POPULARITY
21 episodes with cali bbq media
5 episodes with cali bbq media
7 episodes with cali bbq media
3 episodes with cali bbq media
2 episodes with cali bbq media
2 episodes with cali bbq media
2 episodes with cali bbq media
3 episodes with cali bbq media
Today we have the honor of talking to Shawn Walchef, the owner and founder of Cali BBQ restaurants and Cali BBQ Media. It's time for Episode 103 of The Food For ThoughtCast; welcome back! Steve and Melissa want to know what California BBQ looks like , and how the whole thing started, and Shawn challenges us to go find our whales for this podcast (surprise and hint: it happens!). We talk about how dreams come to be, and the power of storytelling in relation to food. Shawn is an incredible visionary and entrepreneur with a gift for helping us restaurant and hospitality folk realize our full potential and find platforms and our voices. Enjoy this week's episode, and find Cali BBQ if you're in the San Diego area. Find Shawn on these podcasts: Restaurant Technology, Digital Hospitality. Thank you so much for listening and don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe.
In this eye-opening interview, restaurant marketing innovator Shawn P. Walchef reveals why traditional advertising is dead and how restaurants must adapt in 2025. The founder of Cali BBQ Media shares his groundbreaking "Be the Show, Not the Commercial" philosophy, explaining how any restaurant can build a powerful digital presence through authentic storytelling. From live streaming kitchen preparations to building genuine community connections, Walchef provides actionable insights on transforming your restaurant into a media powerhouse, regardless of your location or technical expertise.RestaurantMarketing #FoodContent #DigitalStorytellingAre you a hospitality or restaurant industry leader looking to amplify your voice and establish yourself as a thought leader? Look no further than SavorFM, the premier podcast platform designed exclusively for hospitality visionaries like you. ➡ Visit www.savor.fmFollow on X: Savor_fm
Former guest Shawn Walchef returns to discuss all things digital hospitality. From his BBQ business's journey launching in 2008, and growing to a multi-location restaurant, to his experience creating and growing a media business. Learn his tricks of the trade when it comes to great storytelling, the importance of being digital-first, and the power of persistence. Learn how to overcome your fear of social media and online engagement - leveraging free platforms for your business growth. Cali BBQ Media Theme Music by Ali Schwartz and Meserole Sound
Send us a Text Message.Shawn Walchef from Cali BBQ Media shares his journey with us, from taking over a humble breakfast concept in 2008 and turning it into a family-friendly bar to becoming a digital marketing thought leader in the hospitality industry. Shawn unveils the secrets to overcoming public speaking fears and effectively utilizing free digital platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok to tell compelling stories that resonate with customers. His insights into the importance of continuous improvement in digital marketing and the power of storytelling will leave you inspired and ready to take your bar business to the next level.Shawn delves into the concept of digital playgrounds, likening social media platforms to playground equipment and addressing the initial awkwardness that many face when creating content. With personal anecdotes of building a media company from scratch, Shawn demonstrates how dedication and persistence can lead to successful outcomes, even with limited resources. You'll discover why consistent content creation is crucial and how quality content can emerge from a blend of quantity, speed, and consistency. This episode is a masterclass in leveraging digital communication for business success while maintaining authenticity and a strong hospitality mindset.Shawn discusses the human element of online communication and the integration of technology into bar operations. Learn about tools like Marqii and Ovation for managing reviews and feedback, and the benefits of adopting advanced systems like Toast. By sharing personal stories and the evolution of his business, Shawn emphasizes the significance of authenticity in storytelling. Whether you're a bar owner, consultant, or industry supporter, this episode is packed with valuable insights to help you thrive in the digital age.Contact Shawn:Cali BBQ Media InstagramShawn's LinkedInCali BBQ Media Website#####Welcome to the Bar Business Podcast, the ultimate resource for bar owners looking to elevate their businesses to the next level. Our podcast is packed with valuable insights, expert advice, and inspiring stories from successful bar owners and industry professionals. Tune in to learn everything from how to craft the perfect cocktail menu to how to manage your staff effectively. Our mission is to help you thrive in the competitive bar industry and achieve your business goals.Special thank you to our benchmarking data partner Starfish. Starfish works with your bookkeeping software by using AI to help you make smart data-driven decisions and maximize your profits while giving you benchmarking data to understand how you compare to the industry at large. For more information on how to spend less time working in your bar and more time working on your bar:The Bar Business Podcast WebsiteSchedule a Strategy SessionChris' Book 'How to Make Top-Shelf Profits in the Bar Business'Bar Business Nation Facebook Group
Shawn Walchef is the owner of Cali BBQ, a BBQ restaurant in San Diego, as well as Cali BBQ Media, his production company. The first Cali BBQ restaurant opened in 2008 and the brand has since expanded to include 2 locations in sports stadiums, catering, ghost kitchens, and podcasts, as well as professional video content. Shawn believes in "digital hospitality" which is a conceot we will explore in this episode. Favorite success quote/mantra: "Stay curious, get involced, ask for help." In this episode we will discuss: Ghost kitchens Opening a location Closing a location Branding Marketing AI integration Tech stack AND MORE! Today's sponsors: DashTrack: Dashtrack is an award-winning restaurant websites with unmatched 24/7 support. Effortless updates, AI-powered SEO, and commission-free ordering. Schedule your free site consultation today! MarginEdge: Boost your efficiency and profitability without adding labor costs. MarginEdge is a complete restaurant management software that allows you to seamlessly manage all aspects of your business from one central location. Track food costs in real time, make inventory faster and less tedious, easily cost out your recipes, and get a daily P&L so you always know where you stand. See how it works at marginedge.com/unstopabble. Restaurant Technologies the company that helps restaurants, “Control the kitchen chaos.” With RT's total oil management, you get: Dependable fresh bulk cooking oil delivery; Filtration + oil usage monitoring and reporting; Used cooking oil pick-up, and recycling; And say goodbye to messy, dangerous restaurant rendering tanks-yuck. RT's end-to-end cooking oils solution helps you manage your used cooking oil storage, collection, and recycling- conveniently, safely, and cleanly- with no upfront costs. Head to www.RTI-inc.com, and let them know the Restaurant Unstoppable Podcast sent you their way. Restaurant Systems Pro - Join the 60-day Restaurant Systems Pro FREE TRAINING. This is something that has never been done before. This 60-day event is at no cost to you, but it is not for everyone. Fred Langley, CEO of Restaurant Systems Pro, will lead a group of restaurateurs through the Restaurant Systems Pro software and set up the systems for your restaurant. During the 60 days, Fred will walk you through the Restaurant Systems Pro Process and help you crush the following goals: Recipe Costing Cards; Guidance in your books for accounting; Cash controls; Sales Forecasting(With Accuracy); Checklists; Budgeting for the entire year; Scheduling for profit; More butts in seats and more… Click Here to learn more. Contact the guest: Instagram: @shawnpwalchef OR @calibbq OR @calibbqmedia Website: https://calibbq.media Thanks for listening! Rate the podcast, subscribe, and share! We are on Youtube: @RestaurantUnstoppable
In today's episode, I'm joined by Shawn Walchef, founder of Cali BBQ Media. Shawn shares insights from his journey transitioning a traditional restaurant into a thriving media powerhouse. We discuss the role of modern technology in business growth, his experience with Toast's customer advisory board, and how strategic storytelling in the business-to-business space can significantly amplify community engagement. Listen in as Shawn reflects on building global connections and the invaluable lessons learned along the way. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Shawn Walchef is the owner of Cali BBQ and Cali BBQ Media. He discusses the early challenges he faced as a restaurant owner, how he learned to use the internet and social media to his advantage, and shares his insights on building a successful restaurant brand in the digital age. Shawn emphasizes the importance of leveraging technology and storytelling to market a business effectively and the need for entrepreneurs to build their digital brand from the start.
Welcome to the latest episode of the Tech On Toast podcast! In this episode, host Chris sits down with Shawn Walchef, founder of Cali BBQ and Cali BBQ Media. Its 5am in San Deigo and Shawn is up already! Join them as they discuss the power of digital storytelling, the importance of authenticity in content creation, and the evolution of the hospitality industry in the digital age. Sean shares valuable insights on building a media company alongside a restaurant business, the impact of technology on the industry, and the significance of staying curious and consistent in content creation. They also touch on personal anecdotes, including Shawn's family dynamics and his son's interest in soccer. Tune in to discover Shawn's journey from restaurant owner to content creator, his approach to building a successful media presence, and his thoughts on the future of the industry. Don't miss out on this engaging conversation filled with practical advice and inspiring stories! Join the Tech On Toast community and catch Shawn and Chris live on LinkedIn every Wednesday and Friday at 6pm UK time. Connect with Shawn on LinkedIn or Instagram for more insights and updates. Stay tuned for more episodes and remember, no one is coming to tell your story - it's time to start sharing it yourself! The Tech on Toast Podcast is brought to you by Lightspeed, Retail & Restaurant ePOS — The one-stop commerce platform for retail, hospitality and golf merchants around the world.
Starting a business in a tough spot didn't stop Shawn Walchef from making a name for himself in the competitive world of restaurants. In this episode, Shawn, owner of Cali BBQ and Cali BBQ Media, talks about turning challenges into opportunities. He discusses the critical role of digital tools in expanding his restaurant's reach and efficiency, providing invaluable insights for those looking to elevate their operations and customer engagement. Shawn's journey from a local BBQ spot to a digital powerhouse offers a roadmap for franchises seeking to adapt and grow in today's tech-driven market. From mastering social media to optimizing operations with tech tools, Shawn shares practical advice for any business owner looking to improve their game. Tune in to learn how you can apply these insights to your own venture!
Join us on a fascinating journey with Shawn Walchef, the visionary behind Cali BBQ and Cali BBQ Media the trailblazer in digital hospitality, in this episode of "The Late Night Restaurant Show." Shawn takes us through his transformative approach to blending traditional barbecue with cutting-edge digital strategies, turning his local restaurant into a digital sensation. He shares his wisdom on embracing technology, the critical role of content creation across digital platforms, and why every restaurant owner needs to think digitally. From the nuances of navigating online pricing challenges to predicting the digital future of the restaurant industry, Shawn's insights serve as a masterclass for anyone looking to adapt and thrive in the digital era. This episode is not just a treat for the taste buds but also a blueprint for success in the increasingly digital restaurant industry. Tune in to get seasoned advice from one of the industry's finest digital chefs. Learn more about Cali BBQ & Cali BBQ Media: www.calibbq.media
Join us on a fascinating journey with Shawn Walchef, the visionary behind Cali BBQ and Cali BBQ Media the trailblazer in digital hospitality, in this episode of "The Late Night Restaurant Show." Shawn takes us through his transformative approach to blending traditional barbecue with cutting-edge digital strategies, turning his local restaurant into a digital sensation. He shares his wisdom on embracing technology, the critical role of content creation across digital platforms, and why every restaurant owner needs to think digitally. From the nuances of navigating online pricing challenges to predicting the digital future of the restaurant industry, Shawn's insights serve as a masterclass for anyone looking to adapt and thrive in the digital era. This episode is not just a treat for the taste buds but also a blueprint for success in the increasingly digital restaurant industry. Tune in to get seasoned advice from one of the industry's finest digital chefs. Learn more about Cali BBQ & Cali BBQ Media: www.calibbq.media --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/canadas-restaurant-guy/message
In today's episode, I chat with Shawn Walchef, the force behind Cali BBQ Media, tracing the shift from a simple barbecue restaurant to a leading media company. Shawn discusses the pivotal role of storytelling and digital hospitality at the core of his business model. We also explore the development of my enterprise, stressing the importance of articulating value and the effective use of media to connect, inspire, and cultivate a community of support. Insights on the power of adaptable relationships and the influence of media in contemporary entrepreneurship are revealed, providing a nuanced perspective on achieving success in today's digital landscape. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Ghetto Country Brandmother and her guest, Shawn P. Walchef of Cali BBQ Media bring the smoke to this episode. That's because Shawn shifted his focus from bbq to media. Shawn is all about digital storytelling from the phone in your back pocket. He often says, no one is gonna tell your story, so he's mastering telling his while building a community and personal brand. The conversation also explores Shawn's personal insights on legacy, entrepreneurship, and the invaluable advice from his grandfather that has guided his journey. And nothing does it better than an orange tree near the smokehouse. ----- If your personal brand is having a meltdown and needs nurturing, reach out to Brandma. And, if you're feel'n some kinda way about this episode, subscribe & follow GCB on Instagram or LinkedIn If you wanna get all up in my business get my book - That Damn Girl Stuff If you wanna get all up in my brand get my book - Branding, Boundaries & Bullshit If you ever want any of my tees go to - Brandma's Dressing Room --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/brandmashouse/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/brandmashouse/support
In today's episode, I address a powerful truth: 99% of people stop short of their potential, not realizing that most success doesn't happen overnight. With me is Shawn P. Walchef, host of the Digital Hospitality Podcast and founder of Cali BBQ Media. We discuss the importance of steady progress in life and business, rather than seeking quick gains. Our conversation spans my book publishing experiences, interactions with figures like Gary Vaynerchuk, and the critical role of authentic relationships in business. Shawn reflects on similar experiences, emphasizing themes of resilience and commitment to service. We also explore the nuances of parenting, the significant impact of digital platforms, and the power of genuine connections. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
This episode sponsored by Popmenu. Popmenu specializes in transformative online and on-premise technologies that help restaurants increase brand visibility, guest engagement, revenue and profitability. We currently work with over 10,000 independent restaurants and hospitality groups and are helping them get the most out of their most powerful marketing tool: their menu.It's also sponsored by Kickfin. Thousands of restaurants, bars and breweries use Kickfin to tip out their employees instantly — no cash required. With Kickfin, tips go directly to your employees' bank of choice, the second their shift ends. It's a really simple solution to a really big problem — because if you're still paying out credit card tips in cash, it's costing you. Time-consuming bank runs and cash counting take managers away from work that matters. Cash is hard to track, which leads to accounting headaches — and it creates the perfect opportunity for theft, human error, and compliance issues. Bottom line: there's never been an instant, secure way to pay out tips — until Kickfin. It's an easy-to-use software that sends real-time, cashless tip payouts straight to your employees' bank accounts, 24/7/365. Kickfin gives managers hours back in their day, makes reporting a breeze and protects your business from risk. Most importantly: employees love it. Restaurants can have Kickfin up and running overnight. Employees can enroll in seconds. No hardware, no contracts, no setup fees. Visit kickfin.com for a personalized demo and see how restaurants across the country digitizing tips with Kickfin. Giving Kitchen is a James Beard Award-Winning nonprofit that provides emergency assistance to food service workers nationally. GK has served over thirteen thousand food service workers and awarded over nine million dollars to food service workers in crisis. Giving Kitchen helps food service workers that get hurt or sick, lose a family member or suffer a housing disaster like a flood or fire by offering financial assistance to cover rent and utilities. If you know someone that works in a bar or restaurant that is in crisis, tell them: Ask for help from Giving Kitchen by clicking here.Want to get involved and support Giving Kitchen? Join Dining With Gratitude in October, Giving Kitchen's month-long campaign, where the food service community pledges to raise critical funds and spread the word about their mission. Learn more by clicking here.
