Podcasts about Bentonville

We talk through what truly drives hair loss and why the best results come from diagnosing the root cause, not rushing to a single solution. We break down how MD Hair Labs combines medical management, advanced diagnostics, and natural-looking transplant artistry to protect both today's hair and your future density. • Our three-bucket approach: medical management, non-surgical therapeutics, surgical hair transplants • Clinical-grade red light laser therapy and why consistency matters • PDGF therapy and other regenerative options that support follicles • Hair metrics analysis to measure miniaturization and density over time • Genetic testing to reduce trial and error with medications • Hormones and hair: TRT, DHT conversion, and preventing acceleration • GLP-1 weight loss and telogen effluvium prevention strategies • What makes a transplant look natural: single-hair grafts and irregular hairlines • Why we focus on long-term follow-up instead of repeat surgeries Let's Connect!  *   Instagram https://www.instagram.com/premierderm/*   Facebook https://www.facebook.com/premierdermatology*   Website:  https://premierderm.netPremier Dermatology is located in Bentonville, Fayetteville, & Bella Vista, Arkansas!

Selling at Walmart? Then this podcast is for you, with two of the sharpest brains in the ecommerce business, Russ Dieringer, Founder and Claire McBride, VP of Research and Education from Stratably. All the latest data on their quarter and the trends, pressures, and opportunities that are coming your way out of Bentonville.

Socialism in the service drive starts the same way every time: top performers get capped, weak performers get carried, and the whole shop drifts toward the middle. In this episode of Service Drive Revolution, Chris Collins, Adam Krey, and Hogi break down how to spot it early and what to do strategically to keep your service department on the capitalist side of the coin. This is the follow-up to last week's episode, which sparked a huge conversation in the comments — so this one is a live Q&A. Questions from dealers, service managers, and advisors get answered on air. What is "socialism in the service drive"? It's when pay, work distribution, and recognition get flattened so that effort and results no longer determine outcome. Hours get spread evenly instead of earned. Underperformers are protected. Your best advisors and techs subsidize everyone else — and eventually they leave. Why does it matter? Your top 20% drive the majority of your gross. The moment they realize their production is being redistributed, you lose them to the store down the street. Fixed operations lives or dies on retaining high performers. What you'll learn in this episode: - The warning signs that your service drive is drifting toward a socialist structure - How pay plans quietly reward mediocrity and punish production - Why "fairness" and "equality" are not the same thing on a service drive - Strategic moves to protect your top performers and your gross - Live answers to viewer questions from the Q&A Who this is for: Service managers, fixed operations directors, dealer principals, service advisors, and technicians at franchised dealerships in the US and Canada. ⏱️ CHAPTERS 00:00 — Welcome to Service Drive Revolution + today's topic 02:22 — Why we banned Kindles (you don't actually own the book) 06:14 — Adam finally joins the Apple ecosystem 09:14 — Forgotten towns: Cairo, Illinois and the Rust Belt 11:25 — Why aren't factories going where people want to work? 14:11 — No housing, no retail, no comeback 17:35 — The Bentonville blueprint for reviving a town 18:19 — The redevelopment playbook: retail first, then apartments 21:27 — Marketing lesson: go young to sell the older buyer 24:46 — Manufacturing is skipping the towns that need it most 25:31 — Q&A: Technician minimum standards with too many techs 26:19 — Guarantee opportunity, not pay 27:29 — Pay plans that reward mediocrity 27:51 — The 80% warranty / 20% customer pay trap 28:15 — Warranty reimbursement laws and why techs want hourly 30:11 — Is your advisor pay plan too complicated? 31:00 — "How many techs will follow you?" — the best interview question 32:31 — Why only 2 or 3 of 12 techs are high performers 34:07 — Q&A: Are dealers pushing for socialism? 35:18 — Why the car business runs on self-agency 36:30 — Career path: the #1 reason techs quit early 38:34 — The ASR closing percentage trap 40:29 — Chasing metrics that look good vs. make money 41:14 — Hire disciplined: look for assassins, not resumes 42:25 — Techs can already name their price 43:59 — The vocational school gap 46:43 — Dealers recruiting straight out of high schools 49:02 — Dealerships as the fabric of the community 49:46 — Older techs vs. younger techs in the shop 52:00 — The industry has to evolve or get left behind

We sat down with the CEOs of Experience Fayetteville, Ryan Hauck, and Visit Bentonville, Kalene Griffith, to talk about their most recent partnership with Wheel the World to become more accessible, friendly cities. Wheel the World does not just focus on being ADA-compliant but also highlights what local hotels and restaurants are doing well in accommodating not just travelers with physical disabilities, but also sensory needs as well. A New American Town is here to help you plan your trip to Bentonville, Arkansas. From guides, events, and restaurant highlights. Find all this and more at visitbentonville.com and subscribe to our newsletter. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, and LinkedIn.  You can listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, CastBox, Podcast Casts, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, and Podcast Addict.  

 The farm got a new buck today- an 18 month old mostly Myotonic with 1/4 Spanish.  He is a nice stout lad with great muscling and HUGE "organs of reproduction..."  As Blind Hog says- he will be a big boy if he can grow into his nuts.Acorn had an eye exam, advised to hold off on corrective surgery till cataracts force the issue.Roofing estimates coming in, three alone taken on Wednesday. It has been soooo freakin hot... And an angry wren-lette who got watered. Acorn did not know a nest was there!Acorn will kidnap Blind Hog for a Friday run to Bentonville and the art museums.  Grandma Moses Exhibit soft opening, members only.  Might as well flex the perks!

We sat down with Marcus Wirsig of Ari Bikes and talked about how Ari Bikes focuses on making the bike-buying experience personalized and customized.Not only does Ari have a customer-first model, but they are also focused on being involved in the local biking community. A New American Town is here to help you plan your trip to Bentonville, Arkansas. From guides, events, and restaurant highlights. Find all this and more at visitbentonville.com and subscribe to our newsletter. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, and LinkedIn.  You can listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, CastBox, Podcast Casts, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, and Podcast Addict.  

On today's show, we hear that the pay gap between teachers and comparable college-graduate professionals continues to widen. Plus, we visit with the United States representative to the Culinary World Skills competition, who is prepping in Bentonville. Plus, we get a survey of local music with Talkin' Tunes.

The rise, death, and return of in-store retail media as lived by Mike Hiatt.Around 2010, the in-store retail media screens inside Walmart's stores were bringing in more revenue than Walmart.com. By 2015 the network was gone. Mike Hiatt, Founder & President of Dynamic Retailing, built it. He came to Bentonville to take over Walmart TV, which at the time meant 27-inch screens bolted up in the rafters playing audio that fought with Walmart Radio and lost. He rebuilt it as the Smart Network: eye-level screens, category channels, and five media endcaps that sold out every time they went to market. At its peak it had the reach of a Super Bowl each week. It was a retail media network before the industry coined the phrase. Then it came apart. Marketing owned the network, merchants owned the space, and nobody had built a way to cut the merchants in. Walmart pulled it out around 2015. Ricardo Belmar and Casey Golden get Mike to walk through what really happened, why in-store retail media is working now when it stalled then, and what his book Timing the Desert says about being right too early. Ricardo spent that same era at Hughes delivering managed digital signage to retailers, so this one gets personal and specific fast.This is a story of what was, what could have been, and the lessons every retail media network leader today should learn from the original in-store media network.In This Episode, You'll Learn·       Why a retail media network inside Walmart's stores out-earned Walmart.com and still got deinstalled·       How the fight over trade funds, national ad dollars, and shopper marketing budgets stalled in-store retail media for a decade, and what Amazon did to end it·       Why DSIQ, an ex-Microsoft team out of Seattle, built an ad server for store screens before the industry had the term, and why the company never scaled past Walmart·       The difference between a salesperson and a business development person, and why sending the wrong one into a retailer kills the deal·       Mike's five A's of in-store content: accessible, appropriate, adaptable, attractive, assembled·       Why he argues for localization over personalization, and what it means to treat 2,000 stores as 2,000 super customers·       Who he thinks reaches the in-store retail media cereal moment first·       Why in-store retail media will never be as lucrative as online, and why every retail media network is heading there anywaySupport our sponsors.This Episode is Brought to You By RetailClub.From the founders of Shoptalk and Groceryshop, RetailClub AI Festival brings together 2,000 industry leaders from September 22 to 24 for three days fully outdoors in Huntington Beach focused entirely on how AI is transforming retail. Through the Breakthruprogram, you can shape your experience before you even arrive. Request 15-minute, double opt-in meetings with the people you want to meet, join small-group conversations on the biggest questions in AI and retail, choose from more than 100 experiences, and connect over curated networking dinners. Retail and brand leaders can attend free, plus receive up to $1,750 toward travel and hotel. The Breakthru registration deadline has been extended to September 2. Register now at retailclub.com/retail-razor-podcast.W. P. Carey School of Business, Arizona State University.ASU is a leading public research university and its W. P. Carey School of Business is the largest in the United States. AI-Enabled Supply Chain Strategy is a 3-day executive program running October 5-7, built by the #2-ranked Supply Chain Management department. The program is designed for senior leaders setting AI strategy across procurement, logistics, and operations.Register at https://specialevents.asu.edu/878064 with ID Code retailrazorasu for $1,500 off.Subscribe & Follow.How much did you love this episode? Drop us a 5‑star rating and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Goodpods. Subscribe on YouTube so you never miss an episode and check out the other shows in the Retail Razor Podcast Network: Retail Transformers, Blade to Greatness, and Data Blades.Subscribe to the Retail Razor Podcast Network: https://retailrazor.com/Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://retailrazor.substack.comSubscribe to our YouTube channel: https://go.retailrazor.com/utubeFeatured guest.Mike Hiatt. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikehiatt/Founder & President of Dynamic Retailing. https://dynamic-retailing.comAuthor. Timing the Desert. https://a.co/d/07IJTQQS.Mike Hiatt is the president of Dynamic Retailing. A retail media consultancy focused on helping technology solutions providers work more effectively with retailers and assisting retailers better execute retail media strategies inside their stores. He is on the advisory boards at Venvee and Blue Zoo; he recently authored the business book Timing the Desert: A Front-Line perspective on Retail Media, Readiness, and Scale, which focuses on Hiatt's experiences working at Walmart, Triad Retail Media, and Sam's Club as well as key insights about where in-store retail media will land in the future of retail. Hiatt graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in Advertising Management.Chapters.00:00 Teaser 00:40 Intro 05:29 Welcome & Introduction 06:36 Early In-Store Media & Walmart TV 08:38 Building the Smart Network 12:22 Merchants vs. Marketers Friction 17:54 Timing the Desert: The Book 24:39 Being Early: DSIQ and the Ad Server Story 31:08 Business Development vs. Sales 38:27 The Retail Media Cereal Moment 44:54 In-Store vs. Online Media Philosophy 46:52 The Five A's, Localization & AI's Future 56:47 Show CloseMeet your hosts.Helping you cut through the clutter in retail & retail tech:Ricardo Belmar is an NRF Top Retail Voice for 2025 and a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert from 2021 – 2026. Thinkers 360 has named him a Top 10 Thought Leader in Retail, a Top 25 Thought Leader in AGI and Careers, a Top 50 Thought Leader in Agentic AIand Management, and a Top 100 Thought Leader in Digital Transformation and Transformation. Thinkers 360 also named him a Top Digital Voice for 2024 and 2025. He is an advisory council member at George Mason University's Center for Retail Transformationand the Retail Cloud Alliance. He was most recently the partner marketing leader for retail & consumer goods in the Americas at Microsoft.Casey Golden, is the North America Leader for Retail & Consumer Goods at CI&T, and CEO of Luxlock. She is a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert from 2023 - 2026, and Retail Cloud Alliance advisory council member. After a career on the fashion and supply chain technology side of the business, Casey is obsessed with the customer relationship between the brand and the consumer and is slaying franken-stacks and building retail tech! Episode Music.Includes music provided by imunobeats.com, featuring Overclocked, and E-Motive from the album Beat Hype, written by Heston Mimms, published by Imuno.

We sat down with Austen Bailly to discuss reimagining the permanent collection as a thematic experience, mixing time periods and media to tell the story of American art. Austen shares why integration matters, why "this place is for you," and how a piece like "Two Grey Hills" connects art, family, and economics into one story. She also explains how the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art continues to focus on making art accessible to all.A New American Town is here to help you plan your trip to Bentonville, Arkansas. From guides, events, and restaurant highlights. Find all this and more at visitbentonville.com and subscribe to our newsletter. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, and LinkedIn.  You can listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, CastBox, Podcast Casts, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, and Podcast Addict.  

On today's show, we hear that demonstrators gathered in Bentonville to protest a military contractor and defense summit. Plus, the University of Arkansas' season of music performances gets rolling next week with Zen Brass, so we expand our thoughts about what a brass ensemble can perform. We also get a roundup of live music with Talkin' Tunes.

In this week's edition of the Flavors of Northwest Arkansas podcast, we talk with Bella Vista resident, and three-time League of Fire World Champion in competitive pepper eating Stephen “Fiery Redd” Curgan. We'll talk about what got him into competitive pepper eating and we'll also talk about the first-ever Ozark Flame & Flavor Festival happening this Saturday, but first?!?! FOOD NEWS!! Orthodox Farmhouse Brewing sold. We'll tell you what the plans are. Dodo Coffee is OFFICIALLY open in their new building, and there's a party Saturday. We'll hear from owner Isaiah Ojeda! Fresh Monkee is having their soft opening week in Fayetteville. Shakes are half off! A Santa Barbara winery opened their only tasting room in Rogers. You'll hear from the owner! Khana Grill closed their dining room, but you can still eat their food. We'll explain. Downtown Springdale's The Blind Bear is expanding into another city. El Jaliciense in Lowell might be closed, but they may not be done. Happy 25th anniversary to Grubs in downtown Fayetteville! Happy 31st anniversary to Marketplace in Springdale! Happy 4th anniversary to Conifer and Chef Matt Cooper. Speaking of Chef Cooper, he has something BIG coming in 2027! Again, Speaking of Chef Cooper, he was out fifth interview EVER. He broke a little news on our show back then. Stephen “Fiery Redd” Curgan is a 3-Time League of Fire World Champion... He eats peppers that a VERY high percentage of us wouldn't touch. How did he get into it? It all started online- he'll explain. Also, how do you make your way to being a World Champion in it in only 2 years? It's an interesting path for sure! Finally, this Saturday is the first-ever Ozark Flame & Flavor Festival in Bentonville at the Record, and you'll hear all about in this episode of the Flavors of Northwest Arkansas podcast!

