Before “AI” became the buzzword on every restaurant tech panel, Carl Orsbourn was already leading the digital transformation of foodservice. The co-author of Delivering the Digital Restaurant and The Path to Digital Maturity, Carl has been on both sides of the industry: running 1,000 ampm convenience stores with $1.3 billion in sales before leaving it all to build ghost kitchens, dynamic pricing startups, and now lead AI innovation for global restaurant brands.

In this episode, Carl joins Restaurant Reset host Andy Grindstaff for a brutally honest breakdown of what’s hype, what’s real, and why the boring stuff (clean data, integrated systems, and operational clarity) is the true foundation of every restaurant’s future.

You’ll Learn:

• Why 85% of restaurant AI projects fail (and how to be in the 15%)

• The truth about ghost kitchens: what worked, what didn’t, and what’s next

• How dynamic pricing could quietly change how restaurants manage margins

• Why “bad data beats good AI every time” and how to clean yours up

• What small operators can do right now to improve their digital maturity

• Which tech trends are overhyped… and which ones are just getting started

• Why AI should augment humans, not replace them

• Carl’s career pivot from billion-dollar corporate exec to startup disruptor and what it taught him about reinvention

Carl’s message is clear: you can’t automate passion, but you can use data to scale it. If you’re ready to future-proof your restaurant without losing your soul, this one’s for you.

Listen to “Restaurant Reset” on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Restaurant Reset is brought to you by Genius™ (Link globalpayments.com/genius) from Global Payments, the restaurant point of sale system that can power orders, payments and services in any type of food and beverage setting.

Episode ID: 1000750227872

GUID: 90873d7d-e63f-498f-a225-56add65c0cc3

Release Date: 17/02/2026, 23:00:00