Joining Jerry White on the Fast Casual Insider podcast this week is Kathleen Richardson. Kathleen is the founder of urban Farmhouse market & cafe, a fast-casual concept featuring a simple menu of fresh, seasonal and locally sourced ingredients. Prior to founding urban Farmhouse, Kathleen held senior leadership roles at a wide variety of food service companies, ranging from technology solutions to Panera to Starbucks.

Jerry & Kathleen cover a wide range of topics from her success at hiring and staffing her locations to embracing and harnessing technology for effective marketing. Kathleen brings over 20 years of experience to the conversation and it shows. Don’t miss this in-depth conversation with one of the most innovative Fast Casual operators in the field.

• [05:13] - Deciding to go her own way
• [07:15] - What makes the urban Farmhouse concept unique
• [11:37] - Experiences with local sourcing
• [14:47] - Who is the urban Farmhouse customer?
• [17:56] - It’s all about the food
• [20:02] - Becoming an expert in hiring
• [24:10] - Choosing higher wages
• [25:05] - How employees help educate customers
• [25:41] - The impact of delivery apps
• [31:06] - How technology can be a competitive advantage
• [32:52] - Managing social media marketing
• [34:28] - Making your tech work harder
• [35:51] - AI in the restaurant industry

To find out more about Kathleen and the urban Farmhouse, check out the links below:

• urban Farmhouse Website
• Kathleen Richardson on LinkedIn

Our host, Jerry White, has worked in operations, in foodservice distribution, and then in media sales, holding top sales and management positions with several leading food media companies during the past 35+ years. Jerry joined the team at Plate magazine in early 2010 as associate publisher and continues in that role providing solutions and opportunities for manufacturers and organizations as they anticipate tomorrow’s industry challenges.

This episode was sponsored by Sage Intacct, a leading provider of restaurant accounting and financial solutions. Sage Intacct helps their restaurant customers reduce time, cost and resources on tedious financial processes so they can focus on servicing customers and growing their businesses. Learn more about how Sage Intacct restaurant customers make smarter decisions with critical visibility into business performance by visiting www.sageintacct.com/hospitality.

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This podcast episode was produced by Dante32.