The Suite Spot attended the 2026 Hotel Data Conference and had the opportunity to interview some of the best and brightest hospitality leaders in the industry to gain their insights and perspectives on prevailing data trends, AI & technology, how to optimize the guest experience and much more.  Be sure to watch the full episode if you missed any of the action from the 2026 Hotel Data Conference.  Special thanks to: Amanda Hite, Jan Freitag, Erica Lipscomb, Max Spangler, & Sam Trotter. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello, everyone. Ryan Embree here at the 2026 Hotel Data Conference here with STR President Amanda Hite. Amanda, great to see you again. Congratulations here. This is our first time at the Hotel Data Conference. Amanda Hite: Oh, wonderful. Thank you. Ryan Embree: Record attendance was just announced. Welcome to The Suite Spot. We’re excited to be here. It was a ton of excitement that we just saw. Tell us a little bit about this event, and we were talking off camera about, do you ever expect it to be what it is right now? Amanda Hite: Yes, we started it 18 years ago with a couple hundred people, maybe. The very first year we’ve always had it in Nashville. This is our home base for the STR part of our business. Most of our employees are here that are in the US. So we started it with a way to connect with customers and more importantly, like, we all have this curiosity about the data. You know, we’re constantly in analyzing, looking at trends in the industry, and we wanted to get people together to hear what are you seeing and let’s talk about it. And that’s really how this started. So it’s, I think it’s for me, my most proud part of this conference is the feeling that everyone has when they come in of being really open and curious and wanting to learn from each other. So you get some really good dynamic conversations happening in the networking breaks and in the hallway. Ryan Embree: Well, it’s such an important time right now too, right? ‘Cause people are already starting, if you can believe it. Well, actually, probably you can look in 2027. Amanda Hite: That’s why we do hotel data conference when we do it. Exactly. It’s budget season. Ryan Embree: Brilliant. Brilliant. Right? And, you know, you just got off stage, like I said. One of the fascinating pieces, like I said, we weren’t here last year, but this is our first time. You said when you first stepped on stage, there were, and you showed some of those original numbers. There was a little bit of a gap in the audience last year. Amanda Hite: Yes. Ryan Embree: But this year, a little bit different story. Amanda Hite: Yes. We had a much better forecast to reveal this year. Last year at this time was when we took the forecast down to reflect what was happening in the industry. And this year, we raised the forecast, not just for the rest of this year, but also for 2027. Ryan Embree: So great to see. And a really cool inflection point, I made a note here, revenue for the first time outpacing expenses, right? What does that mean for hoteliers? Amanda Hite: Yeah. So we finally see the pace of growth on the revenue side outpacing the expense growth. I mean, we’re in a high inflationary environment. Expense growth is something that will continue and hoteliers are having to deal with. But to see that we’re actually going to get some GOP gains, it’s, it’s super helpful. I mean, the point I made this morning though is our margins are not growing. Yeah. So we’ve got some room to grow efficiencies and productivity within the hotels to try to get margins to grow at the same rate of GOP growth. Ryan Embree: Yeah, yeah. It’s challenging right now. And one of the things we’re doing to combat, or CoStar’s doing combat that, bottom line data being added to the product. What’s that mean for the hotel industry? Ryan Embree: Yeah, so within STR Benchmark and the CoStar platform, we introduced at the end of the first quarter our profitability benchmarking. P&L is something that STR has done for 30 years. We did it on an annual basis. And we introduced our monthly benchmarking back in 2020, literally as the world shut down. So maybe not the best timing. But of course, now we’re prepared in an environment like we are today, a very complex operating environment for our hoteliers. It’s, yes, we need to grow revenues, but we must make sure that that is flowing through to the bottom line and that our operators and owners are actually making money. And that’s not been the case in many types of hotels and many markets around the country. So we’re trying to make sure that we bring that visibility of not just the top line growth that we want to see for the industry, but the flow through all the way to the bottom line. Ryan Embree: Yeah, I’d love to see that. And, you know, another thing that we’re gonna hear constantly about at, and at this conference is AI, right? So I guess the overarching question would be more of like, how are you incorporating AI into your products right now? Amanda Hite: This is when I’m so thankful that we are a part of the CoStar Group entity. If you follow our other brands, homes and apartments launched AI in their products earlier this year. So we’re continuing to build off of that. We will have AI search in the CoStar product in the same way that you see in apartments and homes. But for STR benchmarks specifically, what we’re thinking about is making sure that we’re integrating AI into the product, not just sitting on top of the product, but like we interact with the clients all the time on the analysis in the industry. So we want to bring that through AI into the product for our customers to use. So we love when they pick up the phone and call us and wanna talk about data. Right. But we also wanna make it easier for them to surface it within their portfolios in product. And so that’s the path that we’re going down to bring that intelligence in the product and analyzing and spotting the trends, knowing what to look at or sometimes not look at, right? Sometimes it’s a great point. It’s just as important to say like, “Hey, I only have a limited amount of time. Where do I not need to spend time right now?” And that can be tricky, especially when you’re looking at a larger portfolio of trying to discern where, what makes the most sense to drive profitability for my business, for me to spend time on right now. Ryan Embree: 100%. Those complexities and driving efficiency so important right now. And turning those data, that data into actual insights. That what one of the promises of AI. So reason we’re here at the Hotel Data Conference, thank you for taking the time. We’ll, we’ll let you get back. I know you’re hosting almost 900 hoteliers here. So we’ll let, let you get back to Amanda. Thanks for stopping by. Amanda Hite: Thank you, Ryan. Appreciate it. Ryan Embree: Hello, everyone. Ryan Embree here with The Suite Spot live on location Nashville at the 2026 Hotel Data Conference here with Jan Freitag, National Director at CoStar. Jan, thank you so much for taking some time and very busy. You’re hosting almost a thousand hoteliers here. Jan Freitag: Yes, 18th year. Sold out again. So heads up, next year we’ll sell out again. But thanks for being here and sort of taking the pulse on the industry. We appreciate it. Ryan Embree: 100%. Congratulations. Amanda Hite opened us this morning saying last year when she unveiled the forecast, there were audible gaps in the crowd. I feel like behind us, people have been skipping, jumping down, up and down this escalators. Share with us, we got a revised forecast. Jan Freitag: So we’re proposing that RevPar this year is up 4.4%. So that is the second upward revision we had to make, quote unquote. And the data’s just so strong. But then that means that next year, we’re gonna see growth, but it’s much slower global. So next year we’re thinking that RevPargrowth is gonna be like, you know, 2-2.1% or so. So the negative way to say this is, “Oh, our growth rate is cut in half.” The positive way to say this is like, “Oh, we have growth on growth, right? 4% this year, ne – 2% next year.” Ryan Embree: 100%. I mean, a lot of people are going into, you know, we’ve talked to hoteliers here on the Suite Spot, going into their budgets. These are very, very important numbers for them as they go into their budgets because they wanna forecast. When we met last, we were at NYU. There had been zero soccer games played in the US. Now, 104 games later, we got a crown champion. Obviously had a big impact. We’re gonna talk about that in a minute. But that strong performance, one of your big takeaways from this morning was strong performance is gonna equal some tougher comps in 2027, right? Jan Freitag: Yeah, absolutely. So we had arguably easy comps this year, right? The Q2, three, and four RevPAR performance last year was negative. So yeah, we would outperform it this year. That was not a question. But because, RevPAR in the second quarter was up 5.7%, that is a, a very stout result, obviously driven in June, partially by the World Cup remember we’re gonna talk about. You know what that means for next year is, oh wow, we’re not gonna see that performance again. And so my conversation this morning with hoteliers is all about, okay, so how do you massage your owner? How do you have this conversation with your owner, with your team to say, look, there’s still gonna be growth, but we really have to think about this. And I heard this this morning from an asset manager at next year as a year of 10 months and two months, you know? So really take June and July out of your annual number and say, okay, so what’s the growth for that? And then, yeah, June, July is just gonna be tough cost. Ryan Embree: Yeah. Probably something that a lot of markets who hosted Taylor Swift a couple years ago had to deal with. And then maybe what LA’s gonna have to deal with in 2029 after the Olympics in 28. Jan Freitag: Yeah, exactly. So we’re already talking now about the Olympics. We’re gonna talk about, obviously the World Cup in four years over in Europe and what is the performance there. So these sporting events are just the gifts that keep on giving. Ryan Embree: Yeah. Yeah. And, and travelers continue what we heard this morning. Consumers continue to prioritize travel, which is really, really great for obviously our industry. But not without its cautionary tales, you also had a watch your margins kind of take away from that. Maybe expand on that a little bit. Jan Freitag: Yeah. So we’ve had for the last year and for the last couple of years, really this interplay between room rate growth and the rate of inflation being higher than room rate growth. And we’re taking the rate of inflation sort of as a proxy for how much more things are expensive. And the costs for hotels are obviously going up. Higher labor costs, higher insurance costs, higher food costs, higher costs, inner energy, everything. So if your costs are going up in order for your margins to expand, you need to drive room rate or revenue faster than the cost increase. And that just is not happening. So my colleague Isaac Collazo spent 55 slides and an hour explaining how margins are decelerating, unfortunately. Now, the total dollar amount, we’re everything gets more expensive, but it also means we’re having more money available as profit. But the margins are coming down. And that’s really the, maybe to me, the main takeaway from HCC this year for the budget conversation for 2027 is watch your margin. Ryan Embree: Efficiency is always looking for that, especially in these tight margin areas. And then lastly, you know, your whole presentation this morning was themed around the World Cup. And, and I do wanna bring it up because, obviously there was the quote was 104 Super Bowls. Yeah. Right? And you kind of explored that case a little bit. Found out maybe that might not be the case. Jan Freitag: Yeah, exactly. So the FIFA president had said at the time, just to explain to American audiences, “Hey, we have 104 soccer games and they look like 104 Super Bowls.” That is of course not the case. And that was never meant to be the case. Super Bowl is the largest cultural sport event in America. It happens once a year, right? And to sort of translate that was, I thought always a little silly. So it turns out that the 104 Super Bowls did not come to pass, and it was more like 30 Super Bowls, maybe if that. So yeah, it was still a very healthy impact. If you look at the markets that Hosta gave Kansas City, New York, Philadelphia, Boston, very, very strong room rate growth. Interestingly, in some markets, actually, occupancy declines. We saw that specifically in Vancouver, but we saw it in Atlanta, we saw it in Boston. Why is that? Well, because corporate America, meeting travelers, meeting planners said, “You know what? I don’t need to compete with the Tartan Army in Boston for our meeting. You know, let me just stay away. Let me have that meeting in August, or let me move that meeting to Chicago,” for example. Sure. Chicago had a very, very strong June, July meeting calendar. So it’s, um, the, the room rate increase was absolutely expected and is exactly what came to pass. It just wasn’t Autumn for a Super Bowl. Ryan Embree: Yeah. I mean, that just proves we are, uh, a collective of markets. Things are gonna be obviously different in each one. Yeah. Uh, with different factors there. You know, a- and there’s also an interesting stat, fascinating stat, I wanna bring it up, about booking windows, um, that, that you brought up there. Yeah. If you wanna expand on that. Jan Freitag: So I got this totally wrong in the run up to the World Cup because I thought, look, if somebody books that FIFA ticket a year out, and the airplane ticket’s six months out, surely they would book their hotel three months out. Yeah. That did not happen. Right. And so we saw specifically the chart that I had this morning for, uh, arrival dates, June 11, 12, 13, 20 basis points of, uh, 20 points of occupancy was booked after June 8th. Wow. So that’s a booking windows of, like, three or four days. Wow. For an event that you knew what happened, I mean, six years ago. Yeah. You know? And you had a ticket from one year ago. So I just completely though that the, uh, the, the leisure traveler, the, the soccer traveler would also book their room way ahead. That did not come with us. Ryan Embree: Very interesting. I wonder if that’s a macro trend happening right now, those booking windows starting to shorten a little bit. Jan Freitag: Yeah, and maybe that’s a takeaway for our friends, you know, in LA who are hosting the Olympics. Hey, you know, be very mindful how you match that booking window. Ryan Embree: Lessons from history learned there. Yes. Um, final as we wrap up, I always li- like, like to get any, you know, you look at a lot of data. So any interesting, uh, like, data points that really stood out or surprising? Jan Freitag: I mean, the July data came out yesterday and the luxury class RevPar growth was 16%. Ryan Embree: Wow. Jan Freitag: Talk about A, amazing, but B, A, tough comps. Yeah. In July of next year. But it was an amazing, amazing performance. July was very, very strong. Um, and June as well. So we clearly saw, you know, July was helped a little bit by 4th of July, World Cup, uh, 4th of July calendar year, but also the World Cup, obviously the final and the bronze medal games. They all, they all helped. So July was strong, June was strong. So now I think things are getting a little bit more normal – Yeah. Early on end. Ryan Embree: Awesome. Well, we’ll continue to look ahead as you will, but thank you again for taking time out of your busy schedule, Jan. Jan Freitag: Thanks for being here. Thank you. Ryan Embree: Hello everyone, Ryan Embree here with The Suite Spot. We are live on location of the 2026 Hotel Data Conference. I am here with Erica Lipscomb, EVP of Commercial Strategy at PM Hotel Group. Erica, thank you so much for joining me on The Suite Spot. Erica Lipscomb: Well, thank you for having me. Very excited to be here. Ryan Embree: Yeah, first time here on the Suite Spot. Yes. But not your first time here at Hotel Data Conference. Erica Lipscomb: Not my first time at Hotel Data Conference. This is conference number eight. Ryan Embree: Okay. Yes. All right. Hotel data conference. You obviously are no stranger, you’re a pro. What do you call a hotel data conference a success kind of reflecting back? What do you come here to accomplish and to learn? Erica Lipscomb: You know, I, again, this is our start of budget season. Sure. Right? Yeah. So I actually, uh, had dinner with Amanda last night and said, “You do realize what you’ve done here, right? We cannot even start our budget calendars until there’s an HTC.” Yeah. So really what I look forward to is not coming here just to hear that the amazing news of an increase year over year, or that we’re gonna increase in the year for the year. Sure. But what are those things that I can take away that can make it tactical for our teams? Mm-hmm. So learning from industry leaders that are here. We have amazingly smart people that are here at this conference. And we’re really drafting and shaping what the industry will look like. So what are those learnings? And then how do I make sure that we trickle that down within the organization and get them to our teams? Ryan Embree: Which can change so rapidly, right? As we know – Absolutely. It’s gone from, uh, a yearly change to almost, it feels like a weekly, especially with the AI and technology conversation. Yes. You were on a panel last year here at this same conference. I’m curious, what were some of the conversations then versus now? Erica Lipscomb: Yeah. And very different. I think it’s been extreme polar opposites. Okay. I feel like last year, there was a lot of conversation about AI. Mm-hmm. But more on the what is AI. Mm. And how are we gonna use AI? Yep. And it’s already started in conversations this morning. You know, we started networking last night, and most people are now really talking about what is AI doing for us to make sure that we’re efficient, making sure that our teams are effective, um, ensuring there’s profitability back to our owners. So it’s gone from a concept – Yeah. To now actually, how are we utilizing AI to be better in the industry, but keeping the forefront our customers? Ryan Embree: It feels like we’re in the sandbox now, right? And there’s a lot of companies out there trying different things. It’s the exploration process and, you know, maybe some success, but even, uh, lessons in the failure. Uh, I, I’ve been hearing a lot about that as well. So hotel data, obviously data is the name of the game. Yes. Still one of the most important tools I feel like right now on our quest of guest personalization. And so much it can do to kind of like what you said, prepare us for the rest of 2026 and even into 2027. Right. How is PM Hotel Group kind of leveraging data for growth and, uh, experiences? Erica Lipscomb: So actually you started with, with growth and experiences. Yeah. So really starting with growth. Yeah. We really are starting with AI in our business development side of our, our, of our home. Sure. And really how are we looking for the right clients that fit PM? Yeah. How, again, when you look at, uh, BD, it’s a relationship. Mm. So who are those owners? Who are the asset managers? What do their teams look like? Is that a right fit? And how can we help them grow? So that’s really the act – acquisition of the client and the customer. And then when we get to the property level – Right. Then as an enterprise, as a support center, what we’re looking to do is how do we use data, which is the, the heart – Yeah. Of revenue optimization. Sure. How are you using that data to make sure that we’re pulling through every step of the guest journey? So from the time again, acquisition of a customer. Right. So now not an owner, but that actual guest that’s gonna be staying at our properties, what does that customer journey look like? How do we find the right customer? We have a very diversified portfolio – Oh, yeah. For each one of our assets in the portfolio, ensuring that they convert. And then once they’re there in their stay, are we pulling through on all the experiences they expect? Whether it’s an independent hotel and the experiences that come along or for the brands and the brand standards. And then once our guests leave, how do we make sure that we are still speaking to them – uh-huh. And making sure that they return? Ryan Embree: I love how you walk through the entire guest experience. I think sometimes we get caught up just thinking about one or two elements of it. Right. But it really does start. I mean, the hot topic right now is that AI visibility, right? Absolutely. And being bound, uh, because our travelers are changing the way that they’re searching for hotels and doing their research. So, uh, it’s super, super important there. We’re in Nashville, Erica, uh, no stranger for PM Hotel Group. Yes. Uh, you guys just, uh – Very excited. Assumed management, 12 properties. Yes. Uh, what do you lo – like, um, from a Nashville market standpoint? I mean, this has just been such a hot market right now in hospitality. Uh, but also, you know, a big threshold of, uh, exciting 80 plus hotels for PM Hotel Group? Erica Lipscomb: Yes. We’re very excited to have the 12 hotels that, from Pinnacle that joined our portfolio. And that’s really our sweet spot, right? Finding those type of assets that fit our growth in our platform, and that we can make sure that we’re optimizing on their revenue, as well as excellent customer experience and guest operations experience. So what I really like about Nashville, and it’s not a new growth. Right. You know, Nashville never stopped growing, right? Where the, where the rest of the world really has struggled even, you know, six years ago. Through COVID. Nashville didn’t, right? Ryan Embree: It was red hot. Erica Lipscomb: But what most people think about when you hear Nashville, they’re really just thinking it’s an entertainment city. That’s not just all Nashville is. So when we peel it back and take a look at the segmentation and what’s driving Nashville, you do still have that customer that is true corporate business. And you still have conventions and groups. I was just in a group maximization winning group seminar just not too long ago. And in that breakout session, we really talk about group continues to still grow. Oh, yeah. And when you take a look at the first half of this year, that growth is really happening not only just in convention centers, but those hotels that have group meetings. Even when you take a look at those assets, what’s interesting is the growth is not just in the hotel that has most of the group, but if you are affiliated. You’re feeling that demand. Leveraging the demand and continuing to drive occupancy and ADR. Yeah, absolutely. So that’s why we’re still excited about Nashville. It’s one of those markets that continues to do well, not just in entertainment, but on the corporate business transient side, as well as group side. Ryan Embree: It’s a perfect destination. That’s why we got almost a thousand hoteliers here at the hotel data conference. Erica Lipscomb: That’s sold out again this year. Ryan Embree: Absolutely. Well, any. I mean, I can tell just by the conversation we’re having, very passionate about your work. Any projects you’re particularly fired up about right now? Erica Lipscomb: The project I’m probably most interested in is what I was hired for is to really continue to evolve commercial strategy. So commercial strategy is not just looking at every discipline in a silo. They’re all very important to revenue optimization. But how do we now continue to go from just having the commercial conversations, but also leverage the experience in each discipline? So our customers, when they look at our hotels, And they look at that curse customer journey that we just walked through – Right. They’re not looking at sales, revenue, marketing, distribution, operations. They’re looking at their holistic experience. Yeah. And so why not make sure that we internally stop looking at how well each d- division does and, and, and our, each siloed discipline, but let’s look through the lens of a gu – of a customer. Yeah. What’s that experience look like? And then how do we all play a part of it? Yeah. Exactly. So that’s what I’m excited about. And using, continuing to use AI. Yeah. How do we make sure that we’re leveraging commercial? Yeah. And then making sure that our use of AI is making our teams much more efficient – Mm. And effective in h – in how we run our businesses. Ryan Embree: That’s what I was gonna say. It’s, it’s such an inflection point, and I’m sure very exciting for, for your job with the technology in hand. Now you’ve got the power to, uh, break down those silos, right? Absolutely. Create efficiencies there. Yes. Uh, well, as we wrap up, you know, we always. One of the things here that we love to do at the Hotel Data Conference is try to predict the future, right? Forecasting, everybody. It’s a, it’s an impossible job, but we do it every single year. Right. Uh, you know, so from a commercial strategy standpoint, I know you, you, you just mentioned the projects you’re working on, but what’s your vision for PM Hotel Group as we kind of go into the latter part of the 2020s? Erica Lipscomb: So latter part of the 2020s, I think that the company’s vision is to really leverage the portfolio and the diversity of the portfolio. We saw that growth that we had just here in Nashville. I’m sure you saw the news that Reset our first brand to enter Marriott’s or outdoor collection. Yeah. We’ve noticed that when you continue to diversify and not really just