Ming shares his insights on blending hospitality with technology, offering practical advice for restaurant operators looking to optimize their guest experience and streamline operations.

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Give An Ovation is the podcast where we interview restaurant owners, operators, and experts, to get their strategies and tactics so that you can deliver a 5-star guest experience. Available on all major podcasting sites.

In this episode of Give an Ovation, we welcome Ming-Tai Huh, Head of Food and Beverage at Square and a seasoned restaurateur with Cambridge Street Hospitality Group. Ming shares his insights on blending hospitality with technology, offering practical advice for restaurant operators looking to optimize their guest experience and streamline operations.

Key Highlights

Bridging Hospitality and Technology (00:01:07)

“I started in the restaurant industry as an operator before I got into the tech space. My goal has always been to help restaurants perform better and be more profitable with technology.” – Ming-Tai Huh

Ming explains how his operational experience shapes the way he approaches restaurant technology, ensuring that it truly serves the needs of operators.

Choosing the Right Tech for Your Restaurant (00:03:46)

“Don’t go searching for solutions; start by identifying the real problems in your business.” – Ming-Tai Huh

Ming shares a practical approach to selecting technology by focusing on existing challenges rather than chasing the latest trends.

The Power of Guest Experience (00:06:23)

“The restaurant industry is all about people. It’s about making guests feel valued and creating memorable experiences, whether it’s a quick-service spot or fine dining.” – Ming-Tai Huh

Ming discusses the elements of an exceptional guest experience and how technology can enhance—not replace—the human touch.

Feedback as a Tool for Growth (00:08:12)

“Asking guests for feedback is key. You’d be surprised how willing they are to share their thoughts if you make it easy for them.” – Zack

Zack and Ming explore the importance of gathering guest feedback in real time and using it to drive improvements.

Managing Teams for Success (00:10:18)

“A great guest experience starts with a great employee experience. If your team is happy, your guests will feel it.” – Ming-Tai Huh

Ming emphasizes the connection between staff satisfaction and customer loyalty, highlighting ways to empower employees.

Who Deserves an Ovation? (00:13:28)

Ming gives a shoutout to chef Eli Sussman and Preston Lee from 30% Raw for their contributions to the restaurant industry through innovative thinking and industry insights.

Follow Ming-Tai Huh:

LinkedIn: Ming-Tai Huh

Square: squareup.com

Tune in to learn how to leverage technology to enhance hospitality and create an unforgettable guest experience!

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Transcript

00;00;00;10 – 00;00;21;23

Zack

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;21;25 – 00;00;44;32

Zack

Learn more at ovation up.com. And today, I have a good friend of mine who is someone that I have hung out with what feels like thousands of trade shows. Ming Tiger, who is the head of food and Beverage at square. Not only that, he’s not just like a tech bro. This guy has owned restaurants since 2011 with Cambridge Street Hospitality Group.

00;00;44;37 – 00;01;07;32

Zack

Some amazing concepts. We’re talking like not just like your run of the mill franchise. We’re talking about Chef curated, beautiful menus, great interiors, great experiences. And so it’s really cool knowing that you’re on both sides of this and excited that you took some time out of like, your 14 day jobs to come on to the podcast.

00;01;07;37 – 00;01;25;00

Ming-Tai Huh

Well, that’s for sure. Are pretty busy these days. But then you hit something really important is that I started in the restaurant industry as operator before I got into the restaurant tech space, and a lot of the work that I do really is customer centric in the sense of how can we help restaurants be better performing for profitable?

00;01;25;05 – 00;01;35;51

Ming-Tai Huh

And how do you do that with technology? That’s sort of like been the basis and really excited for what I’m doing with square and with its thousands of millions of merchants. And so really excited to talk with you.

00;01;35;56 – 00;01;45;25

Zack

Well, I’m excited about that. And first of all, I would love to hear what are some of the lessons that have translated from hospitality into technology?

00;01;45;30 – 00;02;08;13

Ming-Tai Huh

Yeah, a great point. I’ll kind of dive right into like, how do you manage a team and be a great leader? That’s what’s really important in a restaurant. You have a team all rowing in the same direction, and it just happens to be about delivering. Make sure the comfy and the cocktail stays great in the restaurant space, and you can tell when you have one server having a bad day.

00;02;08;13 – 00;02;35;17

Ming-Tai Huh

One like okay, having a bad day affects the whole line, affects the mood of all the other servers, and ultimately turns into a poor guest experience. And it can translate directly into running tech teams. Making sure everybody is rowing in the same direction as aligned on the strategy understands what we’re trying to accomplish. So I don’t see make working with people, which is very much the core what the restaurant industry is about, translate directly to running teams in the technology space.