Join us on Evocalize's first episode of the Local Marketing Labs podcast!Listen to our guest, Shawn Walchef, founder of Cali BBQ and Cali BBQ Media, as he reveals the transformative power of digital platforms for storytelling and brand promotion.Here's a glimpse of what you'll learn:1️⃣ Uncover the transformative potential of digital mediums for advertising your narrative and your brand.2️⃣ Learn the ways that videos, especially those that are succinct, captivate and hold the viewer's attention.3️⃣ Overcome anxiety and target creation pace, quantity, and steadiness in your output.4️⃣ Find out how the internet and social media have made storytelling accessible to everyone.5️⃣ Grasp how to take advantage of the creator economy, harnessing digital platforms for your benefit
#10. Shawn Walchef is not only a restaurateur but an expert in digital media and storytelling. During the episode, he emphasizes the importance of taking time, making mistakes, and consistently learning. According to Shawn, storytelling is crucial in creating an emotional connection with customers, and he believes that technology can make barbecue more accessible to people.The podcast touches on the importance of connection in digital marketing and the long-term approach to building relationships. Shawn advises entrepreneurs to focus on being authentic and raw in their online presence, rather than trying to be commercial, believing that personal stories can add value to one's online presence and that privacy and storytelling can coexist.Where to find Shawn Walchef: LinkedInInstagramTwitterCali BBQ MediaDigital HospitalityRestaurant InfluencersWhere to find host Josh Sharkey:InstagramLinkedInIn this episode, we cover:(2:47) Shawn's background(6:31) Why Shawn is so interested in storytelling(9:35) Shawn's framework for telling stories(10:06) The difference between digital marketing and social media(14:45) The importance of learning new things(18:37) Balancing personal and business storytelling(22:15) The importance of understanding your audience(25:34) Digital marketing is like the tortoise and the hare(29:18) Simplifying your message(32:34) Partnering with Entrepreneur (38:37) Restaurants using PR(41:34) What's next for Shawn?
Since opening Cali BBQ 12 years ago, his family-run restaurant and media business in San Diego has generated more than $30 million in sales. As a restaurateur who opened during the Great Recession, Shawn Walchef learned to use digital tools and big ideas to stay in business. During the Pandemic, Shawn and his Cali BBQ Media team have developed a scalable plan that is three times more profitable than the traditional full-service restaurant model. Cali BBQ is working on a plan to repurpose 60 percent of their dining room into a commissary kitchen to service the additional “friendly” ghost kitchens they plan to add over the next three years. Shawn Walchef also hosts two video and audio podcasts Digital Hospitality & Restaurant Influencers, which are just one facet of his burgeoning media empire that also includes content creation, consulting, and more services to assist others in their digital evolution. He strives to help fellow entrepreneurs learn the right tools and strategies to unlock endless opportunities for new businesses. Follow Shawn : Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/shawnpwalchef/ TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@shawnpwalchef LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnpwalchef/ Special thanks to the team over at DAVO for the gifting the tickets to The National Restaurant Association Show. DM for your chance to win! Register at nationalrestaurantshow.com/mmr with MrRsdiscount to save $25 off the onsite rate. Click HERE to join The Closed Monday Community! Exclusive Sponsor - Four Turns - Restaurant Growth Experts Click here to schedule your FREE 15 min Consultation Looking for restaurant tech? Check out exclusive offers from our partners: Marquii Toast 7Shifts ✅ Website: http://kyleinserra.com ✅ Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/kyleinserra ✅ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyleinserra/ ✅ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@kyleinserra --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/closedmondayshow/message
About the guest: Shawn P. Walchef (@shawnpwalchef) is the founder of Cali BBQ Media, podcast host, business coach, and proud dad. Since opening Cali BBQ in 2008, his family-run restaurant and media company in San Diego has generated more than $30 million in sales. As a restaurateur who opened during the Great Recession of 2008, Shawn Walchef learned to use digital tools and big ideas to stay in business. During the Pandemic, Shawn and his Cali BBQ Media team developed a scalable plan that is three times more profitable than the traditional full-service restaurant model. He also hosts two weekly video podcast series: Digital Hospitality and Restaurant Influencers. Podcasts are just one part of his burgeoning media empire, which also includes content creation, consulting, and more digital services to help others with their smartphone storytelling. Shawn's smartphone storytelling strategies have led to Cali BBQ Media being featured on Amazon Prime TV, Bloomberg TV, Entrepreneur, Inc, Eater, ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News and many other local and national media outlets. The business owner wants to guide others to the right digital tools and social media strategies that will unlock endless opportunities for them and their brands. STAY CURIOUS | GET INVOLVED | ASK FOR HELP • Subscribe to Digital Hospitality: https://calibbq.media/podcast-episode • Subscribe to Restaurant Influencers: https://www.entrepreneur.com/listen/restaurant-influencers Email shawn@calibbq.media to get in touch or DM on social media @shawnpwalchef Connect with Jordan: https://jordanjmendoza.com/m/social Thank you for listening to this episode! If you got value please consider giving us a 5 star rating on Spotify, Apple and wherever you get your podcast as that will help us reach and impact more people around the world! This episode was sponsored by People Building Inc. Podcast Agency Want to guest on Top Podcasts to increase your influence, impact & income? Book a call below to see how you can do just that and tell them I sent you!
It's time Shawn sits in the hot seat. Shawn Walchef is the founder of Cali BBQ Media and host of this show. In this episode the tables are turned. Our friend Will Eppard (Regional VP of Sales at Toast) took the mic at Spark Los Angeles to interview Shawn about his media empire and more. Listen now to learn about turning into a media company and building communities. Sponsored by: • Toast: All-In-1 Restaurant POS — https://bit.ly/3vpeVsc • Atmosphere: TV for Your Business — https://bit.ly/3Mbc2TZ
It's time Shawn sits in the hot seat. Shawn Walchef is the founder of Cali BBQ Media and host of this show. In this episode the tables are turned. Our friend Will Eppard (Regional VP of Sales at Toast) took the mic at Spark Los Angeles to interview Shawn about his media empire and more. Listen now to learn about turning into a media company and building communities. Sponsored by: • Toast: All-In-1 Restaurant POS — • Atmosphere: TV for Your Business —
Shawn Walchef is the owner of Cali BBQ and Cali BBQ Media, a 15-year-old BBQ chain located in San Diego, California that also creates B2B content for operators. In this episode, we'll discuss how Cali BBQ is leveraging smaller-format locations like ghost kitchens and stadium concessions to build the “Amazon Prime of BBQ,” the current state of restaurant technology, and how restaurant operators can leverage the full potential of social media. Watch on YouTube Join the HNGRY Newsletter
Shawn P. Walchef is a podcast host, business coach, and the founder of Cali BBQ Media. Since opening the first Cali BBQ restaurant in 2008, he has grown the San Diego-area chain to 5 locations and created a global brand through the power of digital storytelling. Here, he discusses how he developed his brand by leaning into crazy, cultivating curiosity and by following his grandfather's example.Key Takeaways:- How to tell your business's story on social media.- The importance curiosity has played in Shawn's success.- How to be fearless and "lean into your crazy."- How Shawn is putting So Cal BBQ on the map.Episode Timeline:1:20 Tod and Shawn put their NFL rivalries aside for the good of the show.2:30 What differentiates Cali BBQ from other regional BBQ?4:20 What does Cali BBQ taste like?6:00 What has Shawn learned from hosting the Restaurant Influencers podcast?8:20 “Be the show, not the commercial.”9:10 How to lean into your crazy.10:45 The power of specifics in marketing your brand.11:55 The importance that curiosity plays in Shawn's life.16:00 Shawn's unapologetic embrace of the Chargers after they left San Diego helped put his business on the map.20:00 Shawn's philosophy for creating happy employees.23:00 How does Shawn choose the stories he tells about his business?This episode's guest:• Shawn P. Walchef• Follow him on all socials @shawnpwalchefSubscribe and leave a 5-star review:https://pod.link/1496390646Contact Us!• Join the conversation by leaving a comment!• Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn!Thanks for listening! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
How does your digital hospitality hold up? Do you even know what your digital hospitality is? Today I welcome Shawn Walchef, Founder of Cali BBQ and Cali BBQ Media, to come on the mic and tell us about digital hospitality in the hospitality industry and why smartphone storytelling is an increasingly important focus for restaurants. Digital Hospitality Clubhouse Room Shawn Walchef on LinkedIn Hospitality Leadership Podcast Partners Thank you for supporting our sponsors at The Hospitality Leadership Podcast! Our title sponsor is RotaCloud: Find out how you can transform your people management and give your management team practical insights into labour cost over at RotaCloud.com. Espressly.co: In a digital age, it is important to have branded mobile assets. Get a custom-branded mobile ordering and loyalty app for your business over at Espressly.co. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
What do BBQ and social media have in common? The answer is Shawn Walchef. In this episode Tom and Shawn discuss why one post a day is guaranteed to change your business in 100 days. Shawn is the “BBQ media guy,” who advocates for digital marketing on your terms while running Cali BBQ Media. During their discussion, Tom and Shawn bring up keys to success and the power of getting uncomfortable. Show people what you do because no one else will. Key takeaways: - Using the internet & digital marketing to build your business - The power of “smart phone storytelling” - What is a BBQ Media guy? - Show what you do – no one else will - Knowing the difference between documenting & creating - Content, Commerce, Communication - Stay curious, get involved, & ask for help Quotes: “Everyone wants social media to be someone else's job. It's not. It's your job. It's literally your job to talk about who you are & what you do.” - Shawn Walchef “That's what consumers are expecting on all fronts is the Amazon purchase. It's easy. Just a couple buttons. Press, swipe, whatever, put through.” Tom Feher “Get uncomfortable today.” – Shawn Walchef Connect with Shawn: Cali BBQ Website - https://calibbq.media Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/shawnpwalchef/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/calicomfortbbq/ YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/CaliComfortBBQSpringValley TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@calibbq Twitter - https://twitter.com/calicomfort Digital Hospitality Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/digital-hospitality-a-cali-bbq-media-podcast/id1235316273?ls=1&mt=2 Connect with Tom Feher: Website: www.feherlawfirm.com Facebook: @feherlaw Instagram: @feherlawapc Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
(October 25, 2022 – Hour One) 9:14pm – Joining to start the show is the founder of Cali BBQ and Cali BBQ Media, Shawn Walchef. Shawn hosts a number of successful podcasts the center around business and digital storytelling. Tonight we will dig into why using your smartphone is your biggest asset in the market these days and why you should be the one telling your story. We will also discuss his latest show, Restaurant Influencers, and what value you will get from listening to it through the week. Shawn is a great guest and always brings tremendous value in his appearances! 9:35pm – After Shawn, I will be joined by 4th Tuesday of the month guest, Derrick Riches. There is plenty of stuff going around the BBQ news world right now and Derrick and I will attempt to make sense of it all and give our takes on the top stories of the past few weeks. Visit Derrick's website to see what he's writing about and to get some great cooking recipes as well! BBQ Central Show Sponsors! Big Poppa Smokers Green Mountain Grills Primo Grills David Leans / DoWellness – GET FIT for $200/month) Cookin Pellets Fireboard Smithfield Pit Barrel Cooker The Butcher Shoppe – Save 10% When You Mention “The BBQ Central Show” Vortic Watch Company
(October 25, 2022 – Hour One) 9:14pm – Joining to start the show is the founder of Cali BBQ and Cali BBQ Media, Shawn Walchef. Shawn hosts a number of successful podcasts the center around business and digital storytelling. Tonight we will dig into why…
(October 25, 2022 - Hour One) 9:14pm - Joining to start the show is the founder of Cali BBQ and Cali BBQ Media, Shawn Walchef. Shawn hosts a number of successful podcasts the center around business and digital storytelling. Tonight we will dig into why using your smartphone is your biggest asset in the market these days and why you should be the one telling your story. We will also discuss his latest show, Restaurant Influencers, and what value you will get from listening to it through the week. Shawn is a great guest and always brings tremendous value in his appearances! 9:35pm - After Shawn, I will be joined by 4th Tuesday of the month guest, Derrick Riches. There is plenty of stuff going around the BBQ news world right now and Derrick and I will attempt to make sense of it all and give our takes on the top stories of the past few weeks. Visit Derrick's website to see what he's writing about and to get some great cooking recipes as well! BBQ Central Show Sponsors! Big Poppa Smokers Green Mountain Grills Primo Grills David Leans / DoWellness - GET FIT for $200/month) Cookin Pellets Fireboard Smithfield Pit Barrel Cooker The Butcher Shoppe - Save 10% When You Mention "The BBQ Central Show" Vortic Watch Company
In 2011 Marguerite Zabar Mariscal was an intern at Momofuku (@momolongplay). By age 30 she was CEO. Listen to this interview to learn about building strategic partnerships, new technology, and not being obsessed with perfection. Try TOAST Tech to Make Your Restaurant Run Smoother and Stronger — https://bit.ly/3vpeVsc Never Worry About Sales Tax Again. Try DAVO and Get Your 1st Month FREE — https://bit.ly/3rf2BcB Produced by Cali BBQ Media: https://content.calibbq.media
In 2011 Marguerite Zabar Mariscal was an intern at Momofuku (@momolongplay). By age 30 she was CEO. Listen to this interview to learn about building strategic partnerships, new technology, and not being obsessed with perfection. Try TOAST Tech to Make Your Restaurant Run Smoother and Stronger — Never Worry About Sales Tax Again. Try DAVO and Get Your 1st Month FREE — Produced by Cali BBQ Media:
James McGehee (Dave's Hot Chicken) and Morgan Harris (Restaurant365) are true Digital Hospitality leaders. Both men have a full understanding of what it takes to grow a business while remaining true to the foundation of what allows such expansion in the first place. But in the fairly new, yet rapidly expanding, digital space, what exactly is the state of hospitality? How do companies of a large magnitude maintain a digitally hospitable capacity? On this episode of the Digital Hospitality podcast (sponsored by our friends at Restaurant365) and hosted by Shawn Walchef, Dave's Hot Chicken CFO James McGehee provided a simple definition: “Delivering the expected experience at the right time”. WHAT DID YOU LEARN on this episode of the show? Let us know by leaving a comment! Email our Cali BBQ Media team to get in touch podcast@calibbq.media. EPISODE TAKEAWAYS — K.I.S.S.E.S: The acronym KISSES stands for Keep It Simple, Sustainable, Efficient, and Scalable. This effectively describes the strategy for creating a perpetually positive customer experience at Dave's Hot Chicken. Extraordinary Over Convenience: James McGehee of Dave's Hot Chicken understands that the best way to deliver consistently as a restaurant is to be the best version of your brand. As he puts it, "extraordinary food will always win". The People Are The Stars: An average of 4+ stars on Yelp is a gold standard of restaurant reviews. Morgan Harris of Restaurant365 knows that is not achievable without the help of the everyday workers involved Check out this interview to learn about effectively scaling a business, being extraordinary in your life, and the integral role of the unseen people at restaurants. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0Iu8dMIeCU PODCAST CHAPTERS: [01:38] - Dave's Hot Chicken Growth [07:26] - Product Evolution [09:54] - Pandemic Lessons for Restaurants [13:52] - Being Extraordinary Matters [16:28] - Hiring Top Talent Inspiring Restaurant Leaders: Cali BBQ Media founder and podcast host Shawn Walchef caught up with the two restaurant industry leaders at the Restaurant Transformation Tour stop in Hollywood, which Cali BBQ Media was at to document and also take part in the excitement. The sold out event was hosted by Restaurant365 and drew lots of talent from the restaurant and hospitality industries to The Wiltern in Los Angeles. Products may change and technology will inevitably evolve, but both James McGehee and Morgan Harris have an astute ability to sift through what will work and what will not. READ MORE: Restaurant365 Makes Restaurant Accounting Sexy featuring CEO Tony Smith (DH136) James McGehee understands that the best way to deliver consistently as a restaurant is to be the best version of your brand. “At the end of the day, it starts with extraordinary food. People may argue that it's now convenience over extraordinary food. I will say extraordinary food will always win over convenience. - James McGehee on the Digital Hospitality podcast Be sure to check out the full interview and follow Dave's Hot Chicken (@daveshotchicken) and Restaurant365 (@restaurant365) on social media for the latest information on both innovative companies. -Feature Article by Cali BBQ Media Writer TJ Void. Get in touch with TJ at tjvoid@calibbq.media. What is the Restaurant Transformation Tour? The Restaurant Transformation Tour is R365's latest contribution to the restaurant industry. People gathering and enjoying community is the essence of the restaurant industry, and the central motivation for the Restaurant Transformation Tour. In the midst of the fun and music, however, there is also an immense amount of learning opportunities for participants. Learn more: Restaurant Transformation Tour 2022 ABOUT RESTAURANT365 : Restaurant365 is an all-in-one restaurant management software that puts profit at...
