Transforming Hospitality with People and Technology: A Conversation with Sherif Mityas

Prepare to be inspired by Sherif Mityas, the innovative mind who transformed TGI Fridays with AI before it was even a buzzword. Discover how Sherif's journey from aerospace engineering to becoming the CEO of Brix Holdings, which includes beloved brands like Friendly's and Clean Juice, has shaped his unique leadership approach. From his early days at Sears and his pivotal roles at Movie Gallery and Hollywood Video, Sherif shares career-defining moments and insights into the changing landscape of consumer behavior in the restaurant industry.

Imagine AI as your right-hand assistant, streamlining operations and enhancing customer experiences. In this episode, we explore the revolutionary potential of AI in the hospitality sector, especially in supporting general managers with crucial data for better decision-making. Sherif's expertise highlights the balance between leveraging technology for personalized service and maintaining high standards of operational excellence. Learn how reinvesting cost efficiencies into supply chains and infrastructure can elevate the guest experience and why effective communication is a cornerstone of successful leadership.

Authenticity and adaptability are key themes as Sherif recounts personal experiences that have shaped his leadership style. From taking improv classes to improve quick thinking to overcoming imposter syndrome, his stories underscore the importance of humility and continuous learning. Tune in for an engaging conversation that bridges the gap between top executives and our audience, offering rare and valuable insights.

Biography:
Sherif Mityas is an experienced strategist and executive leader with over 25 years in the retail and hospitality sectors, known for driving innovation and delivering significant stakeholder value. As the CEO of BRIX Holdings, a leading restaurant investment group, Sharif oversees a portfolio of over 350 locations across multiple brands, including Friendly’s, Red Mango, Orange Leaf, Smoothie Factory+Kitchen, SouperSalad, and Pizza Jukebox.

Sherif's career is marked by his tenure as the Chief Experience Officer for TGI FRIDAYS, where he led the brand’s strategy, marketing, innovation, and digital transformation. He also served as the CEO for Hollywood Video/Movie Gallery and Game Crazy, demonstrating his ability to lead organizations through significant changes and challenges. Recognized as one of the top 10 innovators in the restaurant industry by Nation's Restaurant News and the Global CXO of the year in DFW, Sherif is celebrated for his strategic vision and expertise in customer experience management, marketing, and consumer analytics.

A strong advocate for diversity and a robust organizational culture, Sherif has been named one of DFW’s Most Admired CEOs by the Dallas Business Journal. His educational background includes a B.S. in aerospace engineering from Boston University, an M.S. in mechanical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and an MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management. 

Contact/Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sherif-mityas-94a91116/

Chapters

• 0:00 The Evolution of Consumer Behavior
• 12:29 Enhancing Human Potential With Technology
• 16:28 Navigating Technology and Authentic Leadership
• 22:35 Building Corporate Culture in Business
• 33:06 Executive Perspectives in Podcast Series

Transcript

Paula: 0:33

I'm excited to invite Sherif Mityas onto the show. Been friends with him for over a decade Fantastic guy. He was the one that implemented AI into TGI Fridays, generated hundreds of millions of dollars for the company using that, and he did this before AI became what AI currently is. He did this back in, I think, 2018, 2019. So this guy was ahead of his time. So I am excited for you guys to listen to him and hear what he has to say.

Rich: 0:57

I'm excited to find out how the patty melt is doing. It's interesting because when I think of retail and again a lot of this is challenging bias I'll be the first one to say that retail has to go beyond just thinking about fashion merchandising or apparel or traditional department stores. And when you talked about inviting somebody with experience in food, obviously his experience goes well before that I had to stop myself and think is that perspective is on AI and how it intersects with the organizational culture?

Gautham: 1:43

What is more, hospitality in general is people focused, people centric. So how do they seek that balance, especially in a day to day where AI seems to be dominating all conversations? Love to hear his perspective on that.

Rich: 1:56

Paula, when you first met him, what part of the industry was he in? He was at Fridays.

Paula: 2:00

So he was the CMO of Fridays and then he got promoted to CXO Chief Experience Officer.

Rich: 2:05

So he truly has run the gamut in retail. From where my experience is in retail, to video, to now food services and Gautam, you're right to be able to see how he balances a customer-centric culture with technology is going to be outstanding, so let's jump right into it.