say, okay, we are just this type of company, making sure that we’re leveraging the expertise of our team. Mm-hmm. We can be many things – Yeah. To many customers. Yeah. And so lev – continue that leverage, that growth, but we do see that growth continue to be in experiences. Yeah. Right? So every brand is rolling out how they’re working with experiences. But what we do see, that lifestyle, outdoor – Oh, yeah. Experiences. We’ve had our first entree into it, and we’re gonna continue to grow. Ryan Embree: Awesome. We’re excited to watch that growth, and yeah, that experiential travel continues to be something, conversations we’re having here, prioritizing, that’s what the guests are prioritizing travelers are. Congratulations on all this. We continue to watch it with PM Hotel Group. Thanks, Erica. Erica Lipscomb: Thank you. Ryan Embree: Hello, everyone. Ryan Embree here with The Suite Spot. We are live on location at the 2026 Hotel Data Conference. I am here with Max Spangler, VP of Technology at Charlestown Hotel. Max, we know you’re on a panel tomorrow. We’ll talk about that in a second, but thanks for taking the time to join us. Max Spangler: Absolutely. thanks for hosting me, Ryan. Ryan Embree: Yeah, Gotel Data Conference. Name of the game, data. We’re gonna talk about, obviously, your role and, and where data plays into that. But first, you come to a conference like this, what’s the expectation? What do you hope to get out of it? And maybe when you’re a couple weeks down the line, looking back on the conference, that was a success. Max Spangler: Yeah, you know, for me, I spend a lot of time at conferences that are very narrow in scope, right? Sure. Whether it’s high tech or the hospitality show, or even technology conferences that are outside of hospitality. Sure. So coming to HDC is always great. It’s always refreshing. The keynote panel in the beginning always gives me, hopefully, optimism. And this morning, it was very optimistic – Yes. About the way things are going. So I’m thankful for that. But it’s great to hear from commercial peers how they’re using data, how they’re surfacing insights, what tools they’re using, and how they’re turning it actionable. I mean, I think for me, as someone who spends a lot of time staring at screens, developing tools, looking at dashboards, hearing from people that actually depend on this information – Yeah. So crucially is really refreshing. So I get to, like, cut through the noise a little bit and hear what’s working, and hopefully hear what’s not. Ryan Embree: Yeah, and that’s what leads to your panel tomorrow, connecting AI to commercial strategy. Yeah. Uh, maybe give our sweet spot listeners a little bit of sneak peek and maybe your thoughts on the subject. Max Spangler: We’ve got a great panel tomorrow. Super stoked for it. You know, so we, we had a pre-cause you tend to do with those panels. Right. And as a result of that, we decided to zoom out a little bit, which I though was important. So commercial still is the through line, as you would expect at HTC, but given the man – the, the members that are on the panel, we’ve got some people that, you know, are on the, the, the revenue management side. We’ve got some people from HFTP. Um, you’ve got me as an independent operator. It w- we felt, we felt it really important to say, “Let’s, let’s zoom out. Let’s take a pause and, like, let’s look at where the industry is holistically.” Sure. And so the questions are really driving off that. So you’ll find that, um, there’s insights about a year from now, what would we like to be doing differently, right? How are we driving ac- actionable insights? What KPIs are important? What KPIs are important? Yeah. Things like what’s the difference between automation versus th- this new agentic era? Mm. So I think it, um, I’m actually really excited for it. The panel’s great, and I think you’re gonna get some, some really interesting insights from a variety of different opinions. Ryan Embree: Yeah. And what we talked about is so much can change. Yeah. And you could talk about what could happen in a year. I mean, that could be a couple cycles with technology right now. And that’s why I, I was really looking forward this conversation, Max. Yeah. Because, you know, I get industry leaders, sometimes brand leaders, but you’re, you’re in it every single day, right? Yeah. Uh, VP of technology. Yep. Where do you think we are in the AI adoption – Yeah. Uh, uh, cycle? And then maybe zoom in a little bit on Charlestown Hotels. Max Spangler: Yeah. So if we, if we look at sort of where things are globally for the state of AI, I think obviously in the technology space, it’s an existential crisis, right? Right. I mean, I think you see that in, in jobs reports. I think you obviously see it in the way that they’re measuring AI as an accelerant. Yeah. You know, so, uh, friends of mine that work for tech companies, they’re seeing their time to release production code going from five weeks, four weeks down to one week. Wow. It’s easy for them to measure. It’s easy for them to see the outcomes for us. Yeah. I think it, it is ultimately a little bit more difficult. For Charlestown, you know, we think it’s really important to keep hospitality at the center of what we’re doing, right? And so we’re not parading around trying to be an AI company or a SaaS company. We firmly believe people and hospitality at the center of, is gonna be at the center of what we do.m. How do we use AI to power that? Whether it’s through efficiencies, you know, through maybe more sophisticated RMS, through, you know, generative guest insights. How do we make sure that we’re being discovered when people are asking what’s the best hotel in downtown Charleston, South Carolina? Those are really hard questions to answer. No one’s got it figured out. But the conversations that are happening here are super encouraging because I think there is a lot of people admitting that and coming together to try to find, um, the best path forward. Ryan Embree: And you were, this is not your first per – podcast that you’ve been on recently. I saw you, uh, on CoStar News Hotel podcast where you talked about escaping hospitality’s AI hype echo chamber. Yeah, yeah. What’s your thoughts on that? And maybe how do we avoid doing that here in, in spaces like this? Max Spangler: I mean, it’s, if you go on LinkedIn, you can feel like, you know, FOMO is like a- absolutely crushing you, right? Right. Everyone is, like, piloting something new. Right. Everyone is, is advancing seemingly at the speed of light. It’s really important to come to a conference like HTC, uh, to get a real life temperature check with what people are doing and how they’re doing it. There is a tremendous amount of hype. There’s a tremendous amount of potential, but I think for a lot of us, and especially from someone sitting in the seat of an operator, you have to be very disciplined. Yes. You know, you have to have a step-by-step sequence of how you’re actually gonna accomplish this. It’s okay to introduce a little bit of chaos. We’ve done that in the early days. I mean, if you go back, you know, to 2023, 2024, we’re experimenting with all the frontier models. But eventually, we wanted to collapse that into a unified choice, pick one model so that we can move forward and start measuring, you know, are our team members crawling? Who’s walking? Who’s running? How do we devise resources to help kind of get everyone on the same page, march in the same direction, and get better at this? Yeah. And so that, that’s, that’s been our strategy. And fortunately, like, that’s what I’m hearing here at the conference. Ryan Embree: And the motivation for implementing AI can’t come out of fear of we’re not doing enough. Yeah. Or, you know, we’re just, that FOMO feeling that you’re talking about, it has to have, what you said, discipline and direction. Yeah. And Max Spangler: Ryan, like, fear is a huge part. I mean, that’s one of the things that we’re constantly up against. There’s. I, I think the, the negative attitude and apprehension towards AI is only gonna continue to grow over time, right? Just like the excitement over it is gonna continue to grow. Yeah. Same thing’s true for the negative. I mean, you have people that absolutely have their head in the sand, which is okay. Right. Um, for, for certain reasons, you have people that obviously have negative feelings about it because of the socio – uh, economic impact. Sure. Companies potentially might be laying off job just Placement or replacement as a result of LLMs and the technologies that they introduce. There’s the environmental factors. So, like, all those things are absolutely true. We don’t think it’s, as Charlestown, our responsibility to sort of correct that. Right. But we do wanna make sure our associates, team members, and corporate, and corporate leadership team know this isn’t going anywhere. Yeah. It’s fundamental core to the business, and we’re gonna make an investment into our teams to make sure that they’re prepared for this new wave, whatever it looks like. Ryan Embree: It’s exciting times. And it’s okay to experiment fail sometimes, because that, that’ll show you some lessons too. Sure. Max Spangler: Yeah, we. Yeah, we’ve run so many pilots. We’ve had so many things fail. We’ve incinerated millions of tokens and subsequently thousands of dollars as a result of – Yeah. Um, so many pilots, but we’ve learned a lot. Yeah. Uh, and we’re in a much better spot as a result of it. You have to be willing to take risks, especially now. I do believe, like, no one’s gonna be left behind yet, but there is absolutely an advantage to being a first mover. And I think the companies that are at least experimenting and building AI fluency for their teams are gonna be much better, uh, much farther along than everybody else. Ryan Embree: 100%. And, you know, one of those spaces is, is the data, right? That’s, I mean, that’s the name of the game of this conference here. Yeah. How are some ways are you leveraging data to kind of – Yeah. Grow Charlestown hotels or even just create efficiencies? Max Spangler: Yeah. So for us, it, it, it is a challenge to think about the kind of company that we are. We focus mostly on the independent space. Mm-hmm. So we don’t have sort of the technology through line like the brands have where – Sure. You know, they can force a certain PMS, POS, CRS, like, it’s very clean and organized and scalable that way. Yeah. For us, you know, when we come into a new hotel operating environment, in most cases, technology hasn’t been a major form of investment, right? I mean, most people don’t come to Charlestown hotels with a great performing asset. They’re like, “We’re in trouble. We need your help.” Right. So then I come in, you know, from the technology perspective and it’s like, okay, this is difficult. How are we gonna extract information, put it into a centralized place, be able to sort of layer a, a, a, a BI tool or reporting package on top of it to actually surface the insights so these one-off owner operators can get the insights that, like, a company like Charlestown Hotels can deliver at scale with all the independent properties and things we’ve learned across the secondary and tertiary markets that we work in. Max Spangler: So, I mean, to put it simply for us, it is about having, like, a central data repository or warehouse. Sure. I mean, there’s plenty out there. Databricks, Snowflake. We’re a BigQuery customer. We do a lot with Google. Um, but it is, you know, if, if you think about where things are going to bring it back to AI, so much of the conversation surrounds having a good data foundation, because AI is an accelerant. If you have bad data, it’s gonna accelerate you to bad outcomes more quickly. Yeah, that’s a great point. If you have a bad business strategy, it’s gonna optimize for the wrong KPIs. So for us, it is very much about having solid fundamentals. Yeah. That’s not a reason for you to stop, right? It’s just more a reason for you to proceed cautiously. Ryan Embree: Absolutely. And, you know, you do it right. All of a sudden, you get that personalization, which, you know, hospitality’s been really the last decade – Yeah. Has been striving so much for to get that personalization within the guest experience. So as we wrap up, you know, we always like to. I know this is gonna be difficult because, like we said, things change so quickly in the tech space. Yeah. But what’s your vision for Charleston Hotels from a technology perspective? Max Spangler: Yeah, great question. I thought you were gonna ask me a hard one, like, what’s my favorite color? But, uh, no, for, for. Vision for technology, you know, for us, as long as we keep, like, hospitality at the center – Yeah. As our north star, that really does simplify things for us. It is gonna be difficult. There’s, you know, obviously a whole host of different frontier models you have to choose from. Tokenomics is gonna continue to be a big part. People talk about ROI with LLMs, but no one’s really talking about the expense – Yeah. And expenses continue to grow. Great point. Right? So we’re, we’re focused really on, you know, not only the, the ROI from some of the LLM tools, but, but obviously the tremendous cost that’s associated with running them at scale. But as long as we keep people and human beings at the center, reducing mundane work, admin tasks, friction so that our people can spend less time in front of screens and just be more hospitable, I think that really is the vision. Technology’s gonna support that. It’s gonna hopefully be more invisible to the people that come to hospitality. They didn’t come to, like, move information around – Right. Push paper or spend time in front of a computer. They spent it to, like, be empathetic, to be excited – Yeah. To surprise and delight. And so our goal, that’s our north star, and technology’s gonna be there to support it. Ryan Embree: Yeah, I mean, some industries, you’re, you’re right, are gonna be completely flipped upside down – Yeah. With this technology. But hospitality, we have that advantage of being a people first industry, so. Max Spangler: I, I think it’s, like, the, the key differentiator, and it honestly, it’s like, hospitality has an opportunity to have a really strong opinion. As so many industries are completely rolled over by this AI wave – Yeah. Hospitality can actually say, “No, you know what? People are…” And people in hospitality are at the center, and so as there is potentially more AI backlash and people are seeking more authentic experiences – Right. With people and connections – Yeah. I think it’s, it’s gonna be a great benefit to our industry. Max Spangler: Yeah, and we’ve seen from the data, experiences still seem t be – Yeah. I think that’s gonna grow. Yeah. Ryan Embree: Yeah. Agreed. Uh, Max, appreciate the time. Thank you. Uh, we’ll keep an eye on Charleston Hotels and everything you’re doing over there. Great. Congratulations. Max Spangler: Thank you. Ryan Embree: Hello, Everyone. Ryan Embree here with The Suite Spot. We’re live on location at the Hotel Data Conference 2026 here with Sam Trotter, Head of Digital Marketing for Indigo Road Hospitality Group. Sam, thanks for taking some time. Sam Trotter: Thanks for having me here. Yeah. I’m excited to be here at the Hotel Data Conference. Ryan Embree: It’s our first time here, but you said you’re, you’re a pro. You’ve been here for many years. Yeah. What does a successful hotel data conference look like for you and some of the takeaways that you look for? Sam Trotter: I really love having a good sense of what’s gonna happen next year. So you get some really great data here where you actually can take to your business planning sessions and use and say, “Hey, you know, I have this from the data conference, and they’re forecasting this growth in this market.” And you have something tangible. Yeah. So you’re about to head into budget season. Yeah. So having that in hand is really, really nice. Ryan Embree: That’s a big part of it. I mean, budget season, you gotta make those operation efficiency. We talked about the margins, how tight those are right now, especially in hospitality. One of the ways that hospitality’s changing right now is through AI search. You were on a panel here. For those that weren’t able to join us here in Nashville, maybe unpack that topic a little bit, because it’d certainly be top of mind for a lot of hoteliers right now. Sam Trotter: Well, it was really fun. It was a packed house, so a lot of interest in it. There’s a lot to talk about. I think we did a little bit of an intro to the topic, just so that everybody was sort of on the same page. But this is a new thing that we’re all having to adapt to. And we’re gonna have to focus on this. And in the panel, I said, “This feels a lot like 2006 when SEO was becoming a big thing.” And I remember I hired this French couple to do our SEO for this hotel that we were opening. It was like $10,000. In 2006. And it felt kinda like magic. Yeah. You know, like, what are they, what are they actually gonna do, right? And so it’s really tough. Who do you listen to? What actually works? And it was a great panel. And there’s no main takeaway other than we’re doing a lot of AB tests. We’re trying to figure out what works. I’m looking at the dashboards from our different properties. Who’s doing well? Who’s not? Yeah. And trying to pivot. And so we’re at this really interesting phase where it’s not really clear, right? Everybody’s telling us different things. Who do you listen to? So I honestly think it’s really exciting. Ryan Embree: The good news is it’s a challenge that a lot of people are attacking at once, right? And that’s where you’re gonna kind of find maybe lessons learned, even in those failures. So I think it is interesting because ultimately what happened with SEO is, like, there became a little bit of of a game plan that you could attack it with, right? That people are still trying to kind of balance. And then there were switches, right? That’s the other thing, is you could attack it one way and then all of a sudden, next week, algorithms change and it’s back to square one. So it was very, very interesting. But I think it’s events like this and panels that you’re on, Sam, that help kind of. Where everyone’s going through this right now. And to try to get through the weeds on it and try to figure out what is a good course of action here. And it changes so quickly. I think AI gets a spotlight, obviously, for good reason because it’s just this up and coming technology. But digital marketing also feels like it’s fast changing and evolving. And it’s been doing that for the past decade. You think about social media updates and everything like that. Yeah. I guess, how do you view digital marketing right now from a strategic standpoint and, and how hoteliers should be embracing and, you know, maybe investing in It? Sam Trotter: So that was a big question, right? Ryan Embree: Yes, sorry. Sam Trotter: When I have new marketers join, junior marketers, I always tell them there’s really no such thing as an expert anymore. Because it’s gonna change next year. Right? Ryan Embree: Great point. Sam Trotter: There are certain fundamentals that will help you no matter what, from 10 years from now, they’ll always be in play. I think what’s really interesting now with AI is I feel like there’s more emphasis on brand and category ownership. So if the AI is the most educated person in the entire world about hotels in Nashville. I mean, that’s what it is. Sure. It’s the most educated person in Nashville. What do you wanna teach it? And so if you’re teaching it, I have a pool and a fitness center, that doesn’t really help, right? ‘Cause now you’re just the same. And so what category can you own? Can you be the wellness hotel of Nashville? And if you’re the wellness hotel of Nashville, what that looks like is everything we say and we do reflects that. So I have spa packages, we have spa activations, we have a spa month. We have an amazing spa. We have spa content. We have spa creators that come in. And so when you’re doing that, all of a sudden the AI’s like, “Okay, no, this is the spa hotel of Nashville.” Because it’s, there’s evidence. Yeah. Right? And so I think there’s gonna be more emphasis on this category ownership, right? More than ever. And that boils back down to your brand. Ryan Embree: No, I love that. I think that’s a great explanation to someone who might feel overwhelmed in this right now. But those searches also could get very specific, right? I’m looking for a place that’s pet friendly, that is dedicated to wellness, where I’ve got my family coming to. So that’s where it gets a little bit tricky of the categories could turn into subcategories and then very, very niche. But it’s also the beauty of it, I think on the other side, is that your travelers are gonna be able to hopefully find the right hotel for them and what they’re looking for. Sam Trotter: So going back to your question, you asked me about social media. Because things are changing so fast, the, what we don’t really realize, and we don’t talk about, is the number one AI that we talk to is Google’s AI overview. That’s the one that when you have a long search, it defaults to, right? And it is weighing YouTube more than any other social platform – Great point. Because they’re not giving access. Right? So TikTok’s not giving them access. So now all of a sudden, YouTube is like this big player. And so we’ve got 76 locations. How do you scale YouTube? Yeah. And so, you know, we’re trying to figure this out in real time, and it’s a lot. There’s a lot of change happening. Ryan Embree: No, that’s a great point, what you said about Google, because a lot of people might be listening to this being like, “Well, I’m not, I’m not really looking, or I’m not using AI in my everyday life.” Well, Google’s really, you know, that AI overview, you are using, right? And it’s just, it’s gonna become more and more, whether we know it or not, a part of our life, you know? So that’s a different conversation. You know, Sam, Indigo Road Hospitality Group, you just mentioned tons of locations. What are some of the projects you’re most excited about that you’re working on right now? Sam Trotter: So, we have amazing locations, and there’s so many that are really interesting that we have coming up. We’re dabbling in more and more to membership clubs. Which is something that, we have one right now in Bentonville, and then by the end of the year, we’ll have two more. So we’re going from zero to three in a pretty short amount of time. It’ll be like a year and two months, we’ll go from zero to three. So it’s something that has been really fun to learn about, and there’s new platforms to learn about. So that’s really exciting. And then, I’m working on some fun data projects too, fun to me. I’m trying to set us up to have our own loyalty program. And so I’ve got some cool things in the works. So I’m really excited about that because we have a diverse portfolio. We have coffee shops and restaurants and hotels. And venues and how do you get them all to talk? Right? How do we put them all in one place, but have them separate? How can we share notes? How can we improve the guest experience? So there’s a lot of really cool things that are happening now. And one of the benefits of AI is partners are, are improving their platforms faster than ever. Oh, yeah. Which is fun if you have the right partners. And they are doing it. Ryan Embree: Yeah. I mean, and loyalty programs, you also learn more about your guests and hopefully create personalization, which is, you know, a topic that has been in hospitality. But we’re getting closer and closer, I feel like, to what we may have talked about five years ago at a conference like this. Be like, “There might be a time where we could do this, and now with the power of AI, it, it’s possible.” Yeah. Well, as we wrap up, kind of what’s your. I know we just talked about the future, but, and it’s hard to predict, but what would be kind of your vision for the future, in your role at Indigo Hospitality Group? Sam Trotter: I would say that, I guess thinking more optimistically, ultimately, it’s gonna be about the guest experience. It’s gonna be about the surprise and delight. It’s gonna be about having great employees who are happy to be where they’re at and that wanna be there. And the best marketing is a great experience, right? So what’s my role in that? You know, how can I help operations do their thing? And that’s the foundation of everything. At the end of the day, I think that’s it. Ryan Embree: There is a, there is a comfort, Sam, to being in an industry that we knew can only be disrupted so much by AI, but at the end of the day, it is gonna still come down to people serving people and creating those memorable experiences, and hopefully AI gives the opportunity to do. Sam Trotter: I have a anti-trend for you, right? Okay. So we’re here at, at the Grand Hyatt. There’s no kiosks, right? Check in. There’s still front desk people. 10 years ago at the hotel data conference, I think we would’ve though it was all kiosks. So hospitality has reigned supreme, and I think that’s the future. Ryan Embree: Yeah for, they say hospitality is the first ever industry and it’ll be here for a long time. So Sam, we appreciate it. We’re gonna watch you and, and everything you’re doing over there. We appreciate you taking some time with us. Sam Trotter: Thank you you so much. This was a lot of fun. All right. Ryan Embree: To join our loyalty program, be sure to subscribe and give us a five-star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with cover art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host, Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

