This week’s episode opens with something special: Always Open at Christmas, Tech on Toast’s brand new charity single created by the Hospitality Community & Choir in just 72 hours. All proceeds support Hospitality Action. Stream it, share it, and help spread the message.
Then we’re joined by Regan Collins, CEO of Coentric and the team behind Connect a platform tackling one of hospitality’s biggest (and most overlooked) blockers: frontline access to the tools they’re meant to use.
Regan shares why giving teams “great tech” isn’t enough if they can’t log in, why adoption stalls when access takes 12 steps, and how “quiet tech” can unlock huge wins across comms, learning, scheduling, HR, and beyond.
Why frontline enablement breaks down at the identity and access layer
The hidden cost of clunky logins: “step four and they’re out”
Moving from 30% adoption to 98% by removing friction
What “one front door” looks like for shifts, leave, learning, and comms
Why generic passwords on paper are still (shockingly) a thing
How better access improves retention, productivity, and belonging
Replacing WhatsApp inside organisations (and keeping knowledge in-house)
What’s next: facial recognition kiosks, smarter nudges, and AI-powered insights
A practical reminder: demo everything and understand how it works in real life
Charity single: thehospitalitychoir.org
Connect: connectfrontline.com
Find Connect on the Tech on Toast marketplace (look for the big blue “C” logo)
If you’re trying to get more from the tools you already pay for, this is a must-listen.
This week Chris is joined by Mitz Patel, Global Head of IT Projects at Soho House, and David Broom, CIO at Prezzo Italian, for a festive-but-real chat about the tech challenges and breakthroughs shaping hospitality right now.
They dive into inherited systems, shaky connectivity, labour and inventory headaches, AI that’s finally useful, and why hospitality tech still relies on strong human relationships. All of that… plus Abbey Road, Christmas rotas, and Mitz’s legendary community Christmas in Twickenham. 🎅💻
🌟 A quick word about “Always Open at Christmas”
Before the episode begins, Chris introduces “Always Open at Christmas” – this year’s brand new hospitality charity single. Recorded at Abbey Road Studios in just 72 hours by volunteers from across our industry, it celebrates the people who keep hospitality warm, open and full of heart.
💛 All proceeds go to Hospitality Action, supporting workers and families who need a lift this winter.
🎵 Search “Always Open at Christmas – The Hospitality Choir” on Spotify, Apple or Amazon Music and give it a stream, save and share.
In this episode 👇
Why only 18% of operators would recommend their tech stack
The reality of inheriting legacy systems and trying to modernise without breaking everything
Connectivity battles: patchwork networks, microwave links, backups and the 1:30pm meltdown
AI moving from hype to real operational gains
Big vendors vs smaller, more agile players — and why relationships still matter more than features
Christmas in hospitality: on-call IT shifts, family traditions and community hubs 🎄
Wishing you a brilliant Christmas from all of us at Tech on Toast – and remember:
we are always open at Christmas. 💛
👋 What’s this episode about?
Chris is joined by:
Sasha (Product Marketing, Dojo)
Chris (Côte Restaurant Group)
Jack (Founder, Pizza Rover)
to talk about what seamless tech really means when you are in the middle of a busy service – not on a slide deck.
They cover how to cut friction for guests, keep systems reliable, use data and AI smartly, and still keep hospitality human.
Friction and the “V” of guest anxiety
Guests are most anxious when they arrive and when they want to pay 😬
Waiting to sit, waiting to order, waiting to pay – still the big three problems.
Côte’s “V” model shows where tech can smooth those pinch points without forcing one way to pay.
Integrations vs “too many apps”
Jack on the pain of stacking loads of niche tools that do not talk to each other.
When tech sits between you and the guest, direct feedback can drop – so you need data to fill the gap 📊.
Reliability > shiny features
Sasha explains Dojo’s “always on” mindset, multiple fail-safes and 4G backup.
Downtime in payments, bookings or reservations during peak trading can cost a fortune – and trust.
Data, loyalty and personalisation
Mass blast offers make guests feel spammed or even “ripped off”.
The panel talk about moving towards thousands of micro customer types and more personal contact 💌.
Where AI actually helps (today)
Côte’s AI phone assistant “Joe” answers every call and recovers lost bookings 📞.
