Give an Ovation: The Restaurant Guest Experience Podcast with Zack Oates
Give an Ovation: The Restaurant Guest Experience Podcast is your backstage pass to the minds of hospitality leaders, innovators, and operators who are redefining what it means to serve. Hosted by Zack Oates, founder of Ovation, each episode dives into real-world tactics and inspiring stories from restaurant pros who know how to create five-star guest experiences—both in-store and off-premise.
From fast casual to fine dining, catering to curbside, learn how to drive loyalty, empower your staff, and deliver hospitality that hits home. Whether you're a restaurant owner, operator, marketer, or tech partner, this podcast will leave you with practical insights and plenty of reasons to celebrate and Give an Ovation.
Give an Ovation: The Restaurant Guest Experience Podcast with Zack Oates
Russ Hawkins of Agilence on Using Data to Improve Guest Experience
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Russ Hawkins, CEO of Agilence, joins Zack Oates to break down how restaurant operators can use data to improve guest experience, boost loyalty, and align teams. With a background spanning telecom, retail, and hospitality, Russ shares practical strategies for avoiding waste, tracking behavior, and turning missed expectations into long-term relationships.
Zack and Russ discuss:
- Why personalization is the new loyalty
- How to align the boardroom with the back-of-house
- Using data to improve staff training and performance
- What operators can learn from both QSR and fine dining
- Why small moments—like remembering a name—still matter
Thanks, Russ!
Links:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/russhawkins/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/agilence-inc/
https://www.instagram.com/agilence_inc/
https://www.agilenceinc.com/
Introducing Russ Hawkins and Agilence
Speaker 1Welcome to another edition of Give an Ovation , the restaurant guest experience podcast . I'm your host , zach Oates , and each week I chat with industry experts to uncover their strategies and tactics to help you create a five-star guest experience . This podcast is powered by Ovation , the feedback and operations platform built for multi-unit restaurants . Get all the insights you need to improve without an annoying survey for your guests . Learn more at OvationUpcom . And we are here with Russ Hawkins , the CEO of Agilent , and you have just had such an incredible career , ranging hospitality . You even survived living in my home state of New Jersey , which in and of itself is impressive . You have been in data and in hospitality and telco and , like you've had such an amazing career , you've even acquired companies with Agilent , and so I'm really excited to chat with you , russ . Thanks for joining us .
Speaker 2Well , thanks for having me . People love to hate New Jersey , but I loved my time there . I don't live there anymore , but I lived there for more than 30 years and I loved every minute of it .
Speaker 1Russ , you're not supposed to tell people you like Jersey . No , we're the ones that started the whole , like don't come to Jersey , it's so bad Right right ?
Speaker 2No , I know People love to hate it . Yeah , that makes a better for the rest of us .
Speaker 1Exactly right . I mean , jersey is a great state . So , russ , for a little bit of background and context for this podcast . Tell us a little bit about Agilent .
Speaker 2So Agilent is a data analytics company . We focus on essentially wrangling the data that is being generated by the various systems that are operating in businesses and make it available to people , to the experts , to the people that are running these businesses to ask questions of very complex database . And what our big key is is not requiring you to be a data scientist . The idea is to democratize it and make it available to everyone . We have more than 20 restaurant chains , mostly in the US and in the UK , and then we also do work with retailers and with supermarkets as well .
Speaker 1And you help restaurants to avoid fraud , theft , waste and compliance issues .
Speaker 2Right , well , that's where it all started , but actually we do a lot more than that .
Data Analytics in Restaurant Operations
Speaker 2What we've learned is that and most of this is because our customers have taught us what we've learned is that data can solve a lot of problems and data can create a lot of opportunities that data can solve a lot of problems and data can create a lot of opportunities . And so , while we started trying to identify leakage and losses , we do a lot about around revenue , enrichment and looking at the effectiveness of promotions , LTOs , loyalty programs . We do , as I mentioned , the cost and expense control , which is really loss prevention , and then compliance making sure that when you're running a big operation , that everybody understands what the objectives are . I like to call it alignment from the boardroom down to the stockroom or boardroom down to the backroom .
Speaker 1Yeah , and I think that's so important because we could sit up in our ivory tower talking about deals and LTOs and all this stuff , but when it comes down to a customer or a guest walking into our restaurant and the frontline doesn't know what that LTO is about or how to make it or what the SOP is for it , it creates a disastrous experience . And then , all of a sudden , marketing is actively losing you customers because your operations aren't aligned with that , and I think that's super key . So , with the data and the customers that you're seeing , talk to me about what are you seeing with guest experience ? What are guests expecting ? What are they wanting ? What are some things that are really moving the needle to improve the guest
What Guests Truly Want
Speaker 1experience ?