Paula: 2:25

Sherif, welcome to Retail Relates. Thank you so much for being on the show. You have done so much in the world of consumer relations. You've been part of some incredible brands like TGI Fridays. You've helped implement AI before AI was what it is today. I'm just really excited to get into this with you. So, instead of asking you what your background is, we're going to have your bio in the show notes. Tell me more about pivotal moments in your career, your personal life, that brought you to where you are today, as a CEO of Bricks Holdings that has a portfolio of companies like Friendly, the Yogurt Clays.

Sherif: 3:00

Yes, absolutely yeah. So I'd say the three pivotal moments first was so, out of school I was actually an aerospace engineer, so I worked on fighter jet engines for United Technologies and then decided for some reason that the real money was going into business. So I went and got my MBA at Kellogg Northwestern University and then joined a consulting firm right out of school, and my first consulting engagement was with Sears and Rova, and so it was my introduction to retail, and actually my project was helping them figure out at that point what they should be doing with this new product called cell phones and how they should be selling them. And they had Nokia as their one main product and we were trying to figure out what other products they should be selling. So that was my introduction to retail, fell in love with it, ended up staying in consulting for a while and working with some of the largest retailers in the world, from Walmart, kroger, smaller groups like Ralph's, rent, the Gap. So did spans across retail, from grocery to mass to discount, to apparel and specialty. So that was pivotal moment number one.

Sherif: 4:11

I'd say pivotal moment number two was then one of those clients asked me to come and join them as actually a full-time executive and in those days it was the hot thing was movie rentals. So I went and joined a movie gallery in Hollywood Video. They had just merged. I had helped the board with the merger of those two entities to create basically the second biggest movie rental and game company on the planet, second to Blockbuster. And so I was their CEO for a couple of years and got to be CEO at the young, ripe age of 38, first time in the chair and learned a lot, but also then kind of on the other side of the table actually running a retailer and running one of these large organizations.

Sherif: 4:49

And then I would say the third pivotal moment that led to this is got a call to come and help a restaurant company.

Sherif: 4:55

And so it was really my first foray into the restaurant world, which is basically taking a retailer and adding a restaurant company.

Sherif: 5:00

And so it was really my first foray into the restaurant world, which is basically taking a retailer and adding a manufacturing facility and then you become a restaurant and so you have all the challenges of dealing with consumers on the retail side, but you now have to also deal with manufacturing because you're actually preparing food for these guests. And so I got that opportunity to join the TGI Fridays brand, first as their chief strategy officer, picked up the CIO role, became their chief experience officer and then from there went on to now helping lead the Ricks Holdings group as their CEO for the past couple of years. We have eight brands now under our portfolio, from Friendly's on the East Coast, orange Leaf, frozen Yogurt, red Mango, super Salad, smoothie Factory, plus Kitchen, humble, don donuts, pizza, jukebox, and we just acquired our newest brand, the Clean Juice Group, which is a certified organic juice bar about 80 some locations around the country. So that's the fun I get to do now.

Paula: 5:52

And that's crazy that you started, you know, when you were 18. Who would have guessed? It's crazy. So we're, going to talk a little bit about the consumer behavior in the restaurant industry. How do you think consumer behavior, particularly in the restaurant industry, has changed over the course of your career? So from Fridays, even, all the way back to when you were getting your MBA at Kellogg to now I know that again, ai was very important in your career at Fridays. So what do you think the biggest changes are?

Sherif: 6:21

I think there's a couple, I think, rightly or wrongly the Internet, the digital era, even before that, in terms of, you know, kind of creating what I will call immediacy.

Sherif: 6:32

When a consumer wants something, they want it now, they want it on their terms, they want it frictionless, they want it without any kind of almost without and I say interaction, but without any blockage to that process.

Sherif: 6:45

And what you're seeing is, you know, the opportunities are there from a technology perspective to provide that right and you can almost get whatever you want now at the click of a button. And you can don't have to be, you know, used to you have to be actually sitting in your office or sitting at home. Now you can just walk around with a supercomputer in your hands and basically get anything you want at any moment, at any time, and that involves a big screen TV to a chicken sandwich. And so this opportunity that we've given consumers has made them basically want the world right. They don't like being told no, they don't like being told you can't have it now, they don't like being told you can't have it on your terms. So what that's also led to, really now driven through AI and some of the machine learning and the data that's out there is.

