This week on Fast Casual Insider, Jerry sits down with Carl Segal, CEO of Roti Modern Mediterranean Grill. Carl has spent his entire working life in the restaurant industry and is a veteran of several restaurants with meteoric growth. He shares with us the challenge of getting customers to try new, unfamiliar flavors, the importance of transparency when it comes to food sourcing and how Roti is embracing technological change by giving customers more ordering options.

• [01:22] – Introducing Carl Segal, CEO of Roti Modern Mediterranean Grill
• [06:30] – The restaurant itch
• [09:31] – How time at Potbelly really helped Carl hone his leadership skills
• [111:11] –  Vision for Roti
• [15:02] – Maintaining transparency with customers about food sourcing
• [20:27] – Getting the word out about uncommon cuisine
• [28:09] – The importance of focusing on your people
• [33:13] – How Roti is employing creative solutions to grow the business
• [36:06] – Is the restaurant as we know it in jeopardy of extinction?
• [41:57] – How Roti is changing in the digital space
• [45:47] – What keeps Carl up at night

Carl Segal is the CEO of Roti Modern Mediterranean Grill. Prior to joining Roti’s executive team, he worked at Potbelly Sandwich Works for almost 16 years and oversaw the brand’s expansion.

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.