Guest experience isn’t just about great food and service—it’s about connection. No one understands that better than Julie Zucker, CMO and Partner at Branded Strategic Hospitality. With years of experience in restaurant marketing and guest engagement, Julie has helped brands build loyalty through personalized interactions, smart use of technology, and a deep understanding of customer needs.

In this episode of Give an Ovation, Julie joins Zack Oates to discuss how hospitality brands can balance tech with human touch, why guest feedback is critical, and how strong staff culture leads to better customer experiences.

The Power of Personalized Guest Engagement (1:06)

“If you are not communicating with your guests, then what are you doing? That is the key to success.” – Julie Zucker

Julie shares how guest feedback is the foundation of hospitality. Whether a brand has one location or multiple, the ability to listen and respond to guests defines long-term success.

From Restaurant Marketing to Industry Leadership (2:38)

“I started off running all the marketing for our New York City restaurants. That was when we first started implementing tech, and I was the one making sure our managers and servers actually understood it.” – Julie Zucker

Julie reflects on her transition from restaurant marketing to brand strategy, highlighting the importance of integrating technology with human connection.

The Role of Technology in Enhancing Hospitality (4:01)

“We don’t open restaurants for ourselves—we do it for our guests. If you’re not gathering feedback and using it to improve, you’re missing out.” – Julie Zucker

Julie explains how technology, when used correctly, can empower operators to create better guest experiences. She and Zack discuss how platforms like Ovation provide real-time insights without disrupting service.

Staff Engagement: The Key to a Great Guest Experience (9:29)

“People just want to feel seen. And in order for your customers to be seen, you have to see your staff.” – Julie Zucker

Julie emphasizes that hospitality starts with the team. She explains how engaged employees naturally deliver better service, leading to higher guest satisfaction and stronger brand loyalty.

The Small Details That Make a Big Impact (12:51)

“I had the best experience at a restaurant, but when the check came, it was in the nastiest, rattiest bill presenter. It left such a weird taste in my mouth. That’s why every little detail counts.” – Julie Zucker

Julie and Zack discuss why seemingly minor details can make or break a guest’s perception of a restaurant.

Who Deserves an Ovation? (14:10)

Julie gives a shoutout to Satyne Doner and Danny Klein with Women in Restaurant Leadership. “They’ve created a space where our voices matter, where we can connect and uplift each other. That’s something really special.”

Transcript

00:00:00:03 – 00:00:20:10

Zack Oates

Welcome to another edition of Give and Ovation, the Restaurant Guest Experience podcast, where I talk to industry experts to get their strategies and tactics you can use to create a five star guest experience. This podcast is sponsored by ovation, an operations and guest recovery platform for multi-unit restaurants that gives all the answers without annoying guests. With all the questions.

00:00:20:11 – 00:00:43:09

Zack Oates

Learn more at ovation App.com. And today we have someone who’s not just a friend, but someone who’s been a mentor and just an incredible human. Bringing this industry up. And she is the tide that lifts all boats. I feel like she’s a CMO and partner at Brand Strategic Hospitality and the chief party planner, and she also manages the Hospitality Hang Out podcast.

00:00:43:09 – 00:00:45:20

Zack Oates

But Julie, welcome to the podcast.

00:00:45:22 – 00:01:06:02

Julie Zucker

Thank you. Zach, I’m so honored to be here. And when you texted me, say, Julie, we got to get you on. I was super excited. As you mentioned, I produce the Hospitality Hang Out podcast. So I’m usually behind the scenes booking guests, writing scripts, doing post-production. So to have the opportunity to be on camera with someone like yourself who is a friend and a partner means a lot.

00:01:06:02 – 00:01:08:16

Zack Oates

So I appreciate that huge.

00:01:08:16 – 00:01:26:19

Julie Zucker

Fan of your podcast and what gets me every time, and I’ve told you this before, is I get a ton of emails. Everyone gets a ton of media. The your emails get my attention. Now I have my jacks emailing me and I love the way you recap your episodes. And I still listen to them because you’re giving me enough to be like, okay, I know what of a bachelor’s do, but you didn’t give me everything that I really want to take.