Biggest gains for now: phones, CRM, training, compliance and back-office efficiency – not robots replacing people on the floor.
Future wishes & Christmas pressures
Jack wants AI and computer vision to take complexity out of the back office and compliance, not the warmth out of service.
Chris dreams of tech that simply understands how each guest likes to dine.
Sasha sees AI agents taking admin off managers so they can focus on people and culture 🎄.
If you are an operator wrestling with clunky systems, choosing between “all-in-one” and “best in class”, or wondering where AI genuinely fits in your world, this live episode will give you real stories, not theory.
Hit play, follow the show, and share it with a fellow operator who is currently at war with their tech stack 🔁💚
🔑 Big themes👉 Why listen?
This week on the Tech on Toast podcast I’m joined by Brett Robbins, CEO of Snapfix – the 📸 photo-first “brain at the centre of your building” that helps teams stay on top of maintenance, safety and day-to-day ops in one simple app.
We chat about why simple software is secretly the hardest thing to build, how Snapfix grew from a seaside town in Ireland 🌊 to Dublin’s Docklands and beyond, and why taking a picture + scanning a QR code can 10x safety reporting on the floor.
We also dive into AI, sustainability and the real world of broken kit – from £30k of dead plants 🪴 to cameras spotting spills before a guest slips, and bots quietly reading your invoices to tell you when it is finally time to replace that AC unit ❄️.
🎧 In this episode you’ll hear:
📲 What Snapfix actually does and why Brett calls it “the operational brain” in your building
🧠 The “modern art” analogy – 10,000 hours of work behind a product that feels ridiculously simple
🏨 Real stories from hotels, factories, care homes and more (including the £30k plant disaster…)
🤖 Where AI really helps maintenance and facilities teams today (no robot butlers… yet)
🌍 Why sustainability needs more than a sticker on the bathroom door – and how ops tech can help
🇮🇪 Snapfix’s journey from rural Ireland to Dublin’s tech hub and into the UK & US
💡 Episode sponsor
This episode is brought to you by Lightspeed – the POS and payments platform helping restaurants smash the festive rush 🎄, speed up tableside service and keep FOH and BOH perfectly in sync.
🔗 Links
🔧 Check out Snapfix: snapfix.com
👋 Connect with Brett on LinkedIn – search “Brett Robbins Snapfix”
🥪 More from Tech on Toast: techontoast.community
From Tech on Toast – helping hospitality operators make smarter tech decisions (and have a bit of fun along the way). 🎙️✨
In this episode, we explore how KATE Media’s dedicated on-table ordering and payment device is changing the way restaurants serve, sell, and scale. Host Chris Fletcher chats with Manuel Costin, Country Manager at KATE Media, about why a physical, brandable device outperforms QR codes — boosting guest control, staff efficiency, and average spend.
💡 What you’ll learn
📱 Why a physical device creates a smoother, faster ordering experience than QR codes
👩🍳 How staff use lights and smart watches to stay in sync during service peaks
💰 The measurable uplift in average order value and guest satisfaction
🔗 How KATE integrates seamlessly with POS, payments, loyalty, and reporting
🧁 Why brands like Heavenly Desserts and Elan Café are embracing the tech
🎧 Listen now on Spotify: Tech on Toast Podcast — On-Table Ordering That Works
🔗 Find KATE Media: katemedia.com | Connect with Manuel on LinkedIn
✨ Powered by Lightspeed — helping restaurants deliver seamless service and unforgettable guest experiences.