Second Nature Listener Survey: https://surveymars.com/q/inCNkLas9 Gary Vernon, Scott King, and Aimee Ross have been building what is now one of the most significant mountain bike destinations in the world. What started in 2006 as a five-mile trail system in Bentonville, Arkansas has grown into 600 miles of trail across the region, 1,200 miles statewide, and most recently, a lift-access bike park with its own chairlift, restaurant, and membership model. In this conversation, they walk through the design principles that made it work: building for beginners first, focusing on progression, and the decision to build within city limits rather than isolating trails on private land. They also break down the economics of trail building compared to traditional recreational infrastructure, what it actually took to build a 38-trail bike park in under two years, and the advice they give every community that calls asking "how do we become the next Bentonville"...which is, simply, don't try. Second Nature is proudly supported by Popfly and Halo: Popfly: https://popf.ly/secondnaturebrands Halo: https://www.poweredbyhalo.com Show Notes: Scott King: https://www.linkedin.com/in/j-scott-king-9991a4/ Aimee Ross: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aimeeross/ Gary Vernon: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-vernon-ii-58253a7/ Tom Walton: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-walton-40b9792ba/ OZ Bike Park: https://oztrailsbikepark.com/ OZ Trails: https://www.oztrails.com/ Discovery Loop: https://www.visitbentonville.com/blog/stories/post/ride-the-loop-bentonvilles-scenic-bike-route/ IMBA: https://www.imba.com/ Transform Your Community (Gary's TED Talk): https://youtu.be/yXJkWIeNP6g?si=p8frsQWhW7CzqJnB IMBA TrailLab: https://www.imba.com/trail-labs Gravity Logic: https://www.whistlergravitylogic.com/ BPC - Brand, Product, Content: Cone valve suspension: https://dirtbikemagazine.com/cone-valve-suspension/ Sierra Nevada NA: https://sierranevada.com/brews/trail-pass-ipa Triumph Daytona: https://www.triumphmotorcycles.com/motorcycles/sport/daytona-660 The Design Way (Book): https://amzn.to/4zjfoMS Marin Alpine Trail EXR (Aaron's Bike): https://marinbikes.com/collections/alpine-trail-e Fun Stuff: Join us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/second-nature-media Meet us on Slack: https://www.launchpass.com/second-nature Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/secondnature.media Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.secondnature.media Subscribe to the YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@secondnaturemedia