Speaker 2Yeah , Every guest wants to feel valued as a customer , no matter whether the restaurant is a quick QSR restaurant or a table service restaurant . They want a personal relationship with the business and I think there's kind of a baseline of things that have to happen . They have to have confidence and they have to be comfortable that the restaurant is going to be clean and it's going to be sanitary and the food is going to be high quality and fresh . They want all that . They want speed of service , they want the adequate staffing to do the job and they want the operation to run smoothly and efficiently and quickly .
Speaker 1But I think that's it . That's it , Russ . That seems pretty easy . No , actually , I think let's go open up a restaurant .
Speaker 2We're going to do all that . That's just table stakes .
Speaker 1And the pun is intended there .
Speaker 2I'm intending that pun . The reality is is that in today's world , I think the biggest differentiator now is the personalization . What you're delivering is predicated on speed and quality and efficiency . If you're a table service restaurant , especially a high-end table service restaurant , you really want to create a unique dining experience for people , and so all of it can be come together , in my view , under this idea of personalization and seamless convenience .
Speaker 1Yeah , and we talk about this on the podcast all the time . But it starts with convenience , right , it starts with making it easy to spend money with us . Then it goes up to consistency , where it's if they're spending money with us , they want to make sure that they can trust us to deliver that same experience every time . But obviously we're all humans , and so the top , the highest , the most valued rung of loyalty isn't about convenience or consistency . It's about that connection , and what you're talking about is that personalization to form that relationship , because that , russ , is how you go from someone coming in every month or so to someone telling all of their friends about it , to having you cater their wedding , to something that is really special . They need to feel that connection , and I think that a lot of times I hear from executives I can't train my people to scale that and I'm thinking well then you don't have a business that's going to last , right ? You ?
Speaker 2have to have that right . You can train them . It's just very hard to do and it's very hard to deal with . In today's environment , with the kind of turnover that we're all experiencing , it's very , very difficult to maintain those quality standards . But it's possible . It absolutely is possible , and data can help there as well . I mean being able to direct your team's attention to experiences and the performance that you've had with prior clients , with prior guests . Then you can
Tactics to Improve Guest Experience
Speaker 2educate them very quickly , I think .
Speaker 1I love that . What would you say ? What are some tactics that you've seen to improve the guest experience ?
Speaker 2Well , I like to think of it in two different formats . I kind of already mentioned that , I think . If you're in a quick service restaurant , I think the tactics can be very different than in a table service environment . Certainly , in today's world , on the quick service side the proliferation of mobile ordering capabilities , the third-party ordering and delivery systems these are ways of cementing relationships while you gather more data because you're gathering very detailed data about what that particular client enjoys , what they want to eat you can do very targeted marketing . You can notice , as you already mentioned earlier . You can notice when they don't show up and then give them some incentive to come back right . So loyalty programs play in that Increasingly .
Speaker 2We're seeing people using AI-driven personalization , recommendations for individual guests , planning staff planning for peak hours , looking at all of the various ways that contribute to delivering that experience to the customer . I think there's tons of more data . Right , it's really my business is all about data and every day that goes by , there's more and more data . On the table service side , it's kind of the same thing , but I think a little bit more nuanced . You have a little bit more time , you have , hopefully , an experience that's worthy of your guests and you can do little things . You can remember small gestures , remember their name , remember their prior experience , what their prior orders might have been , what things that appealed to them . Obviously , for a long time , special occasions have been a big driver of table service restaurants .
Speaker 2You have to think about it , as , in my view , entertainment right In the table service kind of end of the business it's not . I want to come in and get out like in a quick service restaurant . There's a richer , broader set of things that you can work with when you're in a table service environment , and in both cases staff training is very important , as you've already noted .
Speaker 1Yeah , I mean staff training is absolutely key . I can think about we helped Big Chicken Shaq's chicken concept . They were having issues with sauce in bag , forgetting the sauce in the bag for to-go orders . Everybody forgets sauce in the bag but a lot of people don't realize they forget it , and so they were able to track that , train their staff and reduce that by almost 50% , reduce complaints for sauce in bag by over 50% , these little things like that . I think it's getting back to your initial point about . It's about helping the guests feel valued . And if you forget my sauce , yeah , I love a chicken tender , but a chicken tender without a sauce it's like a three-piece suit without a jacket , it's like it just looks a little off , you know .
Speaker 2Absolutely right , and I'm a big chicken tender fan . To be honest with you , my wife thinks I'm still a 10-year-old because I try them all over the place . I love Shack's , I love the experience and I absolutely have to have my sauces .