00:01:26:20 – 00:01:27:13

Julie Zucker

Awesome.

00:01:27:15 – 00:01:49:00

Zack Oates

Yeah, well, that’s the goal, right? It’s like, let’s give them a little bit. So that way if they want to read the email and still get some points out of it, that’s great. I don’t want you to have to listen to the whole podcast if you don’t want to. But the the concept is we typically do, as you know, short form podcasts, because in my mind it’s like, all right, on the way to work, I want a GM, or I want a head of operations to just listen to the podcast.

00:01:49:00 – 00:02:09:13

Zack Oates

And by the time I get to work, the podcast is wrapped up. So that’s the goal here. Now, Julie, you know, everyone in this industry, I mean, everyone knows you, you know everyone. And you’re not just coming at this from a non restaurant perspective because in the branded portfolio there are restaurants. You work with those restaurants as well.

00:02:09:15 – 00:02:22:18

Zack Oates

If you were to sit down with a growing brand and they said, Julie, what are some things that I should look at to make sure that I’m growing my brand correctly? What would you have them focus on?

00:02:22:20 – 00:02:38:13

Julie Zucker

Great question, and I do want to take a one before I answer that question into sidebar. A lot of people don’t realize this about me is that I started off my time off brand, and I’ve been here to celebrate 13 years. I ran all of our marketing for all of our restaurants before Branded Hospitality Ventures, when we were just branded restaurants.

00:02:38:17 – 00:02:54:11

Julie Zucker

So I did transition alongside Chatty Jimmy, and now I remember what we’re conceptualizing, branded and building as a company. You know, I built the first website and Jimmy was standing over my shoulder with Jesse at his desk, and we were coming up with our tagline, so branded really does mean so much to me because I’ve grown with it.

00:02:54:13 – 00:03:10:20

Julie Zucker

But back to my restaurant days. I literally started off. I was in charge of all marketing for all of our New York City restaurants, and that also was at the time when we started tech implementation. So I also was in charge of making sure we added new technologies that our managers knew about it, our servers knew about it.

00:03:11:01 – 00:03:20:09

Julie Zucker

And also, Seth, one of the first things I always did when I started was reviews. So I personally responded to every single review like.

00:03:20:09 – 00:03:20:24

Zack Oates

Oh my gosh.

00:03:21:00 – 00:03:43:05

Julie Zucker

All our restaurants had like, I think that there was a few platforms that aggregated them and you could respond in one place that know, you know, why would I make my life easier? I literally would go into Yelp and respond and Yelp and go into Google and respond directly. At Google, we used a service called Rewards Network. So I really strongly have always believed in customer communication and feedback.

00:03:43:05 – 00:04:01:00

Julie Zucker

So I kind of then going back to your question, to me, I really think that’s the most important thing that any restaurant operator I don’t care what size you are, you could be a one location small on the top. You could be multi-unit, you can be franchised. If you are not communicating with your guests, then what are you doing?

00:04:01:02 – 00:04:23:16

Julie Zucker

That is the key to success, right? Because we don’t open up restaurants to serve our family, to serve our family and our friends and our other employees and staff, but we do it for our customers who become our guests. So if you’re not getting feedback in the right ways and being able to not only get feedback but not take it personally and use it to customize your experience and help your experience going forward.

00:04:23:16 – 00:04:31:19

Julie Zucker

I think that’s the one thing. Of course there’s good, of course there’s good service, right? But how are you going to know that the good food, good service, if someone isn’t going to tell you?

00:04:31:21 – 00:04:56:00

Zack Oates

Yeah. And I think that as you look at this, one of the things that you do so well is just caring about the individual people. And when you look at hospitality, it is a hand to hand combat event. It is not something that you’re speaking to a big audience of people, but it’s a thousand micro moments and you have to make sure when I’m making a cake, for example.

00:04:56:03 – 00:04:56:23

Julie Zucker

Chocolate or vanilla.

