Happy Thursday,

This past week I had the privalege of speaking on a panel at Boston Univesity on the power and implications of Ai in entrepreneurship and hospitality.  I shared some takeaways from the panel on LinkedIn that I'll share below as well.

I don't think I have ever been as excited and energized as I am right now, given how fast things are moving and what is now possible.  Each night I put my kids to bed, and spend another 5 hours learning, testing, deploying, and iterating on how to leverage AI to do more.  

And almost every day, I unlock something new.  It feels a lot like my early days in my 20s learning to cook, trailing on my days off, studying the greats, practicing knife skills and techniques at home when I wasn't at work.  I've kept these discussions between friends and colleages as I tend to share more about the restaurant and food and kitchen world here with you all, and things are quickly bleeding into eachother.  That said, if you'd like to hear and learn more about what can work for you, reply and let me know!

On the other end of the spectrum, we are also spending a lot of time talking about the critical importance of restaurants as the connective tissue that keeps us interacting with each other and connected as humans.  

Arjav Ezekiel said on a recent podcast that the restaurant industry is "the last bulwark of humanity."  When you think about how much of our lives have moved to screens, and how fast AI is replacing the digital stuff we used to do ourselves... he might be right.

Restaurants, bars, dinner tables... these are some of the last places where you actually have to show up and be present with other people. That's not a small thing. And it puts a real weight on operators to make those spaces matter.

This week there is a lot of front-of-house / service content, so I figured I'd share a cocktail recipe.  A spin on the last word.

📙 Takeaways from Boston University panel on AI

Eli Feldman and the shool of hospitality at Boston University put together an incredible event last week around the 'medium is the message'.    

Our particular panel revolved around the implementation and impact of Ai in both entrepreneurship and especially restaurants and hospitality.  

Here were my biggest takeaways:

1. We're at the elbow of the J-curve.

The LL models we use today were built on last year's chips - what is capable today will feel like child's play in 18 months and will be available on your laptop.

2. AI is an amplifier, not an equalizer.

Smart people get smarter... Motivated people get more motivated. Unmotivated people will get more unmotivated.

3. Synthesis beats automation.

The real unlock isn't just removing tasks, it's connecting dots across every email, Slack, recording, and customer signal to surface the two or three things that actually matter. Pattern matching at a scale no human could do alone.

4. Build or buy is now a real choice for every restaurant.

For the first time, operators at any scale can build bespoke tools. The fastest way to build? Just start. Now.

5. Restaurants are the counterforce to isolation, but only if we protect the human element.

You can't eat online. And AI will not replace the server, making you smile.

6. Soft skills need a lot more attention

Deirdre called this "skill thinning"; it's real on both sides: teams losing soft skills post-pandemic, guests losing them too. AI can train for confidence and presence, but it can't sub in when a guest is irate in your face.

👉 Link to post here

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🎙️ The meez Podcast

Who Really Is "The Man"? Plus Tallow Replacing Seed Oils, and Slinging Premade Pancakes

Matt Conway and Mike Jacober are back for another round. This one starts with a simple question... who's actually making the money when you pay $9 for a Modelo at a restaurant? The answer is more layered than you'd think, and it opened up a bigger conversation about what restaurants owe their guests, their teams, and themselves.

We also got deep into the tallow revival. Why animal fats are replacing seed oils in kitchens and even in skincare (yes, seriously). And a debate about whether consumers are drinking less because everything just costs too much.

• Beer pricing, margins, and who really is "The Man"
• Are people drinking less because it's too expensive?
• Why restaurants may need to charge more than they do
• The animal fat revival and why tallow is back
• Seed oils: how they took over and why the tide is turning
• What restaurants owe guests, teams, and themselves

👉 Watch the full episode

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🤔🌶️ Hot Take

Is Counter Service the Future?  And more broadly, are restaurants "the last bulwark of humanity."

One thing I know for sure: waiting for the check is one of the least pleasurable parts of the dining experience.

Arjav Ezekiel and his wife, Tracy, are proving what happens when you question that norm (and every other one). Birdies in Austin. Counter service. A new way to distribute tips. The whole flow, rethought from scratch.  Something is clearly working:  James Beard award winner, Food & Wine restaurant of the year, and they paid back their investors within 10 months of opening!I'm not saying every restaurant should go counter service tomorrow. But the old playbook isn't the only playbook anymore. And the broader lesson here is to ask yourself what you'd build if you started with a blank canvas instead of assumptions.That matters more now than ever. Arjav called the restaurants one of the last vestiges of human connection.  When AI disrupts almost everything digital, food and hospitality only become more essential. Restaurants might be one of the last places left for that real human connection.

👉 On human connection - Linkedin and Instagram

👉 On counter service - LinkedIn and Instagram

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Recipe:

A Nutty Last Word

With so much of this week's email tying to service and front-of-house, I figured I'd share a cocktail recipe.

The Last Word dates back to around 1916 at the Detroit Athletic Club. Equal parts gin, green Chartreuse, maraschino liqueur, and lime juice. It basically disappeared for decades until it got rediscovered in the early 2000s. And then in 2023, the Carthusian monks who make Chartreuse announced they were capping production at about 1.2 million bottles a year to protect their monastic life. COVID had doubled demand for the stuff, so bottles got really hard to find for a while. Things have loosened up a bit, but it's still not what it used to be.

The drink has some margarita vibes in terms of how it drinks, but I always feel like it's a little aggressive on the palate. So I like rounding it out with some almond liqueur. I've even just used a touch of almond oil or pistachio oil... works nicely too.

👉 Get the full recipe on meez

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Apply to be a guest or nominate someone we should talk to.