00;02;35;22 – 00;03;02;44

Zack

Yeah, because I think that one of the things I always tell my team, and this is just on like our slide every year when we talk about our mission, is that we are not a technology company selling into the hospitality industry. We are a hospitality company selling a technology. And what would a hospitality company do? How would we treat this person if they were ordering a large catering order from us, or if they were coming in for dinner with their friends?

00;03;02;44 – 00;03;20;32

Zack

Like, what would we do? What’s the right thing to do? How do we want them to feel? And that affects how we onboard. That affects how we connect with our customers. And I’ve heard this several times from you, and you alluded to it when we just kicked off. But you believe that technology plays an important role in the restaurant.

00;03;20;32 – 00;03;46;02

Zack

But it isn’t just about getting the technology. And a lot of people will go to a trade show. They’ll walk up and down the aisle, and it’s kind of like going to the grocery store hungry where it’s like, sure, yeah, that looks good. And they’ll get technology without kind of the overarching strategy. What recommendations do you have for restaurant owners when it comes to thinking about technology in their restaurant?

00;03;46;06 – 00;04;07;51

Ming-Tai Huh

Yeah, well, I think one way to maybe, put it simply, is don’t go searching for solutions. Really think about the problems that you have. Yeah. And start with that because you can walk up to any booth and say like, oh, this looks fancy. This is great. Let me try it out. And then you’re then using that to get in, go, go find problems that may or may not exist in your restaurant.

00;04;07;56 – 00;04;32;12

Ming-Tai Huh

And so I think this is what’s really important is like really understanding your business really well. What are the areas of opportunity. Is it labor. Is it food cost. You know the traditional kind of things is a repeat guess. Is it staff retention? I mean there’s numerous a number of them stack rank those which are the ones that are hurting you most and then start from there and then ask a lot of questions as to, okay, hey, this is the problem I have.

00;04;32;12 – 00;04;40;17

Ming-Tai Huh

Can you help me solve it versus okay, feature X, feature wise feature Z. Oh, that looks great. But ultimately it doesn’t actually solve the me there.

00;04;40;21 – 00;05;12;35

Zack

Yeah. And I think that’s the exact right way to do it is like go with the grocery list, right. Hey I want to have a tie chicken tomorrow night. So let’s go to the grocery store and maybe there’s a new way to make a chicken that you didn’t know about that you learn about. They’re great, but if you go there with a focus, if you go to a trade show with a grocery list, so to speak, of the main problems that you’re trying to solve and prioritize them, you have a much more effective time at Tradeshows and or just talking to vendors in general.

00;05;12;35 – 00;05;24;02

Zack

I think that’s a great rule of thumb, and I love how, especially coming from your background, I should say background, but I mean, like you’re still involved in the restaurants, like, just to be clear, right?

00;05;24;07 – 00;05;39;47

Ming-Tai Huh

Yeah. I mean, you look absolutely some, general partner of the restaurant group, I don’t have a day to day role. And I know some operators may say like, oh, well, you’re not really in the industry, but I definitely have many jobs. But I have a wonderful team, great chef, partner that I’ve been working with basically since day one.

00;05;39;51 – 00;06;02;58

Ming-Tai Huh

And I really trust the team to really make great decisions. But yeah, like every Saturday I’m spending two hours with the management team and during the week, you know, time with the ownership and the partnership team, mainly focused on expansion. And you look at landlords quite like the bigger kind of pieces of the puzzle and, well, you know, obviously I’m focusing on my day to day job at square.

00;06;03;09 – 00;06;03;34

Ming-Tai Huh

Yeah.

00;06;03;34 – 00;06;23;27

Zack

I think that being able to balance both is great, because sometimes if you get hyper focused on one thing, you lose the creative juices of having a couple different problems to be solving. And I think one of the biggest problems that people are working to solve in the restaurant industry right now is the guest experience. What do you feel like is the most important aspect of guest experience nowadays?

00;06;23;32 – 00;06;43;26

Ming-Tai Huh

Yeah, this is my favorite, right. And I would say because that’s where I started my story for restaurants doesn’t begin with my family on the restaurant and washing dishes when I was 12. So which I’ve heard that story for sure, but that’s not my story. My story was I was a guest and I had in the Waterford experience of a restaurant, no longer an existence.

00;06;43;26 – 00;06;51;32

Ming-Tai Huh

It closed called a main here in Boston and the Cambridge area, actually three blocks from my house. So I think you’re getting the picture. I was there a lot.