Sherif: 7:29

Not only do I want it, but I want it specific to me, I want it personalized, right? I don't want to see any marketing now, emails or banners or social posts that are to the public. I want something that's targeted to me. In fact, we're going to get to a point where I don't want just any chicken sandwich. I want it the way I always order it and I want you to know that, and I want it to be in my cart and I want it to come at the exact moment you know I'm going to be hungry, right?

Sherif: 7:54

That level of expectation has gotten so big that, as consumers, we not only expect it, but we demand it, and so the bar has just been raised for every retailer, every restaurateur, everyone that has to deal with a consumer. You can't just offer what you offer to the masses anymore. You can't just do one size fits all. You can't be vanilla, and if you can be more specific and targeted and personalized, you're going to lose because someone else is out there doing. And so consumers, rightly or wrongly, we've made them unreasonable. Almost We've trained a beast that basically has all of these expectations on how they need to be served and what they expect from brands.

Sherif: 8:32

The opportunity for brands is to be able to provide that, but to provide a differentiating hook. Why should someone drive by three other restaurants to come to me? It's got to be more than just the food, it's got to be more than just the service. It's got to be that totality of the experience. And so if you're not thinking about that, and you're not thinking about how you are now understanding that specific customer, how you're using the data that you have on that customer to provide that personalized experience, you're going to lose. You're going to lose to those three other guys that they have to drive by to get to you. To me, it's this expectation that we've set for consumers that is now unleashed. They're always going to expect more. There's always going to expect the next you know cool new thing where they can interact with your brand better, faster, cheaper, more personalized than anywhere else.

Paula: 9:16

I mean, but what's next? I mean, we're at kind of I wouldn't even say it's a tipping point. It's like the tip of the iceberg as far as personalization and instantaneous and predictive actions, predictive analytics that help us understand where the consumer is going. But so where do we go from there?

Sherif: 9:32

Well, I think it's really getting down to this personalization piece, which is, how much more can we know an individual and so how much more can we personalize that experience? I'll give you a simple example. Imagine a drive-thru at a QSR location, a quick service restaurant, and imagine that you don't speak very good English because you come from a different country. You have a different native language. That's fine. The license plate knows who you are. You're greeted by an AI voice at the drive-thru in your native tongue. You can speak.

Sherif: 10:02

The menu board changes to your language just for you. You just see products that are probably ones you're going to want based on your past ordering history, with some recommendations you can speak in your native language, be responded to in your native language order, or just say yes, I want my recommended order that you've made for me and that is going to be two minutes later ready for you to pick up when you drive up to the next window. Now imagine that. Imagine that level of personalization, imagine that level of connection with a guest just based on you knew who they were as they were driving up to the drive-thru. That technology is possible today.

Paula: 10:37

It's a little crazy, but yeah.

Rich: 10:41

So let me take it in a little bit of an opposite direction. You've had the advantage of having been in retail and food and video rental and really seeing consumer behavior from many different perspectives. There's no doubt that AI is generating faster than sometimes we can keep up with it. Personalization is a secret sauce. Do you see there being a counter trend? And my part two to that is where does humanization fit into that?

Sherif: 11:10

Great question, rach. So I think one of the things that we're doing and I was a big proponent of this is how do you utilize some of these technologies to make the human, toto-human interaction better? So one of the things we were testing at Fridays and now we're going to be doing at Friendly's is two things. So there's things that are guest facing, so things that I'll say are above the skin, things that a guest can see. So imagine there is an earpiece in your hostess's ear and imagine, again, based on the cell phone of a guest walking in, that that hostess knows your name, your birthday, your favorite drink, your favorite table. The guest has no idea that that guest walking in, you're walking in, you're talking to a human, but that host or hostess is now so much more knowledgeable about creating a VIP and personalized experience for you because of the technology. They're going to greet you by name. They're going to say Rich, my gosh, how was your birthday last week? You know what? The first drink, and you like both fashions, right, your first drinks on us. We'll have it waiting for you at your table when we see you in a moment. Now, how do you feel? Like wow, right, I'm almost like Norm from Cheers, right, everyone knows my name, they know who I am, they know my favorite drink. I feel like a VIP. Right, I have a differentiated experience, no idea that that earpiece just fed all that to our host or hostess and created the opportunity for that interaction, human to human, to occur.