Episode 121 Building a Friendly Ghost Kitchen with Shawn Walchef https://restauranttopia.com/episode-121-building-a-friendly-ghost-kitchen-with-shawn-walchef/(opens in a new tab) About CALI BBQ Since opening Cali BBQ in 2008, Shawn and Rositsa Walchef have incorporated the Bulgarian traditions of hospitality into every facet of their expanding business empire, from evolving their restaurant for 2020 and beyond with easy online ordering of BBQ online, to publishing podcasts and other digital media through Cali BBQ Media. Cali BBQ Podcast — Digital Hospitality Digital Hospitality is a weekly business and marketing podcast produced by Cali BBQ Media and hosted by restaurant owner and thought leader Shawn Walchef. https://restauranttopia.com/text/ Join other independent restaurant owners and professionals on our VIP Text Club and get access to exclusive content, industry news, deals, insights, announcements, pro-tips, and more! join our mailing list and get our newsletter: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/su/dojKlZ5 Enter your email and get the very latest from Restauranttopia - marketing tips and insights, announcements, pro tips, and more! And don't worry, we hate spam too! Check out the show notes at https://restauranttopia.com/category/podcast-episodes/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Restauranttopia/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/restauranttopia Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/restauranttopia/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9aRVuDUYsV370Rfh-QxDag Brian Seitz https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-j-seitz-j-d-19863616/ David Ross https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-ross-b6b39175/ Anthony Hamilton https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-hamilton-5805013a/
Irena Damianova learned the secret ingredient to opening a restaurant. When the Las Vegas restaurant owner decided to move from a successful real estate career and open Balkan Bar and Grill, she didn't know what to expect. All she knew was that flexibility was paramount to her and the restaurant's survival. Outside of the amazing Balkan region inspired menu, Damianova incorporates a secret ingredient into the welcoming restaurant experience. “My daughter likes to say that the secret ingredient is love. People feel when you put what you put into it. They can feel it,” explains Balkan Bar and Grill owner Irena Damianova on the Digital Hospitality podcast, hosted by Shawn Walchef (and his special guest co-host Rositsa Walchef). WHAT DID YOU LEARN on this episode of the show? Let us know by leaving a comment! Email our Cali BBQ Media team to get in touch podcast@calibbq.media. EPISODE TAKEAWAYS — Plan for Now: The COVID pandemic has caused a shift in many business strategies, including mindsets of owners and operators. The uncertainty of the times caused Irena Damianova to live in the moment more than be bogged down by long term forecasting. Dining Out is Cheaper than a Psychiatrist: Humans are social and not having that option for a while was difficult for some to get through. Irena Damianova believes that gathering around good food can help people get over those mental hurdles. Love: The Secret Ingredient: Physical ingredients aside, Irena Damianova believes that the intangibles like love are what makes the food at The Balkan Grill special. https://youtu.be/h8NY_Km43is Check out this interview to learn her leap into the hospitality industry and a unique approach to creating an enjoyable environment for restaurant guests. PODCAST CHAPTERS: [01:19] - Opening a Restaurant [04:35] - First Day Open Lessons [08:38] - Bulgarian Restaurant in Las Vegas [18:40] - Secret Ingredient to Business [22:22] - Worldly Family Cuisine Opening a Restaurant: When asked why she made the big decision to open a restaurant, Irena Damianova says. “I wish I had the answer, but I think it's a part of the process of the discovery.” The discovery process included Irena searching for an entity that was pure and could avoid being completely infiltrated by the internet and technology. For her, that was Balkan Bar and Grill. Despite the world's increasing dependency on technology, there remains an innate desire for community. Damianova believes that human interaction is irreplaceable, and the benefits that come with being face to face with friends, family, and colleagues was the inspirational push to find a way to create opportunities for people to do just that. “Dining out is cheaper than a psychiatrist,” says Irena Damianova. “A lot of people discovered that there's a lot of things that can be done remotely, but there's a lot of things that we miss as far as normal human interaction. You miss talking to people face to face. You miss saying cheers face to face.” Oddly enough, Balkan Bar and Grill opened during the Pandemic amidst occupancy restrictions, which is on brand for Irena. She does not live according to conventional rules and Balkan Bar and Grill matches that ideology. Though she is a proud Bulgarian woman, she didn't want to pigeonhole the menu or mindset at her restaurant. That expansive area and multitude of cultures provides an intersection of cultures that allows Damianova the elasticity to create a menu that provides visitors with enough options to find something they like. That's what matters to her. Irena Damianova beams with pride, joy, and love. She opened Balkan Bar and Grill to be a part of making the world a better place. The items on the menu have special meaning to her. The ambiance in the restaurant is based on happiness. As Balkan Bar and Grill grows, she plans to continue to make the world better through food and love.
Courage – Restaurant Entrepreneurs embracing digital marketing with Shawn Walchef. Get out your phone and Record! Show Notes About CALI BBQ Since opening Cali BBQ in 2008, Shawn and Rositsa Walchef have incorporated the Bulgarian traditions of hospitality into every facet of their expanding business empire, from evolving their restaurant for 2020 and beyond with easy online ordering of BBQ online, to publishing podcasts and other digital media through Cali BBQ Media. Cali BBQ Podcast — Digital Hospitality Digital Hospitality is a weekly business and marketing podcast produced by Cali BBQ Media and hosted by restaurant owner and thought leader Shawn Walchef. https://restauranttopia.com/text/ Join other independent restaurant owners and professionals on our VIP Text Club and get access to exclusive content, industry news, deals, insights, announcements, pro-tips, and more! join our mailing list and get our newsletter: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/su/dojKlZ5 Enter your email and get the very latest from Restauranttopia - marketing tips and insights, announcements, pro tips, and more! And don't worry, we hate spam too! Check out the show notes at https://restauranttopia.com/category/podcast-episodes/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Restauranttopia/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/restauranttopia Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/restauranttopia/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9aRVuDUYsV370Rfh-QxDag Brian Seitz https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-j-seitz-j-d-19863616/ David Ross https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-ross-b6b39175/ Anthony Hamilton https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-hamilton-5805013a/
Every phone call is an opportunity for your business. AI makes it so you never have to miss a call again. Popmenu cofounders Brendan Sweeney and Tony Roy were guests on the Digital Hospitality podcast to talk about how Popmenu Answering and other innovative technology tools are transforming restaurant operations for guests and staff alike. "Every phone call to your business is a transaction," Tony Roy said on the podcast hosted by restaurant owner Shawn P. Walchef of https://calibbq.media. WHAT DID YOU LEARN on this episode of the Digital Hospitality podcast? Let us know by leaving a comment below! Email our Cali BBQ Media team to get in touch podcast@calibbq.media. EPISODE TAKEAWAYS — Front End Perspective: The founders of Popmenu consider themselves outsiders to the restaurant industry. Fortunately, that provided them a unique perspective of how more efficient practices and options would improve the customer experience. Pushing a Product vs. Solving a Problem: Popmenu's AI based phone answering system is their latest cutting edge technology implementation that leads to their company mantra of solving problems rather than simply sell products. Thirst for Learning: One of the keys to Popmenu's growth is their founders' insatiable thirst to learning. They understand that being a perpetual learner is necessary to continued growth and improvement. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pbic0qCVIw Check out the Popmenu interview to learn about business problem solving, AI solutions for restaurants, and the importance of being a perpetual learner. PODCAST CHAPTERS: [01:02] - Popmenu's Growth [02:01] - Founding Popmenu [05:14] - Restaurant Technology [09:47] - Popmenu Answering [14:18] - Always Be Learning Restaurant Automation Technology: More than 50 percent of restaurant guests are happy to have their questions answered by an automated system, according to a 2021 consumer survey, while nearly 20 percent preferred automated responses over having to speak with someone. The truth is most people just want hospitality when interacting with your business, whether that comes from a person or artificial intelligence. With automation like Popmenu Answering, team members can spend more time on in-person hospitality — and not being stuck to the phone answering simple questions. "We met with thousands of restaurateurs, where you're sitting in the meeting and you saw them having to get up or yell at somebody to go answer the phone," Popmenu President Tony Roy said. "The AI-based phone answering will essentially answer all the queries into the restaurant quickly and accurately." Popmenu has built its platform on providing answers and solving problems. Leveraging their experience as customers prior to joining the restaurant industry, the four co-founders of Popmenu had a front row view of the issues plaguing restaurants. The founders combined their collective talents from their varying experience to come up with Popmenu, a digital hub that provides a suite of solutions for business owners that range from website design and hosting to unique, powerful menu options. As discussed in the interview, their most recent product is an Artificial Intelligence, or AI, based phone answering service to add yet another layer to their already expansive solution oriented services. “There's a very big difference between pushing a product and solving a problem.” says Tony Roy. That mantra is the pillar philosophy for Popmenu. They exist to solve problems with their products. Popmenu Digital Tools: Popmenu gives restaurants the power of digital hospitality through an all-in-one marketing tool for attracting and engaging guests. Answer your phone 24/7 without pulling staff from in-person guests Customized phone responses to fit your brand Websites that meet guests where they are — whether its a phone, tablet or desktop
Shawn Walchef is the founder of Cali BBQ Media, a Media Marketing Coach, Digital Hospitality Podcast Host & Proud Dad. He started a restaurant in 2008 and it wasn't doing so hot until he found a key marketing strategy that grew his business. On this episode, Shawn shares valuable points on how storytelling can help business growth and how to put it into action.