We sit down with David Wright from Bentonville Parks and Recreation to unpack how Bentonville, Arkansas has evolved from a place people moved to for corporate work into a destination built around outdoor recreation, arts, leisure, and real community connection.We dig into the big idea that public spaces are more than parks and trails. They are community infrastructure. David explains how intentional placemaking turns a town's personality into something bigger than a single downtown square, and why that matters in a fast-growing city. Then we talk about how the goal of Gateway Park is to create a connected experience across multiple parks without forcing people to drive from spot to spot.Subscribe, share this with a friend who loves great public spaces, and leave a review with your favorite park feature you wish every city had.A New American Town is here to help you plan your trip to Bentonville, Arkansas. From guides, events, and restaurant highlights. Find all this and more at visitbentonville.com and subscribe to our newsletter. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, and LinkedIn.  You can listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, CastBox, Podcast Casts, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, and Podcast Addict.  

In this week's edition of the Flavors of Northwest podcast, we're at the beloved Piehouse Bakery in Bentonville, talking with owner Lisa Sohl and Manager/Pastry Chef Annie Wood, but before we hear from them?!?! FOOD NEWS! If you don't have plans yet for Friday, or even if you do, I've got something you need to get to. It's the Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives Watch Party at the Botanical at City Pump in Downtown Rogers!! Both Blu Fish House and Toot Beirut will be on Friday night's episode! I'll kick it off at 7 with Toot Beirut and Blu trivia. Then the episode starts at 8. The folks from Toot Beirut will be there with food, so if you haven't had it yet, prime time to try it. And hustle, because it'll run out! Again, Friday night at 7 at the Botanical at City Pump at 623 West Walnut in downtown Rogers. See you there! (*) We talk to Springdale's Carnitas Los Cuatro Hermanos about being in the NY Times Bienvenue is open to the public in Rogers! We'll hear from Owner/Executive Chef Will Mauk! Nosh Nola had a big opening weekend in downtown Springdale! We'll hear from Owner Hayne Begley! Herman's Ribhouse is working to re-open! Fayetteville's Hill City Popcorn is back open with a new owner and new plans! Fresh Monkee announces their soft opening dates in Fayetteville. It's SOON. The popular Dodo Coffee Trailer is closed this week. We'll tell you what they're saying. A new bakery opens in Highfill soon! We'll hear from the owner. Is your burger better than everyone else's? You might be able to make it to the World Championships in Indianapolis. We'll tell you where to sign up. Happy 30th anniversary to Bordinos! You can win Bordinos for a year this week! In this week's Flavors Flashback. Bienvenue Chef Will Mauk tells us his path into cooking. Piehouse Bakery Owner Lisa Sohl was raised on a Nebraska farm with a big family. She learned how to cook and bake out of necessity. While college took her to the corporate world, she always baked for others and became an office favorite. How did she end up in Northwest Arkansas, and how did she decide that it was time to finally start a bakery? Also, her most important early hire almost spooked her. She'll talk about that. Finally, they earned a golden ticket to the World Food Championships for winning a state championship pie competition on the other side of the state. We hear all about it from Lisa and Annie Wood, next here on the flavors of Northwest Arkansas podcast!

In this Special Edition of the Flavors of Northwest Arkansas podcast, we're talking about the Bentonville Restaurant Week with Visit Bentonville's Vice President of Marketing and Communications, Alison Nation. It happens next week (August 16-22), and we cover all the deals that participating Bentonville restaurants are offering. Go out, and enjoy... and as always, please tip your servers!

A 40-mile paved trail sounds simple until you ask the real question: how do seven cities agree on a shared vision, find the money, close the gaps, and keep improving it year after year? We sit down with Tim Conklin, Executive Director of the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission, to unpack how the Razorback Greenway became the critical artery for biking, walking, rolling, and exploring Northwest Arkansas.We get specific about the forces that made it possible: regional collaboration in the 2000s, a $15 million federal TIGER grant, and major matching support from the Walton Family Foundation. Tim explains how those investments helped connect Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers, and Bentonville into a world-class trail system and why the Razorback Greenway Alliance matters for long-term maintenance, wayfinding upgrades, and future improvements like potential lighting.Then we look forward. The Razorback Greenway corridor plan shifts the conversation from “we built a trail” to “what happens along the trail.” We talk creek corridor protection, rewilding for shade and habitat, smarter stormwater approaches, safer commuter bike networks, complete streets, and how new neighborhoods can grow around an active transportation spine without losing the open spaces that define the region. If you care about bike infrastructure, trail tourism, transportation choice, or how fast-growing communities can plan better, this one is for you.Subscribe for more stories shaping Bentonville and Northwest Arkansas, share this with a friend who loves the Greenway, and leave a review telling us what upgrade you want to see next.A New American Town is here to help you plan your trip to Bentonville, Arkansas. From guides, events, and restaurant highlights. Find all this and more at visitbentonville.com and subscribe to our newsletter. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, and LinkedIn.  You can listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, CastBox, Podcast Casts, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, and Podcast Addict.  

Running an automated vehicle wash requires balancing delicate finish protection with chemical restrictions. Operating in a saturated market means constantly defending against aggressive tunnel competitors while proving why high-end car finishes require specialized care. Navigating these operational realities demands sharp machine maintenance, predictable app integrations, and educating consumers on long-term paint maintenance.We sit down with Scott Tucker, owner of Castle Bay Car Wash, to analyze what it takes to sustain a top-tier touch-free operation over two decades in Bentonville. We get into the mechanics of pure high-pressure water delivery, designing a single-wash daily app membership system, and managing heated water setups during harsh winter volume spikes. Scott Tucker also shares his perspective on standing out in an overbuilt market by servicing owners who refuse to run luxury vehicles through aggressive friction brushes.Operating a high-traffic car wash presents ongoing friction, from strict EPA chemical pH caps to managing long-term equipment wear and high utility usage. Walking away from this conversation, you will understand how to build recurring app-based revenue while setting honest expectations around paint care and automated wash limitations. Success in this business relies on mechanical precision, clear pricing tiers, and staying focused on protecting the customer's second-largest asset.If you care about auto service operations, membership pricing models, and local business longevity, you will get a lot from this episode. Be sure to Subscribe and Share this video with fellow entrepreneurs. What is the biggest lesson you have learned about protecting recurring revenue in a crowded service market? Drop your response in the comments below!

In this week's edition of the Flavors of Northwest Arkansas podcast, we're in Bentonville at Chick'n Headz, talking with owners Byron & Natasha Kendle, but before we sit down with them?!?! FOOD NEWS!!! Here come the grand openings! Saltine's Bakery & Kitchen announces when they'll open! Flyway Brewing opened their Bentonville location on the Walmart campus. CEO/COO Rob Byford talks about their growth in the northwest part of the state. Aida's is a Saturday night only spot in the 8th Street Market. We'll tell you about it! Punk Truck Stop is diversifying business in Fayetteville's Metro District! Bienvenue's Will Mauk talks about getting their Rogers spot turned around QUICKLY. Whole Hog Café turns 26, and we're all going to party like it's 2000 (literally)! Bucks on Emma celebrates a decade on Saturday – we have the deets! Foghorns on 15th street closed last weekend. It's your last chance to eat from the Blazin Asian food truck. Nosh Nola opens VERY soon, and in today's Flavors Flashback, you'll hear from owner/operator Hayne Begley, who took some time away from the restaurant life for a little stability. You'll never guess what he did for a living! Byron & Natasha Kendle are high school sweethearts from Little Rock. What brought them here is what brings many people here- Walmart. They both come from big families and have a pretty big one themselves. Though they have corporate backgrounds, there was a little restaurant experience and their recall from it's pretty funny. They'd always kicked around the idea of a restaurant, but it wasn't ever real. Until one day, and it's a story where their bluff got called, and they had to figure everything out on the spot. It's a great story. Finally, why the move from Fayetteville to Bentonville? It may not be what you think- you'll hear the reasons on this edition of the Flavors of Northwest Arkansas podcast!

Bentonville's food scene didn't get great by accident. We're joined by Marshall Shafkowitz, Executive Director of Brightwater, to explain how Northwest Arkansas is building culinary and hospitality careers that actually meet the moment.We talk about why Brightwater is intentionally called a Center for the Study of Food rather than a traditional culinary school. The mission is bigger than teaching someone to cut, chop, and plate. Marshall breaks down Brightwater's three pillars, food as business, food as art, and food as wellness, and how they connect to the local food system. Farmers, ranchers, distributors, restaurateurs, grocers, and customers are usually separate conversations, but Brightwater trains students to link them, understand where food comes from, and make purchasing choices that strengthen the local economy and reduce waste and carbon footprint.You'll also hear who Brightwater serves, from high school students to learners in their 80s, plus short workforce development programs for people who want job-ready skills without a degree. We get into what “teaching the whole person” looks like in a kitchen classroom, why instructors stay industry relevant, and how Brightwater graduates quietly shape the visitor experience across Bentonville restaurants. If you want a reason to stop by, Marshall shares how the doors are open at A Street Market, with an art-filled campus vibe, outdoor spaces, and a student-run retail butcher shop with Burger Friday.Subscribe for more conversations with the people shaping Northwest Arkansas, share this with a friend who loves food and community, and leave a review so more listeners can find the show.A New American Town is here to help you plan your trip to Bentonville, Arkansas. From guides, events, and restaurant highlights. Find all this and more at visitbentonville.com and subscribe to our newsletter. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, and LinkedIn.  You can listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, CastBox, Podcast Casts, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, and Podcast Addict.  