Sherif: 12:29

Now imagine also on the things that are not basically visible to the guests. So imagine our general manager runs that four walls right. Imagine all the decisions that general manager has to make, from hiring, firing, training, ordering, waste management, theft, labor, scheduling all the pieces right. Imagine if I gave him or her an AI assistant that knew all the data about running that store in the most efficient fashion, knew about the customers that are at that store, the loyalty members, the weather patterns, to be able to order differently from a seasonality perspective, more ice cream versus soup. Now, I just made that general manager a thousand times better.

Sherif: 13:06

But that general manager guess what? Still has to interact with the team, still has to interact with the guests, still has to order, still has to do things, but the technology has made him or her a thousand times better. That's how we think about using technology, especially in this AI world not to replace humans, but to actually make them better and to make those interactions with our guests better, because I believe strongly that hospitality is still human to human, believe strongly that hospitality is still human to human. There'll be kiosks, there'll be automated drive-thrus. End of the day, a lot of us go out and will continue to go out. We hear this from our guests all the time. They want to talk to someone. But I want that someone to have the time to talk to my guests. I don't want them sitting in the back office trying to run labor reports Let a machine do that. I want them out there talking to guests, giving them the information they need to be a better host or hostess, to be a better general manager, to be a better team.

Gautham: 13:54

Sure Can I ask you a follow-up question, just taking the other side of things right. Fully agreed, personalization is critical and there is an increasing demand from consumers on choice, choice that, as a CEO of a very large company, that also induces a lot of operational challenges, right. Be it infrastructure, be it data, be it actually the supply chain, how do you balance that growing need for these with that operational excellence which to me seem to be and correct me, there might be some tensions in there right For sure.

Sherif: 14:30

Yeah, so to us it's we look at. We obviously look at the economics of the totality of what we're putting in place, to your point. Right? So if I can utilize technology, automation, to create cost efficiencies, I may not put those cost efficiencies in my pocket. I may reinvest them into other parts that are required. Right? So if I save money here from a labor perspective or whatever, and I have to put those into the supply chain, if I have to put those into other infrastructure, then to me, if I can at least balance from an economic perspective but provide a better experience to my guests or to my team members, that's a win. I don't need to save that money. What I want to do is generate more traffic, more frequency, more loyalty, more growth. Right, so to me that's an investment, even though I'm moving dollars from one piece of that pie to another.

Paula: 15:20

Yeah. So let's get into you right. Let's get into the human aspect and you and other humans right. This podcast is about making you relatable, which you are, but also how can we make your experience relatable to other people so that when we see that it's achievable? So what do you think is the most underrated or undervalued skill that a person can have?

Sherif: 15:40

I think if there's a couple of things One is, I think at the end of the day, whatever you want to do and kind of moving up in the world, you've got to be a great communicator. I think you've got to have the opportunity to be able to tell the story and to convince people that your story, your path, your plan, your strategy, whatever you want to get done, that those words that come out, that how you talk to people, how you convince people, how you motivate people to be with you on that ship, either makes or breaks you. Right, none of us can be successful on our own. If we can't have a group of people that are willing to go on that journey with us, that willing to see the vision that we want to put out there and get there, you're not going to progress very far in your career, right, you can be the best technician, you can be the best data analyst, you can be the best functionally technical, superior talent in the room. If you can't communicate it, then it will sit and die with you.

Sherif: 16:28

And the second piece I would say is and I tell this to every college class I go to when I'm a guest lecturer, I take an improv class, because if you can't think on your feet, if you can't adapt quickly to just random things being shot your way, you know, here's a scene, here's your character go and you can't do that. I think it's one of the most underrated skills. Best CEOs that I've ever interacted with my mentors, people I've followed are very good on their feet and are very good at adapting to change when it comes from left field, and I think those make the best executives out there.

Rich: 17:07

So let me ask you a question about balance, because I agree and I love the improv example, but if you think about the growth in social media, it was supposed to put us in touch with real news and real facts at a nanosecond. I won't comment beyond that, but we can argue as to whether information is improved or is worse. So now we're facing AI, where I can use AI to improv. How do you encourage those coming up to find that balance between using technology but being personally able to think critically, personally able to improv and think other feet?

