Join our special guest Kelly MacPherson, from the mega-James Beard award winning Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG). More than a trailblazer, she's been a Game Changer for her entire career. Kelly shares her remarkable journey in hospitality and retail, from configuring her first POS network to becoming one of the early female CTOs -- and she continues to revolutionize how restaurants operate.
Moments to listen for:
- Kelly’s mission to change how we deliver Reporting & Analytics.
- Her quest to use data for powerful storytelling.
- Building exceptional Employee-First Experiences with a mobile-first strategy.
- The Connected Restaurant. What it is and how USHG is delivering it.
- The timeless tech question: Best in Class or All-in-One Solutions?
- Importance of partnerships and open collaboration among tech companies.
- The journey to CTO and what convinced Kelly to come out of retirement.
- The path to achieving “Enlightened Hospitality,” and how USHG does it.
Key Insights
Changing the Game: How we Look at Data & Deliver Reporting - Kelly’s on a mission to change how we deliver reporting and talk about analytics. She’s invested in analytics at USHG to better understand business performance, opportunities and drive traffic. Kelly noted that people learn differently today than 10 years ago. So the way we look at and delivery data must also change. We can’t keep simply changing the dashboards. Instead, she wants to use data for effective storytelling.
Marrying the Art and Science of Hospitality - USHG prioritizes the marriage of food, service, and experience with data in order to create a remarkable and uber-personalized experience for their guests. The experience begins long before entering the restaurant and extends long after the guest leaves. The focus is on providing an exceptional one-on-one experience by leveraging data, or what Kelly refers to as “connecting the dots with data.”
The Power of Enlightened Hospitality in Union Square’s Brands - Enlightened Hospitality, alternatively referred to as Anticipatory Hospitality is a concept pioneered by Danny Meyer, founder or USHG, coined in his book “Setting the Table.” The philosophy embodies a holistic approach to hospitality that goes beyond service and focuses on creating exceptional experiences for guests by anticipating the guests needs.
Episode Highlights
Employee First Experience, Enabled by a Mobile-First Strategy
Kelly says she’s obsessed about the employee and guest experience. She’s focused on the employee first and delivering effective mobile-first strategies that improve their lives everyday. By helping employees connect the dots, from onboarding to provisioning the POS, enabling the seamless movement of data to equip teams better is a top priority.“I get excited about re-imagining and reinventing the way we look at data and analytics and really what that impact can have.”
The Importance of Modernizing Architecture: Exploring the How and Why
As a big proponent of the Connected Restaurant, Kelly emphasizes the need for an agile and flexible architecture that provides “interconnectivity and modularity.” If systems are dated or need to be removed, the platform needs to be flexible enough to provide that innovation.
Technology is an Enabler, the Human Connection is Paramount
Kelly rightly claims the role of technology as enabler and says it will never replace the human connection. Amen. An advocate for best in class tech solutions due to the modularity provided, she’s excited for the future of restaurant innovation and collaboration provided by integrations. Kelly is currently exploring the use of Machine Learning & AI for better forecasting products and demand by the hour, to drive efficiency in supply chain, labor and fulfillment. “The tech will never replace the human connection; it is the enabler and it it’s about empowering our teams to deliver on what they do best.”
The Significance of Partnership and Open Collaboration, and Why they Matter
Kelly firmly believes in the concept of the Connected Restaurant and advocates for best-in-class solutions over all-in-one approaches. She recognizes that adopting this strategy not only minimizes technology debt but also fosters innovation and flexibility. Success to her is a seamless flow, removing repetition, and to do that you need to have the right partners and right integrations. “Change is change and change is difficult. But it lets you see things in a different light. And so, the connected restaurant is really about, “How do you connect everything that happens within a restaurant?”