This series, Business in Better Shape, was born from new research by Tech on Toast and Square, The Long-Term Case for Smarter Tech Investment.We spoke to more than 150 hospitality leaders across the UK, uncovering an industry stuck between ambition and hesitation. Most hospitality teams buy tech only when something’s on fire - Square’s research shows just 6% plan purchases, while 94% react. That insight inspired this series, real conversations with operators who are finding ways to move forward, to simplify, to modernise without losing what makes hospitality human.Download the research here;https://www.techontoast.community/researchIn our second episode, Rachel Masing, People Director, Pool House - from the minds behind Topgolf & Puttshack, lays out how to flip that script and design people-first systems before opening day and use tech to create space for human leadership.Episode HighlightsTech-infused experience: ball & cue tracking, digitized scoring, and player-levelling to make pool competitive and inclusive.People blueprint: values → behaviours → role profiles → always-on feedback loops; hire for skill and behaviour.Scale by design: choose tools that work cross-city/country, not just for site #1.Noise killers: clear comms rules + project visibility (e.g., Slack for HQ, ClickUp for projects) so work doesn’t vanish into silos.Tech as strategy: not “keep the Wi-Fi up,” but a leader who scans the market and briefs teams on what to adopt next.AI where it helps: recruiting at scale and emerging AI-enabled coaching/L&D—augment humans, don’t replace them.GM = business owner: elevate GMs to run people, finance, sales, and ops—then upskill them to coach on site.Ownership mindset: equity for core teams and day-one employee ownership to hard-wire culture and commitment.Big missing piece: a light, continuous performance conversation tool (voice notes, auto-pull shift/attendance/peer signals, simple scheduling).This series is powered by Square - helping hospitality operators put their business in better shape through connected commerce, payments, and restaurant technology.https://squareup.com/gb/en
This week, Chris is joined (again!) by Christian Mouysset, Co-founder of Tenzo, the “glue” that brings sales, labour, inventory, reviews and reservations into one real-time view. We talk actionable KPIs over vanity metrics, why speed of feedback beats perfect dashboards, and how “performance ops” helps GMs move the needle on today’s shift, not next quarter’s report.
Highlights
From data overload to action: pick 3–5 KPIs and shine a light—things improve.
Real-time or it’s too late: feedback after lunch beats a board pack next week.
Shift-level impact: targets part-timers can act on within a three-hour window.
AI done right: ML for forecasting, LLMs for summaries, automation for delivery—different tools, different jobs.
Integrations that work: human relationships + solid APIs matter.
Best-of-breed vs all-in-one: choose your four dimensions (geo, sub-vertical, toolset, segment) and make trade-offs on purpose.
Hotels turning F&B inside-out: untapped revenue if ops and insight align.
Key takeaways:
Start with one KPI (e.g., spend per labour hour) and prove a win before adding more.
Put mobile, real-time insight in the GM’s hand; avoid 15 logins and 28-page PDFs.
Separate ML, LLMs and automation; don’t lump everything under “AI”.
Build integrations at the right granularity (hour, site, revenue centre).
Timestamps
01:45 – Tenzo in one line: the “glue” for restaurant data
04:50 – Data drowning vs focusing on what matters
06:40 – “Shine a light and it gets better” (Hard Rock lesson)
08:50 – Real-time targets teams can act on today
12:30 – Why mobile matters for GMs (and part-timers)
14:50 – AI: forecasting, summaries and automation—what’s what
18:30 – Trust, accuracy and adoption
20:45 – Integrations: people, APIs and the right granularity
24:30 – Best-of-breed vs all-in-one (choose your sacrifices)
26:55 – Industry pulse: cautious optimism and real ROI
28:40 – Hotels & F&B: new momentum
29:55 – How to reach Christian
Guest
Christian Mouysset – Co-founder, Tenzo
Web: gotenzo.com
Email: christian@gotenzo.com
Sponsor
Lightspeed — POS and payments built for busy service. Close the year strong.
Connect
Host: Chris Fletcher
Subscribe, rate and share if this helped your operation.
Got a stack worth talking about? Share your tech stack and help build a better-connected industry.
This series, Business in Better Shape, was born from new research by Tech on Toast and Square, The Long-Term Case for Smarter Tech Investment.We spoke to more than 150 hospitality leaders across the UK, uncovering an industry stuck between ambition and hesitation. Most hospitality teams buy tech only when something’s on fire - Square’s research shows just 6% plan purchases, while 94% react. That insight inspired this series, real conversations with operators who are finding ways to move forward, to simplify, to modernise without losing what makes hospitality human.Download the research here;https://www.techontoast.community/researchIn our third epsisode Jonny Bramwell, Regional Ops at Rosa’s Thai shares the operator’s view from the floor, pick tools that give time back, fit the brand, and lift service - not add noise.Episode HighlightsBrand-first fit: tech must support the Rosa’s experience (fast, fresh, friendly) without forcing guests down paths they don’t want.FSR: in full-service, tech should facilitate the theatre and human touch, not replace it.Test & learn (hard): run real trial sites, stress-test with frontline teams, and involve the partner directly in fixes.Time back for teams: main buying lens - does it reduce workload, protect work-life balance, and free GMs to plan (not just cover shifts)?Operator dashboard: mornings start with covers, like-for-like, delivery, and guest sentiment to decide where to lean in.Adoption signals: happier teams, lower turnover, stronger reviews, rising spend/head = tech is actually used and valued.Buying criteria: brand fit, guest experience, time back, scalable rollout (roadmaps alone are not enough).Work with reality: mistakes happen - what matters is a partner who stays to tweak and land it properly.Message to vendors: do the homework, tailor the pitch, and focus on the two outcomes that matter: enhance guest experience + coach/develop teams.This series is powered by Square - helping hospitality operators put their business in better shape through connected commerce, payments, and restaurant technology.https://squareup.com/gb/en
💡 Connectivity in hospitality is no longer optional — it’s as important as gas, water and electricity.
