Brianne Harvey, founder and CEO of Break Bread Consulting, joins Zack Oates to share how tech can lift hospitality without replacing it. After nearly 25 years in the industry, she builds systems that free teams to deliver the small moments guests remember. From reservation notes to after-hours call routing, Brianne shows how simple tools can drive loyalty and revenue.

From Saint Thomas to systems (01:17)

Brianne’s path runs through front-of-house roles, fine dining, and a year living in Saint Thomas before turning to consulting.

“I love new projects. I set things up, get the process right, then move to the next challenge.”

Why Break Bread (01:46)

Her firm “bolts on” to restaurant teams to implement and manage tech, then trains operators to own it.

“We’re an extension of your team until you’re ready to fly on your own.”

Authenticity over automation (05:04)

Tech should disappear into the experience, not replace humans.

“I want systems that help my staff make moments, not take their place.”

Who they help and how (06:49)

Chef-driven, full-service, emerging groups often need hands-on setup and process design.

“You feel the growing pains at five plus locations. We stabilize, streamline, and hand back the keys.”

Tiny touches, big loyalty (09:56)

Use reservation notes and off-prem extras to make guests feel known.

“If I always order Sauvignon Blanc, note it. A small surprise in delivery can lock in the next order.”

Answer the phone, always (10:55)

Route calls to text or info after hours so guests never hit a dead end.

“Voicemail and endless rings cost you money. Give fast paths to ordering and answers.”

By treating technology as a quiet helper, Brianne keeps the focus on people. Train teams, capture guest details, remove friction, and invest in the little things. That’s how restaurants turn visits into relationships.

Links:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/briannemharvey/

https://www.breakbreadconsulting.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/break-bread-consulting/about/

Transcript

00:00:00:04 – 00:00:26:05

Zack Oates

Welcome to another edition of Give An Ovation the Restaurant Guest Experience podcast. I’m your host, Zack Oates, and each week I get to chat with an industry expert 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. Learn what’s actually happening in your restaurant and exactly how to improve while driving revenue.

00:00:26:07 – 00:00:51:10

Zack Oates

Learn more at ovation up.com. And today we have Briana Harvey, founder and CEO of Break Bread Consulting. She’s had an extensive career living all over the country, and I just found out world and really excited to have you on the podcast to talk about what you’re doing and how technology can help improve the guest experience. But first, I just need to talk about this first because I thought that was so cool.

00:00:51:12 – 00:00:57:19

Zack Oates

I was like, oh, so where have you lived? And so she started rattling off these places. It was like, oh, okay. Yeah, that sounds normal. That sounds normal. And then she’s like.

00:00:58:00 – 00:00:58:17

Brianne Harvey

Saint Thomas.

00:00:58:22 – 00:01:04:15

Zack Oates

Saint Thomas. It’s like, wow, how long ago did you live in Saint Thomas?

00:01:04:17 – 00:01:17:02

Brianne Harvey

Oh, that’s probably a decade ago now, but it was for a year and amazing. And got to be on a beach, like every day off and go island hopping and it was beautiful. If you’ve never been, definitely go. It’s gorgeous.

00:01:17:04 – 00:01:33:20

Zack Oates

I know I told her I was like, that sounds really nice, just to like, get up and go away for a year and live on the beach. And I was like, I’m sure my wife would love that. But, you know, unfortunately, I miss her too much, so. Oh yeah. And we have four kids, but details. Details, right. Well, Brian, I’m super excited to have you on.

00:01:33:20 – 00:01:46:05

Zack Oates

And in looking at first of all, you’ve got a great LinkedIn presence. Everyone should follow her. We’re going to talk about that at the end. But tell me about Break Bread Consulting about what you’re doing.

00:01:46:07 – 00:02:03:11

Brianne Harvey

Yeah. So when I came back from the island, I decided to dive into consulting, worked in the restaurant industry my whole career, and really in the front of house realm. So I did, you know, host and server and bartender, front of house management, director of ops, like, that kind of region. And I really like new projects and getting things set up.

00:02:03:11 – 00:02:22:21

Brianne Harvey

And I was always a person within my restaurant group that would be setting up the POS or figuring out why things aren’t working, and I just saw that continuing to grow as as I got through my career, people were struggling with navigating technology as it grew within the restaurant and started to touching more things, and saw that as an opportunity to really help more restaurants.