Today's episode is a special day! Today is the 1,111th episode of The Playbook and so I've got a special episode for you today. Earlier this week I was asked by my good friend Shawn Walchef from Cali BBQ Media about the evolution of my business and podcast, so I'm going to share with you the three stages of scaling a business, and how The Playbook has evolved from a weekly show to a semi-weekly show, to now releasing 10 episodes a week over 2 different podcasts. I want to say thank you to everyone who has subscribed to The Playbook, sent me their feedback, let me know who they want to hear, or even just listened to an episode. The evolution of the podcast would not be possible without any of you, so thank you from the bottom of my heart for listening on a daily basis. I'm already looking forward to the next 1,111 episodes! Tweet me your takeaway from today's episode @davidmeltzer Email Me! david@dmeltzer.com Sign up for my Free Weekly Training https://free.dmeltzer.com/friday-training-1 Text Me! (949) 298-2905 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In today's podcast I'm chatting with Shawn from Cali BBQ Media all about social media marketing. For more podcasts episode or marketing help visit https://www.smartpizzamarketing.com Learn from us: https://www.smartpizzamarketing.com/mastermind Work with us: https://www.smartpizzamarketing.com/zip Get our pdf of 65 content ideas for your restaurant https://www.smartpizzamarketing.com/contentideas Gear Used for this: Cannon g7x: https://amzn.to/2TaMJql Cannon Rebel t6ii: https://amzn.to/31r2yhg At2020 microphone: https://amzn.to/3jhh1lM Ring Light: https://amzn.to/34eMPUr Scarlett mixer: https://amzn.to/3m1fNNx Contact Us: P.O. Box 82 Swampscott MA 01907 Subscribe to the SPM Podcast: Itunes: http://www.smartpizzamarketing.com/Itunes Subscribe the Local Business Podcast: Itunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/.../the-local.../id1492927865 Follow along on social: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/smartpizzamarketing Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smartpizzamarketing Bruce Irving: https://www.instagram.com/theBruceIrving Twitter: https://twitter.com/Irvingmedia Website: http://www.smartpizzamarketing.com
Cali BBQ Media is building the Amazon of Restaurants.With a rapidly expanding footprint physically and digitally, influential restaurant owner and digital media proponent Shawn P. Walchef #ShawnPWalchef thinks BIG when it comes to future-proof growth and exploring new ideas for his Cali BBQ Media company. #CaliBBQThe BIG idea is simple: Build the Amazon of Restaurants in San Diego using barbecue in the same way Jeff Bezos used books when he started Amazon in 1994.“Restaurants can no longer discriminate how guests eat by forcing them to travel to their brick and mortar businesses,” Cali BBQ Media founder Shawn Walchef said. “At Cali BBQ Media we will leverage the best technology to provide digital hospitality to any guest in San Diego searching for BBQ.”Through partnerships with innovative companies like #Cloudkitchens, #Toast, and #7shifts — and by collaborating with local stadiums, breweries, and institutions — we will deliver SLOW FOOD — FAST every day.____________________________________________________ Food & Beverage Industry brought to life. F&B LIVE! is a national, industry influencing webcast featuring the leaders in the restaurant, hospitality, branded food and beverage and CPG industries, many of whom are Michael's "friends in the business." Featuring an informal and informative conversation where friends in the business share the latest intel, ideas and best practices for surviving these dynamic challenges we are facing and the future of our brands and businesses. The show is live and broadcast across 5 platforms and features an audience rich with industry influencers. Be sure to pick up your copy of: Food & Beverage Magazine's Guide to Restaurant Success https://www.amazon.com/dp/1119668964/... ____________________________________________________ *CLICK TO SUBSCRIBE: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/foodbeverag... *Follow Us on Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/FoodAndBever... *Follow Us on INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/fbmagazine/ *Follow Us on TWITTER: https://twitter.com/fb101com www.fbmagazine.com@shawnpwalchef@michaelpolitz@jenniferenglish@jamesbeardaward#foodandbeverage#foodandbeveragemagazine#JamesBeardAward#foodie#restaurant#foodieinternational#foodiefest#foodandbeveragetrade
Today's episode is a coaching session with one of my favorite clients, Shawn Walchef, the founder of Cali BBQ Media. We're going to go over what exactly is a wind-down routine, and how can someone get started creating their own media company. Tweet me your takeaway from today's episode @davidmeltzer Email Me! david@dmeltzer.com Sign up for my Free Weekly Training https://free.dmeltzer.com/friday-training-1 Text Me! (949) 298-2905 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The secret to YouTube is simple. It's not about you. It's about your audience. On this special preview episode of the Restaurant Influencers Podcast, Sam Zien (Sam The Cooking Guy) talks with host Shawn P. Walchef (Cali BBQ Media) about how he grew his YouTube channel to millions of subscribers and running multiple restaurants. “YouTube is a really simple concept: it's not about you, it's what your customers want.” https://youtu.be/uymy2CLFHSs • SUBSCRIBE TO RESTAURANT INFLUENCERS: https://www.entrepreneur.com/listen/restaurant-influencers • LEARN MORE: https://calibbq.media/blog/new-restaurant-influencers-podcast-series-from-entreprenuer-yelp-cali-bbq-media-toast/ NOMINATE A RESTAURANT INFLUENCER — Do you know someone who is killing it on social media? Let us know by emailing influencers@calibbq.media or sending the @calibbqmedia team a DM on social media. Sam The Cooking Guy is a Restaurant Influencer — After years spent grinding out little-seen YouTube content, Sam Zien (@thecookingguy) began making authentic content about things his audience actually wanted to see. From there the YouTuber saw his star rise quicker and quicker. Sam Zien, affectionately and professionally known as Sam the Cooking Guy, serves as the face of Graze, Not Not Tacos and two Samburger locations. He has flipped the food industry on its head by simply being himself. A man of many hats and few cares, Sam The Cooking Guy has defined conventional wisdom by creating concept restaurants that serve mashed potato tacos and popular videos that teach young men and others how to cook. “I think you learn more when you're enjoying it,” notes Sam Zien while talking to Shawn Walchef on the first episode of the Restaurant Influencers podcast. While Sam admits it took him seven years to discover this simple truth, the proof is in the pudding as Sam is teaching the world how to cook simply by teaching them to make things they can actually make. WHAT DID YOU LEARN from this interview? Let us know in the comments! https://restaurantinfluencers.media EPISODE LINKS: • Sam The Cooking Guy YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbRj3Tcy1Zoz3rcf83nW5kw • Sam The Cooking Guy Online - https://www.thecookingguy.com/ • Behind the Scenes of Sam's Restaurant - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apfwiUblg70 • Graze by Sam - https://www.grazebysam.com/ • Not Not Tacos - https://www.notnottacos.com/ • Samburgers - https://www.eatsamburgers.com/ ABOUT RESTAURANT INFLUENCERS: Are you SICK and TIRED of scrolling through your social media feeds and not seeing your business anywhere? Welcome to the Restaurant Influencers podcast series, sponsored by Toast (@toasttab). Every week host Shawn P. Walchef (@shawnpwalchef) talks with leaders in restaurant and hospitality about their secrets to Smartphone Storytelling and how to show up and engage where customers are spending time online. The weekly digital series (audio, video, writing, images) is hosted by Cali BBQ Media Founder Shawn P. Walchef and presented by Entrepreneur Media (@entrepreneur), Yelp for Business (@yelp), and Cali BBQ Media (@calibbqmedia). • Entrepreneur - https://entreprenuer.com • Yelp for Business - https://biz.yelp.com • Cali BBQ Media - https://calibbq.media Subscribe to the weekly podcast wherever you listen to audio shows. Follow @calibbqmedia on social media for updates on the show and Digital Hospitality content. https://restaurantinfluencers.media SPONSORED BY TOAST: Restaurant Influencers is brought to you by Toast, the powerful restaurant point of sale and management system that helps restaurants improve operations, increase sales and create a better guest experience. Toast — Powering Successful Restaurants Learn more at pos.toasttab.com
(January 4, 2022 - Hour Two) 10:14pm - The First Tuesday in the 2nd hour rings a regular visit from Sam The Cooking Guy. We start the segment tonight by offering you a chance to win something spectacular from Sam's prize closet. Last month it was a7" Nakiri Knife from his own brand. All YOU need to do is join Clubhouse and then, during the beginning of his segment, raise your hand to come on stage for a chance to win. It is a very easy game and the payout could be huge! After we give away something, we will talk about Sam's new "dry aging" appliance he was sent a little while back and learn how he plans to use it going forward. We will also talk a bit about business as well as I ask him his thoughts on Crowd Funding. It is always a great time when Sam stops by and leading of 2022 is only "cream on the coffee"! 10:35pm: Closing the show tonight is a fellow podcaster and long time friend, Shawn Walchef from Cali BBQ Media (and Cali BBQ the restaurant). Shawn is launching his brand new podcast entitled "Restaurant influencers" which can be found on all the podcast platforms (sooner than later). If you are a restaurant owner then this is a show you will want to subscribe too, if for nothing else, than to hear what's new and what's working for others in the industry! BBQ Central Show Sponsors! The BBQ Guru Big Poppa Smokers Green Mountain Grills Cookin Pellets Fireboard Smithfield The Pit Barrel Cooker The Butcher Shoppe - Save 10% When You Mention "The BBQ Central Show" Primo Grills Yoder Smokers David Leans / DoWellness - GET FIT for 1 Year for $2,300 Patreon Ad-Free Podcast Feed
David Meltzer is a mentor to many. However, there are two titans he studies closely himself. Their names? None other than William Shakespeare and Albert Einstein. Taking lessons from both, David Meltzer (@davidmeltzer) has been able to pivot from being a powerful sports agent to a motivational media maven at the age of 50. “I am an optimist,” smiles Meltzer from SoFi Stadium while being interviewed for a pilot for the Cali BBQ Media podcast production Restaurant Influencers. “I'm a top-imist, I'm on the top of the optimists. I believe in other people. I'm a celebrant. I live my life to elevate others. I try not to laugh at people, scoff at them or make fun of them.” Watch the full interview on location from the top of SoFi Stadium on the Cali BBQ YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZGxIbt71kA David Meltzer Went All-In On Empowering Others: When David Meltzer decided to go all in on modern digital media and his mission to empower a billion people to be happy, make a lot of money, help people and have a lot of fun — many of his peers laughed at him. Leaning on the lessons of a great playwright, he powered through. According to Shakespeare, the world's a stage. In a world now with many media platforms and thus stages within the stage, Meltzer began publishing on YouTube, going live on IG and using every medium possible to begin his mission to empower. Daunting? Yes. However, Shakespeare once again inspired him. “The first Shakespeare lesson, which is most important, is thine own self be true,” notes David Meltzer. “Because in the context of today, your own self is true, those people can laugh and scoff at you and make fun of you. However, it also provides you with a directional aptitude towards your own frequency.” By being true to himself, he was able to spread his wings, ignore the critics and find his tribe as they say. Early encouragers included Gary Vaynerchuk who David Meltzer had previously consulted when the entrepreneur was working on a sports agency. As Meltzer continued to lean into the stage theory and better be himself, the numbers he began reaching increased, yet not exponentially. In a world of instant gratification and validation by numbers this could've crippled many, causing them to drop their dreams. Instead, Meltzer studied Einstein. “The rule of 72 says that at one percent better, it takes 72 turns in order to double where you're at,” Meltzer says of the genius's philosophy. “Well, if you can become two percent better, it takes 36 turns for you to be four percent better." "I did the math. I study Einstein. I knew that in 20 years when I was 70, I'd be the most popular 70-year-old in the world because I would have two million ambassadors telling two million people to watch.” Happiness Is The Pursuit: By studying the greats, continuing his pursuit and being powered by faith, David Meltzer believes in his ability to make others believe in themselves. “It's not the pursuit of happiness,” states Meltzer on the Digital Hospitality podcast. “Happiness is the pursuit. That's why I try to teach people to find the light, the love in the lessons and everything to enjoy the consistent everyday pursuit of your own potential, not other people's.” To many, this relentless optimism may sound hokey. Even Meltzer admits many dreams appear outlandish even in hindsight. “If Jeff Bezos would have told me 25 years ago when he was selling books out of his garage, that he was going to make over a trillion dollars and be the richest man on Earth and have the biggest marketplace on Earth, I probably would have laughed at him, scoffed at him and made fun of him,” shrugs David Meltzer. 20 years from now, we could be talking about the world's most famous 70-year-old the same way. *** -Feature Article by Ian Stonebrook. Get in touch with him on social media @ianstonebrook SIGN UP FOR UPDATES ON RESTAURANT INFLUENCERS AT WWW.
Today we meet my next co-host, Shawn Walchef of Cali BBQ Media. Shawn walks us through his background, sharing the how's and why's of becoming a media-first restaurant. Restaurant Marketing School is brought to you by Yelp for Restaurants: In July 2020, a few hundred employees formed Yelp for Restaurants. Our goal is to build tools that help restaurateurs do more with limited time. ________________________________ CLICK HERE to Chat with Josh Free Download: 5 Steps to Achieve a 15% Net Profit We have a lot more content coming your way! Be sure to check out the FULL COMP media universe by visiting: FULL COMP Restaurant Marketing School The Playbook Industry Town Halls
Shawn Walchef is the founder of Cali BBQ Media. Cali BBQ is a San Diego BBQ To Go. Cali BBQ serves slow food — fast. Their pit masters have dedicated themselves to the art of live fire cooking. They smoke our craft BBQ overnight in an Ole Hickory Smoker using aromatic California cooking woods. Don't forget to also get their “Wicked” Peach Cobbler and Cali BBQ Cocktails-To-Go when you pick up your takeout food in East San Diego County. You can order online in the link below. ⬇️ Order BBQ online for pickup or delivery in the San Diego area anytime. Shawn is also a Media Marketing Coach, Restaurateur, Podcast Host and Hospitality Speaker. His podcast Digital Hospitality helps business owners develop a mobile-first Internet strategy by sharing stories of innovative brands and personalities who are outranking the competition in search results. Shawn certainly has figured out what it takes to run a successful business and balance quality time with his wife and kids! In our discussion, he shares ways he juggles all the activities in his life and how he still makes sure to spend time with his wife and he present for his kids. Dad Up! https://poplme.co/shawn-walchef https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/digital-hospitality-a-cali-bbq-media-podcast/id1235316273 https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCyKV0F1uggLgiPbBsnPSeUA https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnpwalchef https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dad-up-podcast/id1486764562 https://www.daduptribe.com/
Hospitality and Media Maven Kyle Inserra knows that one of the most valuable currencies of our modern era is attention. Kyle Inserra (@kyleinserra) is an attention merchant. How does the commercial real estate strategist with a long history in the hospitality industry get attention these days? He publishes compelling video content online every day. On his National Restaurant Owners Podcast, host Kyle Inserra and his guests open up about the restaurant industry and share first-hand insights about hospitality, marketing, and much more. • LISTEN ONLINE: https://anchor.fm/restaurantowners The NRO Podcast is just one of the many digital media projects Kyle Inserra has published. He also cranks out interesting industry specific content all the time using his smartphone. Short form videos give Kyle a place to showcase his strong opinions and useful advice. Publishing content online on a regular basis also lets him connect with like-minded peers all over the world. That's how Cali BBQ Media first met Kyle Inserra — we connected with him on Clubhouse and TikTok. Our relationship strengthened IRL when we visited New York City for the Toast IPO in 2021. Of course we had to team up and make some longform and shortform videos with Kyle while we were in his neck of the woods. The National Restaurant Owner Podcast | Shawn Walchef and Kyle Inserra Kyle Inserra featured our Cali BBQ Media story on The National Restaurant Owners Podcast, which he let us repurpose on our Digital Hospitality RSS feed and YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCcJCpPp1AI We hope you enjoy this conversation and don't forget to let us know what you liked and learned in the comments or in a podcast review. Each review we get helps us grow our Digital Hospitality thesis with even more people. A Rising Tide Lifts All Ships. LINKS TO CLICK — • Restaurant Owners Podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/restaurant_owners_podcast/ • Kyle Inserra LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyleinserra/ • Subscribe to National Restaurant Owners Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGuiy3a6JnMAs7vwXrGhWfg • The Restaurant Consultant on TikTok: https://anchor.fm/restaurantowners • Kyle Inserra on Digital Hospitality Podcast: https://calibbq.media/kyle-inserra-real-estate-restaurant-industry-dh095/ About The National Restaurant Owners Podcast w/ Kyle Inserra — Owning a restaurant can be a lonely, stressful existence. Kyle Inserra knows this first hand as a 15 year veteran of the hospitality industry. On the show, he shares his experience and interviews fellow industry professionals to provide you with the insight our industry often lacks. Whether you're opening your first restaurant or considering adding units to your current concept, there's always something new to learn, and who better to learn from than those who have successfully done it. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcayoov1tw3a6M8fpHlnwq_jlI9px2YgM SUBSCRIBE TO NATIONAL RESTAURANT OWNERS PODCAST: https://anchor.fm/restaurantowners Related Cali BBQ Media Content: • Dont Be Scared To Share Your Secrets Online | Kyle Inserra (Restaurant Growth Strategist) | DH095 • Guide to Opening a Virtual Ghost Kitchen | Part 1: The New Digital Economy | DH106 • Subscribe to these Restaurant Business Podcasts *** CONNECT WITH CALI BBQ MEDIA: Email First Name Last Name Email Address Phone Would you like to book a free consultation to go over your Digital Hospitality? Would you like to book a free consultation to go over your Digital Hospitality? Yes, please contact me Business Name What are your content needs?