Host Chris Fletcher chats with Andy Maynard (IT Director, Caffè Nero) and Joe Strudwick (Head of National Accounts, Sky Business) about why reliable networks now power everything from card payments to coffee machines — and how smart operators are treating connectivity like a true utility, not an afterthought.
☕ How do you keep 600+ stores online?
💸 What’s the hidden cost of downtime?
🔐 And how do you build resilience that protects your brand, your teams and your guests?
Powered by: Sky Business
⏱️ Chapters
00:00 – Why connectivity is as vital as gas, water & electricity ⚡
01:24 – Meet Andy & Joe
02:09 – Inside Caffè Nero’s global network
05:08 – Every SaaS tool depends on uptime
08:01 – When Wi-Fi drops, operations stop
10:02 – Fibre, EPOS, IoT & SD-WAN explained
12:58 – Creating one “gold-standard” store setup
16:59 – Downtime = money on the floor 💷
17:42 – Staff experience and tech frustration
24:03 – Treating connectivity like a utility
30:04 – 4G failover & real-time monitoring
35:03 – The future: security, resilience & smarter sites
43:56 – Wrap-up & next steps
✨ Key Takeaways
⚙️ Connectivity is as essential as your utilities
🚀 Uptime = revenue, morale & guest loyalty
📶 Standardise, monitor & build in resilience
🕓 Match support to trading hours — not office hours
🔐 Cyber security is now a board-level topic
🎙️ Guests
Andy Maynard – IT Director, Caffè Nero
Joe Strudwick – Head of National Accounts, Sky Business
👋 Host: Chris Fletcher
🎛️ Production: Tech on Toast
🤝 Series Partner: Sky Business
AI isn’t here to replace ops, it’s here to amplify it. Laure Joyeux (Expansion & Partnerships, Inpulse) and Italo Vendramini (Head of Operations, La Maritxu) share how AI-driven forecasting powers inventory and purchasing, cutting order-building time, lifting availability, and reducing waste. We cover trust on the shop floor, onboarding and support, supplier integrations (incl. EDI/email), and what changes as you scale from one site to many.
Presented by Lightspeed Restaurant.
Guests
Laure Joyeux — Inpulse
Italo Vendramini — La Maritxu (Basque cheesecake bakery, London)
Key takeaways
• ~90%+ production accuracy trending to ~95% as models learn
• Pre-filled orders save ~50% time; managers keep final say
• Better availability, less spoilage, clearer supplier comms
• Two years’ sales history = day-one accuracy; new sites settle in ~2–3 months
Chapters
00:00 Intro & sponsor
02:00 Meet Laure & Italo
06:30 What Inpulse does
12:00 Trusting AI on site
18:30 Purchasing & suppliers
25:00 Onboarding & support
31:00 Scaling to multi-site
36:00 Final takeaways
This week, Chris sits down with Frederick Szydlowski, Co-founder of Embargo, to unpack how an all-in-one, best-in-class approach to loyalty, ordering and CRM can actually move the P&L—without burying teams in complexity.
Freddy’s story runs from professional basketball in Poland to JOE & THE JUICE on King’s Road, to building one of the UK’s highest-rated food & drink apps (4.9★).
We dig into why hospitality still loves loyalty but hates complexity, why first-party data beats data scrapbooks, and how Embargo’s product philosophy (own the journey end-to-end) drives adoption, repeat visits and higher direct sales, operators are reporting ~60% higher delivery volume via their own channels versus marketplaces.
