Tech Bites

Tune in to the debut episode of The B-Side where we talk with some of our favorite people in the culinary world about the other things that make them tick. In this first episode, co-hosts Erin Fairbanks of the Farm Report and Jennifer Leuzzi of Tech Bites talk to a trio of fighting foodies about Muay Thai: Dig Inn CEO Adam Eskin, Top Bartender Joshua Brandenberg , and Personal Trainer and Pro Fighter Elijah Clarke. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Technology is having a profound impact on our lives – and it’s not all good. What keep us connected and productive – is can also be the thing that makes us work 24/7, sucks up time, and isolates us from the people around us. Learn how to tame your tech with in-studio guest Paul Kemawikasit Alexander, a New York City based acupuncturist, who has created a unique wellness system based on traditional oriental medicine, martial arts and urban community. “When your get texted or receive an email, your brain secretes dopamine… it’s an addiction.” [10:45] “If you’re not fully present with each thing you’re doing it scatters the Chi.  When the Chi is scattered… you can get sick easier.” [29:00] –Paul Alexander on Tech Bites  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Restaurants want to know what customers think to improve service– but don’t want to be held hostage by public criticism. There are a slew of new apps for customer feedback and digital comment boxes, hoping to capture the market. Today in-studio Alex Beltrani, CEO and founder of Tattle, and Rob Edell CEO and co-founder of Servy, pitch their customer feedback apps to Nate Adler, General Manager and Partner at Huertas Restaurant. “The restaurant industry is all about expectations. When we first wrote our employee handbook the name of it was ‘exceeding expectations.'” [15:00] –Nate Adler on Tech Bites See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This is The Story of a Start-Up: Part Deux. In June we talked with Salivation start-up founder Joseph Epstein, the day his Kickstarter project launched. He hoped to fund the proto-type of his patent-pending, learn to cook via video app. He shut it down a week later. Joseph joins us in-studio to talk about what went wrong, re-building, and the joy of doing weekend mise-en-place in a restaurant kitchen. Hungry for more? Check out Episode 23 Cook Like a Chef with Salivation: The Story of a Start-Up Part One.  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Most restaurant owners are thinking about offering delicious food and awesome atmosphere to their customers. The last thing they consider (maybe never?) is who owns my payment token? Today business need to protect against system hacks and navigate all the new payment systems. If you don’t know what the hell a payment token is, this episode of Tech Bites with in-studio guest Phil Stead from Reliant Solutions is mandatory listening. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Do you wonder what’s it like to be a start-up tech company inside an accelerator? Maybe you’re thinking – what the hell’s an accelerator? Find out when in-studio guest Arne Pauwels, Wakati CEO, talks about his experience going through the Food-X accelerator now in New York. “If you’re not in the same environment where the accelerator is, you are throwing away your equity.” [13:30] “In the end, if we are doing something we don’t believe in, that is the fastest way to fail.” [32:00] –Arne Pauwels on Tech Bites  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Tech Bites gets lots of love and support from the Full Service DJ’s Uptown Nikko and Jack Inslee, so we wanted to give them a show case shout-out. In this episode they talk about their DJ collective, the Tech Bites theme song “No Matta’ CPU Track” and put down a great set in-studio. Warning: this episode contains some adult language in the mix.  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

You phone and tech gear are dirty and you know it. Not what’s in it (that’s your business) but what is on it. Think of all the places you put your phone, like the sticky coffee shop table, the bathroom sink counter in the bar, the subway seat – and that’s just today. Clean up your gear with in-studio guest Jolie Kerr author of the New York Times best-selling book My Boyfriend Barfed in My Handbag and Other Things You Can’t Ask Martha, and host of the Ask a Clean Person Podcast on Heritage Radio Network. Her clean-conspirator on this episode is writer Kate Knibbs from Gizmodo.   “Light switches, door handles and your phones… dirtiest things in the world.” [08:00] — Jolie Kerr on Tech Bites  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Get more Instagram followers by building a better feed. Michael Harlan Turkell, professional photographer and host of HRN’s The Food Seen, shares his pro-tips on taking good photos and how to use all effects toolbox. Gillie Houston of Yahoo Food talks about how she got to 40.1K followers, and how to get more. Follow the feeds: @HarlanTurk @TheFoodSeen @GillieHouston @YahooFood @TechBitesHRN @Heritage_Radio “The real benefit lies in hashtags is community based hashtags… you have the chance of being re-grammed by the big people.” [13:00]  –Gillie Houston on Tech Bites “The hashtag is great because it archives, it is searchable.” [27:35] –Michael Harlan Turkell on Tech Bites  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Food delivery is one of the hottest food tech categories right now – with online ordering representing about 9-billion dollars a year in the U.S. Second and third-party delivery services with easy-to-use apps and websites like GrubHub Seamless and UberEats are enjoying rapid growth. The media tells us they are great for consumers – but are they great for restaurants? Today’s episode talks with restaurant owners in-studio about how these delivery services impact business and the bottom line. This program was brought to you by Whole Foods Market. > #### “Living in New York City people just want everything brought to them.  They want it immediately so, unfortunately, the majority of my product is delivered.” [36:00] “To better support the shop, order direct! Or come in! Come experience it… I don’t hate on delivery, it’s cool, just pick up the phone.” [41:00] See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

