Sterling Douglass

@MichaelKudrna Hard to separate Gemini as it shows up as Google even though it’s AI but we have some estimates. And I thought the same thing, but it’s exploded in the last 6 weeks since the start of the new year. Urban restaurants more and faster than rural.

Excellent! You think that's just a bit early though? I think by the 2H of the year it will be a BIG topic! Last December I already adjusted my SEO for AI Schema, but I'm worried AI adoption rates haven't grown enough so I left it off my prediction until late 2026 or 2027. I hope you're right though, I'm positioned for it!

AI search will be the 2nd most common way consumers find restaurants. Still behind Google. But ahead of everything else.

@MichaelKudrna @McFranchisee the only menu we communicate to DD is the one that folks order from on DD.

@McFranchisee They also use bots to pull from online And it appears toast integration allows them access to do it faster because toast is also the POS and integration. But I think Chowly doesn't because Chowly isn't a POS by itself like toast. @Sterling_DB ?

Most do But they can't factor in Doordash judge and jury ruling against you when you're not at fault @McFranchisee already covered how deep the fees are every year

If you can tell it’s AI, that’s not a good start. The best AI driven emails don’t feel like AI or at least don’t feel like spam. I personally love knowing and communicating with CEO’s of our vendors and customers. Usually learn a lot too. It’s an aggressive tactic to use that in sales/pitching, but if done correctly, I don’t have an issue with it.

Usually when the CEO emails you from a company you already use (one of the online ordering companies I work with)... You open it and appreciate it as a customer When the CEO resorts to using AI generated cold email blasts to existing customers (5 in a week, and the 3rd one said he'll stop at 3....but didn't).... It's peak cold email and it amounts to spam from a CEO of all people. @Sterling_DB thoughts?

@MichaelKudrna Just wait till you discover MCP’s… then “Claude Code”… then skills…

I probably created a brownout in California with my recent use of Claude. ChatGPT has it's role in my day to day tasks Claude now also has it's role for me as well. Claude is far more technical and better at coding than ChatGPT is....ChatGPT is an amateur compared to what Claude pumps out for me. Thanks to @Sterling_DB for getting me to make that leap The past 48 hours has me updating everything in sight with Claude coding vs the ChatGPT coding. I foresee significant benefits in SEO from this

@MichaelKudrna That added protein strat is making some hilariously good numbers at stores I’ve chatted with

Starbucks $SBUX is being overlooked right now but they have and currently are mounting a real comeback Shows what happens when you have a solid leader at the helm They understand LTO's They understand marketing and that is why they had a record sales day with their last LTO Don't sleep on them, you'll be hearing about their "turnaround story" after everyone else finally realizes it. Lots you can learn to improve your own restaurant just analyzing what they are doing.

@iNetForce @MichaelKudrna It’s up across the board. Been seeing it all year across the country. There are things you can do to help, but some of them make it harder to order thus decreasing conversion rates. It’s a balancing act, but modern payment processor becoming a “must have”

@MichaelKudrna We have received 4 chargebacks related to take-out online ordering through our POS; something non-existent some years back.

I haven't seen any concrete data but I hear much griping that restaurants have significantly more dine and dashers to absorb these days

@MichaelKudrna What are the top 3 uses you’ve had? List creation, copy, summarizing notes? Feel like there’s a nice little gap for ai improvements to catering operations…

AI really makes life easier building catering and food service packages Can't recommend it enough

@DanReese21 Well it was spot on!

@Sterling_DB Good to know - thanks! I’m going off intuition here. Ha.

I've found advertising a promo price point is more powerful than X% off. We do a "MilkShake Happy Hour" on our Classic Shakes (lowest tier) every Thurs from 4-6pm. Which offer is more compelling to you, A or B? A) "$5 Classic Shakes Thurs 4-6pm!" B) "25% off Classic Shakes Thurs 4-6pm!" I haven't done a fancy consumer study to prove this, but my vote is A. (separate but related, the worst promo in retail history is a random unfocused 10% off coupon - it does absolutely nothing for anyone)

@jwalkermobile @valdesignasid 🤔

Amazing dinner at The Surf Club by Thomas Keller

@MichaelKudrna And this is a top performing public restaurant group that’s mostly capitalizing on the right consumer trends…

9/ If you follow restaurants or invest in $WING, remember: Same Store Sales is the canary. Everything else is window dressing. #Wingstop #Earnings #SSS #RestaurantStocks #FoodService #QSR #Investing

1/ Wingstop $WING posted big Q1 2025 headline numbers…Buy or Sell? ✅ +18% unit growth ✅ Net income up 221% (....real? or accounting trick to cover a NI decrease?) ✅ Revenue +17.4% ✅ 126 net new openings …BUT underneath, there’s a problem hiding in plain sight, especially when you use 1-time gains to cover a Net Income Decrease on the headline. Let’s talk Same Store Sales (SSS). 🧵

@MichaelKudrna Bleh. Have yet to see a “good” number…

Reported 5 minutes ago. Consumer confidence continues to come in below expectations and in real contraction areas came in at 92.9 expectation was 94.2 last was 100.1 Big difference from just a few months ago

If you are truly, really committed to excellence. I mean deeply. Many people will not really want to work with you. Push on

@MichaelKudrna A big part of our platform product is making sure our customers are optimized for these keywords/trends, especially when they already have the item! Not surprised to see you capitalize on this so early…

Why did we roll out a Stuffed Crust Pizza right now? 2 key reasons.... 1) Google Trends, attached. Massive interest growth 2) This is part of the "experience" via "cheesepull" that I predicted WOULD happen in 2025

@MichaelKudrna I like them for 2025 outlook. They are also well prepared if economic conditions worsen since they’re so deal/promo driven

@Sterling_DB I don't think the business is dying or anything, but in the short-term I'm not optimistic. Stock down

2025 is the year of experience Hooters never evolved. Stuck to a primitive experience without improving Too many still don't understand that most people don't go to full service restaurants for the food they go for other reasons Prestige Environment/Vibe etc.... In the end....it's about the experience my 2025 prediction is that those that focus on experience will thrive in 2025 and those that don't will suffer or close

@MichaelKudrna Need to redeem myself myself from our last bet. I’m more optimistic on them this year than most other public restaurant groups

@Sterling_DB Wingstop going to struggle for a while NBA sponsorship big waste of money that they tied up... Big big waste of resources Traffic and card sales down against massive comps to beat Not looking good in short term Hedgeye did a solid analysis of them

@MichaelKudrna The are billion dollar publicly traded companies that do this constantly. And are celebrated…

Watch your merchant processors Can't tell you how often I'm seeing them literally abuse their customers With rates and junk fees totaling 5% to 8% When it should total around 3% or less

@MichaelKudrna Longer shelf life at home. Sentiment is “what other food item goes up after eggs?” Frozen veggies helps protect against that. Plus their prep is a little easier (no washing/chopping)

Consumers are buying up frozen veggies at the grocery store at double the rate as before, per Conagra I get that frozen is cheaper, but it's not that much cheaper So is this a trade down from something else?