You've walked a thousand grocery aisles, but you've never walked one like this. We sit down with artist Lucy Sparrow, creator of The Beginning of Convenience at the Momentary in Bentonville, Arkansas, an immersive felt art installation where every shelf, freezer door, and product is handmade fabric sculpture. It's a full supermarket world built from softness, color, and obsessive detail, and it hits that rare sweet spot of playful, uncanny, and deeply familiar.We talk about why consumer products and retail spaces became Lucy's creative language, rooted in her own years working in shops and supermarkets. Then we zoom out to the bigger story: how “convenience” culture evolved between 1975 and 1995, as households and priorities changed and quick meals became a defining part of daily life. Along the way, we get into the power of nostalgia, why older packaging design still triggers memories, and how felt brings a childlike wonder that you can't get from a purely realistic replica.You'll also hear what it takes to build a museum-scale installation with over 20,000 pieces, from floor plans and color schemes to the spreadsheet-level planning behind each handcrafted item. Lucy shares details from her Walmart archives research, the sensory choices that make the space feel like a real store, and the hidden Easter eggs that keep repeat visits interesting. The exhibit is free to enter and stays up for a year, making it an easy, welcoming stop for locals and visitors alike.If you enjoy immersive museum exhibits, contemporary textile art, or the weird comfort of retail nostalgia, hit subscribe, share this with a friend who loves Bentonville, and leave us a review with the snack you hope to spot on the shelves.A New American Town is here to help you plan your trip to Bentonville, Arkansas. From guides, events, and restaurant highlights. Find all this and more at visitbentonville.com and subscribe to our newsletter. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, and LinkedIn.  You can listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, CastBox, Podcast Casts, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, and Podcast Addict.  

In this week's edition of the Flavors of Northwest Arkansas Podcast, we're in Bentonville at Turnbuckle Farm with the dynamic duo of Melissa & Adam Milsap, who have a great story to tell, but before thy do?!?! FOOD NEWS! Gaskins Trattoria officially opens TODAY! We'll hear from owners Lisa Provencio-Jones and Bert Jones. 4 Benton County restaurants will be on Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives next month! La Cabanita will soon open in downtown Springdale. We'll hear from one of the owners. KAI will take Wasabi's former spot on Dickson Street in Fayetteville. The new La Familia Taco drive-thru in Farmington is CRUSHING. Siloam Springs is getting Indian Food! Made Market in Rogers made an announcement over the weekend. We'll tell you what it is! A local restaurant group has diversified their portfolio in a big way. We'll tell you about Red Light Retreat and who owns it! A Woodstone Craft Pizza Chef can win a BIG contest with your vote. Happy 5 years to Rendezvous Junction Brewing Company, as they turned 5 this weekend! Speaking of Rendezvous, in this week's Flavors Flashback, we go back to last year's podcast with them and hear about Owner Mike Peerson health problems before they opened. They were worse than you could imagine. Adam and Melissa Milsap grew up in Springfield, Missouri, got married there and started urban farming there in what wasn't a good place. In fact, it was the 2nd worst area in Springfield, and at times could be dangerous. You'll hear the story about how the community and the city gathered and rallied for them to be able to change the area into a farm! And how did they end up in Northwest Arkansas? It's hard to leave a place you love, especially one that's been home for your whole life. They'll tell the story. They'll talk about how they found their land in Bentonville-or Bentonvista as they call it. And on the food side? We'll hear what they're growing, and also? They have a Chef-driven food truck on-site, and it's popular. I think I know why, as I had an all-local egg and chorizo biscuit from there and it was an absolute flavor-bomb. Chef Simon talks about that in the food segment, as well as chef dinners there. In the creek. True story, and you'll hear all about it from them next here on the Flavors of Northwest Arkansas podcast.  

Before Gordon Harrison was Sport Development Director for USA Cycling, he was building grassroots programs across a handful of different sports, from the Learn to Skate program with USA Figure Skating to development at the Florida Panthers' practice facility, plus stints in soccer and baseball. That cross-sport background shapes everything he does now: get the fundamentals right early, and everything that follows, from the Olympics to a lifetime of recreational riding, gets better.We sat down with Gordon to talk about the USA Cycling Regional Development Camp and Education Summit coming to Bentonville August 7-8. He breaks down what a solid cycling foundation actually looks like: balance, power, cornering, and braking. Riders build those skills hands-on across Bentonville's world-class trails and skills park, working drops, turns, small jumps, and line selection, then head into the classroom at Thaden School to reinforce it all with race strategy sessions and direct access to USA Cycling staff. Rich Drew leads the coaching alongside a team of instructors, and athletes even learn to service and clean their own bikes.The event isn't just for athletes. Parents get their own education track, with speakers from the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee and USADA giving families a real look at the system their riders are entering. It's co-ed, open to all disciplines, and includes lunch both days plus a Friday night dinner.Gordon also talks about why Bentonville, with its accessibility and trail infrastructure, made sense as a host for this kind of event, and what it means for the sport to bring athletes, parents, coaches, and commissaires together in one place.Registration is open now at USACycling.org — search Regional Camp to reserve a spot.A New American Town is here to help you plan your trip to Bentonville, Arkansas. From guides, events, and restaurant highlights. Find all this and more at visitbentonville.com and subscribe to our newsletter. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, and LinkedIn.  You can listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, CastBox, Podcast Casts, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, and Podcast Addict.  

Fayetteville, Arkansas sits in the Ozark Mountains with direct flights, a major university, and Walmart's Bentonville headquarters less than 40 minutes away. But the real surprises start once you're on the ground: 4,000 acres of parkland, 120 miles of trails, and a UCI Bike City title that no other American city holds. We wandered through vintage shops like Aunt Bill's, Grey Dog, and Fayetteville's Funky Flea, ate our way through Hugo's and The Guisinger, and enjoyed a Pride celebration with history that goes back to 1975, nearly fifty years before the first official NWA Pride Parade rolled down Dickson Street. This one's proof that some of the best stories are hiding in plain sight.Northwest Arkansas Pride: The Story That Stuck With UsNorthwest Arkansas Pride is one of the largest LGBTQ+ Pride celebrations in the South, and its roots run far deeper than most visitors expect.The first NWA Pride Parade rolled down Dickson Street in 2004. But local Pride history reaches back to at least 1975, with the Miss Gay Fayetteville Arkansas America pageant hosted at George's Majestic Lounge, Arkansas' oldest live music venue. That's nearly fifty years of community history behind a celebration many outsiders assume is a recent addition to the South.This year marked the 22nd Annual NWA Pride Parade, with events including a Hi-Tea Dance & Pool Party at Mount Sequoyah. Northwest Arkansas Pride Weekend is presented by the Tyson Family Foundation and produced by Northwest Arkansas Equality, Inc., a detail that loops right back to the Tyson and Walmart corporate presence just down the road in Bentonville.Best Restaurants in Fayetteville, ArkansasA Taste of Thai, a Fayetteville staple since 2000Little Bread Company, an artisan bakery and sandwich shop tucked on Block StreetHugo's, a basement burger joint off the square that's been a local favorite since 1977Maxine's Taproom, a historic Fayetteville barThe Guisinger (pronounced GY-zing-er), a cocktail bar inside the historic Guisinger Music Building on the Fayetteville squareFollow Links:Direct your audience to our companion article, Why Fayetteville, Arkansas Is One of the South's Most Surprising Small Towns, for the full list of restaurants, shops, and links we mention in this episode. Connect With Us:Phone Number: 805-298-1420 - Leave us a message! We'd love to hear from you.Email: podcast@onlyinyourstate.comThanks for listening to States of Discovery. Until next time!

On today's show, we hear how the Queer Craft Corner is building community.  Plus, we visit The Momentary in Bentonville and examine the joy of everyday objects. You can also take joy in knowing there is a busy live music weekend approaching with today's Talking Tunes.

In this week's edition of the Flavors of Northwest Arkansas podcast, we're at the Vagabond Coffee Bar in Bella Vista talking with co-owner/operator J.W. Gerike and his awesome story, but before we talk to him?!? FOOD NEWS!! We're heading into the final weekend of Fayetteville Restaurant Week Art of Wine is this Friday and bigger than ever! The Muse is a new cocktail bar in downtown Fayetteville. If you're a good salsa-maker, do I have a competition for you at Brewski's! Longtime Herman's Ribhouse stalwart has opened Possum Creek Bistro food truck There's a new restaurant at Prairie Creek Marina. We'll tell you about Yaya's Waterside! Bella Vista has a new bottle shop! We'll hear from the owner of the Little Bear Café. Dum & Grill is up and rolling in Bentonville. There will be 2 new restaurants in the new Visionaries building in Rogers. Bites & Bowls is downsizing in Springdale. Los Compas Margaritatown is going back to their roots... soon. Kung Fu Tea's location in Rogers is for sale. A pizza place on Dickson Street has shut down. Happy anniversary to La Favorita in Siloam, The Blind Bear in downtown Springdale, and Pizzeria Ruby in Johnson! Speaking of Pizzeria Ruby, in this week's Flavors Flashback, we go back to our podcast with them last October where they talked about getting the doors open 5 years ago. Sidenote for you, there's some salty language in this Flashback, so earmuffs for the kids!!!. Speaking of Covid, that changed the career trajectory for JW Gerike. By trade, he was a physical therapist in Ft. Worth, but Covid hit, and his hours weren't conducive to family life. Hear him talk about why he picked coffee. What were his first steps? Have you seen his 1979 Peugeot Coffee Van? Funny story about how he acquired that. At least he can laugh about it now. Speaking of, once getting established, he got some pretty cool gigs in Texas, including supplying coffee on a movie set. You won't believe which one. And then, the move to Bella Vista. How did they find it, and why did they make the move? And finally, after a very popular trailer at Tanyard Creek, they open a storefront. Some great stories coming your way in this edition of the Flavors of Northwest Arkansas podcast!

In this episode of Bicycle Retail Radio, we sit down with Michael Potter, Partnerships Director at Bikeflights, fresh off the NBDA Retailer Summit Central in Bentonville, to discuss the latest shipping trends shaping the bike industry, including common e-bike shipping misconceptions, and insight into shipping trends with events and bike travel.Michael also unveils Bikeflights' new RFID tracking label program, a game-changer for shops dealing with transit delays or lost packages, and shares how retailers can start leveraging shipping as a competitive advantage.Support the show

In this episode, Kappy shares what's on his plate at the moment. Links and handles mentioned in this episode:The Compton Bentonville | IGWashington State University Creamery, Cougar CheeseReFED job post | CAVA job postSalt & Straw Ice Cream CookbookBilly Shore article | Norimoto Bakery | Adam Richman ig post | D'Romanos PizzaMango Chicken Sauce½ cup ketchup¼ cup rice vinegar 2–3 tbsp brown sugar1 tbsp honey1½ tbsp soy sauce or tamari¼ cup water1 tsp grated fresh ginger, optional but worth it (or ¼ teaspoon ground ginger)1 clove garlic, minced, optional (or ¼ teaspoon granulated garlic)Whisk all of the ingredients together in a small bowl before adding the sauce to the pan with the cooked chicken. Depending on how much chicken you're making, you may only need about half of the sauce.If you'd like a thicker sauce, stir together 1 tablespoon cornstarch and 1–2 tablespoons cold water to make a slurry, then whisk it into the simmering sauce until it reaches your desired consistency.Follow Beyond the Plate on Facebook and X.Follow Kappy on Instagram and X.www.beyondtheplatepodcast.com www.onkappysplate.com

In this week's edition of the Flavors of Northwest Arkansas podcast, we're in Bentonville talking to Rebecca & Jay Davitt, the owners of Stoic Brews Alternative, but before we hear from them?! FOOD NEWS!! We hear from Mallory Files, who sold Ozark Charcuterie & Wine Bar in Fayetteville and grand opened Ozark Charcuterie in Rogers in back-to-back days. Pearlsnap Picnic grand opened in the Jones Center. Vagabond Coffee grand opened at the Sugar Creek Shopping Center in Bella Vista. We'll hear from owner J.W. Gericke! HTeaO is open in Lowell! Jack in the Box is coming to Rogers (somewhere at some time?)? McAlister's is coming to Farmington. Saltine Bakery & Kitchen will open in South Fayetteville SOON. Happy 2-year anniversary to Butter & Bloom Cake Shop! Their anniversary menu-WOW. Happy 28 years to Iron Horse Coffee Company!! In today's Flavors Flashback, Mallory Files tells us what it was like to go viral back in 2024! Rebecca and Jay Davitt started Stoic Brews Alternative back in March of 2025. For those that don't know, Stoic brews gluten-free beer, and all their food is gluten-free as well. Rebecca has been on a gluten-free diet for a decade and Jay wanted to brew beer. Rebecca didn't want to do it until she found out that she could do it gluten-free, and with her food science background, a monster was created! Speaking of which, Rebecca struggled with imposter syndrome. She'll tell you why. Also, how did they find such a great spot? It's the old Pedaler's Pub, and they'll tell you that story. Finally, you don't know what you don't know. They'll talk about being ill-prepared to go through the emotions of seeing people have their first beer in over a decade because of gluten allergies and tear up. They go over that and so much more, on this edition of the Flavors of Northwest Arkansas podcast.

Flintco has been building Arkansas since 1951, and we took Flintco Talks on the road to Bentonville to celebrate 75 years of construction. We sat down with Scott Eccleston, President of Campus Planning and Facility Management for Art and Wellness Enterprises, Alice Walton's Bentonville-based cultural and wellness organization, and Flintco Construction Director Jesse Evans and Vice President Patrick Horrath, both based in Northwest Arkansas. You'll hear Scott's behind-the-scenes stories of a four-hour job interview with Alice Walton, crews working through the night to beat a museum opening, and an architect visibly moved by what the team built.The conversation covers a lot of ground. Scott shares how a walk through the woods with his three boys on what would become the site of Crystal Bridges and a late-night phone call from world-renowned architect Moshe Safdie set the course for the second half of his career. Jesse and Patrick relive some of the challenges they overcame delivering Phase II of Crystal Bridges on a site straddling a floodway, with controlled blasting within 80 feet of priceless artwork and a meticulous architect watching every pour of exposed concrete.They also talk about what's next. Art and Wellness Enterprises is developing a healthcare campus in Bentonville with a vision that has grown well beyond its original scope, and Flintco is building it. Scott makes the case for why a project of this magnitude and complexity requires a construction manager that delivers like a partner.If you attended the recent grand reopening of Crystal Bridges or are curious about the people and partnerships behind Bentonville's most ambitious projects, this episode of Flintco Talks is for you.