Smartphone Storytelling doesn't have to be difficult. These tips will help you learn to tell your story online. Speaking as a guest of honor at a Foodservice Sales and Marketing Association (FSMA) webinar, Shawn Walchef (Cali BBQ Media) shared the secret sauce to online storytelling, digital marketing for business, more inspiration and ideas. ➤ FSMA Online: www.fsmaonline.com/ 3 Takeaways From This Episode: 1. Smartphone Storytelling is Your Job – It doesn't matter your title at your company, you have the tools to be a smart phone storyteller. By amplifying your story and your brand story, the ability to raise awareness and connection around your company starts with you. Why? Because no one can tell your story better than you. 2. You Already Have the Most Important App – Over the years, we've seen smartphone storytelling evolve from Facebook to Instagram to TikTok and everything in between. While platforms change, one app remains the same: the camera app on your phone. Regardless of how new your phone is, the camera app is the most powerful resource when it comes to smartphone storytelling. 3. Where Are You Online? – The beauty of the internet is that you can work from anywhere. However, they have to find you somewhere. By claiming your profiles and pages online and showing up in search, you're giving yourself and your business the best chance to be seen and the best ability to have your story shared. https://youtu.be/0DzJ57wmp34 Learn to Tell Your Story Online — Shawn Walchef knows who he is, and if you're reading this story there's a good chance you know who he is, too. Why is that? Because the Cali BBQ Media founder is invested in online storytelling to connect with the world. https://youtu.be/Y2E-17dIwCk Whether creating content for his restaurant, sharing videos about the power of social media, or posting photos of his family, Shawn Walchef is fully sold on the idea that digital technology has the power to propel both business and relationships. The ingredients may surprise you, however, if you're reading this on a smartphone consider yourself prepared to jump into smartphone storytelling. *** 1. Smartphone Storytelling Starts With You: For starters, you're probably wondering, ‘Who in my company should be in charge of smart phone storytelling?' Well, whether you're the owner, accountant, public relations director or the janitor, the answer is the same: you. “It's your job to tell your story, no matter what position you are in the company,” Shawn states. “The more people that start talking about the work that they do in sales, marketing, manufacturing and distribution, the bigger impact that you're going to make.” Now that you know it's on you, how do you get started? By doing it every day. Just like any other facet of business, having consistent deliverables and real goals go into the practice of making smartphone storytelling a habit. “It doesn't matter if you're on an Android phone or an iPhone,” Shawn Walchef (@shawnpwalchef) said. “The most powerful tool you have is the camera app. If you do nothing else, you need to move the camera app to the home screen of your smartphone, and you need to accept the fact that nobody on Earth has your perspective of your business.” With the camera app, your storytelling begins. 2. Post More Short-form Videos #shorts: Creating content should go deeper than just taking a photo and posting a caption on social media. “Video is the easiest way to solve all of your social media problems,” declares Shawn. “Short form video specifically." "Do all of your knowledge in less than one minute. You post that video on TikTok, that video works on LinkedIn, that video works on Instagram and that video works on Facebook. And it is a terrifying experience, but for the 10% of you that decide to actually take action, it's not about posting one video, it's about developing the habit. In doing so,
Shawn Walchef's sports-entertainment restaurant concept started as a dud. He and his partner tried all the standard marketing tactics, but their restaurant just wasn't standing out from the crowd. Then one day Shawn started telling the restaurant's story with short, unscripted videos — and he saw reservations start to grow. Today Shawn runs Cali BBQ Media, a company that includes the restaurant, an online store, and a consulting arm that teaches other restaurant owners how to market their businesses successfully. In this episode he'll share how differentiation and creativity (how many BBQ joints do you know with their own podcast?) have been key to his business's success. Any business owner, not just restaurateurs, will have much to learn from the creative process Shawn went through.Marketing tactics discussed in this episode include:Differentiation strategyVideo marketing Industry creativity
Since opening Cali BBQ 12 years ago, his family-run restaurant and media business in San Diego has generated more than $30 million in sales. https://calibbq.media As a restaurateur who opened during the Great Recession, Shawn Walchef learned to use digital tools and big ideas to stay in business. During the Pandemic, Shawn and his Cali BBQ Media team have developed a scalable plan that is three times more profitable than the traditional full-service restaurant model. Cali BBQ is working on a plan to repurpose 60 percent of their dining room into a commissary kitchen to service the additional “friendly” ghost kitchens they plan to add over the next three years. Shawn Walchef also hosts the weekly video and audio podcast Digital Hospitality, which is just one facet of his burgeoning media empire that also includes content creation, consulting, and more services to assist others in their digital evolution. He strives to help fellow entrepreneurs learn the right tools and strategies that will unlock endless opportunities for new business. Make sure you are following him on Instagram & TikTok- @shawnpwalchef. Connect with us! Subscribe to my YouTube Channel Follow the show over on Instagram Join our mailing list Catch all the good stuff over on TikTok! Want to Schedule A One-on-One with Kyle? Whether you're a restaurant owner who wants to take a deeper dive into a particular subject, or may you're thinking of starting your own restaurant, food truck, or ghost kitchen and want some insight or advice - click here to schedule a one-on-one with me. Support Our Sponsors The National Restaurant Owners Podcast is a complete labor of love - which means I would love it if you guys support our sponsors by clicking the link in my bio and using my referral code, so we can keep the lights on over here, and you can save $$$! Atmosphere TV - Code Kyle BentoBox - Code Fou6 --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/restaurantowners/message
Some people wake up and pour a cup of coffee. Steven Musielski wakes up early to pour into people he has never met. Digital Hospitality podcast guest Steven Musielski is the host and founder of The 4:13 Experience clubroom on Clubhouse. Every morning before 4am (3:38am to be exact) Steven opens up the audio app to connect with and inspire whoever joins the room. ➤ THE 413 EXPERIENCE ON CLUBHOUSE — https://www.clubhouse.com/club/the-413-with-steven “We're building up emotional toughness,” he shares about his 4:13 club's mission on the Cali BBQ Media podcast. “If you're thankful, encouraged and forward thinking those are great building blocks because you're going to get hit. You're going to take rejection like any person.” ➤ Watch the Interview on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7YDBgoFWuU Takeaways from Interview: 1. New Networks Preselect Innovators – At this point, many of us are overwhelmed by the number of apps and social networking platforms that pop up every day. While this is a fair way to feel, it's important to keep in mind that each app has the power to attract early adopters and thus innovative thinkers. 2. Emotional Toughness Matters – Steven and his community at 4:13 focus on stewards of positive thinking not because they're starry eyed but rather because they know adversity always hits. By being in a good mental space, you're better adjusted to valleys and plateaus because your base level of perspective is higher. 3. Audio Apps Allow for Deeper Connection – While photo and text platforms like LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter provide the platform to meet new people, what's more intimate than already having heard their voice? With Clubhouse, jumping on the phone to make a game-changing call is all the easier because a conversation and vocal context already exists. The 4:13 Experience — By building a community through the Clubhouse app, Steven Musielski has the chance to inspire regulars and strangers with the inspiration to take on the day. Through creative conversations that build emotional toughness, 4:13 attendees begin each morning with a positive outlook for whatever comes their way. The best part of the 4:13 community? It's different every day. “The community is a powerful group of people and it's totally unexpected,” Steven shares. “You couldn't predict who's going to come in or who's not going to come there. So, based on who shows up, that's going to determine the direction. You can go with business minded people, personal development minded people, leadership type of people… It's all who shows up that's going to determine the direction of everything.” While waking up before the sunrise to connect and converse with strangers might seem like a stretch to some, Steven has already seen the benefits of joining the latest audio app that's taking off. “Here's the pitch on Clubhouse,” begins Steven about the exciting audio social media platform. “You're by nature going to get early adopters, creative people, innovative people, people that think way outside the box. They're going to take more chances and they're going to do more things in business. And then you get the 04:13 room that's so outside the box that it's outside the building. People that are taking chances and doing things. Super exciting people.” Connect with Steven Musielski — ➤ https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-musielski-054a6515/ ➤ https://www.instagram.com/stevenmusielski/ Not a bad community of people to build with, right? While the innovators and outliers on Clubhouse can become the next leaders in industry due to their outside the box thinking and risk taking tendencies, Steven has been most happy with the fellowship that comes from the 4:13 community. “There are people in the community that care about one another in deep ways,” acknowledges Steven. “People that will reach out to you on your Instagram and on your LinkedIn. There are people that will look for ways to hel...
Social Media is an important tool for all business owners. But how do you make it easier to post content everyday? Our Clubhouse Roundtable Series dug into the topic of How To Make Social Media Effortless so we could brainstorm tips and content ideas to help make posting to social media easier to do. https://youtu.be/_ospbYZ710w ➤ Join the weekly Digital Hospitality Club room on Clubhouse on Fridays at 10am (PST). Raise your hand and take the stage during the open conversation to have your voice heard. Don't have Clubhouse? It's free and easy to sign up. Just download the app on your smartphone and signup like you would any other social media profile. Sign up for Clubhouse at https://www.joinclubhouse.com. What topic should we discuss next week? Let us know in the comments or email the Cali BBQ Media team at podcast@calibbq.media. How To Make Social Media Easy — You've got to build this into your life, but it does not have to be all consuming," Troy Hooper said in the Digital Hospitality Clubhouse room. "You do not need 15 platforms. You do not need to dominate on all of them. You need to get started by pulling your phone out..." As proven by our guests on Digital Hospitality you don't need a production crew or fancy equipment to grow an audience on social media — you just need a story to tell and your smartphone. "You don't need a fancy camera. You sure as hell don't need fancy lighting," Troy continued. "You can tell big pieces, little pieces, things about tomorrow, things about your origin. The content never ends." When you focus on only trying to get the largest follower count possible or view numbers, you're missing the point. Not everyone will get millions of followers (and those numbers you see are often artificially inflated anyway). "I think when you start focusing on growing as much as possible or you're comparing yourself to other people, it becomes more of an effort," shared Corey Nelson, content producer for Best Served Creative. "That's a hard thing for people because they want to quit when they see that they're not hitting those numbers or are not growing as fast as they would like." Greg Rempe from The BBQ Central Show has been working for years to grow a passionate and engaged audience online. "I love my audience," he said while admitting that, "I'm not happy with how quickly I grow. "I might not have 125,000 followers on Instagram, but when I post, I do get a large percentage of engagement from my audience, which to me signals that there's a little bit more buy-in from my folks... so at least my fan base seems to be engaged." Change Your Social Media Mindset — When you're stuck in the mindset of only wanting to get more followers, you're missing out on the potential joys and benefits of social media, which is to be social. "We really need to honor the followers that we already have and show up for them because they want to know more," said Elizabeth Doss of Izzy Ink Studios. "They want to see you. They want to remember you." One way to make social media effortless is to focus on quantity over quality. Online more is often better. That's because they more places you show up, the more places followers can find you and your message. "You can create a habit for yourself by doing quantity," Stover Harger III from Cali BBQ Media said in the Clubhouse conversation. "And we know that social media needs to be a habit. Or else, let's be honest, we won't do it." "I'm always at my best on social media when I'm doing it every day and I'm thinking about it every day." *** MORE CLUBHOUSE CONTENT: How To Become Your Own Media Company | Best Served Podcast + Cali BBQ Media on Clubhouse | DH112 Crowdfunding Marketing and Promotion Tips from an Expert | Clubhouse Digital Hospitality Club Cal Ripken Jr. of Clubhouse | Guy Clarke (Restaurant Marketing Consultant) | DH102 STAY INVOLVED | ASK FOR HELP | GET INVOLVED
Ole Hickory Pits is a legendary worldwide brand built by a legend in the industry. David B. Knight is our guest on this episode of the Digital Hospitality podcast where he tells his story of founding Ole Hickory Pits and helping it grow into a massive worldwide company that continually innovates to this day. https://youtu.be/AFN3LZchbxE ➤ MORE PODCAST EPISODES: https://calibbq.media/podcast-episodes ➤ OLE HICKORY PITS ONLINE: https://www.olehickorypits.com/ David Knight and Ole Hickory Pits — When it comes to BBQ, few souls know the people or the business quite like David B. Knight. With almost a half century in the industry, David is the founder of Ole Hickory Pits and an elected member of the Barbecue Hall of Fame. Ole Hickory Pits manufactures and markets modern commercial, competition, and backyard BBQ smoker ovens, as well as barbecue tools, sauce and seasonings, and outdoor lifestyle products. Learn more about the history of Ole Hickory Pits at https://www.olehickorypits.com/about-us/ After opening up his own barbecue restaurant nearly 50 years ago to eventually pivot to manufacturing and selling his own pits, David Knight has put plenty of souls who live for the smoke in business. Our San Diego area restaurant Cali BBQ is built off Ole Hickory Pits. While the Spring Valley location has long fed families from the pits made and manufactured by David and his homegrown business, the new master smokehouse which is currently under construction will provide food, employment and education through the same pits. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSwLeMDn-AQ “We've had two old hickory pits for 13 years that have built our brand,” Shawn Walchef noted on Digital Hospitality. “They built our business. We've done over $30 million in sales just using those two pits and now we've added three more pits in the pandemic and are building a master smokehouse.” While the San Diego multi-hyphenate is thankful for the pits and hopeful for the future, the BBQ Hall of Famer couldn't be happier. “Our favorite thing is to shine in reflected glory of the success of our customers,” admits David. After years of going door to door selling his pits, David has become not just a community builder with his pits but an entrepreneur in the food and entertainment industry. Becoming friends with the likes of Guy Fieri and helping all kindred souls with a love of the smoke who come his way, David has grown Ole Hickory Pits by keeping an open mind and extending a helping hand. In fact, in the last ten years, David has fed over nine million people hot barbecue as part of relief efforts that have devastated various parts of the United States. Even when times are tough, David Knight and Ole Hickory Pits are committed to working hard and empowering others. “It's personal and it's really a fun sort of business,” reflects David on a life in barbecue. “Warren Buffett said that the happiest man in the world is the one that dances to work every morning. Well, you can see me skipping down the sidewalk, going to the office, because I still enjoy it.” As expressed, the foundation of Ole Hickory Pits allows not just David to smile all the way to work, but plenty of other entrepreneurs the opportunity to possess the same spirit in the same space. This of course includes Shawn who is using Ole Hickory Pits to take Cali BBQ and Cali BBQ Media to the next level. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57N0IGa-HTs “We plan on having ten Ole Hickory Pits and building a media center around it,” begins Shawn, “So that we can teach other people around the world how they can build one location, a commissary kitchen, and then have these ghost kitchen micro-locations so that we can get more barbecue to more people. We can make a bigger impact on the world.” The ‘each one, teach one' ethos are fully embedded in the barbecue community and definitely are shown by the examples of those who have learned from David.