We also cover Embargo’s expanding toolkit (web & table ordering, kiosks, payments), rapid onboarding (often live in 5–10 minutes per channel), and how their new AI models turn weather, behaviour and lookalike patterns into recommended campaigns you can run in minutes, not months.
Brought to you by Lightspeed. This festive season, let your tech do the heavy lifting. Close the year strong with Lightspeed Restaurant.
In this episode of the Tech on Toast Podcast, host Chris Fletcher sits down with David Dillon, Founder and CEO of UROCKED, the digital tipping platform making gratuities transparent, compliant, and fair for everyone in hospitality.
Born from a real operator problem, watching his mum spend hours calculating tips by hand, David built UROCKED to make life easier for hospitality teams and ensure every pound of gratuity reaches the people who earned it.
A year on from the UK Tipping Act, Chris and David unpack what’s changed (and what hasn’t), how technology is helping to close the trust gap, and why transparency is now essential to both compliance and culture.
They cover:
💡 The origins of UROCKED and how it simplifies tipping for operators and staff
⚖️ One year on from the Tipping Act – has it worked?
📱 Why digital tipping boosts transparency, retention, and guest trust
💷 What customers still misunderstand about service charges
📊 UROCKED’s latest research, 65% of staff rely on tips as part of their income
🤝 How tech can balance fairness, compliance, and business sustainability
From “tipping land” to the future of cashless gratitude, this is a refreshingly honest look at how digital innovation can make hospitality fairer, and how small changes can make a big difference to people’s lives.
🎧 Listen now and find out why UROCKED is redefining what it means to earn your tips.
🔗 Learn more at urocked.com
💚 Explore hospitality tech at techontoast.community
📍 Follow Tech on Toast on LinkedIn and Instagram for more industry conversations
This series, Business in Better Shape, was born from new research by Tech on Toast and Square, The Long-Term Case for Smarter Tech Investment.We spoke to more than 150 hospitality leaders across the UK, uncovering an industry stuck between ambition and hesitation.The data showed that while most operators see technology as essential to their future, only 18% would currently recommend their existing systems, and a striking 94% only adopt new tech when absolutely necessary. Fear of disruption, complex integrations, and a lack of vendor support are holding progress back.Download the research hereThat insight inspired this series, real conversations with operators who are finding ways to move forward, to simplify, to modernise without losing what makes hospitality human.In this first episode, host Chris Fletcher talks with Maria McCann, Operations Director at Blacklock, about fear of change, leading people through transformation, and how curiosity and courage can help hospitality get into better shape.Maria’s career spans Hard Rock Café, Shake Shack, Living Ventures, and now Blacklock, where she’s helping scale one of London’s most characterful restaurant brands without losing its soul.This conversation dives into the industry’s long-standing fear of change, how to lead teams through disruption, and why curiosity and calculated risk-taking are essential for hospitality’s future.Episode Highlights🥩 Blacklock’s identity: A modern British chop house, famous for roasts, chops, and sharing culture.🎓 Career path: From studying dietetics to falling in love with hospitality via Hard Rock, then on to Shake Shack and now Blacklock.😨 Why we fear change: Hospitality people are problem solvers who learn from crises, so change is often associated with past mistakes.💬 Communication platforms: When Meta shut down Workplace, Blacklock had to pivot fast without losing team connection.🤖 Tech adoption: The secret is listening to staff frustrations first, then finding solutions to those exact pain points.📊 Sentiment analysis: A “quiet revolution” for guest feedback, giving operators clarity without the overwhelm.🚴 Personal challenge: Maria is training for a 400km cycle in Cuba with the hospitality community, despite being scared of bikes!This series is powered by Square, helping hospitality operators put their business in better shape through connected commerce, payments, and restaurant technology.