00:04:57:04 – 00:05:14:12

Zack Oates

Oh, neither. I’m like a banana cake kind of guy. I, I know, I know, it’s weird. I love banana cake and it’s my favorite cake. So anyway, as I’m making the banana cake, my wife is like, oh, you’re like so OCD with the frosting. I was like, yes, but I know that people are going to come over. We’re going to give them that cake.

00:05:14:14 – 00:05:32:13

Zack Oates

And I want every single bite to like, make sure that they know that I cared about every single bite. And that’s how it is in the restaurant industry. When I worked in restaurants, it was about the individuals there. And if you’re not ready to do hand-to-hand combat, it’s probably not a good place for you to be, right?

00:05:32:15 – 00:05:47:17

Julie Zucker

Yeah, I was, I was sharing this story when I can is my first job that I ever had. I worked as a waitress at a Hilton in my town. They had a patio, bar and grill in the summertime, and, you know, it was locals who were come instead of belonging to a country club. Or if you didn’t have a pool, you could belong to the Hilton pool.

00:05:47:19 – 00:06:12:06

Julie Zucker

I was an outdoor pool server, and I was 16 years old, and I was on the younger end of all the servers there, but I remember being called into the corporate Hilton manager’s office and being accused of stealing tips because they could not, for the life of them, understand how I was getting double, triple the amount of tips and any other server working their way.

00:06:12:06 – 00:06:29:06

Julie Zucker

First of all, 16 year old Julie was like, oh my God, what’s happening right now? But that also, and I do think that what makes me, me and I don’t want to look at it as a bad trait, but a good trait is I’m a little ignorant, and I didn’t realize it in the fact that I always look in the positives for everybody and in every situation.

00:06:29:08 – 00:06:45:01

Julie Zucker

Something bad may happen and I’m going to be a glass half full that like, well, maybe something was there or something was happening there, but it was an outdoor pool. It was hot out. I before I even go to any table with just show up with ice water, because if you’re at a hot pool of the first thing you want is water.

00:06:45:03 – 00:07:09:19

Julie Zucker

I’d also remember the regulars names. I remember facts about their children, facts about their families, and I would also talk to them and make myself a real human. And I think that’s kind of when you humanize the experience. I think that was my first realizing that internally I’m built with hospitality in me. And as a server, seeing that I was able to spread my Gregory and my love of this industry to our customers really helps.

00:07:10:00 – 00:07:18:14

Julie Zucker

And no, I wasn’t. Ceiling tips. And yes, they understood and I didn’t get in trouble. But, you know, now everyone knows what I was a better day to day.

00:07:18:18 – 00:07:41:17

Zack Oates

But that is so awesome because that’s the heart of what we’re talking about. And the question is, then how do you translate that into your guests? Right. Because it’s into your staff. Because it’s so hard when you know that it’s you were born with it. You were born of hospitality. When an owner walks into a restaurant, they care so much about what’s going on and about every single guest.

00:07:41:19 – 00:08:06:09

Zack Oates

How do you translate that into the staff? And that’s one of the things where we found that technology comes into play so well, because I’ll talk to businesses who there use innovation, for example, and I’ll I’ll see them at a conference and they’ll say, the good thing is, I don’t need to worry about how my guest is being treated, because I know that if anything goes wrong, that they can just communicate with me and I can handle it right off the bat.

00:08:06:09 – 00:08:15:08

Zack Oates

So it’s nice to have that and to leverage technology not to replace that feeling, but to enhance it and to scale it. Right.

00:08:15:10 – 00:08:35:00

Julie Zucker

Yeah. And I think a lot of the onus is on the managers back to my marketing days, the restaurants I remember, I could come up with the most creative lto I can come up with a creative, awesome, fun campaign to get new customers, whether marketing in-house, they’re influencers. But if I didn’t get my staff on board, I’m not in all six restaurants at all.

00:08:35:00 – 00:08:49:13

Julie Zucker

Six times I’m sitting in a corporate office and they’re like, who’s this girl that pops her head into an hour a day, right? Yeah, yeah. In respect of your employees. And it was the same thing as I would go. I spend time at each of our stores. I learn Spanish so I could speak to our kitchen staff.