00:02:23:00 – 00:02:41:07

Brianne Harvey

I liked being in the restaurant, but the day to day was a struggle for me. I like the new projects and setting things up and getting the process in place and then moving on to the next thing. So I thought consulting was going to be a great fit, and technology was growing and changing and difficult, and I thought it was just going to be a great niche for me to manage.

00:02:41:07 – 00:03:01:21

Brianne Harvey

So I decided to focus on that about 12 years ago and started Break Bread, really just as a place for me to have those services. But it’s grown into a team of these people just like me, who’ve been in the restaurant and hospitality industry and been managers and been chefs, and they have these skills that are phenomenal. But they have a life outside of restaurants as well.

00:03:01:21 – 00:03:18:08

Brianne Harvey

And like, they might have kids now and and they want to be on their feet for, you know, 12 hours a day or they can’t be on their feet for 12 hours anymore. And so they found a home here at Break Bread. And we focused on helping restaurants implement new systems, continue to manage them appropriately and just offer support any way we can.

00:03:18:08 – 00:03:28:21

Brianne Harvey

We our hearts are still in the industry, and this is kind of our forever home, and we’re able to take those expertise and get them back to restaurants, which I think is really a great kind of full circle thing with my career.

00:03:28:23 – 00:03:48:12

Zack Oates

I love that because I love that you have the experience that you’ve been in the industry, and now you’ve kind of gone out there and built the tech or built the things that you knew, that you felt the gaps of, that you were fill in the gaps and you’re like, well, hey, this is something that everybody needs. So let’s do that.

00:03:48:12 – 00:04:11:13

Zack Oates

Because I feel like so often with a lot of people who are trying to be consultants or they build tech, they’ve never actually worked in a restaurant, and it’s a different experience, and they think they know it because they’re a consumer, right? Because they go into restaurants. And so there’s so many like restaurant tech startups of like, oh, we’re solving this problem for this person.

00:04:11:19 – 00:04:28:08

Zack Oates

But it’s like, all right. That actually just creates more of a problem because you don’t understand the whole backdrop of everything that goes on behind the curtain. So I think that’s absolutely critical to have that experience. And I love that because how many years did you work in restaurants?

00:04:28:10 – 00:04:43:12

Brianne Harvey

Have been almost 25 years in the in the restaurant and hospitality industry. So about 15 in the restaurant itself. And now I’ve done about 15 out because there’s a bit of overlap as well. When I was starting my business, I was still serving tables at night and then working consulting during the day, and I did that for about 6 or 7 years.

00:04:43:12 – 00:04:53:09

Brianne Harvey

In the beginning. So I had a hard time letting go. I think more than anything, my consulting business is going well, but I was like, I’m going to miss this too much. Yeah, let’s try.

00:04:53:11 – 00:05:04:03

Zack Oates

So well, brain, as you’re thinking about from both a technology standpoint and a boots on the ground front of house standpoint, what do you think is some of the most important aspects of guest experience?

00:05:04:05 – 00:05:25:12

Brianne Harvey

I mean, personally, like I like when technology drops away. So there’s a lot of tech out there. Could do a lot of amazing things. But for me, the most important thing with guest experience is always authenticity is having that hospital quality first mindset, not tech, replacing the human at every step I possibly can to save money on labor, you lose out.

00:05:25:12 – 00:05:45:19

Brianne Harvey

What makes being in the restaurant so special? And it’s that hospitality. It’s that people first in history. And so I like finding the systems that are going to aid in my employees and aid in the guest experience and really bring that to the next level to. I grew up in kind of like the fine dining or the approaching fine dining, the high end steak houses.

00:05:45:19 – 00:06:04:17

Brianne Harvey

I work for Ruth’s Chris, I work for Cameron Mitchell Restaurant Group. I really learn that you’re finding a way to make the guest experience special. You’re finding that unique aspect of how are they going to remember me? How are they going to remember this experience? And not because I’m sitting there telling jokes tableside, but how are you going to make their moment and their experience special?

00:06:04:17 – 00:06:20:22

Brianne Harvey

And really, whether it be like flower petals on a table for their anniversary or a champagne toaster, I think one time it was a child’s birthday and they were going to a Taylor Swift concert. So we printed out a birthday card that had Taylor Swift on it, and the whole staff signed it and left it at the table.

