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Restaurant Operator

Restaurant Operator

Written by: Networld Media Group
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This podcast series from the publishers of FastCasual.com, PizzaMarketplace.com and QSRweb.com provides restaurant owners and executives with the insights and inspiration they need to grow their brands. Each episode features interviews with experienced restauranteurs, industry experts, and thought leaders, who share practical tips and advice for running a successful restaurant business.

© 2026 Networld Media Group
Art Cooking Economics Food & Wine Management Management & Leadership
Episodes
  • How CORE provides financial lifeline for food, beverage workers in crisis
    May 26 2026

    In this episode of the Restaurant Operator Podcast, host Mandy Detwiler, editor of QSRweb.com and Pizza Marketplace, chats with Jill Chapman, senior director of corporate partnerships for CORE. CORE is a national non-profit that financially supports food and beverage service families in times of crisis.

    CORE was founded 22 years and was run by volunteers up into 2015 when it hired its first employee. Eleven years later, the non-profit has several employees and is growing as much as the need is growing.

    CORE is needed because in the food and beverage industry, there is no PTO — if you're not working you're not getting paid.

    "If anything happens, whether it be health, injury, death or natural disaster or domestic abuse, that's where CORE comes in. That's what our mission is about. We come in and help financially during those times," Chapman said.

    To learn more about CORE and how to apply for help, listen to the podcast in its entirety.

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    17 mins
  • How The Red Chickz brought true Nashville soul to the West Coast
    Apr 28 2026

    In this episode of the Restaurant Operator Podcast, host Mandy Detwiler, editor of Pizza Marketplace and QSRweb, chats with Shawn Lalehzarian, co-founder of The Red Chickz, a West Coast Nashville hot chicken brand that opened its first unit in Los Angeles in 2018.

    Lalehzarian began his restaurant career as a dishwasher in a local restaurant in San Diego in 1998. He eventually moved on to be an assistant manager and moved upward into a senior ops position with HMS Host, opening more than 50 restaurants in airports around the nation and in Canada.

    He found two partners in 2014 and eventually opened The Red Chickz in 2018.

    "When we decided to get into a hot chicken concept, we flew out to Nashville and asked basically everyone from the Uber driver to the bellman at the hotel if they knew anyone in their family that knows how to make Nashville hot chicken," Lalehzarian said. "And some of those folks invited us to their homes and showed us the homestyle of Nashville hot. So what we serve in our restaurant today is exactly what we brought back from Nashville."

    What sets The Red Chickz apart from other chicken concepts? Lalehzarian said there are "bold" differentiators.

    "Our product is the crunchiest friend chicken in the hot chicken market, and frankly in the fried chicken market," he said. "From the start we have had a pretty innovative menu in the segment, and we are trying to keep it that way."

    That includes serving products like shrimp and chicken and waffles, salads, loaded veggie plates and French toast.

    To learn more about The Red Chickz aesthetic, menu development and out-of-the-box operations, click the link at the top to watch the podcast in its entirety.

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    20 mins
  • How Juice It Up leads the modern beverage boom
    Mar 24 2026

    Beverages have become big business as boba, dirty sodas, coffee and kombucha take center stage on the franchising market. Juice It Up, which has been selling cold and raw-pressed juices, smoothies, açaí bowls. toasts and bagels for more than 30 years, has been an industry leader.

    In this episode of the Restaurant Operator Podcast, host Mandy Detwiler, editor of QSRweb and Pizza Marketplace, talks to Susan Taylor, president and CEO of Juice It Up, based in Southern California, about how the brand has been leading the beverage market. Juice It Up recently opened its 100th unit in Gardnerville, Nevada.

    Taylor said the definition of a meal replacement has changed since the launch of the juice brand, and smoothies and juices are no longer sweet treats after a workout. Instead, they're nutritious and fill the needs of those looking for more protein, living vegan lifestyles or needing fuel for the day.

    "It's interesting the way that the segment has grown," Taylor said in the podcast. "Beverages as a complete segment (includes) everything from coffee to smoothies and juice bars. I think that consumers today are much more sophisticated and really looking for different things to be able to fuel their lifestyle that has kind of expanded the category.

    "Depending on where you are in your health and wellness lifestyle journey, you can come in and you can do a fresh-made order juice using beets, celery, carrots, ginger, turmeric, anything that you want to be able to have in that, or you can build your own. And there's a pretty dedicated core of customers that really look for that."

    Gen Z and millennial consumers have been shaping beverage trends as of late.

    The generations that are coming up now look at beverages in a totally different way from just want something right now," Taylor added. "There's an experience. They're just they're thinking about what it provides to them from a nutritional standpoint to just how they feel like they're treating themselves as well, too."

    To learn more about how Juice It Up is innovating the beverage industry, listen to the podcast in its entirety.

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    20 mins
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