In this episode of the Tech on Toast Podcast, Chris Fletcher sits down with Joel Robinson, founder of Openr – a data orchestration platform transforming how enterprise hospitality brands manage their tech stacks.Joel shares his journey from Sainsbury’s digital transformation team to leading digital strategy at Azzurri Group, before building Openr to solve one of hospitality’s biggest headaches: fragmented data and disconnected systems.💡 What you’ll learn in this episode:Why mid-market operators (20–30+ sites) need dedicated digital leadership earlier than ever.How Openr creates a single source of truth for product, pricing, and menu data across POS, delivery, websites, kiosks, and more.The three big wins for operators: efficiency, agility, and accuracy.How Stonegate Group went from updating prices just 3–4 times a year to hundreds of changes with confidence.Why Joel prefers “agile pricing” over “dynamic pricing” in hospitality.How AI is helping automate event menus and unlock new revenue streams.The future vision for Openr: optimising profitability across sales, volume, and margin.🎶 Bonus: Joel reveals his surprising past as a classical singer, with appearances at Carols from King’s and even on stage with Dizzee Rascal!Chapters:00:00 – Intro & Lightspeed sponsor02:00 – Meet Joel Robinson, Founder of Openr06:30 – Lessons from Sainsbury’s digital transformation13:40 – Moving into hospitality tech at Azzurri Group19:25 – Why mid-market brands need digital leaders sooner24:50 – The birth of Openr: solving fragmented data32:15 – Efficiency, agility & accuracy – Openr’s three key outcomes39:10 – Stonegate case study: price changes at scale47:30 – Agile pricing vs. dynamic pricing53:50 – Integrations & sweating your tech stack1:02:00 – Practical AI use cases in menu management1:11:20 – ROI stories & customer success1:18:40 – Openr’s future vision1:23:00 – Joel’s unexpected singing career 🎤1:28:00 – Where to find Joel & OpenrLinks & Resources:🌐 Openr: https://www.weareopener.com🔗 Connect with Joel Robinson on LinkedIn: Joel Robinson
In this episode of the Tech on Toast Podcast, Chris Fletcher sits down with Sean Trevaskis, co-founder of Growdash, to explore how restaurants can turn delivery data into powerful marketing strategies.
Sean shares his journey from working at Talabat and Deliveroo to launching Growdash, a restaurant growth platform that integrates with aggregators like Deliveroo, Uber Eats, and Just Eat. Together, they discuss:
Why restaurants often struggle with overwhelming delivery data
How Growdash helps operators measure incrementality vs. cannibalisation
The role of AI agent Aisha in becoming “the analyst in your pocket”
Key marketing metrics every operator should track
Differences between the Middle East and UK restaurant markets
The future of AI in restaurant marketing
If you’re a marketer or operator navigating the complexities of delivery platforms, this episode is packed with insights to help you optimise campaigns, grow sales, and take control of your data.
👉 Learn more about Growdash at mygrowdash.com
Chris chats with James Fahy, co-founder of JustTip, about building a tipping and tronc platform straight out of school, the UK’s evolving tipping legislation, and why faster, more transparent payouts matter for teams.
James shares what he’s learnt as a first-time founder, how operators can save £5–6k per year through compliant tronc schemes with no NIC for businesses or staff (as discussed), and why partnerships now beat cold calls.
We also touch on weekly “JustTip Tuesdays”, EU expansion, and practical AI use across support and outbound sales.
Thanks to our friends at Lightspeed — the point-of-sale and payments platform helping restaurants run smoother during peak season.
James Fahy — Co-founder, JustTip
Web: justtip.net / justtip.co.uk
Origin story: a coffee-shop moment that sparked JustTip at age 19
What JustTip does (the “CAT” pitch): Compliance, Automation of payouts, and Tax savings
Tronc clarity: paying tips correctly so no NIC for business or staff (as discussed)
Weekly payouts and transparency for teams (“JustTip Tuesdays”)
UK vs Ireland: legislation, grey areas, and why big brands move first
Cost pressures: using tronc compliance to unlock savings and time back
Holiday pay, agencies, and the realities of complex staffing models
From cold calls to partnerships and integrations (scaling the lean way)
EU growth and embedded tipping with merchant services partners
Sane AI adoption: repeat-issue support bots and smarter outbound — without losing the human touch
Founder lessons: impatience, resilience, and being the final line of defence as CEO
Transparency + speed = trust. Weekly, predictable tip payouts boost morale and word-of-mouth.
Compliance can save real money. Correct tronc flows can mean £5–6k annual savings for a typical site (as discussed).
Legislation is tightening. UK requirements (e.g., paying collected tips into staff accounts within a month) are pushing operators to formalise tronc and record-keeping.
Partnerships scale better. Integrations and ISO/VAR channels beat one-by-one selling once the product fits.