(September 7, 2021 – Hour Two) 10:14pm: Owner of Cali BBQ and Cali BBQ Media and host of the Digital Hospitality podcast, Shawn Walchef, joins me tonight to talk about how he has converted his traditional BBQ restaurant into a BBQ commissary of sorts. While many businesses struggled…
(September 7, 2021 - Hour Two) 10:14pm: Owner of Cali BBQ and Cali BBQ Media and host of the Digital Hospitality podcast, Shawn Walchef, joins me tonight to talk about how he has converted his traditional BBQ restaurant into a BBQ commissary of sorts. While many businesses struggled during COVID, Shawn and his team remained playable during the time and figured out how they could change to bring the restaurant and the brand to new levels of success. If you are in restaurant ownership right now or are thinking about getting into it, you will want to hear Shawn's story and learn from his experience! 10:35pm - I have stuff to giveaway! Bubba Burger shirts, coolers and other such nonsense can be yours! We might also get another passage of the Horsemeat book knocked out and who knows what else! BBQ Central Show Sponsors! The BBQ Guru Big Poppa Smokers Green Mountain Grills Cookin Pellets Fireboard Smithfield The Pit Barrel Cooker Pitts & Spitts The Butcher Shoppe - Save 10% When You Mention "The BBQ Central Show" Primo Grills Yoder Smokers Vortic Watch Company Yukon Glory - Save 10% with code 10CENTRAL Patreon Ad-Free Podcast Feed
(September 7, 2021 - Hour Two) 10:14pm: Owner of Cali BBQ and Cali BBQ Media and host of the Digital Hospitality podcast, Shawn Walchef, joins me tonight to talk about how he has converted his traditional BBQ restaurant into a BBQ commissary of sorts. While many businesses struggled during COVID, Shawn and his team remained playable during the time and figured out how they could change to bring the restaurant and the brand to new levels of success. If you are in restaurant ownership right now or are thinking about getting into it, you will want to hear Shawn's story and learn from his experience! 10:35pm - I have stuff to giveaway! Bubba Burger shirts, coolers and other such nonsense can be yours! We might also get another passage of the Horsemeat book knocked out and who knows what else! BBQ Central Show Sponsors! The BBQ Guru Big Poppa Smokers Green Mountain Grills Cookin Pellets Fireboard Smithfield The Pit Barrel Cooker Pitts & Spitts The Butcher Shoppe - Save 10% When You Mention "The BBQ Central Show" Primo Grills Yoder Smokers Vortic Watch Company Yukon Glory - Save 10% with code 10CENTRAL Patreon Ad-Free Podcast Feed
How would you like to turn your career into a vacation? Jay Jay Maniquis did just that becoming a digital content creator. Imagine spending the bulk of your 20s with the San Diego Chargers only to become an on-air personality. Such a second act trajectory has proven true for Pro Bowlers LaDanian Tomlinson and Shawne Merriman. It's also coming to fruition for Jay Jay. Having worked for the Southern California football franchise for 11 seasons, the San Diego State grad (and our podcast guest) had been capturing content for his home team for over a decade but had his eyes set on a bigger prize. “I wanted to be in front of the camera from the start,” admits Jay Jay Maniquis on this episode of Digital Hospitality. “My whole goal working in the NFL was to eventually become a website reporter, sideline reporter, or pivot to be a local news anchor.” In 2013, fate intervened with Jay Jay's path. https://youtu.be/bopaSeVcVSE Hear stories and learn lessons from Jay Jay Maniquis' journey of making a job into a vacation on this episode of Digital Hospitality, a Cali BBQ Media podcast. Let us know what you think in the comments. Let's talk! podcast@calibbq.media Follow Jay Jay Maniquis and Jaycation Online — https://youtu.be/mrwVnaITw5M ➤ Subscribe on YouTube — https://www.youtube.com/c/Jaycation ➤ @jaycationtv on Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/jaycation ➤ @jaycationtv on Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/jaycationtv/ ➤ Jay Jay Maniquis on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jay-jay-maniquis-5b77107 ➤ Jay Jay Maniquis on Sided — https://sided.co/jaycation In 2013, fate intervened with Jay Jay's path. Back in 2013, the Chargers were beginning the end of an era, soon ready to bolt from San Diego to nearby Los Angeles. While on vacation in Spain, Jay Jay suddenly realized it was time for him to make a move as well. “I was going on a morning run in Barcelona watching the sunrise,” Jay Jay recalls. “I wanted to share my travel adventures with the world.” At that moment, an idea was born. @JayCationTV would serve as the passion project to put Jay Jay in front of the camera and show the world what travel meant to him. He had found his calling, now all he needed was a good plan to pursue it. “I ended up going to Barcelona to teach English,” Jay Jay looks back. “But the real reason why I did that was because I wanted an excuse to start my YouTube channel. I thought, what better way than to start my YouTube channel then move halfway around the world and learn these new experiences and put them on my YouTube channel?” A risky move, but with high risk comes high reward. Taking a Jaycation — From that sunrise sprint in Spain, Jay Jay created his own vision for content with the birth of a YouTube channel. Despite all his experience behind the camera and longing to be in front of it, the transition took time. “It takes a while to build that confidence,” says Jay Jay on being on camera. “That confidence I have now? I did not have that back then. It was a marathon and I was in it for the love from the start.” After returning from Spain, the path to produce content continued for Jay Jay. Oddly enough, his desire to show San Diego the world came full circle in his new mission to show the world San Diego. “The silver lining is my channel blew up because of San Diego,” smiles Jay Jay. “I want to highlight all the San Diego businesses in a good way and bring them as much business as I can.” The Jaycation Best BBQ in San Diego YouTube video which featured Cali BBQ has had tens of thousands of views and has done a great job of driving traffic to the restaurant by driving engaged interested. • WATCH: "BEST BBQ in SAN DIEGO" — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NvhQluXCCg&t=1524 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NvhQluXCCg&t=1524 Today, Jay Jay is embarking on the same marathon, growing his channel through focused content and storytelling. Often,
Please listen to the latest episode of our Finally, Marketing That Works podcast. In this one, we're sitting down with Shawn Walchef. He is the founder and CEO of Cali BBQ Media, where he entertains and educates entrepreneurs on how to adapt their business strategies in an increasingly connected world! Hear from him as he shares some insights on merging traditional methods into innovative digital approaches. Highlights of This Episode: [01:33] Cali Barbecue Media [01:47] Undesirable Location [02:04] Yellow Pages [03:11] Pacquiao Fight [04:06] Commercial for a Restaurant [04:51] Ghost Kitchen [05:55] Barbecue is Subjective. [06:25] Simplifying the Internet [08:16] “During a pandemic with a restaurant.” [08:27] Greatest Gift Accelerator [09:03] Primary Technology Partner [09:55] Kids are making $20 Million [11:31] The most difficult thing is getting over the ego [11:53] Sounding Stupid, Looking Stupid [12:34] Plan, Produce, Publish, Promote [13:11] “No one's going to tell your story better than you are.” [14:37] Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom [15:48] “Being the hero and loving good food and being a part of something more than themselves.” [16:45] “I'm a barbecue media person.” [17:23] “The goal is to create to be so good they can't ignore you.” [17:59] “The craft of storytelling, the craft of producing media content, our job is to be so good.” [18:20] Incredible Opportunities [20:24] Build a relationship and a community [22:27] Compartmentalize [24:29] I spent money on this and boy did it flop [26:46] “I wish I did more.” [27:19] Passive Conversation [27:51] Clubhouse [29:21] “Have a conversation build a deeper connection.” [30:05] “I have to take care of myself first.” [30:59] Conceited and Self-centered [32:21] “You're learning how to post better.” [33:40] “They reward native video.” [33:58] Hook Point? [35:33] Smartphone Storytelling YouTube Podcast Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YseaQB_-nnk&t=172s
Hailing from all corners of the country, Cali BBQ Media is combining low-and-slow cooking with sharp and strategic content creation. Led by Founder Shawn Walchef in San Diego the restaurant lead turned Digital Hospitality Host has assembled a team of writers, video editors, web builders and marketers to become their own media company and spread the good news about telling your brand's story online. Always one to collaborate, Shawn's Cali BBQ content team hopped on a video call and Clubhouse with Jensen Cummings' Best Served Podcast crew to talk tips on content creation in the digital age. https://youtu.be/Sv2gh6PIMVc So, what happens when two of the most forward-thinking teams in the food-meets-media space come together? Get the big takeaways on How To Become Your Own Media Company below and don't forget to subscribe to both the Best Served Podcast and the Digital Hospitality Podcast on YouTube and your favorite podcast app. ➤ BEST SERVED PODCAST: https://www.bestservedpodcast.com/ ➤ DIGITAL HOSPITALITY PODCAST: https://calibbq.media/podcast-episodes Strategy is Both Scheduling and Curiosity - Whether you're running a media company or running a restaurant, everyone on board needs to know what they're doing and when they're doing it. Setting up systems of scheduling is essential to success in any field. “If it's not on a calendar it does not exist,” says Andrew Parr of The Best Served Podcast. “It's got to be there.” Andrew knows this firsthand, often working with writer Sophie Braker on projects that position a podcast to live a month past its publish date. This same type of decided creation and promotion calendar is essential at Cali BBQ Media. “Think about what the most important thing you want to publish is and put it on a schedule," says Stover Harger, editor for Cali BBQ Media. “You have to have a schedule.” While schedules can feel like rigid constraints to some creatives, they're still essential for accountability and business success. Still, making meaningful content and spreading it out there in the best way possible is a sweet science that relies on interpersonal dialogue. “The ability to keep the lines of communication open, clear and flowing is the most difficult part of this entire process of being a media company,” admits Jensen. It also comes down to being curious enough to understand what's new and what's next. “Corey has a document where we are actively researching and understanding hashtags,” notes Jensen Cummings, a former guest on Digital Hospitality. “What are the hashtags within any series of shows that we do, any topic that we're focused on?” By understanding important hashtags, The Best Served Podcast can promote their content to an engaged audience and also get a gage on what type of content that audience wants next. For both Best Served and Cali BBQ, what's next is often understanding new mediums such as TikTok. “TikTok is a new platform and we're all figuring it out,” shares Stover. “Posting every day is important because it makes it a habit.” By creating content on the daily and scheduling ahead, your curiosity and your preparation can make for powerful stories that are even easier to find. Use Your Digital Tools - Every day, a new app launches with the ability to totally transform your business. At Cali BBQ, the team has been using a transcription service to better repurpose the conversations from the Digital Hospitality Podcast. “We use a service called Trint,” Stover beams. “They have a plan that lets you do unlimited transcripts. When you have a piece of audio or video, you just upload them and then it transcribes it and sends you a notification when it's done. It takes about an hour and it does a really good job.” Not only does the technical support of Trint turn content around faster, it enables creatives to make better content in faster fashion. “I've become a better writer by working with Trint,
In this episode you are in for a Crossover Event as the Best Served and Cali BBQ Media teams get together to talk shop. Hear about how to shift your mindset to Capture over Create; how to schedule and produce content and much more.
You never know who you'll meet on Clubhouse. Case in point: Manvir Singh Anand. “Your vibe attracts your tribe,” believes the food business expert, serial entrepreneur, and bestselling author. Watch and learn more now on this educational episode of the Digital Hospitality podcast, a Cali BBQ Media production. https://youtu.be/0PGnqpQV744 ➤ Manvir Singh Anand — https://manvirsinghanand.com/ ➤ Follow Manvir on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/manvirsinghanand ➤ More Digital Hospitality Episodes — https://calibbq.media/podcast-episodes Based in New Delhi, but now connected with Cali BBQ Media thanks to the power of the internet, Manvir Anand may be many miles away from us, but he certainly runs with the same tribe. Having amassed success in the catering, coaching and event space, Manvir's curiosity led him into our weekly Digital Hospitality Friday conversations on Clubhouse. By the following Monday, Manvir was already appearing on our Digital Hospitality podcast. His love of storytelling and understanding of the ghost kitchen/ghost kitchen space made him a fast friend. “The cloud kitchen space is not about the location, location, location,” notes Manvir Singh Anand on Digital Hospitality. “It's about being within the five-foot radius of the customer and that's the power of it. That's why the economics of cloud space have changed completely. "That's why you can start your own restaurant from the comfort of your home, because you just need the requisite licenses.” To no surprise, this trend in the food space has only been sped up by the pandemic. “Everyone is a home chef now!” Manvir exclaims. “A lot of people lost their jobs. So, a lot of people had that shift towards micro entrepreneurship.” When it comes to ordering from cloud kitchens, Manvir recommends going with specialists, not generalists. How might you know who is who when making your choice? The answer is in that same smartphone. “I definitely believe in the concept of social proof,” begins Manvir. “It's all about Google. What does the algorithm tell me about you?” Big facts. So, what does that mean if you're running your own business or if you are in fact your own business? Step up your online footprint whether it's publishing content on your website or on your social channels. The juice is worth the squeeze. “What used to be a frivolous activity five years back, posting on Facebook or posting on Instagram, is now content,” laughs but acknowledges Manvir. “The stories we tell are the stories we live, and these are the stories which end up inspiring if not everyone, even one person.” When Manvir says this, he means this. Over the course of the pandemic, Manvir became a publisher on a larger scale due to quarantine closing down his events business. Penning his first book, Catering Your Way to Financial Independence, the new author from New Delhi found himself out of event work but atop the Amazon Best Sellers list. Not a bad pandemic pivot. “Writing this book was what was out of sheer unemployment,” admits Manvir. “I didn't know what to do with my life to be very honest.” For Manvir, creating content kept him busy when work was slow. It was not only necessary to maintain his spark during a tough time, it's something he found he enjoyed even if it wasn't his first trade. Based on his own success in this space, he strongly urges anyone and everyone to stay storytelling despite their reservations. “Whatever you create, think about it this way,” starts Manvir, “that even if ten years, 20 years or 30 years down the line, or even just ten days down the line, if you can look back on that point and say, ‘Yes, I did something and I'm proud of that,' or, ‘I had fun during my time,' it was worth it, right?” As an Amazon Bestseller, Manvir is proud of the content he created but prouder of the people that content has been able to help. Still, Manvir understands that to be available to others you hav...
