026

   Kathy Terry, co-founder of P. Terry's burger chain, discusses the company's decision to adopt an employee ownership trust (EOT) model rather than accept a substantial private equity acquisition offer in 2016. She shares how a pivotal moment—inspired by the film 'The Intern'—led her and her husband Patrick to reject the exit and instead focus on building a legacy centered on employee care, community impact, and shared prosperity. The conversation explores how compassion became a business strategy, the dangers of private equity consolidation in the restaurant industry, and the philosophical shift from 'power over' to 'power with' stakeholders.

7. 1284: Restaurant Profit Breakthroughs with Robert Sloop: AI, Kaizen, Tech Stack Implementation, and Fractional CFO Support

   Aug 3, 2026

   Robert Sloop, CEO of Kaizen Management LLC, discusses the broken 1905-era restaurant business model that relies on owner presence, unsustainable hours (70-90+ per week), and thin margins (10% or less). He traces the evolution of restaurant software from Micros/Remax/Real World through Compete, Radar, and Restaurant 365, explaining how consolidation and poor implementation limit operator success. Sloop advocates for the Kaizen continuous improvement model paired with proper ERP systems, data-driven decision-making, and fractional CFO services to double EBITDA and restore profitability to independent operators.

8. 1283: The No B.S. Tech Stack w/ Mike Bausch

   Jul 27, 2026

   Mike Bausch, owner of Angelini's Worldwide restaurant group (12 locations, 7 brands) and founder of Unsliced, a digital coaching platform, discusses his no-nonsense approach to restaurant technology and marketing. The conversation covers website strategy, POS system selection, online ordering platforms, and the critical role of AI in modern restaurant operations, emphasizing authentic content creation and data ownership over outsourced solutions.

9. 1282: Cutting Your Software Cost in Half (or more!) with Albert Sanchez, CEO of HotShift

   Jul 20, 2026

   Albert Sanchez, founder and CEO of HotShift, returns to discuss his journey building a comprehensive restaurant management platform that started as a gamification tool for beverage tracking and evolved into a full employee lifecycle management system covering hiring, training, scheduling, and performance metrics. Built using AI-powered no-code development, HotShift priced at $99/month aims to disrupt the restaurant technology industry by offering robust features at a fraction of legacy software costs, challenging the dominance of expensive enterprise solutions.

10. 1281: Peter and Martha Pollay, co-founders of Mandara Hospitality Group

    Jul 13, 2026