The Digital Kitchen: Powering the Future of Dining
Chris Demery, Chief Technology Officer at Blaze Pizza, discusses technological advancements in the food industry in episode 35 of 'Beyond the Connection.'
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EPISODE: Tom Seeker Chief Technology Officer @ Ziggi’s Coffee How the Connected Kitchen Powers the Modern Enterprise Episode 34
What’s Inside [4:17] Introduction to Tom Seeker [ 37:46] Full Podcast Episode [2:32] Episode Highlights [2:16] Turning Real - Time Restaurant Data Into Profit Decisions [4:29] How CTOs Earn A Real Seat At The Table [5:25] Why CTOs Must Obsess Over The Customer Journey [8:44] Inside The Tech Stack Of A Truly Connected Kitchen [8:48] Solving Restaurant Tech Chaos With One Innovation Lab [0:53] Short - Turning Real - Time Restaurant Data Into Profit Decisions [0:53] Short - Inside The Tech Stack Of A Truly Connected Kitchen
EPISODE: A Podcast with Tom Seeker Tom Seeker, Chief Technology Officer at Ziggi’s Coffee, explains why the connected kitchen is now the heartbeat of modern restaurant operations. He shows how every interaction, from guest ordering to finance reconciliation, depends on reliable networks and integrated systems. Tom describes his innovation lab, where multiple POS, kiosks, and back office tools are tested together. He emphasizes that when data flows cleanly across the stack, operators can grow faster with fewer surprises.
Full Episode “The connected kitchen today is the tech stack within the restaurant that impacts how things flow between front of house and back of house, and the ability for all of your electronics to communicate in a singular world and allow data to be intelligently gathered, manipulated, and displayed so you can act in real time.”
5 (2:32) Episode Highlights
(2:16) Turning Real - Time Restaurant Data Into Profit Decisions “Data is king because it tells you what tools to use to be able to understand and analyze information, and for the human to understand how to apply that in their unique environment.”
(4:29) How CTOs Earn A Real Seat At The Table “The best advice I could give any technologist out there is if you want a seat at the table, you need to understand what is being said, because if you do not understand the business conversation, you are no longer really in that conversation.”
8 (5:25) Why CTOs Must Obsess Over The Customer Journey “Understanding your customer means understanding who you are serving internally and then understanding who they are serving, because the customer pays the bills, and anything you did that kept money from reaching the bank is something you will have to answer for.”
(8:44) Inside The Tech Stack Of A Truly Connected Kitchen “The digital kitchen is there to act like a gate guard, to act like a cop in a bad traffic accident, to allow things to smoothly flow where they need to go, to handle the bad things efficiently, and to let people spend more time taking care of the customer.”
(8:48) Solving Restaurant Tech Chaos With One Innovation Lab “From the customer to the bank and everything in between, the innovation lab was created and designed to work with all these different partners to solve problems, so that we can help people figure out how to make something work within their environment without knocking restaurants offline.”
11 YOUTUBE SHORT: “Data is king because it tells you what tools to use to be able to understand and analyze information, and for the human to understand how to apply that in their unique environment.” - Tom Seeker
YOUTUBE SHORT: “The digital kitchen is there to act like a gate guard, to act like a cop in a bad traffic accident, to allow things to smoothly flow where they need to go, to handle the bad things efficiently, and to let people spend more time taking care of the customer.” - Tom Seeker
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YOUTUBE SHORT: “Technology has to fit in seamlessly across the entire landscape because you cannot make something more difficult for an operator, believing that it is going to fit in seamlessly. A guest has to feel the omnichannel experience. They get to pick what they want to do, when they want to do it, and how they want to do it.” - Chris Demery
YOUTUBE SHORT: “The only way to ensure consistent performance is to measure it. The advantage technology has is that it can do timestamps based on actions that operators take, rather than having an operator try to remember how long it is taking to produce a pizza. The digital systems record all the pieces and refine their manufacturing process based on what the data tells them.” - Chris Demery
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