AI helps with the boring bits. Use it for repeat support and structured outbound — keep people for nuanced, emotional interactions.
Founder reality. Titles mean little; being there “when it goes wrong” is what wins and keeps customers.
“They don’t care about the product — it’s, are you going to be there when it goes wrong?”
“JustTip Tuesdays became a thing — like a mini payroll each week.”
“If you push tips correctly through a tronc scheme, the business pays no NIC and the employee pays no NIC.”
“I got one of the lowest grades in entrepreneurship — then learnt it all on the job.”
Intro & sponsor
James’s backstory and the coffee-shop spark
What JustTip does (CAT: Compliance, Automation, Tax)
UK/Ireland legislation & tronc reality
Weekly payouts, team impact & transparency
Cost savings, holiday pay & agency complexity
Scaling: partnerships, integrations, embedded tipping
Practical AI in support and sales
Founder lessons & what’s next
JustTip — justtip.net / justtip.co.uk
Slush (Helsinki) — tech conference referenced by James
Connect with James Fahy via the JustTip website.
If you’re an operator reviewing tipping and tronc, map your current flow and payout cadence — then compare the potential NIC and admin savings from a compliant scheme.
Subscribe to Tech on Toast for more operator-first, tech-that-works conversations.
Host: Chris Fletcher
Guest: James Fahy, Co-founder at JustTip
Producer: Tech on Toast
This week, Chris sits down with Victor Lugger, co-founder of Big Mamma and Sunday, to unpack how “invisible tech” (think: pay-at-table that just works) can lift guest experience, speed up service, and actually reduce the tech clutter on the floor. From 31 trattorias across 8 countries to Sunday now processing $4.2bn and hitting ~90% adoption in London, Victor shares the operator’s lens on what matters: faster, simpler payments; more time for hospitality; and real-world KPIs that move the P&L.
Why “less tech, better service” wins: replacing terminals with phone-based payment, not piling on more tools.
Adoption that sticks: 70% in months → ~85–90% in the UK when teams offer the option properly.
Guest experience uplift: table turns +12–16% at busy brands; reviews surge when the Google prompt sits right after payment.
Tips up, teams happier: 2–4× tips (UK) and ~+12% (US) thanks to AI-powered tip prompts.
Loyalty that finally works in full-service: ~52% of Sunday payers enrol vs 2–5% on terminals; earn/burn becomes seamless.
Enterprise scale: POS-agnostic (24+ integrations), terminals + pay-at-table + hybrid ordering where it fits.
The “guest app” vision: payment as the universal touchpoint to identify 70–100% of guests and trigger CRM/loyalty, not just bookings.
00:00 Intro & sponsor: Lightspeed Restaurant
01:05 Meet Victor: Big Mamma (affordable luxury) → Sunday (pay-at-table)
07:20 Why paying is broken — and how Sunday made it 5-second simple
12:10 Staff first: freeing servers for real hospitality, not card machines
16:40 Adoption drivers: the team makes the metric
21:15 Fine dining vs casual: why higher spenders adopt more
25:30 Reviews & revenue: faster turns, Google love, real KPIs
31:45 Loyalty that isn’t cringe: enrol, earn, burn without friction
38:20 US scale, data-led operators, +12% tips
44:05 AI in practice: smarter tip options; ordering patterns; service recovery
51:10 UK market maturity: bookings, POS, checkout, CRM
56:00 What’s next: Dubai & US for Big Mamma; Sunday’s guest-app flywheel
59:30 Where to find Sunday & wrap-up
“We’re not adding tech — we’re replacing old tech with something guests already have in their pocket.”
“Give guests the option. If 82% choose phone, we’re doing something right.”
“With Sunday, tips are 2–4× higher in the UK and about +12% in the US.”
“On Sunday payments, ~52% of guests enrol to loyalty. On terminals it’s 2–5%.”
“Dishoom Shoreditch went from ~10k reviews at 4.4 to ~38k at 4.8 in 18 months.”
Victor Lugger — Co-founder, Big Mamma & Sunday
Website: sundayapp.com
(Also live on the Tech on Toast Marketplace.)
Lightspeed Restaurant — the point of sale and payments platform helping operators fly through the festive rush and beyond.
Big Mamma: 31 sites, 8 countries; Dubai opening; US expansion.