00:06:20:22 – 00:06:37:15

Brianne Harvey

And it’s like, how do you take it to the next level and show that love and care and everything that is the hospitality industry. And so it’s that authenticity that you come back to that really doesn’t have a lot to do with tech. But my tech is like helping find different ways to enable that. Really.

00:06:37:17 – 00:06:49:04

Zack Oates

Yeah. So thinking about that, and in terms of the people that you help in, basically, like if you were to say this is like the ideal type of restaurant that we work with, what does that look like? What problems are they having?

00:06:49:06 – 00:07:09:05

Brianne Harvey

So a lot of the groups, we have a couple different avenues that you can work with, break bread. A lot of it is new system implementation often will end up working with chef driven concepts, full service restaurants, emerging groups. So five plus locations where you start to get different layers of complexity within your systems, within your staff, within your team.

00:07:09:11 – 00:07:24:13

Brianne Harvey

But you don’t have an in-house AI team yet, or even you have an in-house I.T team, but like you don’t have the bandwidth. This is what we hear a lot. I love that, but we don’t have the time to implement it. We don’t have the time to set it up. We don’t have the time to manage it because my team is a team of restaurant people.

00:07:24:13 – 00:07:44:20

Brianne Harvey

We just kind of bolt on to your existing team, work on behalf of the restaurant in this interim capacity until you’re ready to fly on your own. It’s very different for most restaurant hire groups is that we’re just an extension of your restaurant. In the interim, we come in with expertise and we get you up and running, and my goal is we will support you as long as you possibly need it.

00:07:44:20 – 00:07:51:21

Brianne Harvey

But I want to train up your team so that they can do it on their own. Like, if I’m successful, eventually you won’t need me on this.

00:07:51:21 – 00:08:09:15

Zack Oates

Like, yeah, it’s like there’s a giant uphill climb and then it’s kind of like a very steady slope after that. So like, you need the guide to get you to the top of the plateau. But then from there it’s like, okay, we we need to maintain this. We need to keep it going until you’re ready for that next level up, in which case you need another call.

00:08:09:15 – 00:08:09:23

Zack Oates

Brian.

00:08:09:23 – 00:08:23:19

Brianne Harvey

Again, a lot of times we’ll just we’ll just jump from one project into another and help people along the way. I have clients that we worked with for four plus years now, and and I love that long term relationship and everything. But I’m always just as if you had hired me into your restaurant group. That’s what I’m thinking.

00:08:23:19 – 00:08:39:11

Brianne Harvey

As well as how can we make this, this process better? How can we make it easier? Those are the things that myself and my partner will focus on mostly is like the strategy behind things, more of the advisory work. And then we have a full team of professionals that do the hands on implementation and bring that to life.

00:08:39:13 – 00:09:00:21

Zack Oates

Yeah, that’s awesome because I think about it in terms of I remember when I was speaking of like the Sherpas, when I was trekking through the Himalayas with my wife, each had a Sherpa that would help us through. And what was interesting was these guides, again, like we would carry our stuff, but then unlike the really tough parts, they would carry it for us.

00:09:00:24 – 00:09:12:13

Zack Oates

So they were able to help us over because they were just so experienced and so good. So anyway, it was a great experience, but it’s important to have that on these tech mountains as well.

00:09:12:15 – 00:09:13:20

Brianne Harvey

Very good amount. Yeah.

00:09:13:23 – 00:09:33:16

Zack Oates

Yeah. So as you’re thinking about some tactics, I’d love to kind of shift this question a little bit of what are some things that you see restaurant brands doing that are either really helping out with the guest experience from a technology standpoint, or are there some big mistakes that some common mistakes that you see in your restaurant clients?

00:09:33:18 – 00:09:56:07

Brianne Harvey

So I think that the things that are really helping out, there’s a couple that come to mind right away is most of the groups I work with, our reservation driven, they’re really utilizing that tool, putting notes in there. So like, let’s say I come in and I sit at the bar and I always enjoy Sauvignon Blanc is putting the note in there so that if there is a new bartender that comes in, she already knows, offer me Sauvignon blanc or knows that that and that little extra touch goes a long way.

00:09:56:07 – 00:10:18:00

Brianne Harvey

So being able to utilize the tools that are already in that system to just make notes and understand, to pay attention to your guests is really helpful. I think you can do that as well as like quick server, fast casual that are leaning on these third party deliveries. DoorDash and UberEats and things like that. You can put menus or like an extra, like a little cookie or something that goes along with a thank you.