Bentonville has world-class trails, but the hardest part of the trip can be bike rentals. It can take hours to sift through what local shops have to offer. We sit down with Jeff Ireland, founder of BikeWhip, to unpack how a simple favor for a visiting brother exposed a bigger problem in planning for a cycling trip. BikeWhip brings local bike rental inventory into one place, using filters to narrow by bike type, size, budget, and e-bike options so riders can find what they actually want fast.We also dig into the reality that many renters are beginners, and that intimidation can keep people from even trying outdoor recreation. Jeff explains how RideMatch helps riders self-identify their needs, answer a few simple questions about where they plan to ride, and get recommendations that fit their comfort level. The goal is not just convenience. It's a better on-trail experience because the wrong bike can turn a dream ride into a frustrating day.Then Andy Williamson joins to explain GORP, the Greenhouse Outdoor Recreation Program, and why Bentonville's startup ecosystem matters as much as the trail builds. We talk about mentorship, customer discovery, building in a living laboratory, and how partnerships like Visit Bentonville's BikeWhip-powered rental widget can lift the whole visitor experience. Listen through, share it with a riding buddy or friend, and then subscribe and leave a review!A New American Town is here to help you plan your trip to Bentonville, Arkansas. From guides, events, and restaurant highlights. Find all this and more at visitbentonville.com and subscribe to our newsletter. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, and LinkedIn.  You can listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, CastBox, Podcast Casts, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, and Podcast Addict.  

On today's show, we learn that CACHE's new Take Action grant program is designed to provide behind-the-scenes assistance to artists and creatives. We also get on a bike for the newest tour of Bentonville. Plus, Michael Tilley from Talk Business & Politics gives us a week-in-review.

If you assume you know everything about your own backyard, you are likely missing the most profitable and entertaining narratives driving your local economy. We sit down with Brian Johnson, the founder of Big on Bentonville, to uncover how he built a premier low-speed vehicle tour company that somehow managed to outrank world-class art museums in customer satisfaction.We get into the tactical reality of launching an unconventional hospitality business in Northwest Arkansas. Brian shares how a trip to Rome inspired him to buy his first custom cart, the precise legal boundaries between standard golf carts and low-speed vehicles, and how his team curated high-end experiences like their signature evening drinking tours. We also dive into the upcoming launch of their "Front Seat to Fabulous" home architecture tours and look at the exact pricing structures required to remain highly profitable.The actual execution of a local tour company isn't all scenic drives and champagne; the hidden overhead can completely stall an operation before it starts. Brian breaks down the brutal reality of commercial insurance costs, which can top $2,000 a month just to keep the vehicles street-legal. He also gives a candid look into the unpredictable nature of tipping culture, dealing with mid-summer weather cancellations, and the necessity of keeping your guides unindebted to corporate sponsorships to maintain an authentic, high-quality story.If you care about local entrepreneurship, scaling a high-margin side hustle, and the business of boutique hospitality, you'll get a lot from this conversation. Make sure to subscribe to the B Team Podcast and share this episode with a fellow founder.What is the best hidden local spot in your city that tourists completely miss? Let us know in the comments below!

I usually forget to do this here but wanted to make sure to ask you to subscribe to the podcast and rate it. I know that some watch on YopuTube and some listen. Every subscription and like helps. We appreciate it very much. In this week's edition, we talk to Kentedra Kentrice, also known as Keke. She owns and operates Kou'Sins Social Lounge in Bentonville, where we'll talk all things hanging, food and bev, but first?? FOOD NEWS!! We have 3 grand openings this week! Ozark Charcuterie grand opens their Rogers location on Thursday. We'll tell you what time! Big Biscuit grand opens their Rogers location. Pearlsnap Picnic brings a coffee shop to the Jones Center. You'll hear from the owners. Bauhaus Biergarten reopens! AQ Chicken House is fully open! Isabella's Bakery opens in Lowell- we'll tell you about the spot Playa Bowls is coming to Rogers. We'll tell you where! This year's Art of Wine is going to be HUGE! We'll tell you how to get tickets. Fayetteville Restaurant Week is just around the corner. Get the 127th Tontitown Grape Festival on your calendar! Happy 11th anniversary to MJ's Pizzeria! Speaking of MJ's, in today's Flavors Flashback, we go back to June of last year to our interview with Chef Miles James. He talks about an article that changed his life. Kentedra Kentrice, or Keke, moved to Northwest Arkansas to work for Walmart after working for them in the Atlanta area. Once here, she realized that Bentonville was missing something. A place where you can go out, not have to pay an arm and a leg, and just hang with some good food and drink. She talks about her professional past, her FIRST profession (you'll never guess), and what happened in the week leading up to opening Kou'Sins. There was some panic involved and she'll talk about how she got the doors open, and that's on this edition of the Flavors of Northwest Arkansas podcast.

Aaron Roger is the founder and CEO of Rock Solid Trail Contracting which provides planning, consulting, design, and build services for projects mostly around the US. Rock Solid has built thousands of miles of trails in the US since 2014, in iconic destinations like Bentonville and Copper Harbor.What was the first mountain bike trail you ever built?Before starting Rock Solid, you were the president of the Copper Harbor Trails Club. What was the vision for the trails in Copper Harbor at that time?What makes for a quality mountain bike trail? How do trail builders create memorable trails? Do riders want to ride difficult trails, or just trails that appear to be difficult?When it comes to tourism, are high-quality trails alone enough to bring visitors?How has trail building changed since your time as a Trail Specialist at IMBA?Why do you think so many riders prefer hand-built trails over machine-built ones? Is it possible to make a machine-built trail feel like a hand-built one?What are some of the projects you are most proud of? Who is your primary client for a trail build: riders or the land manager? How do you balance the desires of both groups?Tell us about some of the custom trail-building tools Rock Solid has developed over the years. What are some projects Rock Solid is working on now?Visit rocksolidtrails.com to learn more about the trail-building company.This episode of the podcast is brought to you by Feedback Sports. If you love your bike, you know that regular maintenance is the key to a smoother, faster, and safer ride. But a good wrenching session starts with the right setup. Enter the Feedback Sports Pro Mechanic and Sprint repair stands. Trusted by World Tour mechanics and home hobbyists alike, these lightweight, anodized aluminum stands are ultra-stable, highly portable, and fold down in seconds. Whether you're chasing down a tricky drivetrain click in your garage or dialing in your shifting at the trailhead, Feedback Sports gives you shop-quality precision wherever you are. Pair their award-winning stands with their professional-grade tool kits—like the Reflex Fixed Torque Ratchet Kit—and you have everything you need to keep your rig running flawlessly. Stop wrestling with your bike upside down on the grass. Elevate your maintenance game and give your bike the care it deserves. Head over to ⁠feedbacksports.com⁠ today to check out their full lineup of repair stands and precision tools.An automated transcript will be available at Singletracks.com later today.

You don't usually walk into an art museum wondering what you'll eat but once you've spent a full day at Crystal Bridges, food becomes part of the adventure. We're joined by Lauren Eck, Regional Vice President of Sales for Wolfgang Puck Catering, to talk about the new partnership at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and what it means for museum dining in Bentonville, Arkansas as the campus grows and visitor expectations keep rising.We get into the ethos behind Wolfgang Puck Catering and why it lines up so naturally with Crystal Bridges and The Momentary: accessibility without lowering the standard. Lauren shares how “elevated” doesn't have to mean expensive, how thoughtful hospitality starts long before someone sits down to eat, and why great people matter even more than great recipes. We also talk about designing food and beverage that complements exhibits, supports all-day exploration, and welcomes everyone including guests with dietary restrictions.If you care about farm-to-table dining, local Arkansas ingredients, and the future of hospitality in Northwest Arkansas, you'll love the behind-the-scenes details, including how the team sourced farmers market strawberries for the Crystal Bridges gala. Lauren also teases what's ahead as experience-driven dining grows, from roaming small plates to big plans leading into 2027.Subscribe for more stories about Bentonville, share this with a friend planning a visit, and leave a review so more listeners can find the show.A New American Town is here to help you plan your trip to Bentonville, Arkansas. From guides, events, and restaurant highlights. Find all this and more at visitbentonville.com and subscribe to our newsletter. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, and LinkedIn.  You can listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, CastBox, Podcast Casts, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, and Podcast Addict.  

Not having access to the right tools kills the desire to build things. As more people look for physical hobbies to step away from their screens, the high cost and massive space required for a personal shop stop them dead in their tracks. We sit down with Charley Preston from The Workbench Collective to discuss how he is solving this exact problem by building a shared community maker space right here in Northwest Arkansas.We get into the logistics of starting a membership based woodshop and making the difficult leap from white collar corporate life back to a true trade. The conversation covers navigating liability waivers, structuring classes for adults versus kids, and transitioning a homeschool side project into a physical brick and mortar business. Charley explains his core philosophy that allowing people to take managed risks with power tools builds a level of confidence that carries over into every other aspect of their daily lives.Running a community space brings significant challenges regarding overhead costs and managing varying customer expectations. Keeping adults on track when they show up with highly complex Pinterest ideas is much harder than teaching straightforward skills to children. You will walk away from this conversation with a clear understanding of how to pivot a business model when the local market demands something slightly different than your original vision.If you care about local business development, community building, and hands on craftsmanship, you will get a lot from this episode. Make sure to subscribe to the channel and share this video with anyone interested in creating physical products or escaping the corporate grind. What is a hands on skill you have always wanted to learn but never had the space to practice?--Chapters:0:00 Welcome and Bourbon Introduction1:07 Escaping Corporate Life2:39 Launching a Homeschool Side Hustle5:17 Relocating to Arkansas7:53 Custom Gifts and Community Building9:15 Evolving the Shared Woodshop Model--Join us every Thursday at 10 AM for all things Bentonville, Business and Bourbon!Join the community:Instagram: @thebteampodFacebook: @The B Team Podcast TikTok: @bteampodhttps://www.bteampodcast.com/

What happens when a mentor gets more out of an accelerator than the founders do?Zak Morris joined the Fuel accelerator as a subject matter expert in AI — but quickly realized he was learning just as much as the companies he was advising. In this episode, Zak breaks down how working with startups across cybersecurity, AML, and healthcare sharpened his own thinking, why Bentonville's density of world-class talent is an underrated advantage, and how one early conversation with a founder led to a permanent board seat.Whether you're a founder, a seasoned professional sitting on the sidelines, or someone who's never thought of themselves as a mentor — this one's for you.

In this episode, we sit down with Aaron Nolan from Downtown Bentonville Inc to explore how the Bentonville Farmers Market has grown into something much bigger than a place to shop. From local chefs shopping that day's produce, to grabbing a coffee and pastry, it's a space where local flavor and community connection meet.Aaron shares how the market draws both residents and visitors, why investing in third spaces matters, and what makes a simple Saturday morning feel like a full experience. Grab a coffee and take your time, because around every corner, there's something new to discover!A New American Town is here to help you plan your trip to Bentonville, Arkansas. From guides, events, and restaurant highlights. Find all this and more at visitbentonville.com and subscribe to our newsletter. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, and LinkedIn.  You can listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, CastBox, Podcast Casts, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, and Podcast Addict.  

Jason McNelly is a wild man. Born and raised in Bentonville, Arkansas, he was around for the explosion in population and amenities, not that he always stayed put for them. From Metallica concerts to the Navy, Jason has lived an interesting life. In this episode, here him recount parts of his youth, at least the parts that haven't been redacted, that led him into military service. Give it a listen, it's a good one. #metallica #bentonville #arkansas #boaconstrictor #navy #communications

In this week's episode of the Flavors of Northwest Arkansas podcast, we took a different direction – a little out of the norm for us. We talked to Nick Ferguson, an Englishman who lives in Pea Ridge, and owned and operated restaurants and bars in Vietnam. It's going to be story time, but before we hear from Nick? FOOD NEWS!!! AQ Chicken House announced when they'll be opening. Vagabond Coffee opened their first brick and mortar. We'll tell you where it is. The Protein House in Rogers is officially open! A popular chain opened a spot in west Fayetteville. Handel's Ice Cream opened in Fayetteville last week. We'll hear from the first person in line, and she'll tell us what time she got there! Taziki's will be opening in Rogers soon! We'll tell you how you can eat there for free! Dodo Coffee will be opening their new building next month! A smoothie/protein shake chain is opening in Fayetteville soon. Happy anniversary to the Vault Bar in Fayetteville and Ryn in Bentonville! Jaclyn's Kitchen has officially closed. We'll tell you when Do it Yum's last day at the 8th Street Market is. Nick Ferguson shot me a Facebook message last August from Vietnam. Said that he was moving here after owning and running restaurants over there. He met his wife in college in England, and she went to Bentonville High School. You'll hear him talk about working for English pub landlords, to opening a vegan brunch spot in the mountains of Vietnam, and much more, and that's in this edition of the Flavors of Northwest Arkansas podcast.

Allen and RD try Space Goose, a hazy IPA by Bentonville Brewing.Cheers!Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/strikeout-beer--2992189/support.

We sit down with Josh and Sean from The Hub to talk about Hub 2.0. It's designed for everything that happens around the ride, from a good cup of coffee to start the day to swapping stories after a bike ride. The goal is a space that feels easy and welcoming, where visitors start to feel like regulars pretty quickly. They've recently expanded both their menu and their space, and partnered with Santa Cruz Bikes to offer rentals as well.We get specific about what makes the Hub a true cycling experience center in Northwest Arkansas. Josh explains how the bike shop side works, from the Santa Cruz demo experience and rental fleet to the “white-glove” setup that helps you find the right ride, whether you're brand new or chasing bigger lines. Sean shares how the original vision started as a community gathering place and why growth was unavoidable once the lounge became more popular.Then we dig into the parts that turn a cycling trip into a full itinerary: live music, DJs, group rides, and partnerships with local organizations that keep the community connected. You'll also hear the practical details people actually need, like how to book rentals ahead, how the greenway leads you in, and what to order when you're refueling, from happy hour deals to brunch favorites. Make sure you subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave us a review so more people can find it.A New American Town is here to help you plan your trip to Bentonville, Arkansas. From guides, events, and restaurant highlights. Find all this and more at visitbentonville.com and subscribe to our newsletter. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, and LinkedIn.  You can listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, CastBox, Podcast Casts, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, and Podcast Addict.  

