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.
Episodes
446 episodes
Finding the Balance Between Branding and Performance With Carolyn Walker
Carolyn Walker has curated an esteemed and well rounded career having worked for the likes of Fritos Lays and Saatchi & Saatchi advertising. Now at Response Marketing, Carolyn started as a freelance consultant but quickly advanced to ...
Aligning Purpose and Profit With Andrew Glantz
Andrew Glantz is the Founder & CEO of GiftAMeal, a local marketing program that helps provide a meal to a family in need each time a guest takes a photo at a partner restaurant. Over 500 restaurants currently participate and over 1,300,00...
Forging Better Labor Management With Audrey Hogan
Audrey Hogan in the COO of TimeForge, a single dashboard service capable of mainstreaming and optimizing HR and Operations. Audrey is a Swiss army knife of talent that can teach you how to optimize labor management and boost your team. With an ...
Balancing The Restaurant Books With Anne Gannon
With over 15+ years experience as a CPA, Anne Gannon is now the Principal and Founder of the Largo Group. The Largo Group provides clients with a clear understanding of the dynamics of their business to achieve lasting growth and success based ...
Feeding Your Growth Mindset With Yazan El-Shalabi and Yasser Ali
Yazan El-Shalabi and Yasser Ali are the Founders of Shelby's, home to legendary shawarma, poutines, falafels, and more! Their journey began as two young college students and now they run a multi franchise brand. Tune in to hear Yazan and Yasser...
Industry Avenues For Growth With Gregg Majewski
With over 24 years of experience in the food and beverage industry, Gregg Majewski has developed an expert eye for growth. To highlight his incredible experience within the space, Gregg has invested in restaurants and worked as former CFO, COO,...
Understanding The Review Cycle With Matt Vance
Matt Vance is the Co-Founder and CEO of Mobrium, a platform aimed to streamline your employer reputation on sites like Glassdoor, Indeed, Comparably and InHerSight. Furthermore, Matt Vance is the author of The Review Cycle, a book which outline...
The Three "Cons" of Loyalty With Zack Oates
On this week's episode of Give An Ovation we are flipping the mic around and welcoming on Ovation's very own, CEO and Founder, Zack Oates. Having started as a soda jerk at Friendly's and then transitioning into tech startups, Zack brings his ex...
Fashioning A Better Brand Benefit With Flint Finlinson
Flint Finlinson, Co-Founder and CEO of Propaganda Inc., is a brand and marketing expert specializing in strategy development. Propaganda, Inc. is an agency dedicated to "Brand Transformations" and helping to develop your higher brand purp...
Brand and Industry Hindsight With Euripides Pelekanos
Euripides Pelekanos is the CEO of Bareburger, a kitchen and bar that offers big flavor in a big bun. With over 13 years experience with Bareburger as the CEO and Co-Founder, Euripides knows what it takes to learn from the past and apply hindsig...
Fixing Restaurant Fallacies With Jensen Cummings
Jensen Cummings, a legacy figure within the restaurant industry, is uncovering and remedying fallacies within the industry. Having transitioned from a top chef to behind the scenes managerial operations, Jensen has an all encompassing understan...
Delivering Cravable Foods and Experiences With Justin Egan
Justin Egan is the VP of marketing, franchise development, and digital strategy at Craveworthy Brands. His expertise includes consumer-focused branding, building digital guest experiences, franchise development and restaurant/marketing tech.
Nurturing A Great Guest Experience with Bob Andersen
Bob Andersen has spent over 20 years in the restaurant industry, with experience as a Managing Director at Boston Pizza, the President of MOOYAH, the Executive Vice President of United Franchise Group, and much more. Bob is currently the Presid...
The Crosshairs of Marketing and Tech With Matthew Marx
Matthew Marx is an expert in technology leadership and he uses this knowledge to build and operate high growth products and businesses. In the restaurant industry, Matthew applies his expertise on the benefits of tech to improve operations and ...
Cheffing Up Meaningful Guest Experiences With Gavin Kaysen
Find out how the cooking and prep that goes on back-of-house impacts the guest. Gavin Kaysen, Founder and chef of Soigné Hospitality, knows how the unseen operations play a heavy role in developing creativity, community, and a positive guest ex...
How To Generate "Results Thru Strategy" With Fred LeFranc
This weeks episode of Give An Ovation welcomes Fred LeFranc, the CEO of Results Thru Strategy, a consulting company that specializes in restaurant and hospitality brands. With his strategic eye and forward thinking tactics, Fred knows how to le...
Leadership Development Within Your Workplace With Yigal Adato
Yigal Adato, Founder of Unlock The Leader, brings his expertise in leadership training and personal development to this weeks episode of Give An Ovation. This is a crucial conversation on how to improve internal operations through individual pr...
The Positive Effect Of Providing For Your Employees With Kobby Amoah
Arguably the biggest factor to bring about a positive guest experience is the state of your employees. Bobby Amoah, CEO of River Health ensures a system where you can do just that by providing quality primary care and mental health servic...
What Tech Can Do For You With Pete Gibson
Have you ever wondered how to better leverage your technology? Or what integrating your technology can mean for your guests? Pete Gibson, former CIO of Friendly's and Johnny Rockets, has a solid record of successfully leveraging tech, improving...
End Of The Review Era With Steve Raggiani
Steve Raggiani is a Co-Founder of 8it, the simplest way to find food. 8it provides curated food recommendations and popups in New York City. Steve's main goal? Simplify the the food search and filter out bad reviews. Steve brings his innovative...
Consulting, Convenience, and Connection With Bassem Nowyhed
On this episode of Give An Ovation, we are one click away from restauranteurs and focusing on industry specific consulting. Bassem Nowyhed is a Multi-Unit Owner and Founder of Invig Consulting. Invig Consulting has reimagined the way brands, co...
Deep Dive Into The Guest Experience With Michael Brown
Michael Brown has over 30 years experience in the restaurant industry and is a master in guest experience. Having owned Chick-Fil-A locations for about 14 years then working alongside Flying Biscuit and Bojangles, Michael knows his fried ...
Measuring Guest Experience With Micha Magid
Micha Magid is the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Mighty Quinn's BBQ, a traditional barbecue dining experience that opened in 2012 our of Manhattan's East Village. Mighty Quinn’s is one of the first authentic barbecue experiences in a fast casual set...
Mending Marketing Mishaps With Matt Plapp
Matt Plapp is the Founder and CEO of America’s Best Restaurant and Restaurant Marketing That Works. Matt began his digital marketing journey back in 2008 helping restaurant owners increase their profits by attracting the attention of their cust...
Making Drive Thru Connections Pop With Nicole Tanner
Nicole Tanner is the current Owner and Founder of Swig, a booming beverage brand launched in 2010 in St. George, Utah. Nicole brainstormed the idea for a drive-by drink shop which has now grown to 45 locations from Utah and Arizona to Tex...