00;06;51;37 – 00;06;52;28

Zack

00;06;52;32 – 00;07;15;01

Ming-Tai Huh

And I had one of those experiences where a restaurant adopts a guest and kind of treats them like part of the family, and that really made me feel like this is amazing experience in the community. I love it, I love to be part of something like this one day. And so that’s where I actually spend a lot of my time thinking with sort of like the CMO hat of the restaurant is, how do I make sure my guest experience is wonderful?

00;07;15;16 – 00;07;31;06

Ming-Tai Huh

And we have quick service restaurants and full service restaurants and great hospitality group. So there’s multiple ways to provide a great experience, whether it’s a server at the table or even. So, let’s start from the beginning being greeted by the host and and then the QSR experience, where a lot of people kind of just want great food and want to get in and get out.

00;07;31;11 – 00;07;52;38

Ming-Tai Huh

And then how do you make that a magical or at least a great experience that’s consistent, continually looking at these and understanding, okay, how can we make it better is a big part of great making, great guest experiences. I think one thing that people maybe overlook is asking guests. Sometimes you don’t want to bother people, but actually like asking people, how was it?

00;07;52;38 – 00;08;12;18

Ming-Tai Huh

What can we do better? Was this great? Did you get what you paid for? Yeah. There’s ways that you can really sort of get at a core, maybe like challenge or understanding that you’re trying to strand about your business, especially in the early days of trying something out. That’s really important. Just like building software, just like get that feedback and then make changes that are for the better.

00;08;12;31 – 00;08;32;41

Zack

I love that. I think that that’s such a great segue into the next question, but just to double click on that, one of the things that we found is that people are willing to give you feedback, what they don’t want to do, because people are like, oh, no one’s going to give me feedback. It’s like, yeah, nobody wants to fill out your 20 question survey right now.

00;08;32;41 – 00;08;54;26

Zack

People do want to tell you, especially if they got delivery and they ordered five burgers and only four show up. And now one of their kids is like really pissed off. And that is something that, yes, they definitely want to give you feedback. And what we found is that a lot of people don’t skewed towards leaving negative reviews.

00;08;54;41 – 00;09;11;19

Zack

They just won’t come back. And the reason that they don’t want to leave you a negative review is because they don’t want to hurt your business because they’re like, whatever. I don’t care enough to give that feedback to like go through all the effort, all the hoops to leave a review or to take your 20 question survey. But if you make it easy for them, they’ll tell you.

00;09;11;21 – 00;09;18;36

Zack

And then the key is if you ask, listen right, like do something about it. And I think that’s really important.

00;09;18;49 – 00;09;35;30

Ming-Tai Huh

Yeah I would say for instance and hopefully this doesn’t like abuse. But like if a guest ever has an issue with our restaurant, especially if it’s unsatisfactory, like, oh, I didn’t like your dish. And then in the world of delivery, right where we can’t just make make it right immediately because that’s what we would do in a full service restaurant.

00;09;35;30 – 00;09;53;51

Ming-Tai Huh

We would take the plate away, right? We would say, okay, well, we make this or we will give you something different that meets your needs in the world of delivery. Now, takeout, our policy is like we will give that person their money back immediately. And potentially, if they were the only person to complain about that one thing that day and we batched it and we know that it potentially it’s fine.

00;09;53;51 – 00;09;56;09

Ming-Tai Huh

It wasn’t fine for them. We give them their money back.

00;09;56;09 – 00;09;57;14

Zack

Yeah, I love that.

00;09;57;16 – 00;10;06;41

Ming-Tai Huh

And it’s really sad, which is we want them to feel like we’re we’re people. First of all it’s a people business. And our the to come back again and try again.

00;10;06;46 – 00;10;39;04

Zack

And I think that one of the things that we found is that if you tie that feedback to something like their mobile number, well then you can track to see, is this someone who’s going to be a consistent complainer? Are they going to come in every week and complain about something to try to get something for free? You discover that really quickly, and I think that it’s if you’re tracking it based on their customer phone number, then you don’t have to be as concerned about being hospitable and about giving them a big refund with an apology and maybe even a $5 off coupon for the next order the first time.

00;10;39;04 – 00;10;53;57

Zack

The second time, maybe you could be a little more skeptical. The third time, apologize. But you don’t have to keep giving them stuff. And I think that’s really the key is like hospitality does not mean letting someone abuse generosity, right?

00;10;54;02 – 00;11;18;38

Ming-Tai Huh

Yeah. Look, I think we’re the one of the most accessible businesses in hospitality that you get. And so, like, there’s going to be a few bad apples here and there, but that shouldn’t really spoiled the majority of experiences where we weren’t looking to be satisfied, satiate it. And even while depending on maybe the level of experience and I think what we’re talking about here is like the touch points is really important.

