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ðĒ FROM THE FLOOR TO THE BACK OFFICE ðĒ
On today's ðRestaurant ðĪTech ðTrends I sit down with David Cantu, CEO of Craftable and former co-founder of HotSchedules. David started on the floor at Outback Steakhouse and PF Chang's, then turned that operator DNA into a 20+ year run building tech that powers hospitality. Watch this for an insider's look into how David and the Craftable team are helping ðŪ80,000+ operatorsðŪ protect their margins today ð
ðšWATCH AND LEARNðš
ð The origin story of HotSchedules, born out of a real problem he was solving as a PF Chang's GM. See how the team bootstrapped through the dot-com implosion and 9/11 before scaling over a decade - all before ever taking a dime of PE money
ð Why David believes the current AI wave is forcing legacy platforms to rebuild themselves from the ground up, and how Craftable rebuilt its architecture to be AI-native ðĪ
ð How Craftable surfaces margin erosion signals in real time, from a 35% spike in lime prices to kilowatt-level waste, and why visibility alone drove a 600 basis point P&L improvement at a restaurant David recently operated ð
â PLUS: David's candid take on the Founder's Dilemma and knowing when to self-select out, plus why ops-led tech buying usually beats CFO-led
ââ PLUS PLUS: Rapid fire answers on lettuce wraps vs bloomin' onion and the most overlooked line item that kills restaurant margins
Thank you David for sharing your hard-won wisdom from 20+ years of building in this industry. ð