Understanding the costs it takes to operate a virtual ghost kitchen is essential. Listen in on a Clubhouse roundtable discussion with hospitality veterans and restaurant thought-leaders to start breaking down the costs of a digital restaurant operation. Learn about the investments, tech, fees, and more needed to open a virtual ghost kitchen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtyUXNZp1dw Featuring: • Jensen Cummings - @chefjensencummings • Shawn Walchef - @shawnpwalchef @calibbq @calibbqmedia • Kyle Inserra - @kyleinserra @sabre.life • Andrew Parr - @andrewparrao • James Baxter - j.baxter@rational-online.com Let us know what you learned or what you'd like to have us talk about next by emailing us at podcast@calibbq.media. ➤ Cali BBQ Media updates: https://calibbq.media/blog ➤ Connect with Shawn Walchef: https://poplme.co/shawn-walchef ➤ What is Digital Hospitality?: https://youtu.be/p7BC2uX6jOQ Check out the entire Clubhouse Ghost Kitchen series on our YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMctYe4sqv9jxfmWmp0C2sw) and on our podcast page (https://calibbq.media/podcast-episode). Guide to Opening a Virtual Ghost Kitchen | Part 1: The New Digital Economy | DH106 Guide to Opening a Virtual Ghost Kitchen | Part 2: Building Important Business Relationships ➤ Jensen Cummings on Clubhouse: https://www.joinclubhouse.com/@jensencummings ➤ Kyle Inserra on Clubhouse: https://www.joinclubhouse.com/@kyleinserra ➤ Shawn P. Walchef on Clubhouse: https://www.joinclubhouse.com/@shawnpwalchef MORE RESTAURANT EPISODES: ► Don't Be Scared To Share Your Secrets Online | Kyle Inserra (Restaurant Growth Strategist) WATCH: https://youtu.be/L_-0nGRr0B4 ► Everyone is in the Relationship Business | Chef Jensen Cummings (Best Served Podcast) WATCH: https://youtu.be/2Mb0OL_jYOo ► Learn to Brand It Like It's Hot! | Phyllis Williams-Strawder (CKO Creator) WATCH: https://youtu.be/UZDAXQqeSus ► The Cal Ripken Jr. of the Clubhouse App | Guy Clarke (Restaurant Marketing Consultant) WATCH: https://youtu.be/i95g60wZkPw Subscribe to the Cali BBQ channel on Youtube and click the bell icon to get notified of new videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMctYe4sqv9jxfmWmp0C2sw Subscribe for Cali BBQ Media Updates Sign up for our email newsletters to get updates on our businesses and our lives. https://calibbq.media Email Full Name Email
Do you want to learn how to open your own Ghost Kitchen brand or Virtual Restaurant concept? Learn more in Part 2 of this 2021 Guide to Ghost Kitchens. https://youtu.be/T_q2FnYnRhY In this second part of a roundtable discussion series on the Clubhouse audio app, the expert Digital Hospitality panel and guests dig into what it takes to open a Ghost Kitchen or Virtual Restaurant. Who do you connect with to help you make your Ghost Kitchen dream a reality? Listen to the discussion about the new economy of food entrepreneurship in the digital age hosted by a panel of hospitality industry insiders. Featuring: • Jensen Cummings - @chefjensencummings • Shawn Walchef - @shawnpwalchef @calibbq @calibbqmedia • Kyle Inserra - @kyleinserra @sabre.life • Nili Poynter - @chefready • Will Stewart - @willie_wingz Let us know what you learned or what you'd like to have us talk about next by emailing us at podcast@calibbq.media. ➤ Cali BBQ Media updates: https://calibbq.media/blog ➤ Connect with Shawn Walchef: https://poplme.co/shawn-walchef ➤ What is Digital Hospitality?: https://youtu.be/p7BC2uX6jOQ Check out the entire Clubhouse Ghost Kitchen series on our YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMctYe4sqv9jxfmWmp0C2sw) and on our podcast page (https://calibbq.media/podcast-episode). Guide to Opening a Virtual Ghost Kitchen | Part 1: The New Digital Economy | DH106 ➤ Jensen Cummings on Clubhouse: https://www.joinclubhouse.com/@jensencummings ➤ Kyle Inserra on Clubhouse: https://www.joinclubhouse.com/@kyleinserra ➤ Shawn P. Walchef on Clubhouse: https://www.joinclubhouse.com/@shawnpwalchef MORE RESTAURANT EPISODES: ► Don't Be Scared To Share Your Secrets Online | Kyle Inserra (Restaurant Growth Strategist) WATCH: https://youtu.be/L_-0nGRr0B4 ► Everyone is in the Relationship Business | Chef Jensen Cummings (Best Served Podcast) WATCH: https://youtu.be/2Mb0OL_jYOo ► Learn to Brand It Like It's Hot! | Phyllis Williams-Strawder (CKO Creator) WATCH: https://youtu.be/UZDAXQqeSus ► The Cal Ripken Jr. of the Clubhouse App | Guy Clarke (Restaurant Marketing Consultant) WATCH: https://youtu.be/i95g60wZkPw Subscribe to the Cali BBQ channel on Youtube and click the bell icon to get notified of new videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMctYe4sqv9jxfmWmp0C2sw Subscribe for Cali BBQ Media Updates Sign up for our email newsletters to get updates on our businesses and our lives. https://calibbq.media Web Site Full Name Email
The future of food and the future of hospitality is in your hand — the smartphone. In this first part of a roundtable discussion series presented on the Clubhouse audio app, the expert Digital Hospitality panel and guests dig into what it takes to open a Ghost Kitchen or Virtual Restaurant. How do you start joining the new digital economy? Do you want to learn how to open your own Ghost Kitchen brand or Virtual Restaurant concept? Find out in this podcast. Learn more in Part 1 of this 2021 Guide to Ghost Kitchens https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wF9OobtldDc Check out this discussion about the new economy of food entrepreneurship in the digital age hosted by a panel of hospitality industry insiders. Featuring: • Jensen Cummings - @chefjensencummings • Shawn Walchef - @shawnpwalchef @calibbq @calibbqmedia • Kyle Inserra - @kyleinserra @sabre.life • Michellee Fox - @michelleefox • Katie Fisco - @chechefisco • Keshia Garza - @keshg Let us know what you learned or what you'd like to have us talk about next by emailing us at podcast@calibbq.media. ➤ Cali BBQ Media updates: https://calibbq.media/blog ➤ Connect with Shawn Walchef: https://poplme.co/shawn-walchef ➤ What is Digital Hospitality?: https://youtu.be/p7BC2uX6jOQ Check out the entire Clubhouse Ghost Kitchen series on our YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMctYe4sqv9jxfmWmp0C2sw) and on our podcast page (https://calibbq.media/podcast-episode). ➤ Jensen Cummings on Clubhouse: https://www.joinclubhouse.com/@jensencummings ➤ Kyle Inserra on Clubhouse: https://www.joinclubhouse.com/@kyleinserra ➤ Shawn P. Walchef on Clubhouse: https://www.joinclubhouse.com/@shawnpwalchef MORE RESTAURANT EPISODES: ► Don't Be Scared To Share Your Secrets Online | Kyle Inserra (Restaurant Growth Strategist) WATCH: https://youtu.be/L_-0nGRr0B4 ► Everyone is in the Relationship Business | Chef Jensen Cummings (Best Served Podcast) WATCH: https://youtu.be/2Mb0OL_jYOo ► Learn to Brand It Like It's Hot! | Phyllis Williams-Strawder (CKO Creator) WATCH: https://youtu.be/UZDAXQqeSus ► The Cal Ripken Jr. of the Clubhouse App | Guy Clarke (Restaurant Marketing Consultant) WATCH: https://youtu.be/i95g60wZkPw Subscribe to the Cali BBQ channel on Youtube and click the bell icon to get notified of new videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMctYe4sqv9jxfmWmp0C2sw Subscribe for Cali BBQ Media Updates Sign up for our email newsletters to get updates on our businesses and our lives. https://calibbq.media Web Site Full Name Email
Ben Arnot has another Smoking Hot Confession to share — he's not scared to fail. That's because he nails it when it counts. The Australian barbecue educator, Smoking Hot Confessions podcast host, and self-taught digital media mastermind, was our guest on Digital Hospitality, where Ben Arnot shared stories and lessons about his digital growth, the business of BBQ, and hacks for Planning, Producing, Publishing, and Promoting your own digital media online. "The purpose of Smoking Hot Confessions is to help people improve their lives through the power of BBQ." • Visit Smoking Hot Confessions online : https://smokinghotconfessions.com/ • Follow Ben Arnot on Social Media @smokinghotconfessions : https://www.instagram.com/smokinghotconfessions/ • Check out the Smoking Hot Confessions podcast : https://smokinghotconfessions.com/shcpodcast/ • Meat N Fire Media Services : https://meatnfiremediaservices.com/ https://youtu.be/Tu059TPX0lY Ben Arnot on Digital Hospitality | Episode 104 Ben Arnot is everywhere it seems. As the host of the Smoking Hot Confessions BBQ podcast and one-half of the husband-and-wife Meat N Fire Media Services company, Ben's online engagement spans time zones, platforms, and language barriers. However, during the pandemic, he was stuck at home like everyone else. Sadly, it wasn't all good at home. “We hired this guy for a $15,000 job on our house and he was a complete con man,” recalls Ben Arnot on the Cali BBQ Media podcast. “It turned into a $50,000 job. We had to hire someone else to redo everything that he'd done.” Down on cash and with the world quickly put on pause, Ben and his wife Bree Arnot had an extremely difficult call to make. “We were in this situation of staring down the barrel of this giant mortgage and going, ‘OK, we either sell the house and move back in with my dad and try and find jobs somewhere else,'” begins Ben, “‘or we back ourselves, take stock of what we've got, see what can we do with it and double-down on ourselves.'” Arnot Family Goes All-In on Digital Skills: As you can guess by the people we have on this show, you already know what Ben did. Doubling-down on the work skills of him and his wife, they went full force into creating content and providing digital services. “I built this home studio that I'm sitting in now,” shares Ben Arnot. “And I started to do a bunch of different stuff while we were all in lockdown because we have quite a sizable community on Facebook.” @SmokingHotConfessions Social Media • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SmokingHotConfessions • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smokinghotconfessions • Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com.au/SHConfessions • Twitter: https://twitter.com/bbqconfessions • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benarnot ‘Sizeable' is a fair choice of words. Not only is the Smoking Hot Confessions Facebook group composed of 3,000 users, the group is incredibly active and engaged. This was true in a tumultuous 2020. Seeing his tribe in trouble, Ben Arnot dug deep to take care of his people during the pandemic by entertaining, educating and engaging online. “During lockdown, I really felt obligated to take care of this group,” Ben says. “I put a lot of time into that and I take care of a lot of the people. One of the things we did was a barbecue game show. Sitting here in the studio, I found this online platform that would allow me to type all these questions with a photo and multiple choice answers. I worked out how to stream that live and have people engage almost like Jeopardy. We did that every Friday for ten weeks.” Connecting to Communities Online: While the game show received rave reviews within his community, it was the post-primetime follow up that really revealed Ben's heart and healed. “After each one, we had a separate session that was not recorded, and it wasn't branded,” starts Ben.
In this episode of Tell Your Best Story, Jensen speaks to Shawn Walchef of Cali BBQ Media about the importance of digital storytelling and being curious.
Take a deep dive with Shawn Walchef and Name Drop San Diego on all things Digital and Hospitality in this podcast episode. The San Diego Union-Tribune puts out a really good San Diego local podcast with the weekly Name Drop San Diego show, hosted by Abby Hamblin and Kristy Totten and featuring the people that make San Diego proud. READ MORE: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/name-drop-san-diego/story/2021-05-25/shawn-walchef-cali-comfort-bbq-digital-hospitality SUBSCRIBE TO NAME DROP SAN DIEGO: Apple | Spotify | Google | Stitcher Listen to this repurposed special episode and let us know what you liked and learned by emailing podcast@calibbq.media or getting in touch with the Cali BBQ Media team on Social Media. Follow @calibbqmedia @calibbq @shawnpwalchef and slide into our DMs. https://youtu.be/Gbr8hDJiKTY Follow Abby Hamlin | Social | Email Follow Kristy Totten | Social | Email SHAWN WALCHEF INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS — The Barrio Food Hub: So we're very, very excited about the ghost kitchen opportunity and what we call it is ... our expansion into “friendly” ghost kitchens. So the fear that I have with ghost kitchens is that it's going to be kind of this gold rush for restaurant brands, and multi-unit concepts to go in and to serve food to third-party markets. You know, there's a lot of people now that are ordering on their phones, they're ordering on Uber Eats, they're ordering on Grubhub, they're ordering on DoorDash. So there's a huge market and a huge demand for people getting food how they want it. You know, no longer can we discriminate [against] having somebody that wants great barbecue to have to drive, you know, a half-hour from Escondido down to Cali Comfort on an NFL Sunday, wait an hour in line to get a table because you know the Chargers are playing the Raiders. And then maybe not have brisket because maybe we're sold out. Like we have to be better than that. And our whole goal with a friendly ghost kitchen is to describe the story. To let people know this is the heart of who we are. This is the brand. If you want to see the ribs getting smoked, you can go to our Instagram page, you can go to our Twitter feed. Like, this is all smoked today. Once we're out, we're out. But now we can bring that to another location and service an entire part of San Diego that we weren't able to service before. So you know, Barrio Logan's just an incredible community that connects us to Downtown San Diego, to National City, to you know, the community in Barrio Logan, to the Navy base, to NASSCO. I mean it's so many amazing people that now don't have to drive to Spring Valley to enjoy our brisket. They can literally go on their phone in order through Uber Eats and get it in 20 minutes delivered, you know, to their office building or to their place of work. Preferred style of barbecue sauce: To be honest with you, I'm less of a sauce guy. I'm more of a meat guy. More of a meat and dry rub guy. So we serve sauce on the side. We like to let people taste the smoke, taste the flavor, taste the meat. Obviously we love our sauce, but we're a little bit more dry. Best advice ever received: My grandfather ... taught me to stay curious, get involved and ask for help. Deciding to prioritize the digital experience: We do a weekly podcast called Digital Hospitality and we wanted to call it that because what we've realized kind of in our 13 years of being in business, failing, doing a lot of things wrong, doing all different types of marketing, learning social media, learning digital media, learning how to run our website, we've learned how important the internet is. We've learned how important the smartphone is, how important content creation is. And we know that all businesses, no matter what business you're in, needs to be digital. ... It's so important now in this day and age to be where people are, and people are on their phones, people are on these different apps.