Sunday: pay-at-table, terminals, hybrid ordering; 24+ POS integrations; $4.2bn processed YTD.
Operators: want the numbers behind adoption, tips and table turns? Take our Tech Check and we’ll map your stack and intros.
Suppliers: interested in a case study or Shift Talk slot? Get in touch via Tech on Toast.
What you’ll learnChapter markersPull quotesGuestSponsorLinks & mentionsCall to action
What is great service in 2025? In this episode of Tech on Toast, powered by Zonal, we unpack why hospitality is still (and always will be) a people business—and how that truth fuels loyalty.
Host Chris Fletcher is joined by:
Antony Pender — Founder, Yummy Collection (people-first pubs, bars & seafood concepts)
Darren Smith — Head of Operations, Flat Iron (consistent, craveable steakhouse experiences)
Gillian Nicholson — Sales Director, Zonal (tech that blends into brilliant service)
They dive into:
Defining modern service: “relaxed rigor,” natural interactions, and letting guests drive the experience
Training that sticks: stories, shadowing, and Gen Z–friendly, bite-size learning
Tech that empowers (not replaces): surfacing the right info at the right time, seamlessly
Culture and retention: flexibility, share schemes, meaningful recognition, and clear, kind feedback
Protecting brand magic: value over hard sell; community, authenticity, and doing one thing exceptionally well
Pull quotes
“Hospitality is the job of making people happy.”
“It’s kind to be clear; it’s unkind to be unclear.”
“We’re far more emotionally intelligent than AI—especially right now.”
Catch up on the series: Missed an episode? Dive into the rest of our Loyalty Series to get fully up to speed.
In this episode of the Tech on Toast Podcast, powered by Zonal, we dig into the misunderstood but powerful world of personalisation in hospitality. With inboxes overflowing and attention spans shrinking, how do brands stand out without becoming pushy — or worse, creepy?
Host Chris Fletcher is joined by:
Tom James, Managing Director at Bill’s Restaurants, leading the brand through a digital maturity journey with a strong focus on customer insight.
Dan Brookman, CEO of Airship & Toggle, who helps 400+ UK hospitality brands turn customer data into meaningful engagement and revenue.
Gillian Nicholson, Sales Director at Zonal, a technology provider supporting operators for over 45 years.
☕ Grab a coffee and listen in as we cover everything from handwritten notes in delivery bags to AI-powered customer insights.
🔥 What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
Why personalisation should feel like magic, not marketing
The importance of the value exchange — what customers actually get in return for their data
How brands like Bill’s and Pizza Express use loyalty to drive genuine connection, not just discounts
The role of automation and segmentation in building brand voice at scale
Why creepiness vs. annoyance is a real debate when using customer data
Which channels are working best right now: email, SMS, WhatsApp, and apps
How to measure success: from cover growth to visit frequency and customer lifetime value
Where AI is taking us next — from predictive insights to smarter, real-time personalisation
🎧 Perfect for:
Operators, marketers, and tech leaders who want to use data more effectively to build loyalty, grow frequency, and keep guests coming back — without falling into the trap of discount dependency.
👉 Listen now and discover how to make your personalisation strategy feel truly personal.
AI in Business: How Dojo is Turning Proof of Concept into Real Impact
This week on the Tech on Toast Podcast, we’re live at Dojo HQ with Rob Howes, Senior Vice President of Technology, to explore what AI in business really looks like beyond the hype.
Rob breaks down how Dojo are embedding AI across payments, customer service, and fraud prevention — moving from proof of concept experiments to production-grade impact.
We cover:
🔄 Automation, augmentation, amplification — the spectrum of AI adoption
📊 Why many businesses stall at proof of concept (and how to push through)
🧩 Grassroots vs. top-down adoption — how ChatGPT accelerated uptake
💡 The use cases delivering ROI fastest: ops, customer service, and cybersecurity
⚖️ Transparency, ethics, and building trust in AI-driven decisions
🚀 Dojo’s AI Trailblazer programme with Imperial College and Google
🔮 What’s next: hyper-personalisation, agentic AI, and explainability
If you’re wondering where to start with AI in your business — from building a roadmap to picking the right use cases — this episode is packed with insights you can take straight back to your team.
👉 Learn more about Dojo at dojo.tech.