Speaker 1Yeah , and that's the thing A lot of these chicken places . They differentiate themselves mostly by the sauces , right ? Anyway , that's just one small example of how do you make sure that your operations are helping your guests feel valued , because it's hard sometimes to to get your team to like remember everyone's name , but if you train them on that and you celebrate that and you help them understand that that's part of who we are , because , at the end of the day , you cannot afford to run a big brand without focusing on the individuals that are coming in your door .
Speaker 2That is where the money comes from and it starts with the first person talking to the guest when they arrive , that first experience . You know they say that first impressions are lasting that is absolutely one of the things that makes you keep coming back . I mean I've had experiences recently . I was in Columbus , ohio , and I went to a McDonald's right and the person behind the cash register was so friendly and so happy and so welcoming . It made me happy to go back there . I wanted to go Same thing in a table service restaurant . I mean I want to engage with my servers . I want to hear what they like , what their favorite thing on the menu is , and the attitude makes
Who Deserves an Ovation
Speaker 2a big , big , big difference , no question .
Speaker 1Yeah , absolutely . As they say , right , your attitude determines your altitude , and I think that , with what we're doing right now in the restaurant industry and with where the market's going , we cannot afford to lose any guests , and so we got to hold on to the ones we have . Real tight , let's just put it this way in terms of breaking up with a guest , the dating scene is not that great out there .
Speaker 2There's so many options for restaurants , so we had to make sure we stayed there Absolutely . And there's new ones every day . I mean , who knew we needed another chicken finger place and we needed another burger place ? I mean the reality is that they just keep coming . It's a lot easier to keep a client than it is to find new ones sometimes , yeah .
Speaker 1So , russ , who is someone that we should be following ? Who's someone who deserves an ovation ?
Speaker 2Well , I actually have a couple of people that may be against your rules , but one of the guys We'll let it slide for you , Russ . One of the guys that actually inspired me and inspired our business is a guy by the name of Damian Mogivero . I don't know if you ever heard of Damien Mogivero . He ran a company called Avero for many times , which is the last oh , yeah , I know Avero .
Speaker 1Yeah , absolutely .
Speaker 2So Damien ran that company for 17 years . He really pioneered the use of data in terms of both the guest experience and operational effectiveness . He's been referred to as the data dining king . I learned a tremendous amount from him and from reading his book . He's been referred to as the data dining king . I learned a tremendous amount from him and from reading his book . He wrote a book called the Underground Culinary Tour and it's something that he does now . Every year he gets very high-end , top-level chefs and influencers and they go around and they visit a series of restaurants and note the innovations that they're doing . This guy is now an award winner . He's a consultant and I highly recommend him . And then more recently I had an opportunity to hear a fellow by the name of Will Guadar speak .
Speaker 1Oh , will Guadar , that's his book right there there . It is , yes , reasonable .
Speaker 2Hospitality . I mean , that guy was just dynamic . He was at a trade show that I attended . He was one of the featured speakers and he was a co-owner and general manager of 11 Penn Madison Park and he's all about exceptional service and about even taking bad situations . You mentioned sometimes bad experience , forgetting the sauce . One of the things he likes to do is to figure out a way of turning a bad experience into a good experience by kind of overcompensating . I think he's a great guy and I would recommend following him . But yeah , you got his book .
Speaker 1That's good . Oh , man , and if you are not familiar with Will and you want to jump into kind of high level , check out his podcast that he and I did . So , yeah , he came on to give an ovation . It was an honor to have him . I was kind of fanboying out , but he's just so good . I love his book , love his ideology and I love the impact he's had on our industry . So that's awesome . Great shout outs there . Russ , totally agree with them . Well , russ , how do people find and follow you ? And also Agilence .
Speaker 2Agilence . Agile Intelligence , agilence , and that's what we're all about is being very agile with the data and turning it into intelligence for the average person .
Closing and Contact Information
Speaker 2It's Agilence Inc dot com and I'm R Hawkins at Agilence Inc dot com , and I'd love to hear from some of your listeners .
Speaker 1Awesome Well , russ , for reminding us that the true value of hospitality is helping the guests feel valued . Today's ovation goes to you . Thank you for joining us on Give an Ovation .
Speaker 2Well , thanks for having me . I appreciate it . I enjoyed myself .
Speaker 1Thanks for joining us today . If you liked this episode , leave us a review on Apple podcasts or your favorite place to listen . We're all about feedback here . Again , this episode was sponsored by Ovation , a two question SMS based actionable guest feedback platform built for multi-unit restaurants . If you'd like to learn how we can help you measure and create a better guest experience , visit us at OvationUpcom .