00:08:49:16 – 00:08:51:09

Zack Oates

Okay, I know which.

00:08:51:11 – 00:09:08:14

Julie Zucker

You know, was kitchen Spanish. I learned kitchens. Yeah, the don’t go crazy on me, but either way, again, it’s getting to know them, finding out to they have children. What sports teams do they like talking to the servers because then if they look at me like somebody who wants to get to know them, right? And that’s what we want to do with our customers too.

00:09:08:16 – 00:09:29:10

Julie Zucker

People just want to feel seen. Right. And in order for your customers to be seen, you have to see your staff. And it starts at the top. And if you’re trickling down and you’re saying to your staff members and getting to know them, and when you have a conversation with someone, right. And let’s just say you and I are talking and I’m telling you, I really love your hat.

00:09:29:10 – 00:09:44:15

Julie Zucker

That is the greatest hat. Tell me why. Thank you. Do it right then. When you’re going to someone, maybe that sticks in your head that day, and then maybe you’re talking to someone, you notice something about them. You’re like, oh, you know, I really love that necklace. Really fabulous necklace. And it trickles down. So it’s almost and you know, you’re a parent.

00:09:44:15 – 00:09:56:20

Julie Zucker

I’m a parent. It’s kind of like, not do what I say, but do as I am or do as I act, not do what I say. And I think that goes towards whether we’re training our staff or whether we’re interacting with our customers.

00:09:56:22 – 00:10:16:16

Zack Oates

Yeah. Because at the end of the day, we are in a human industry. Yeah. And it’s easy to forget that because, hey, people coming in there churning and churning out, churning and churning out, flip a table, like, turn the table like, let’s go, let’s go, let’s go. But at the end of the day, it’s like, again, you’re having these thousand micro experiences and you need to make sure it’s good all along the way.

00:10:16:18 – 00:10:42:23

Zack Oates

I went to this restaurant the other day. I was seated quickly, server came up, brought me drinks, great refills all the way through, and they brought me my check. And it was in the nastiest ratty is broken apart bill presenter. And I’m like, how do you nail everything? Yeah, I missed this because it just like, left me with such a weird taste in my mouth of like, I don’t want to touch this.

00:10:43:00 – 00:10:58:09

Zack Oates

It was disgusting. But that’s the thing. It’s like you got to look at every single point along the way, and the guest experience is so ubiquitous nowadays. So I’d love to get your take on what do you think the most important aspect of guest experiences?

00:10:58:11 – 00:11:19:16

Julie Zucker

I really I’m going to go back to the human connection, especially in a time where restaurants really are becoming so automated. Not all of them. I think that there’s a place for automation, and then there is a place for fine dining, some in between that will mix both. But I think what you were saying is, as humans, we have questions and we want to know things and we want to learn things and we want to experience things.

00:11:19:20 – 00:11:34:18

Julie Zucker

So when you walk into a store, let’s just say you’re going shopping and there’s somebody greeting you at the door. And if somebody’s saying to you, can I help you? And you know, maybe you know what you want, but you don’t need help. But then you’re shopping. You’re like, oh, wait, I do need help. You’re like, oh, somebody asked if they could help me, right?

00:11:34:23 – 00:11:53:20

Julie Zucker

I think it’s the same thing in a restaurant. I think if you find yourself approachable and you can walk in and you know that there’s somebody there for you who can always help you out in whatever you need, whether it’s a menu or whether your kid just spilled an entire single water all over themselves in the middle of the restaurant talking for a friend, of course.

00:11:53:22 – 00:12:12:15

Julie Zucker

You know, knowing that it’s okay that I just went to a restaurant and my three year old spilled an entire glass of water on himself, and everyone was so welcoming and kind of like, don’t worry, let us help you to need that helps your experience as a human right because things happen. And like you said, you have the greatest experience.