00:10:18:00 – 00:10:38:07

Brianne Harvey

I think people don’t do that. And so when your restaurant does, it goes a long way. If I’m going to order Chinese again, I’m absolutely going back to this place. You know, they they throw in some spring rolls for me to try. And there are amazing there’s little things that you can do to go the extra mile. And I think it’s leaning on those tools and those like almost like a CRM, managing the people and understanding the people and leaning into that.

00:10:38:12 – 00:10:55:06

Brianne Harvey

I have seen a lot of success in like iPhone answering systems too, which some people love and hate. But I think they’re great because after hours, if I’m calling late night, I can get some valuable information. Whereas like if I sit on the phone and it rings and rings and rings and rings and rings and oh my.

00:10:55:06 – 00:10:55:15

Zack Oates

Gosh.

00:10:55:17 – 00:10:57:01

Brianne Harvey

Yeah. So that’s great.

00:10:57:03 – 00:11:13:23

Zack Oates

That is one of the most irritating. There’s a restaurant right down the street, and I used to love going there, but I tried calling them three different times to place an order so I could pick it up when I left work. It’s that way I could just grab it and then go home. And they didn’t answer three times.

00:11:14:01 – 00:11:30:03

Zack Oates

So it was like, okay, like I’m not coming back here. And so that’s actually one of the reasons that we created ovation call to text is because if someone calls, at the very least they want to talk to someone. Great. Press the option to talk to someone. But a lot of times I don’t need to talk to someone.

00:11:30:03 – 00:11:51:01

Zack Oates

I’m just like, hey, if I want to place an order, let me do it on your website. If I want to place a catering order, give me the link to give you the information for the order. If I want to text you some questions, great. But like give them an option, not the phone. Going busy or going to a voicemail should never ever the option for a restaurant.

00:11:51:03 – 00:12:00:22

Zack Oates

Take care of your guest because they’re calling you to oh wait, here’s a secret they’re calling you to give you money, so let them pay you.

00:12:00:24 – 00:12:18:06

Brianne Harvey

Right? Absolutely. Yeah. You just lost business if you’re not answering the phone. And then it’s. People expect to get an immediate answer. Nowadays. Those are our expectations. We go to Google immediately. I could go to DoorDash. I could place my order. I’m done the whole process. I don’t expect delay anymore. Like I’m dealing with, like you say, you have four kids.

00:12:18:06 – 00:12:28:01

Brianne Harvey

I’m dealing with this with my three year old right now is like she expects to be able to like, watch Bluey at anytime she wants. And she could pick which episode. I’m like, man, back in the day, watch what’s on, right?

00:12:28:01 – 00:12:46:20

Zack Oates

You just watch what’s on and you wait through the commercials and you earn some patience. And yeah, I think those are some things that it’s really hard to teach, but it’s so critical that, you know, the fact is, teach your kids. But the fact is like, that’s just the way of the world right now from a technology standpoint.

00:12:46:20 – 00:13:05:10

Zack Oates

So while we want to teach our kids patience, it’s not our job to parent our guests. It’s our job to provide them what they paid for. And I love that we can do a little bit goes a long way. I mean, there are restaurants I know of who were there. You know, they could say that I can’t increase my prices.

00:13:05:12 – 00:13:27:02

Zack Oates

And I’m like, okay, but if you could increase your price, let’s say your average order value by $1, and you take that $1 and you reinvest it into the guest in doing things like a handwritten note on the box being like, hey, just wanted you to try for spring rolls right? Then that guest is going to be so much more loyal because you did the little things.

00:13:27:02 – 00:13:47:11

Zack Oates

And so think about that. Just raise your prices for $1 per be like your average ticket, and then take that $1 per ticket and invest it back into the guest. And that will pay dividends because as our friend will get there, always talks about it’s not about spending so much money. It’s about spending money on the right things.

00:13:47:13 – 00:13:51:13

Zack Oates

And the little things go a long way because you can’t fake the little things.

