Jamie Buehmann: AI, restaurant tech and why hospitality still wins | mysite talks #002

Jamie Buehmann, Head of Partnerships at Nory, has spent more than 25 years in restaurants and restaurant technology, from working in hospitality at 14 to helping build the early restaurant-tech ecosystem with OpenTable and beyond. In this conversation with Patryk Pijanowski (mysite.ai), Jamie breaks down how restaurant technology has changed, why operators should be careful about adding more software, what restaurants should actually look for before signing a tech contract, and how AI can help improve margins, labor, customer acquisition and the guest experience. They also talk about voice AI, restaurant phone calls, loyalty, private dining, customer success, restaurant tech fatigue, ordering through conversational AI, and why Jamie believes technology should give operators more time to focus on hospitality, not replace it. — KEY MOMENTS: 00:03:53 – Why restaurant owners did not believe online reservations would work 00:08:53 – Why technology will never replace the human hospitality experience 00:15:43 – How restaurant operators should evaluate new software 00:17:56 – Why the customer success team matters more than the salesperson after the sale 00:22:00 – Restaurant margins, labor, food waste and cost control 00:28:21 – Why restaurants should not rush to buy another AI tool 00:31:29 – The two questions every restaurant should ask: how do I get a customer and how do I keep them? 00:33:14 – How unanswered phone calls can cost restaurants real revenue 00:36:18 – AI, job replacement and personalization in hospitality 00:39:26 – Could customers order food directly through ChatGPT? 00:42:00 – What technology restaurants should buy after their POS 00:46:30 – Why independent restaurants need technology that runs in the background 00:47:01 – What great restaurant operators do differently 00:52:00 – Why restaurant customer acquisition has moved online 00:57:59 – How AI could actually make the restaurant experience better 00:59:59 – Hot takes: QR menus, no-show fees, delivery apps and AI replacing restaurant staff 🎧 Also listen on Spotify: mysite talks 💡 The podcast is brought to you by mysite.ai – the AI ​​customer data platform for restaurants.