In this week's edition of the Flavors of Northwest Arkansas podcast, we're in Rogers at the new Chuo Izakaya, talking to some seasoned vets- Owner Darwin Beyer, Head Chef Colin Stewart and Beverage Director Shaun Traxler. But first?!?! FOOD NEWS!! The James Beard Awards were held on Monday night. Onyx was a finalist for Best Bar in the US, and Jason Paul of Heirloom was a finalist for Best Chef of the South. You'll hear & see what happened. Handel's opens in Fayetteville on Thursday, and they're doing something special for it. We'll hear from one of the owners! Chicken chain Huey Magoo's is coming to NWA. We'll tell you where. Homegrown is officially coming to Fayetteville. We'll tell you where it'll be. We'll tell you about a food drive in Bentonville at Sun Painted Farm. Happy first birthday to Archie's Sandwichery. That was QUICK! A Dickson Street mainstay is closing. A Tex-Mex chain closed nationwide over the weekend, and their Rogers location In this week's Flavors Flashback, House 1830's Binh Hoang talksabout placing a premium on front of house hospitality. Chuo Izakaya has been a long time coming for Co-Owner Darwin Beyer. In his pursuit of building a Japanese Tavern experience in Northwest Arkansas, he was able to surround himself with some exceptionally experienced folks, including Head Chef Colin Stewart and Beverage Director Shaun Traxler. We'll hear from all three about how they got to Chuo Izakaya, we'll hear about the menu, including what's new, and we'll also hear about the sickly creative drinks coming from Shaun. Lastly, they're starting something new there, and you'll hear about it here, first. And that's on this week's edition of the Flavors of Northwest Arkansas podcast.

Shawn Osborne Jun 9, 2026, 8:08 PM (6 days ago) to me Today on The Liberty Blues libertarian candidate for US Senate from Arkansas Jeff Wadlin Jeff Wadlin chose Arkansas. He was born in Richmond, Virginia, and moved around a lot growing up — Illinois, Arizona, North Carolina. But when it came time to plant roots and raise a family, Jeff picked Bentonville. His three sons are growing up here. This is home. Jeff is not a career politician. He is a builder. He studied aerospace and mechanical engineering at the University of Virginia, went to work for Caterpillar, earned an MBA from Northwestern, and spent the rest of his career making things run. He co-founded a company in Illinois that became the largest online salvage yard for auto parts in the country. He worked at Capital One's headquarters in Virginia. He launched his own product development company. He ran Membership nationwide at Sam's Club here in Bentonville. Then he left to build his own consulting business. Big companies, small companies — Jeff has done both. He has led teams, made payroll, sat across the table from customers, and learned the hard way that a good idea isn't worth much until somebody executes it. You have to listen. You have to solve real problems for real people. That's the work Jeff knows how to do. Outside of work, you'll find Jeff on a mountain bike or a motorcycle, out on a backpacking trail, in the gym, or at a poker table. He is a regular guy who has been blessed with a good education, a strong family, and enough road behind him now to want to give something back. And that's why he is running. Jeff is worried about where this country is headed, and he thinks a lot of Arkansans are too. Families are working as hard as they ever have and still feel like they're falling behind. Young people are starting to wonder if the American Dream is even on the table for them. Parents and grandparents keep asking the same quiet question: what kind of country are we handing the next generation? Those aren't abstractions to Jeff. He feels them at his own kitchen table. When he thinks about whether his kids will get to build the kind of life he got to build, it's personal. Jeff doesn't think we fix any of this by yelling louder, hating our neighbors, or treating politics like permanent team warfare. His faith teaches him that God is love — that we are called to love our neighbors even when we disagree. That isn't weakness. It's telling the truth with humility, standing firm on what you believe, and remembering that the people across from you are not your enemies. Jeff's principles are simple: love, truth, work, and sacrifice. He believes government should leave you alone unless you're harming someone else — physically or financially. He believes every working family deserves a fair shot at a good life. And he believes Washington needs more adults in the room: more builders, more problem-solvers, and fewer politicians who profit from keeping us divided. Jeff has stepped into the arena before, running for Justice of the Peace, City Council, and a bid for the Libertarian nomination for U.S. House in 2018. He hasn't won yet, but that's about to change. Public service is worth the effort, even when the odds are long. Jeff is running for U.S. Senate because he wants to help build a country where hardworking Arkansans — and our kids and grandkids — can live freely, work hard, raise their families, build something of their own, and believe in the future again. Jeff chose Arkansas. Now he is asking Arkansas to choose him. This will be an episode of liberty blues.

What does affirmative consent law reform, university sex education, and AI-powered law enforcement tools have in common? They're all part of Stefanie Hammett's ambitious startup, HMS.HMS (Have More Safety · Have More Sex · Have More Space) is a consent education company with a bold 2036 goal: insert affirmative consent into all 50 state criminal codes. But getting there means building a real business — with a direct-to-consumer product line, a university B2B pilot program, and a law enforcement tech partnership with Clipper AI.Stefanie breaks down:The "drip effect" strategy for getting consent education into university campusesWhy selling to law enforcement requires showing up 17 times before they trust youHow she balances a world-changing mission with the mechanics of actually building a startupHer advice to founders: presence, biohacking, and trusting your own clarityAnd more!

In week's edition of the Flavors of Northwest Arkansas podcast, we're at Columbus House Brewery in Fayetteville talking with co-owner Carey Ashworth – but before we talk with her?!?! FOOD NEWS!! Bentoville Food Theater is FINALLY open! Onyx at the Preserve is soft opening- KIND OF. We'll tell you what that means. Bloom Cheese Collective is expanding. We'll hear about it from co-owner Brooks Cameron! Ozzie's Ride & Dine has opened at the base of the OZ Trails Bike Park in Bella Vista. We'll hear from Luke Wetzel about their offerings. Ozark Charcuterie in downtown Rogers is officially open! Owner Mallory Files will tell you what the spot is, and what it's not! PJ's Coffee of New Orleans opened Monday at the Summit Shopping Center in Rogers. Local Franchisee Bo Grimes will tell us why it took so long! Dave's Hot Chicken is just a few doors down from PJ's. We'll tell you when they'll be opening. House 1830's Binh Hoang outlines Monday's House 1830/Downtown Rogers Night Market. Happy 9 year anniversary to Southern Food Company! Happy 7 years to Yankabilly Smokehouse! Happy first anniversary to Wu Zhao in downtown Bentonville! In Today's Flavors Flashback, Mallory Files talks about going HUGELY viral in 2024, when we interviewed her for the first time! The Columbus House Brewery has already been open for over a decade! Carey Ashworth and Jason Corral have taken a smallish 3-barrel system and absolutely run with it. Carey talks about the freedom that they have with their setup. Also, did you know that they initially looked to open at a Fayetteville landmark? Carey will tell you which one. Finally, Carey and Jason have grown a community at Columbus House, which was something that Carey had never had growing up as a military kid. She'll tell that story and much more, on this edition of the Flavors of Northwest Arkansas.

On this episode of Currently Reading, we are revisiting an episode from season 1! On episode 8, Meredith and Kaytee discussed reading slumps and how to get through them. Kaytee is bopping around the world, so we hope you enjoy this blast to the past. (head on over to the original show notes HERE to see the photos Meredith references in her bookish moment) Bookish Moments: lovely neighbors and bucket list trips with friends Current Reads: all the great, interesting, and/or terrible stuff we've been reading lately Deep Dive: reading slumps, how we deal with them, and some book recs to help get you through them Books We Want To Press Into Your Hands: each host brings a book they want everyone to read Show notes are time-stamped below for your convenience. Read the transcript of the episode (this link only works on the main site). . . .   5:12 - Moonlight in Vermont AirBnB in Stowe, VT 6:54 - Bear Pond Books in Stowe, Vermont 7:45 - The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg (Kaytee) 7:58 - Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin 10:22 - A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson (Meredith) 10:30 - Notes From a Small Island by Bill Bryson 13:00 - Siblings without Rivalry by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish (Kaytee) 13:25 - How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish 13:30 - How to Talk So Little Kids Will Listen by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish 15:51 - Bringing Up Bebe: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting by Pamela Druckerman 17:24 - Fierce Kingdom by Gin Phillips (Meredith) 20:12 - A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult (Kaytee) 21:40 - Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult 25:36 - Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman (Meredith) 27:13 - The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin 28:00 - Ready Player One by Ernest Cline 28:42 - The Vanderbeeker's of 141st Street by Karina Yan Glaser 33:28 - To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee 34:11 - Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi 39:40 - Calypso by David Sedaris 40:39 - Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris 41:13 - Theft by Finding: Diaries 1977-2002 by David Sedaris 43:47 -Max: Best Friend. Hero. Marine. by Jennifer Li Shotz 43:53 - Hero by Jennifer Li Shotz 46:15 - And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie   Support Us: Become a Bookish Friend | Grab Some Merch Shop Bookshop dot org | Shop Amazon Bookish Friends Receive: The Indie Press List with a curated list of five books hand sold by the indie of the month. April's IPL is brought to us from a new to us bookstore, Two Friends Books in Bentonville, Arkansas Love and Chili Peppers with Kaytee and Rebekah - romance lovers get their due with this special episode focused entirely on the best selling genre fiction in the business All Things Murderful with Meredith and Elizabeth - special content for the scary-lovers, brought to you with the behind-the-scenes insights of an independent bookseller From the Editor's Desk with Kaytee and Bunmi Ishola - a quarterly peek behind the curtain at the publishing industry The Bookish Friends Facebook Group - where you can build community with bookish friends from around the globe as well as our hosts Connect With Us: The Show: Instagram | Website | Email | Threads | Substack | Youtube The Hosts and Regulars: Meredith | Kaytee | Mary | Roxanna Production and Editing: Megan Phouthavong Evans Affiliate Disclosure: All affiliate links go to Bookshop unless otherwise noted. Shopping here helps keep the lights on and benefits indie bookstores. Thanks for your support!

On this episode of Currently Reading, Kaytee and Roxanna are discussing: Bookish Moments: Whiny men in books and reading to our kids Current Reads: all the great, interesting, and/or terrible stuff we've been reading lately Deep Dive: books we rated fairly low, but have stuck with us over time. Before We Go: our new segment featuring bookish friend posts and a sleeper hit from Roxanna Show notes are time-stamped below for your convenience. Read the transcript of the episode (this link only works on the main site). . . .   :10 - Bite Size Intro 1:50 - We encourage you to spend your dollars at indie bookstores this Saturday, April 25th for Independent Bookstore Day! 4:26 - Bookish Moments of the Week 4:49 - Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt 5:47 - The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett 7:35 - Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney 10:00 - Current Reads 10:08 - Good People by Patmeena Sabit (Roxanna) 12:21 - The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini 18:58 - Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid (Kaytee) 24:01 - One Woman Show by Christine Coulson (Roxanna) 28:12 - Sarah's Bookshelves Live 28:34 - Meet the Neighbors by Brandon Keim (Kaytee)  31:56 - An Immense World by Ed Yong 32:11 - Fuzz by Mary Roach 33:34 - Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke (Roxanna) 37:01 - Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman 38:15 - Fierce Fairytales by Nikita Gill (Kaytee) 40:23 - The Princess Saves Herself in this One by Amanda Lovelace 40:31 - Love in Color by Bolu Babalola 41:48 - Deep Dive: Lower Rated Books That Stuck With Us 42:57 - Wine Witch On Fire by Natalie MacLean 48:27 - Medium Raw by Anthony Bourdain 50:08 - Save Me The Plums by Ruth Reichl 50:10 - Blood Bones & Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton 50:46 - Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain 51:51 - To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers 55:29 - Waiting for Tom Hanks by Kerry Winfrey 56:44 - How To Kill A Guy In Ten Dates by Shailee Thompson 57:10 - The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins 57:13 - A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas 57:42 - Dawn by Octavia Butler 57:48 - Kindred by Octavia Butler 1:01:24 - You by Caroline Kepnes 1:04:56 - Before We Go Kaytee highlights a bookish friend post 1:05:12 - Currently Reading Patreon (gets you access to our Discord!) 1:05:31 - Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry Roxanna brings a sleeper hit 1:06:25 - Food that Really Schmecks by Edna Stabler   Support Us: Become a Bookish Friend | Grab Some Merch Shop Bookshop dot org | Shop Amazon Bookish Friends Receive: The Indie Press List with a curated list of five books hand sold by the indie of the month. April's IPL is brought to us from a new to us bookstore, Two Friends Books in Bentonville, Arkansas Love and Chili Peppers with Kaytee and Rebekah - romance lovers get their due with this special episode focused entirely on the best selling genre fiction in the business All Things Murderful with Meredith and Elizabeth - special content for the scary-lovers, brought to you with the behind-the-scenes insights of an independent bookseller From the Editor's Desk with Kaytee and Bunmi Ishola - a quarterly peek behind the curtain at the publishing industry The Bookish Friends Facebook Group - where you can build community with bookish friends from around the globe as well as our hosts Connect With Us: The Show: Instagram | Website | Email | Threads | Substack | Youtube The Hosts and Regulars: Meredith | Kaytee | Mary | Roxanna Production and Editing: Megan Phouthavong Evans Affiliate Disclosure: All affiliate links go to Bookshop unless otherwise noted. Shopping here helps keep the lights on and benefits indie bookstores. Thanks for your support!