Steve Raggiani is a Co-Founder of 8it, the simplest way to find food. 8it provides curated food recommendations and popups in New York City. Steve’s main goal? Simplify the the food search and filter out bad reviews. Steve brings his innovative eye for greatness to this weeks episode of Give An Ovation.

Here are a few highlights from this episode:

What is the most important aspect of the guest experience?

“I believe the the most important part of the guest experience is the food, it always has been always will be. Some people would argue that the most important part is the vibe but how does a vibe taste? Some places have a very cool vibe, and very bad food. There is no worse feeling than leaving a restaurant feeling full but very unsatisfied and good consistent food is the solution.”

What are some successful tactics you’ve seen or tried lately?

“Through the lens of marketing ourselves, I think consistency with content. In addition tothink a lot of promotional tactics. To some extent, we’re all handcuffed to the algorithm in some way for getting the word out about our brands but the more consistent you are, the more the algorithm really pushes your stuff.”

Who deserves an ovation in the industry?

Rāsheeda Purdie, @ramenbyra on Insta!

“She is an amazing black chef from Harlem, who’s obsessed with Ramen, and she just recently opened a ramen pop up here in the lower East Side that’s doing ramen for brunch. I think what she’s doing is really interesting.”