00:12:12:15 – 00:12:31:05

Julie Zucker

But then the check came. That’s human error, right? What manager missed that, right? What server didn’t think to notice that. You know and I’ll say one other thing too. So when you go to a restaurant or you’ll go to an office, and I think I first saw this in office where there was a sign on the bathroom that it was like, treat this bathroom like it was your own.

00:12:31:05 – 00:12:51:10

Julie Zucker

If you drop a tissue at home, are you going to pick it up or are you going to leave it there? Right. And I think there’s this age old which is dirtier women’s rooms or men’s rooms. Right. And I think like women’s because there’s just like toilet paper all over the floor because nobody wants to touch it. But when you’re going back to the human experience, those are little things that make us feel comfortable.

00:12:51:10 – 00:13:09:09

Julie Zucker

If you go into a restroom and you notice that there has been tear brought to it, and then you’re a server and you walk into a restaurant and you’re even using the bathroom, you notice it’s dirty. You as a server, just say whatever, it’s a bathroom. I’m not touching that. Or do you find the proper person in your restaurant who is responsible for cleaning it up?

00:13:09:11 – 00:13:27:00

Julie Zucker

You’re funny. Sidebar on that I was at a birthday party with my son. I took him to the bathroom. This is my older son, and there was no hand towels and there was no soap left. So we’re in the bathroom. Like, I had, sanitized my bags. And I walked out and I went to the manager and I said, hey, just letting you know you have no towels or you have no hands.

00:13:27:00 – 00:13:44:03

Julie Zucker

So it looks me like, you know, you’re the first person who’s ever said that to me or told me when we’re out of something. He’s said, do you work in hospitality? I’m like, what can I do? So really interesting that he knew that because none of their own staff ought to think about it. But here was someone who came in who happened to work in hospitality.

00:13:44:03 – 00:13:45:19

Julie Zucker

They were the one who noticed it.

00:13:45:21 – 00:14:10:11

Zack Oates

And that is so key of helping your team realize that they’re a partner in this and helping them feel like there’s some ownership in this for them, because it’s really a reflection of them as well. And yeah, now obviously, Julie, like I said, you know, everyone. So I would love to hear of who is someone in the restaurant industry that you feel deserves an ovation, who’s someone that we need to be following?

00:14:10:13 – 00:14:12:09

Julie Zucker

Can I make it two related people?

00:14:12:14 – 00:14:13:24

Zack Oates

Yes you can. For you.

00:14:13:24 – 00:14:52:10

Julie Zucker

Yes. For me. For me. Yes. I want to give a ovation to Danny Klein and the team donor. Not sure exactly when this podcast is releasing, but next week is the Women in Restaurant Leadership Conference in Nashville. The two of them have really put together an incredible opportunity to highlight and give an ovation to the women in the food service industry who really, whether they’re behind the scenes, whether they’re in front of the scenes, whether they’re early in their career or late in their career anywhere in between, you really given us this opportunity to connect with each other and kind of taking down the barriers and taking down the walls of this person, this,

00:14:52:10 – 00:15:09:22

Julie Zucker

this, this person works here, and they’re bringing us together and it form this community where what we say matters and we can all relate to each other. So the two of them super duper huge ovation for putting together this community, supporting us and including this. Our voices matter with them. And I think that’s really important to me.

00:15:09:24 – 00:15:14:21

Zack Oates

And Nashville, by the way, has one of my favorite restaurants in the world.

00:15:14:23 – 00:15:19:12

Julie Zucker

Nashville. Zach. Favorite restaurants? I’m trying to guess. I’m trying to guess.

00:15:19:14 – 00:15:24:14

Zack Oates

Well, it’s not barbecue. Harry’s steakhouse I do love Harry’s. Oh my gosh.

00:15:24:15 – 00:15:26:21

Julie Zucker

Workshop at Harry’s. Why does he.

00:15:26:23 – 00:15:29:17

Zack Oates

Look at this? How do you remember this stuff? Julia? It’s unreal.

00:15:29:17 – 00:15:34:09

Julie Zucker

A lot of things that I feel like one of my special powers is. I remember small details, and I think.