00;11;18;38 – 00;11;35;56

Ming-Tai Huh

And I think the touch points, I think maybe where we can dig in further is are there change where when I started this business, knowing that text messages from restaurants. Yeah. Or one like not making love barcodes but nowadays like it’s I don’t know what you call a name, why would you call me? I don’t even pick up numbers.

00;11;35;56 – 00;11;51;39

Ming-Tai Huh

Who don’t have phone numbers. Like you can’t call me. Yeah, and that your address? It’s kind of like. I don’t know if I’m going to read it. There’s a lot of things in my inbox that I ignore that text message that is, like, highly relevant. Like, hey, you were just here. You had this. How was it? I make a decision?

00;11;51;44 – 00;12;07;05

Ming-Tai Huh

Yes or no? Do I want to answer this? But maybe I do. That’s like, you know, I didn’t like that. Let me tell you why I didn’t like it. Click click click click click click click click click. Done. That’s so helpful for a restaurant to be able to get that feedback in that in that moment. And it wasn’t really that much weight.

00;12;07;05 – 00;12;21;27

Ming-Tai Huh

Yeah. And it certainly wasn’t like maybe like the next day or two days later in kind of the email world where it’s no longer relevant. We can’t get that quick feedback to improve as a business. Yeah. So that’s where technology can step in there and improve overall feedback.

00;12;21;31 – 00;12;44;11

Zack

I love that, and I think it’s so pertinent because texting is how people communicate nowadays. I mean, data shows that people would rather have a business text them than reach out to them in any other way, because that’s where people, they’re on their phones. But emails. Yeah. To your point, there’s like a few days go by until it’s sent, a few days until I see a few days to reply, a few days to see it.

00;12;44;16 – 00;13;02;50

Zack

And now all of a sudden, you’re a week and a half down the road. And this frustration of a $12 pizza and soda, all of a sudden you’re like, I don’t care, I’m just not going back. Right? But as things are tangible and they just had an emotional experience, if you can connect with them in that moment, boom.

00;13;03;01 – 00;13;04;56

Zack

Like you got someone for life there.

00;13;05;08 – 00;13;20;08

Ming-Tai Huh

Yeah. The medium is just different. Like people get emails from us, they expect us to talk about three pages of a new wine and a new dish. And the country we visited to source the information for it. Like it’s like a this is a different medium, right? Whereas the text messages like, hey, I was up comes out.

00;13;20;13 – 00;13;27;55

Zack

Yeah, totally. Well, I mean, I know we’re approaching time here. Who is someone in the restaurant industry that deserves innovation? Who’s someone that we should be following?

00;13;28;00 – 00;13;58;51

Ming-Tai Huh

Who do I love? I mean, Eli Sussman, chef. Like I love his feed on Instagram because it’s just so funny because it’s true. It’s definitely an industry. And then look, another that I thought about, which is a thread that I enjoy on Instagram, is Preston Lee 30% raw? I’m not really sure how deeply founded the work is, but I just I love him approach to hey, there are like things that you actually need to do as a restaurant that are kind of no brainers and you got to do those things.

00;13;58;56 – 00;14;12;06

Ming-Tai Huh

And I think that’s really important for the industry at large is like, hey, they’re basics and interesting history. You’re never going to get to 10% margin. And once you do those things, and so focus on about making your own goals and mistakes that really can hurt you on the business.

00;14;12;11 – 00;14;16;34

Zack

I love that, and seeing where people go to finding follow you.

00;14;16;39 – 00;14;38;10

Ming-Tai Huh

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. LinkedIn is probably where post the most especially about in the industry and what we’re up to. And then obviously follow square on LinkedIn and Instagram. We feature both for square products, but then also our sellers, our restaurants that are doing amazing things in the market, especially amazing, wonderful things or places that are under some challenge, like LA, for instance.

00;14;38;10 – 00;14;48;34

Ming-Tai Huh

We have a lot of great customers that were affected, and then those are trying to support others in their community, really trying to really speak and blow that out in a way that you can get the help that they need.

00;14;48;38 – 00;14;58;44

Zack

Love that. Well, Ming, for showing us that at times it is hip to be square. Today’s ovation goes to you. Thank you for joining us on Giving Ovation.

00;14;58;49 – 00;15;01;52

Ming-Tai Huh

Awesome. Thanks for having me. I really appreciate it. Let’s do it again.

00;15;01;57 – 00;15;06;13

Zack

Absolutely.

00;15;06;17 – 00;15;28;44

Zack

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 ABC.com.

Thanks for reading! Make sure to check out the whole episode, as well as other interviews with restaurant gurus by checking out “Give an Ovation: A Podcast For Restaurants” on ovationup.com/podcast or your favorite place to listen to podcasts.

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