The Foodie Magician has ruled: hamburgers are NOT sandwiches. Josh Beckerman takes on hot dogs, tacos, calzones, dumplings, quesadillas, bagels and tuna on rye before landing on a very strict sandwich rule: two pieces of bread with something in the middle. #HospitalityHangout #FoodieMagician #JoshBeckerman #SandwichDebate
From P&G toothpaste and Samsung to Taco Bell and eventually running IHOP. Lawrence Kim’s career took him through Yum! Brands strategy and Taco Bell innovation before becoming President of IHOP and Chief Commercial Officer of Dine Brands. Apparently, pancakes ultimately won over toothpaste. #HospitalityHangout #IHOP #TacoBell #LawrenceKim
GLP-1s are hot. Protein everything is hot. Ghost kitchens? Lukewarm. And drone delivery might be the next fast-food revolution. Nigel Henry of Yum! Brands, home to Taco Bell, KFC and Habit Burger & Grill, plays Hot or Not with the food and technology trends changing how we eat, from mocktails…
Chipotle really sold a lemonade-scented candle disguised as one of its free water cups. Nigel Henry of Yum! Brands plays Hospitality Headlines with a nearly 10,000-calorie Quadruple Bypass Burger, a fake Hormel x Zales pepperoni-diamond ring, and one of Chipotle’s weirdest brand stunts ever. #HospitalityHangout #Chipotle #YumBrands #FoodNews
What’s your Uber rating right now? Nigel Henry of Yum! Brands thought he was sitting at a 4.98, then checked and found out it had slipped. Naturally, the conversation turns into tipping, account sharing, and who’s really responsible for a bad Uber score. #HospitalityHangout #UberRating #YumBrands #NigelHenry
Goodles founder Jen Zeszut lets Schatzy taste first, then reveals the mac and cheese has 11 grams of protein, 6 grams of fiber, prebiotics, 21 nutrients and chlorella. High-protein mac and cheese, superfoods and algae were not on Jimmy’s bingo card. #HospitalityHangout #Goodles #MacAndCheese #FoodTrends
A quesadilla is a sandwich?! Cassie Yeung draws the line: hot dogs, tacos, calzones and dumplings are out. Bagels and burgers count. But a quesadilla? If it’s stacked between two carbs, Cassie says there might be a case. #HospitalityHangout #CassieYeung #SandwichDebate #FoodTok
Habit Burger fries beat Taco Bell and KFC? Yum! Brands executive Nigel Henry gets pulled into a full-on fry war and admits the fries hitting hardest for him right now are from Habit Burger. He insists he only said he loves them. Everyone else heard “best fries in the Yum!…
Josh Beckerman does not cook. He has been eating at restaurants almost every day for more than two decades. On The Foodfluencers, the Foodie Magician talks New York restaurants, viral food trends, restaurant influencers, Taylor Swift, paid versus organic recommendations and how algorithms are changing where people eat. Then he…
Cassie Yeung almost didn’t post the viral carrot ribbon salad because she thought it was too simple. Then she woke up and the internet was going crazy over carrots. The TikTok recipe eventually pulled nearly 20 million views and became one of the year’s biggest viral food searches. #HospitalityHangout #CassieYeung…
Habit Burger fries and onion rings in the same order? Nigel Henry of Yum! Brands says he loves both, and the debate quickly turns into a new unofficial fast-food rule: don’t yuck someone else’s yum. #HospitalityHangout #HabitBurger #YumBrands #OnionRings
What can Taco Bell learn from KFC? What can Pizza Hut or Habit Burger steal from another brand’s playbook? Yum! Brands Global Operations Director Nigel Henry explains how the company brings operations leaders together to compare what’s working, collaborate across brands, and turn one restaurant brand’s wins into ideas for…
Nigel Henry, Global Director of Operations at Yum! Brands, joins Hospitality Hangout to talk about what it takes to operate restaurant brands like Taco Bell, KFC and Habit Burger & Grill at global scale. Nigel gets into guest recovery, digital ordering, restaurant technology, operational data, team-member experience, cross-brand collaboration, Pizza…
Tropical Smoothie sells happiness, not just smoothies. DVK explains why she wanted to join a brand that embraced creative ideas, cared about culture, and understood that a smoothie should make you smile. Or as the hosts put it: they’re selling love. #HospitalityHangout #TropicalSmoothieCafe #DVK #BrandMarketing
What does Tropical Smoothie Cafe’s CMO actually order when she eats there three or four times a week? DVK says it depends on the mood: a chia breakfast bowl in the morning, or a Detox Island Green with kale, spinach, pineapple, mango, banana and ginger later in the day. #HospitalityHangout…
Britney Spears or Lady Gaga? Cassie Yeung ultimately picks Britney. The viral chef plays This or That: pasta over pizza, dinner over brunch, street food over fine dining, and absolutely refuses to choose between TikTok and Instagram. #HospitalityHangout #CassieYeung #BritneySpears #LadyGaga
Everyone told Goodles not to make healthy mac and cheese look like candy. Jen Zeszut says the brand was pushed toward brown packaging, green packaging, broccoli, and “healthy” signals. Instead, Goodles made colorful packaging that smiles back. #HospitalityHangout #Goodles #JenZeszut #BrandMarketing
Your Tropical Smoothie order can support No Kid Hungry. DVK explains how Tropical Smoothie Cafe uses app round-ups, fundraising, and the Sunshine Smoothie to give guests a simple way to support a bigger mission with every sip. #HospitalityHangout #TropicalSmoothieCafe #NoKidHungry #SunshineSmoothie
This is what happens when the best people in hospitality get in a room together and actually let loose for one night. We threw a party in Atlanta. And we have the receipts. Cocktails and Connections By Branded at QSR Evolution was one of those nights that reminded us exactly…
Some of the best meals cost $5. Cassie Yeung talks Singapore hawker centers, The Halal Guys, New York mom-and-pop spots, and why street food can deliver a flavor and home-cooked feeling that fine dining sometimes cannot. #HospitalityHangout #CassieYeung #StreetFood #SingaporeFood
Spicy food makes you want a smoothie. DVK explains why Tropical Smoothie Cafe can go beyond smoothies with spicy food like the Tiki Torch Wrap. Give guests heat, then give them something cold to cool it down. That spicy wrap and smoothie combo is a menu strategy hiding in plain…
Tequila in smoothies? DVK says hot. Tropical Smoothie Cafe’s Deborah von Kutzleben plays Hot or Not with ketchup on hot dogs, mocktails, protein everything, sriracha everything, drone delivery, and influencer marketing that is still very much alive. #HospitalityHangout #TropicalSmoothieCafe #FoodTrends #HotOrNot
Why do car mukbangs hit different? Viral chef Cassie Yeung reveals her current food-internet obsession: watching people eat in their cars. Add “Sweet Caroline” to the road-trip playlist and apparently you have Cassie’s perfect drive. #HospitalityHangout #CassieYeung #Mukbang #FoodTok
Cottage cheese as a protein hack? Hot. 3D printed pasta? Not so much. Goodles founder Jen Zeszut plays Hot or Not with Instagrammable dishes, viral food stunts, and the kind of social media cooking that is clearly just for views. #HospitalityHangout #Goodles #JenZeszut #FoodTrends