Sherif: 17:48

I think, at the end of the day, the thing that will still kind of always make us human, so to speak, is the authenticity of those interactions and that communication and that thinking. And I think if you have a track record of doing it, of speaking kind of from your mind, from your thoughts, from what you believe and why you believe and bring those things to life either, whether it's externally communicating internally to your team superiors, direct reports, I think at the end of the day if you're authentic, that comes through. I've yet to see a chat GBT response that would mirror my tone, my voice, in an authentic fashion. Now we'll probably get there, rich right, but at the end of the day I think you've got to be able to personally kind of put yourself into what you believe and into the path you want people to follow and how you communicate that. And I think you know I'm going to stick with that and you know, let the chat GBT folks go their own path.

Gautham: 18:48

I appreciate that answer that I appreciate that answer. Sure, I'm going to ask you a little bit more of a personal question, in the sense that you know, you've managed movie theaters, you've owned and managed them, you've run restaurants and taken it to the pinnacle, and now you're managing a group of franchises. What accomplishment stands out to you, and why, boy, what?

Sherif: 19:10

accomplishment stands out to you? And why, boy? What accomplishment stands out to me? I'd say I mean, I think there's a couple. I mean one.

Sherif: 19:20

I was very humbled and honored to be able to be a CEO at what I would consider a fairly junior age and I wasn't 40 years yet and to be entrusted with 3,000 stores, 30,000 employees, $2 billion was weighty. You know, talk about imposter syndrome. I didn't believe I belonged in the chair and I, you know, made some stupid mistakes looking back, made some good decisions looking back, but I learned a ton and I wouldn't have traded it for the world. You know, to me that was an amazing experience, something I think I still go back and think about. You know what I did right and wrong, lessons learned that I apply today and how I treat my team and the culture I want to build here, and what I would have done differently Right and so I think having that opportunity was invaluable and I think has made me a better leader today in terms of where I am and the team I have and you know just.

Sherif: 20:14

You know having folks that reach out to me, even today, that kind of just. I get random emails and letters thanking me for helping them in their career in the past. And you know I've won tons of awards CEO of the year, most admired CEO, all that crap. Tons of awards, ceo of the year most admired CEO, all that crap. But at the end of the day it's that personal email I get from an old direct report that makes it all worthwhile.

Rich: 20:37

So you are a card carrying, member of the imposter syndrome club All day, every day, yeah, so I will interject the personal moment. We were having a conversation among three of us last night late about the realization that all three of us are chapter presidents in our respective area.

Rich: 21:15

Which I think actually it's one of the things. Obviously it takes a great deal of diversity in order to especially when you look at hospitality, food services, retail. It's important Whether someone's an introvert or an extrovert, whether they're an alpha or they have imposter syndrome. Everybody coming together makes a difference and I think it's great to meet a fellow imposter syndrome member and see the success that you've had. So I have a feeling it's going to inspire a few people Well, thank you.

Sherif: 21:25

And I'll hold up the Dallas chapter for you until you get some new members here. Appreciate that.

Paula: 21:30

So what's the best advice you've received? So you've talked about giving advice. You gave some great advice so far. Honestly, what's the best advice that you've received that's really impacted you in your career or maybe your personal life?

Sherif: 21:43

It's, I think, the best advice. I mean, let's be honest, I mean, coming out of school, I've been for my competitive lead, you know, in sports, and I'm type A right, no question, very type A personality. I wanted to go as fast and as far, and you know, no one's going to step in my way throughout my life. And so, unfortunately, I didn't mean to do this, but I've taught my girls that and they are ridiculously type A, and so I need to temper them a bit. But I think the best piece of advice I ever got was if you want to go fast, go alone, and if you want to go far, go with your team. And so I have to check myself still to this day, like, well, we should do this and I want to do this and let's go here. And so you know I can be directive with my team. Right, I'm the CEO, go do right.

Sherif: 22:34

That never works. You've got to be able to build the coalition, build the boat and make sure everyone's on it and make sure everyone's rowing in the same direction, because then it's not just far but it's sustainable and it's folks that are in it with you. And when the folks are in it with you, they don't check out of five. They're thinking about it all the time. They're giving me texts on the weekends going well, you said this, but what about this? What if we did this Right? They're always kind of thinking about it. That means they're invested right. That means they're on the boat with you and they want to get to that finish line with you. And to me, if you don't have that, you're not going to go far and you're not, you're probably going to go backwards. To me, have your team with you, the collective team, the organization, with you. Have them understand why they're going in that direction. Have them invested in it, and the culture of making that happen is ultimately what's going to help make you or break you.

