Karen is the founder of One Smart Cookie Marketing and the Author of Simple Social Media: Marketing Your Restaurant in 30 Minutes a Day. With her passion for food and social media she developed strategies to help restaurant owners leverage the most out of their social media marketing efforts. Listen in and discover some of the tools and tricks she wrote about in her book which will make your restaurant UNSTOPPABLE! 

Garrett Harker got his start in hospitality as a dishwasher and busser at the age of 15. Upon graduating college he headed west, where his talent in hospitality truly stood out, becoming the youngest general manager in The Kimpton Group's history. In the late 90’s, Harker headed back East and joined forces with Barbra Lynch to open N0. 9 Park; a staple in the city of Boston. He has since ventured on his own to open Eastern Standard Kitchen and Drinks, Island Creek Oyster Bar, The Hawthorne and Row 34. Harker’s accolades are plentiful, but some of his recent accolades include James Beard outstanding restaurateur semifinalist, and his restaurant The Hawthorne was also a semifinalist for James Beard's Outstanding Bar Program.

Bob Frazier is the CEO of POS-Advice.com, a website dedicated to providing up to date, free, independent and unbiased restaurant POS information, resources, white papers and educational videos for restaurateurs so they can make an informed restaurant POS purchase decision. He also operates 3 addition website which I’m sure he’ll tell us about in the interview. Listen in to discover the 3 steps to purchasing a POS system for your restaurants and also to uncover what is on the horizon in the world of POS systems.

Chef got his start, cooking at a summer camp in Wolfeboro, NH. He continued to work in restaurants while studying business management with a concentration in hospitality at Colby-Sawyer College. After finishing at Colby-Sawyer Chef Koz Studied at the Culinary Institute of America where his hard work earned him the “Distinguished Service” Award. Chef Koz is no dummy when it comes to beverages. He was the head brewer at Shipyard Brewery and has spent time in California studying wine making. Eventually Chef Koz found his way back to NH, where in 2004 he opened The Orchard Street Chop Shop.

Todays guest combined his passion for food and business to create, build and grow a fast casual restaurant concept with literally zero experience in the restaurant industry. With failures endured and challenges overcome he pressed on to become successful. His journey inspired him to create myfirstrestaurant.com. My First Restaurant is a place where new and aspiring restaurateurs can access the tools and resources necessary to successfully open and operate their first restaurant. In Today's episode we are going to discuss how system and procedures are so critical to the success of your restaurant and where you can go to get started implementing systems into your restaurant right away. 

Chef Jamie Bissonnette is a graduate of The Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale. Not long after graduating, he began cooking and staging throughout the country and in Paris. Eventually, he found his place in Boston, working in some of the city’s most well known kitchens. In Boston Chef Bissonnette joined forces with Ken Oringer, to develop well KO Prime, Toro and Coppa. Today, Chef Bissonnette is applying his leadership and talent in New York City, at Toro’s newly opened second location. Rising Star Chef, Best New Restaurant and People’s Choice Best New Chef are a few of the titles Chef Bissonnette has earn. However, it is his most recent accolade James Beard, Best Chef Northeast which makes me extremely humbled  and honored to have him on the show as a guest. Tune in to discover what it is about Chef Bissonnette that makes  him successful. 

Chef Matthew Ridway has traveled coast to coast and abroad studying and perfecting his culinary craft. In addition to proving himself in the kitchen he was an excellent student graduating Summa Cum Laude at Johnson and Wales Culinary School. 2004 his work at Lacroix At The Rittenhouse as Chef de Cuisine was recognized by StarChefs.com and earned him a Rising Star Award. Today he is Chef/Partner at Porcsalt and The PASS in Rosemont, NJ.

Chef Kevin Ouzts has been named by Peer-Reviewed Publication as, “one of the Best Chefs in America.”  He has worked under the tutelage of great chefs Linton Hopkins and Thomas Keller, during this time his eyes began to open to the importance of sustainability. It wasn’t until he staged at the Fatted Calf under Chef Taylor Boetticher that he found his true calling in charcuterie. It wasn’t long before his two passions, sustainability and charcuterie, collided to form what is now The Spotted Trotter. He also has some big plans for the future, but you’ll have to stick around until the end to learn more about that

This week on Talking Tuesday, we're going to be discussing Jon Taffer's 4 step hiring process which he outlines in his book Raise the Bar: An Action-Based Method for Maximum Customer Reactions. All too often we emphasize experience in job posting and when looking for rock star employees to join our restaurant team. Attitude and behavioral traits always rule out job experience! Listen in and discover Jon's advice on how to hire rock star employees

Donald Burns comes from a long line of restaurant professional. His 4 years of military service, marketing degree and years of experience running successful restaurants makes him what he is today -The Restaurant Coach. Donald is a leading authority, author and international coach helping  restaurant owners, operators and culinary professionals go from just good to becoming exceptional. He helps independent operators create organizations that thrive and bring out their workers' natural strengths to reach their peak potential.