In this repurposed episode of a Fireside Chat with Opus CEO Rachael Nemeth, Gregg Majewski explains how despite AI’s revolutionary applications, restaurants must be careful not to lose sight of their customers and the hospitality that defines the industry.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing the restaurant industry, helping operators manage costs and streamline operations. However, as Gregg Majewski, CEO of Craveworthy Brands, discussed in this repurposed episode of a Fireside Chat with Opus CEO Rachael Nemeth, restaurants must be careful not to lose sight of their customers and the hospitality that defines the industry. Here are three major takeaways from his conversation on AI and its role in restaurants.
Gregg Majewski believes that many restaurants have turned a blind eye to the financial difficulties their customers are facing, leading to unchecked price increases that have now put them in a tough spot.
“The biggest blind spot in the industry is that we don't want to admit that our consumers are hurting. And because our consumers are hurting, we're all not feeling it and we jacked our prices up to offset negative sales and everything else because our food and labor costs have gone up. We've sort of taken a blind eye to what the consumer feels. And we're now scrambling for AI and cost savings because we all are starting, the bells are starting to go off in our heads.”
Majewski points out that, unlike grocery stores that adjust pricing when costs fluctuate, restaurants rarely lower their prices once they’ve increased them. The result? Consumers are struggling, and now restaurants are looking for ways to cut costs in areas like AI-driven efficiencies rather than continuing to raise prices. This moment of reckoning forces the industry to reconsider how it balances profitability with consumer affordability.
AI has proven to be a powerful tool in boosting efficiency, but Gregg warns against its overuse in guest-facing experiences, such as AI-powered drive-thrus.
"It's remarkable in the stuff that you can do. It's a time saver. Now, voice-activated drive-thrus, I think, is a customer fail because I think it takes hospitality out of it. Yes, it's fun, it's neat, it's cool. Your orders are probably a little bit more accurate, but you don't have that service. You don't have someone greeting you.”
Majewski’s insight underscores the importance of maintaining a personal touch in restaurant service. While AI can optimize tasks, it should never replace the warmth and human interaction that make dining experiences special.
For Majewski, AI’s greatest value lies in optimizing administrative and corporate tasks rather than replacing restaurant workers.
"You can't eliminate everything in the storefront. It's impossible. And, or in a retail situation or in hospitals and all that, you still need those bodies, you know, cause you still need that interaction. You still need that. You can eliminate elsewhere and increase your margins by eliminating G&A expenses. That's where I think AI is going to be the most benefit and then all tech. I think that's where tech in general is the biggest savings for us to win on is let's eliminate costs on G&A and not the frontline workers.”
Rather than using AI to replace frontline workers, Majewski sees its true potential in reducing general and administrative (G&A) expenses. AI-powered financial modeling, marketing automation, and workforce management tools can help restaurants cut costs without sacrificing service quality.
Gregg Majewski has a vast amount of experience as a corporate executive in the restaurant industry. As the former CEO of Jimmy John’s, he played a major role in expanding the franchise from 33 to 300+ stores in just 5 years by surrounding the company’s marketing strategy around the innovative approach of delivering sandwiches and being “freaky fast”. Majewski has worked to develop restaurant concepts over the last two plus decades, before starting Craveworthy Brands in 2023, which currently includes a growing portfolio of restaurant brands. Craveworthy Media is Majewski’s gift back to the industry that has given him so much. The goal of Craveworthy is to inspire the up and coming industry leaders by providing important information, stories, and insights from titans past and present.
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Room for Seconds is produced and published by Cali BBQ Media on behalf of Craveworthy Brands