Paula: 23:25

Is it fair to say that you really see communications as a key component to being a leader, being a retail, being in business?

Sherif: 23:32

I think it's the most, actually most critical factor. If you can't be a good communicator, if you can't inspire others, you can teach functional, you can teach technical. You can't teach basically who you are. You can, you mean, you can get better at it, but you fundamentally have to want to be a good communicator. You fundamentally want to have to bring people together. It's tough sometimes because again, the easiest thing is like I just, just I want to go do it Right, just go do it. Why do I have to explain it? Why do I have to spend and be inspired by it and make sure they're really with you, not just being paid to be with you? That's the difference, beautifully said.

Paula: 24:22

Gotham Rich. Do you guys have any questions? Before we move on to the fun part, the rapid fire.

Gautham: 24:28

Can I ask a question? This is going to be my tagline, you can mention.

Paula: 24:32

Can I ask a question? This is going to be my tagline.

Gautham: 24:33

I mean you can finish it In almost every point you made you have implied culture and building culture in your organizations and you've used communication and a humble aspect of you to kind of build that, increasing as technology becomes prevalent, culture is a critical glue that holds people together. How do you view building corporate culture today in a technology enabled, technology prevalent world?

Sherif: 24:58

Yeah, I think I couldn't agree with you more. I think culture is the fundamental basis by which any organization needs to have and be built. And so my first 30 days as CEO, half my leadership team meetings and the communications with my organization was on our core values. And so we spent a lot of time, got everyone involved in the office out in the field, our restaurants, because I wanted them to be more than words on a page. I wanted them to be actual things that we live. And so, again, no matter what function you're in whether you're in my technology group, my supply chain group, or a server or a dishwasher in our restaurants every member of this organization can tell you our core values and can tell you what they stand for and can tell you how they live them.

Sherif: 25:43

And to me that's the basis of our culture. And for us it's very simple. We are, collectively and individually, the face of BRICS F-A-C-E. We are friendly, we are accountable, we are committed, we are empowered, and what that means to each level is slightly different. Right, those are big words with lots of meanings underneath, but culturally it's how we operate, it's our core, and when we talk to each other, when we engage with each other. We always kind of go back to those. How are we living our values every day? Our franchisees have adopted those values and they'll tell you. You go to any one of my restaurants. Ask them what the Bricks core values are. They'll say I am the face of Bricks. And so to me, regardless of how advanced, how fast technology moves, we're still organizations run by people. And if you don't have the right culture and the foundation, then there is no amount of chat, gbt that will save you.

Rich: 26:37

So a question from a from a personal perspective how do you personally draw inspiration or what do you do to recharge?

Sherif: 26:49

So I have amazing daughters and so I go watch them either dance or play beach volleyball. That gives me energy and inspiration and I feed off their competitive spirit as well, when I'm lacking it or when I get beat down. And I celebrate the successes of our teams and our franchisees, right? So every store opening, grand opening, I go, and the energy from that new owner and that team you just feed off it. Right so, celebrating the success of others, spending time with my family, that's. I couldn't ask for anything more.

Paula: 27:24

That's beautiful. So let's get into the fun part. Well, the funner part. First thing that comes to your head. Just like we've done before, we'll each take a question. Rich Gotham and I. Are you ready, I guess? So, alright, first one what's your walk-on song?

Sherif: 27:41

Don't worry, be happy. I did not even remember. I know you didn't. I was just trying to throw it for a loop. I could have said, walk like an Egyptian, but that would have been too easy.

Paula: 27:53

I was thinking more like you better do this or you're going to pay more in unshielding Love. Don't work in nappies.

Rich: 27:59

Great. So I have to audible because I have one written down. But I can't help with your food experience asking you at the end of a really tough day and I don't want to put you in a situation where you're dissing one franchise over another but at the end of a really tough day what's your go-to comfort food?