00:13:51:15 – 00:14:17:21

Brianne Harvey

Right. And a lot of that, I think, like you mentioned earlier, as well as the training and the culture of things, is like some of the stuff is free so you can make an impact without having to spend money, without having to throw in. You know, the spring rolls is training your servers and your bar staffs to be attentive and to care, and empowering them to lean into some of those things if they could do something special, praising them for those things, because I think not everybody, but most of us in the hospitality are in it because we love it.

00:14:17:21 – 00:14:35:19

Brianne Harvey

And when you have been in the industry for a long time, you do like serving people. I love, like having great guests and like I loved when they would come in, they’d be celebrating a special occasion and sitting at my table, and I get to be a part of that with them. And there’s something so unique and wonderful about the hospitality industry, and it’s that that people aspect interview.

00:14:35:19 – 00:14:52:09

Brianne Harvey

Empower your team to be able to do things and like be on the lookout for things that you can do to make their experience special. Like we have Coke products that my one guest really loves, Pepsi. So can we go to the store and get some cans of Pepsi? So next time they come in, we have their drink.

00:14:52:11 – 00:14:57:24

Zack Oates

Oh, why not actually wait, can you? Is that well? Are you allowed to do that? Actually do know.

00:14:58:01 – 00:15:16:14

Brianne Harvey

It depends on your contract with Coke. If you don’t have an exclusive contract, then why not? And that’s just that’s a great but kind of random example. I’ve actually done that with like crackers before where when we had saltine crackers to go with oysters and they were like club crackers. We have them. So go to the store and pick up some club crackers, and we would have them for this one guest.

00:15:16:14 – 00:15:22:24

Brianne Harvey

Whenever he came in, he was just like over the moon that we had club crackers for them. And like, what is a box like three bucks?

00:15:23:01 – 00:15:42:00

Zack Oates

Yeah, exactly. And that’s the thing, right? It’s like the little things matter. Those little things, it’s not going to bankrupt your company. It’s not going to make sure it’s not going to like put you out of business. But what it will do is by an incredible amount of loyalty, and that guest will come in more often. They’re going to tell more people about it.

00:15:42:03 – 00:16:04:22

Zack Oates

They’re going to be more forgiving about mistakes. All because you spent an additional $3 to have these oyster crackers that they want. Like, that’s such a great concept. And by the way, how cool is this that here’s to like tech nerds, the consultant and the software person. Like sitting here talking about these things that have nothing to do with technology.

00:16:04:24 – 00:16:22:08

Zack Oates

And the reason that I’m so passionate about it is because the data shows it works. And if you want a better restaurant, you need to have better technology. But at the end of the day, you gotta have more than the technology. You got to make sure that it’s instilled in the culture, right?

00:16:22:10 – 00:16:38:18

Brianne Harvey

Yeah, the technology is what allows you to do your job better and serve your guests better, and train your team and serve your staff better. Like that’s how I view it at least, is like it’s a tool there to help you right in your business and allow you to do the other things and free you up for your passions.

00:16:38:20 – 00:16:43:09

Zack Oates

Awesome will bring. How can people find in follow you?

00:16:43:11 – 00:16:56:05

Brianne Harvey

Mostly, LinkedIn is a good place to connect with me directly or through my website right? Right. Consulting.com I don’t really do a whole lot of other social media, but the slack. So really just LinkedIn and my website.

00:16:56:07 – 00:16:59:20

Zack Oates

Awesome. And who deserves an ovation? Who’s someone that we should be following?

00:16:59:22 – 00:17:24:00

Brianne Harvey

The first one that comes to mind for me is Jose Andres. I know he’s a big one, but he focuses so much on the food. Being a uniter of people and being a community aspect. And I know he does that a lot through his charities as well worldwide. And like he’s a big inspiration for me. I was lucky enough to work with his company on an implementation project a few years ago, and it was just like, I love how much he brings back food to just such a neutral ground for everyone.

00:17:24:02 – 00:17:31:24

Brianne Harvey

And this is like just such a connector. And I love viewing it that way as well. So he’s always one that I go back to. As for inspiration.

00:17:32:01 – 00:17:41:24

Zack Oates

Love that. So powerful. Well, Brian, for being the tech Sherpa we always wanted but didn’t know we could ask for. Today’s ovation goes to you. Thank you for joining us and giving ovation.

00:17:42:01 – 00:17:43:19

Brianne Harvey

Thank you so much for having me.

00:17:43:21 – 00:18:06:08

Zack Oates

Thanks for joining us today. If you like 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 ovation up.com.