There are apps for almost every piece of the dinning experience. There are apps to recommend restaurants, buy the reservations, document the experience and paying for the meal. Non-industry folks, who have the idea to build a better experience for themselves and fellow diners, are developing most of the new restaurant technology. In-studio guests Camilla Marcus and Lauren Hobbs, founder of the Techtable Summit happening this September, talk about the need for the restaurant industry to become more engaged in developing their own technology. This piece was brought to you by Fairway Market See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The internet and social media have given people a virtual soapbox to stand-up and rant, review and critique restaurants with sites like Yelp, Trip Advisor, and Urbanspoon. The reviews are every public – and lead to mixed results and responses from businesses. BlurtBox is the next generation of reviewing platforms, where diners use an app to send businesses anonymous feedback. In-studio guest, BlurtBox founder Julien Meyer talks about aggregating customer feedback into valuable data. This program was brought to you by Edwards. “As a paid service you have a barrier regardless of the business, by making it free restaurants understood the concept quicker.” [26:00] “Just by talking to people we can learn so much more than we did by sitting behind a computer screen.” [28:00] — Julien Meyer on Tech Bites See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Tech Bites Host Jennifer Leuzzi interviews Scott Reich and Mike Winik, founders of Our Harvest. Scott and Mike discuss the pros and cons of running a business that depends on long term production of products and the collection of massive amounts of data. Scott and Mike want to help people get better locally sourced food, while helping support the lives of local farmers, and they believe they can do all this through data predictions. This program was brought to you by Route 11 Potato Chips. “Its an ongoing constant dialogue with the farmer, making sure they get a fare share and the customer gets a fair price.” [14:00] “We’re offering a truly curated experience in a modern way, just using technology.” [19:00] — Scott Reich and Mike Winik on Tech Bites See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Eater, Est. in 2005 as the Blog & Bar Americain, created much of today’s requisites for online restaurant (nay – pop culture?) coverage we’ve come to expect, love and loathe on today’s internet. In-studio guest Eater founder Lockhart Steele talks about 10 years of Eater, the web and seaport living. This program was brought to you buy the International Culinary Center. “The voice of eater can be a little snobby, a little caustic, but we hope that it still reflects everybody’s love for eating out.” [11:00] “Its about the whole experience of dining out, thats what eater is about, is it a great experience.” [25:00] — Lockhart Steele on Tech Bites See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The restaurant industry has always managed to stay connected through a unique global network of word-of-mouth powered by purveyors that travel between kitchens, cooks with mobile phones, magazines and visiting chefs. As tech evolves so does the network. Enter Culintro, culinary + introduction circa 2009, a bid to be the comprehensive industry digital hub. In-studio guest Culintro founder Stephanie Berghoff talks about evolutions in the industry and the best way to find a job. This program was brought to you by The International Culinary Center. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Taking a page from the Silicon Valley playbook, FOOD-X combines start-ups with culinary ventures in one of the first food business accelerators. Created in 2014, the three-and-a-half month program gives food start-ups access to funding and mentorship with the industry stars like chef Dan Barber and CEO Danielle Gould. In-studio guest Shen Tong, founder and partner of FOOD-X talks about disrupting the food industry to create communities of change. This program was brought to you by Bonnie Plants. “In the next few decades the big names in the food industry will be different, some of them have not even been invented yet.” [15:00] — Shen Tong on Tech Bites See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This new tech company ChouxBox comes from a chef and front-of-house guy, who wanted to spend less time on paperwork and more time cooking and the dinning room. They developed a “POP” or point-of-purchase inventory system that works with a snap of an iphone camera. In-studio guests Tony Aiazzi and Xavier “X” Mariezcurrena, talk about the unlikely story of going from restaurant to start-up incubator, to having a tech team in the Philippines that makes it all seem like magic.This program was brought to you by The International Culinary Center. “We want to take the data work out of the chefs hands and automate the process.” [14:30] —Tony Aiazzi on Tech BitesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Learning to cook via video is a growing food tech category. From subscription-based models to crowd-sourced amateur videos, to YouTube celebrities, lots of businesses are banking on the idea people want how-to videos in the kitchen. In-studio guest Joseph Epstein, discussed his patent-pending learning system at the foundation of Salivation, and what it’s like a like behind the scenes of a food tech start-up. This program was brought to you by the International Culinary Center. “Kickstarter is a great platform you can reach out to your future customers and fans…it really lets you know on a due dilligence level that there is a market for this idea.” [24:00] “What gets ahead in any sector or category that is full, is unique content…what we’re planning to put out has better content and more effective content.” [26:00] — Joseph Epstein on Tech Bites See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It takes more than a traveling chef and great pork buns to conquer the global restaurant and media markets. In this episode of Tech Bites, the studio is jam packed with the social ninjas that run the digital presences for Momofuku Restaurants worldwide and Zero Point Zero Productions (the creative powerhouse behind Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown, PBS’s Mind of A Chef, MeatEater, Apex Predator and Food Republic). Listen in on Helen Cho, Danny Carnaje from ZPZ and Marguerite Mariscal and Rebecca Palkovics from Momofuku talk tweets, paper cuts and pork belly. This program was brought to you by Cain Vineyard & Winery. “We very intentionally kept everything [social media] super consolidated. We find across all our restaurants there’s a ton of overlap in demographics. Also, it allows us to put out more content in a way that if it was coming out of an individual restaurant they wouldn’t have the time or capacity.” [17:10] “We’ve had a Facebook renaissance. I think video on Facebook is the fastest growing demo

Music can be an important ingredient to any dining experience and expressing the point-of-view of the house. In some cases, music and million-dollar DJ’s eclipse the food and chef. In this episode, in-studio guests DJ Timka and Chef Laurent Gras, discuss current trends and music tech, and their collaboration on music for the dinning room of three-star Michelin L2O. “The only downside to live streaming is if your internet goes down, you’re in trouble.” [09:00] –DJ Timka on Tech Bites “Music has a very positive energy. If you use it as a compliment to your experience it’s great for consumers and customers.” 12:00 –Laurent Gras on Tech BitesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.