Sherif: 28:16

Wow, my go-to comfort food would actually be. I spent most of my career in Chicago, and so there is nothing that beats Harold's fried chicken as just fantastic, greasy, awesome comfort food. It's baked in beef fat, believe it or not, and it is phenomenal. And aside with it, my go-to drink is an old-fashioned, so it would have to be with an old-fashioned as well, I'm picturing the combination.

Rich: 28:43

I've had the fried chicken, never with jellied lamb, but I'm going to let it work.

Sherif: 28:46

Go give it a try. I'm starving now. Okay, I'm going to go give it a try. So what's the most unusual item you have bought or sold? So I've been back a couple of times. My most recent trip was a couple of years ago, and we were in near the pyramids and found this little vendor that was selling, basically, pieces of the pyramid that they had chiseled off inside. It was, so I have a piece of the pyramid in my house that I keep to remember where I'm from. So it's a little piece I have. That's awesome.

Paula: 29:36

I hate to ruin that beautiful moment, but how authentic do?

Sherif: 29:41

you think that is. It's all about us. Exactly, it's from the pyramids, sorry.

Paula: 29:47

All right. Well, that's it for this, sharique. You have been a wonderful guest, as always. Thank you for your time. Thank you for having me.

Rich: 29:56

That was interesting and I just listening to his background and go from business to business that he's been and what he's learned. I think it's a good example of where you can take skills and really transfer them to different industries if you're continuing to look at, in his case, the customer or the associate and the technology, and so no wonder that Briggs has expanded the way that they have and where his success has been. I found that really interesting.

Paula: 30:24

Yeah, what I love about Sharif is I've talked to him several times, I've interviewed him for so many different things. I know what he's going to say. He always kind of says something similar, but he just always says it in a new light that just resonates with me. So I love coming back to my conversations with Sharif and I love that he talked about his girls and his family, because I know his family his entire family is just fantastic and they really do drive him and give him that energy. I can absolutely vouch for that.

Gautham: 30:50

He came across as very humble, the servant leader kind of thing, right, Focused on his employees and making sure that they excelled in the position. And I love his answer to my question where he talked about it being the FACE and he came up with the acronym for FACE right, so hospitality always has been and always will be a people-centric conversation, right, and so it was really nice for him to bring that you know, with all the focus on technology, bring it all back to the people and I hope we'll always stay focused on that notion that it is people and it is relationships right. That actually ties us all together and creates an experience. I enjoy the conversation.

Rich: 31:36

So I have a question for you guys. As we go further into these podcasts, we're talking to leaders from a variety of fields, from a variety of vantage points within their fields, and you start to hear this common theme that, yes, you have to advance technology and at the same time, it is about people and being customer centric and not just paying lip service to it. To what extent do you think this conversation is happening in boardrooms all across the world? I won't even see the country, and how do you think students are preparing for that?

Gautham: 32:10

Let me take a first cut at that, right? So the way I explain it to my students, since you said how are students preparing for it? I always tell them it's like English or math, right, you got to know it. But that's not going to be a true differentiator. In many ways it's a necessary condition, right? It's how you deploy to build those intangible stuff that matters and I will live and die by this word that a lot of these companies are deploying technology for the sake of technology, for the fear of missing out. And I think until and unless we have people focused on technology, understanding technology, focused on technology to enable these intangibles, those experiences, those moments of delight, we will not really get the full power and scope of technology and what it can do for you. At least, that's the way I teach it to students. We'll see how that goes. I'm hopeful that we'll see that intersection come to life. I'm sure the companies are talking about that right now.

Paula: 33:09

Yeah, I'll take a different perspective on that. I don't know. I don't think that students have had the ability to hear directly from these leaders in this capacity, and that's what excites me about this podcast. So I know that your question was a little different, but the way I want to answer that is these people, when they're in the boardroom, they don't have these direct conversations or talk about people. These are things that they already assume of the other person because they made it to a certain degree and they're definitely not having these conversations with students in this kind of capacity. So I'm excited that we're able to kind of bring that to every person so they can hear directly what these executives think and feel and what's going on quote unquote behind the scenes.

Rich: 33:51

Well, paula, thank you very much for inviting Sharif to the program. He was absolutely both informative and inspiring and really lent a lot of value to our students and our audience, I think. And, gautam, it's always great to see you and you, paula, my podcast BFFs, and until next time with another episode of Retail Relates we are signing off.