7shifts CEO Jordan Boesch faced every peer's nightmare in the spring of 2020 when he had to relieve dozens of beloved team members of their duties. Everybody wants the dollar signs and status associated with being a CEO. But nobody wants to be a chief executive officer when it's time to furlough 40 employees. “We had to tell the company that we had to lay off 40 people,” remembers Jordan Boesch on this episode of the Digital Hospitality podcast. Watch or listen to this Digital Hospitality interview with 7shifts CEO Jordan Boesch and let us know what you learned or liked from the conversation. The hospitality industry is rebuilding so it's a great time for restaurant owners and operators to improve their employee management systems. 7shifts promises to help restaurant management improve long-term performance and profitability with a data-driven digital approach to its labor management platform. • Learn more about 7shifts at: https://www.7shifts.com/about • Book Jordan Boesch (CEO/founder) for a Speaking Engagement at: https://www.7shifts.com/jordan-boesch • Visit https://calibbq.media/podcast-episodes for more interviews and articles. Email the Cali BBQ Media team at podcast@calibbq.media https://youtu.be/h3JA2um7B3o Company Culture of Transparency, Honesty, Feedback — Overcome with sorrow, there was no way to right the wrongs of how the pandemic decimated Jordan Boesch's technology company built for helping restaurants with their scheduling. With major roster cuts made at a moment's notice, one would expect employees – both furloughed and retained – to be heated. However, after the cuts, Jordan's phone began blowing up not with rage, threats or venting, but actual praise and gratitude. “The outpour from not only existing staff,” Jordan discussed on Digital Hospitality, “but staff that were furloughed, to me personally, was just like, ‘Hey, Jordan, totally understand. I'd love to come back as soon as you guys will have me back.' "So many people were like, ‘Hey, I'll wait. I don't I don't care that I was furloughed, I want back in the company.' We got a lot of messages and support from existing employees that said, ‘You guys handled that better than any company that would have ever handled the situation.” By creating a culture at 7shifts built off of transparency, honesty, feedback and betterment, Jordan Boesch's team trusted that the tough decision was made with love and reflected reality. This is because it was. How to Attract the Best Talent — While Jordan Boesch was still surprised at how well his staff responded to the difficult decision he chose to make, he felt his unlikely situation and even more unlikely outcome was a sharing moment to help others. Shortly after the furloughs, the tech CEO published a Medium article about how to handle layoffs due to the COVID pandemic. Check out the detailed 7shifts strategy document for layoffs that was shared by Jordan at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OV_G0CDS_fGCZFBpJWttVYO7LrRdxdJAwxxGtn0XDQE/ Not only did sharing his thoughts and strategy help his peers in need during a tough time, it attracted talent to his network by putting out his perspective. “It's a good mechanism to attract what you want to attract,” Jordan noticed on the response from his Medium post. “If you want to attract the best software engineers to your company, you open source. [In this case] I also wanted to attract other CEOs that I can collaborate with and that I can learn from at the same time. It's a mechanism to attract great people that you can continue to learn from.” 7shifts gets $21.5 million investment from EHI — Enlightened Hospitality Investments (EHI) growth equity fund, managed by influential restaurateur Danny Meyer, invested $21.5 million in 7shifts during a Series B funding round, joining other investors. Danny Meyer is CEO of Union Square Hospitality Group which uses 7shifts at its bars,
Ghost Kitchens - it sounds like a great name for a horror movie, but they could just be the future of BBQ. Shawn P. Walchef, founder of iconic California BBQ joint Cali Comfort BBQ is our guest on this incredible episode of the Smoking Hot Confessions BBQ Podcast. A serial entrepreneur, Shawn also happens to be one of the best BBQ Pitmasters not just in San Diego, but on the West Coast, and his barbecue smoked meat, including brisket burnt ends are the stuff of barbeque legend. But that's not it. He also loves digital media and fully believes that investing in digital technologies is essential to the longevity of barbeque businesses. His first foray into digital media was the award winning Behind the Smoke Podcast with friend and colleague Derek Marso. That show won Best Audio Series at the NBBQA Conference in 2019. At that point, Shawn founded Cali BBQ Media and the Behind the Smoke BBQ Podcast became the Digital Hospitality podcast. Then the world changed, and Shawn doubled down on the power of digital technology and has literally transformed Cali Comfort BBQ into something new and ready for the new world. In this Episode of the Smoking Hot Confessions BBQ Podcast, Shawn and I get into: His newest smoker, a Traeger (4:55) The $5,000,001 business pitch to Amazon (7:51) How Cali Comfort BBQ was founded (18:40) The story of the Behind the Smoke Podcast and how it evolved into the Digital Hospitality Podcast (27:08) How to set up a Ghost Kitchen (41:27) Tips for Business Pitching (49:54) Barbe Con is coming soon - stay tuned for the confirmation of the date in July. New to BBQ? Grab your free copy of our eBook 'The Beginners Guide to Real BBQ' at our website now: https://smokinghotconfessions.com
On this episode of Workplaces Worth Working, Jensen speaks to Shawn Walchef of Cali BBQ Media about how to amplify your business and your hiring using media.
Dilip Rao isn't supposed to be here. Serving as CEO of Sharebite, the accomplished immigrant from a small village in India beat the odds not just for his ascent but also despite his blue collar upbringing. Dilip Rao is our guest on the Digital Hospitality podcast, where he talked about using business and technology to undertake the burden of social good. Watch on YouTube or listen on your favorite podcast player. https://youtu.be/fESGbEH6ino Raised in New York City and public school educated, Dilip Rao was not given the head start many of his high title peers were privileged to benefit from. Still, that’s not why he’s not supposed to be here. Years ago, the tech founder suffered a near death experience when he was thrown through the windshield of a car. At the time, Dilip was a successful investment banker that had already beat the odds and accomplished so much. Almost losing his life led him to ask himself questions he never considered. “Why am I here and what problem in society do I solve?” Dilip Rao pondered on the Digital Hospitality podcast. Soon after asking, his mission was settled. “I’m going to try to figure out how to solve a problem in society and extend this long arm of leverage,” proclaimed the reborn banker. This all led to the creation of his company Sharebite (https://sharebite.com/). About Sharebite: Sharebite is a "mission-driven food ordering platform built exclusively for the workplace." For every one meal ordered with Sharebite, one meal gets donated. Sharebite Online: https://sharebite.com/ Email Sharebite: care@sharebite.com The Sharebite team was able to grow the business by 400 percent during the pandemic. Now the NYC-based food delivery platform company is planning more expansion as offices are reopening around the United States. The company recently launched Sharebite Stations, which is a post-COVID compliant solution for "facilitating contactless food delivery at offices." Sharebite also partnered with WeWork to install the Sharebite Stations at their Manhattan headquarters, and was able to donate 15,000 meals to feed hungry children through City Harvest of New York City. Stay Curious — Get Involved — Ask For Help Listen, watch and learn every week with us on the Digital Hospitality podcast. Let us know what you think of the show by emailing the Cali BBQ Media team at podcast@calibbq.media. Catering to corporate clients with big budgets and big appetites, Sharebite delivers food to some of the most successful businesses in the game. For every meal ordered, a meal is donated to someone in need. “We wanted to create a for-profit business with a purpose and a core,” recalls Dilip Rao on Digital Hospitality. While the charitable for-profit business model has become noticed thanks to companies like Tom's, Sharebite is following in the footsteps of said footwear company to cure hunger domestically while leveraging the tech and revenue of major corporations. This proves powerful in the city Dilip was raised. “New York City is arguably one of the wealthiest places on Earth,” notes Dilip Rao on the podcast. “We're also home to roughly half a million kids that go hungry every single day. How is that possible?” This conundrum keeps Dilip up at night but it doesn’t keep him from working on a solution. Through his work with Sharebite, Dilip can leverage the power players in the corporate world he’s met through investment banking by connecting their capital to non-profits like City Harvest that share the same mission. “Our business model was predicated on taking that collective purchasing power of corporate clients and using that purchasing power to drive value back to society,” Dilip shares. Helping Small Businesses: For Dilip, Sharebite's mission to cure hunger is also about helping small businesses. This proved true when considering Sharebite’s social work within New York City during the pandemic. Just the same,
There's a lot of ways to find your business online. Sometimes it feels like there's too many digital doorways, right? Our Digital Hospitality Podcast guest, Marqii CEO Avi Goren, wants to help businesses be everywhere at once online. He co-founded the hospitality technology company to help create digital operational efficiencies for restaurateurs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPWgPDx1FF8 Managing dozens of digital touch points is a major pain point for restaurants and other operations that regularly deal with online ordering and reviews. Each online place a guest can interact with — and order from — your business is a doorway to your brand. For a hospitality business this is a pain point in need of a solution. What do you do when the Internet has created so many different entrances to your business, with each requiring regular maintenance and care? Enter Marqii. Marqii promises "menu management made easy." That means: Instant updates. Accurate information. Time saved. Marqii at Cali BBQ: Marqii was founded in 2016. Its headquarters are in the Greater New York Area. The Marqii Base service costs $74.99 per location. It gives the ability to update menus and location data on more than 75 different listings from one simple dashboard. That way when people are searching for your “food near me” on Google they are finding up-to-date, accurate information about your business. Now that we subscribe to Marqii’s Professional service ($119.99/month) our staff can quickly and easily update all of our published location information, and also has the power to monitor and respond to online feedback on Yelp and other review websites. That’s an important feature for us at Cali BBQ because engaging with our customers and responding to their concerns and compliments is a core pillar of our business. Most of the reviews Cali BBQ receives online are made on three places: Yelp, Facebook, and Google. Marqii combines the flow of reviews from all three of those websites into one place which our staff can use to respond to and monitor feedback. When your hours change or you have 86’ed a menu item you want to make sure all the places your guests can buy from you online are correct. And when someone has a legitimate gripe, you want to be able to listen and respond to it as soon as possible. Learn More About Marqii: Schedule a Marqii demo at https://www.marqii.com/demo/ Follow Marqii on social media: @getmarqii Email Marqii: info@marqii.com Digital Operations Efficiency With Tech: Marqii's tech promises to lead to an increase in efficiency with your digital operations. That's what we've seen at our restaurant Cali BBQ since we've implemented Marqii into our tech stack. Before we started using a menu management system, our restaurant managers used to have to log into many dozens of websites, taking many hours of tedious work, just to update a piece of information about our business, such as a link, a photo, or a menu item. Marqii helps us with management of online menus and online reputation, both of which in turn allow us to show up more in local searches, like when people type “Barbecue Near Me” into a search engine and we pop up on page one of the results. All you have to do is add or edit information and the system automatically pushes that change out to whatever platforms you want to be active on. Learn more about Avi Goren and Marqii by listening or watching this episode of Digital Hospitality. For more podcast interviews visit https://calibbq.media/podcast-episodes Digital Hospitality: A Cali BBQ Media Podcast — Can you recommend a technology that’s helped your restaurant? Email shawn@calibbq.media to start a conversation. Visit the Digital Hospitality Blog (https://calibbq.media/blog) for our in-depth feature articles and behind-the-scenes looks at our business, our content, and our lives. E-mail the Cali BBQ Media team at podcast@calibbq.
It’s nothing new to hear that hospitality should be a big priority for all business owners. But, for Cali BBQ, it’s all about Digital Hospitality. While that may sound like just another buzzword, it’s something that all businesses should be prioritizing. In this ‘Deep Dive’ episode, Shawn Walchef, Owner of Cali BBQ & Founder of Cali BBQ Media, talks about what Digital Hospitality is, why it’s so important and what steps business owners can take to implement an effective digital strategy. Cali BBQ: https://www.yelp.com/biz/cali-comfort-bbq-spring-valley-4 Ali Schwartz: https://linktr.ee/alischwar Meserole Sound: https://www.meserolesound.nyc/
Welcome to the 7shifts Restaurant Growth Podcast, where we sit down with the best minds in the restaurant industry to inspire you with new ways to improve your business. We had the chance to sit down with Shawn P Walchef. Shawn is the owner of Cali Comfort BBQ in San Diego and hosts the Digital Hospitality podcast. Since 2008, Cali Comfort has generated $25 million in sales from just one location. They just opened their second—a"friendly" ghost kitchen—a new chapter in the Cali BBQ story, with plans to scale with a "slow food fast" mentality. The 7shifts Restaurant Growth Podcast is hosted by Dominick "D.J." Costantino, 7shifts' Content Writer. About Shawn Walchef Since opening Cali BBQ in 2008, Shawn and Rositsa Walchef have incorporated the Bulgarian traditions of hospitality into every facet of their expanding business empire, from evolving their restaurant for 2020 and beyond with easy online ordering of BBQ online, to publishing podcasts and other digital media through Cali BBQ Media. About 7shifts 7shifts is a team management platform designed for restaurants. We help managers and operators spend less time and effort scheduling their staff, reduce their monthly labor costs and streamline team communication. The result is simplified labor management, one shift at a time.
Welcome to the 7shifts Restaurant Growth Podcast, where we sit down with the best minds in the restaurant industry to inspire you with new ways to improve your business. We had the chance to sit down with Shawn P Walchef. Shawn is the owner of Cali Comfort BBQ in San Diego and hosts the Digital Hospitality podcast. Since 2008, Cali Comfort has generated $25 million in sales from just one location. They just opened their second—a"friendly" ghost kitchen—a new chapter in the Cali BBQ story, with plans to scale with a "slow food fast" mentality.The 7shifts Restaurant Growth Podcast is hosted by Dominick "D.J." Costantino, 7shifts' Content Writer.About Shawn WalchefSince opening Cali BBQ in 2008, Shawn and Rositsa Walchef have incorporated the Bulgarian traditions of hospitality into every facet of their expanding business empire, from evolving their restaurant for 2020 and beyond with easy online ordering of BBQ online, to publishing podcasts and other digital media through Cali BBQ Media.About 7shifts7shifts is a team management platform designed for restaurants. We help managers and operators spend less time and effort scheduling their staff, reduce their monthly labor costs and streamline team communication. The result is simplified labor management, one shift at a time.
Creating social media content for your practices doesn't have to be difficult or complicated. In this episode, you'll learn exactly what you need to do! Caleb breaks down all things digital media with Shawn Walchef – Founder of Cali BBQ Media, Host of the Digital Hospitality Podcast, and a successful Restauranteur. For more information, or if you'd like to contact us, please visit the links below! https://calibbq.media/ Trusted Practice Transitions (https://www.trustedpracticetransitions.com/) Produced by KaneCast (https://parkerkane.co/kanecast)
On this episode of the Takeout, Delivery, and Catering podcast series, hosts TJ Schier and Sam Stanovich sit down with Shawn Walchef, the founder of Cali BBQ Media, to explore how restaurants can use technology and digital advertising to drive off-premises sales.
Since 2008, Shawn Walchef has owned Cali Comfort BBQ in East San Diego County. In order to survive, Shawn knew he had to operate his family restaurant and sports bar like a media company. As you will hear, this approach has paid off big time in a COVID-19 age. In addition to owning a successful restaurant, Walchef operates Cali BBQ Media while hosting the Digital Hospitality Podcast. Operate a business? You could learn a lot from this discussion.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
© 2020-2025 Ivy Podcast Discovery LLC