00:15:34:11 – 00:15:56:11

Zack Oates

That’s really cool. I mean, I appreciate you remembering that, but this one is. It’s called Saint Vito’s Focaccia. It’s right by the peg leg porker in Nashville. Okay. They have this focaccia dough topped with cup and char pepperonis and mix and hot honey with some bread crumbs. It is unbelievable. And they have a spaghetti pomodoro that I love.

00:15:56:12 – 00:16:00:18

Zack Oates

So yeah, I mean, I’ve never like spaghetti, but it’s like, yeah, okay, cool spaghetti.

00:16:00:18 – 00:16:03:04

Julie Zucker

Yeah, underestimate a really good spaghetti pomodoro.

00:16:03:06 – 00:16:09:10

Zack Oates

This is one of the best I’ve ever had in my life. Wow. Probably. I can’t think of anyone where I’ve had it better.

00:16:09:12 – 00:16:18:17

Julie Zucker

I love focaccia bread, by the way. I make really good focaccia bread. Fun fact virtually for all holidays, I make a special holiday themed focaccia.

00:16:18:19 – 00:16:20:04

Zack Oates

No way.

00:16:20:06 – 00:16:40:14

Julie Zucker

I do a stuffing style focaccia where I actually take treats and stuffing it into the bread. And then over the holidays of my family, we’re Jewish, but we also celebrate Christmas. I make a focaccia Christmas tree really cool. There will be heart shaped focaccia. As for Valentine’s Day tomorrow. So I go all in on focaccia. So you’re.

00:16:40:14 – 00:16:41:12

Zack Oates

Saying oh my gosh.

00:16:41:12 – 00:16:42:16

Julie Zucker

Shaking my language.

00:16:42:18 – 00:16:48:10

Zack Oates

Okay, well next time we see each other you’re in Jersey. I go to Jersey all the time. Next time I’m there, I’m on the air.

00:16:48:11 – 00:16:55:24

Julie Zucker

Thanks for calling. Yeah. Do you have a Jersey connection? Fun fact, my cousin was Zach’s physics.

00:16:56:01 – 00:16:58:03

Zack Oates

Yeah, he’s a teacher in high school. Yeah.

00:16:58:05 – 00:16:58:21

Julie Zucker

In high school.

00:16:58:23 – 00:17:06:18

Zack Oates

I went through all the awkward conversations right there with your cousin because, well, Julie, how do people find and follow you and branded.

00:17:06:20 – 00:17:25:16

Julie Zucker

Reddit our biggest social channels, LinkedIn. You can look us up. Branded hospitality. I am Julie Zucker on LinkedIn. Also my personal account if you want to get personal, I am trustworthy eats on Instagram. I post a lot of pictures of my kids and the food I eat and photos of Zach and I at conferences are selfies Zach and I like.

00:17:25:16 – 00:17:28:13

Julie Zucker

Who takes more selfies? Me are you?

00:17:28:15 – 00:17:29:10

Zack Oates

I take more.

00:17:29:12 – 00:17:31:05

Julie Zucker

Your good angle?

00:17:31:07 – 00:17:34:22

Zack Oates

Yeah. Long arms that. God bless me with a selfie stick. Yeah.

00:17:34:24 – 00:17:41:02

Julie Zucker

Yeah. All those credit strategic Scott. And then also speaking of podcast hospitality hang out. That’s our podcast.

00:17:41:02 – 00:17:57:05

Zack Oates

And it’s a great podcast. I’ve had the privilege of being on it a couple times on the road, and you put on a great show there and make sure that the guys stay focused. So good job. Well, Julie, for reminding us all about the humanity of hospitality and that the coolest borough in New York City really is Jersey.

00:17:57:05 – 00:18:01:01

Zack Oates

Today’s ovation goes to you. Thank you for joining us. I’d give it ovation. All right.

00:18:01:01 – 00:18:02:08

Julie Zucker

Thanks.

00:18:02:10 – 00:18:24:22

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.