I remember the first POS terminal that I ever saw and used was way back in 1977. It was a monster and weighed a ton! I have no idea what this thing cost or who made it. It was all metal and brown. It didn't have a screen but it did have a keypad for entering data It was not exactly an elegant design, so I know Steve Jobs wasn't consulted.  I learned about PLU (Price Look Up) codes, and remember the thing churning like it was thinking, or trying to.…

It's good to keep track of what is created over time with hard work, passion and dedication. We at FohBoh have always advocated for the restaurant industry, working hard to deliver on our promise and this will only continue as we move in to 2012.

The FohBoh Milestone Timeline: 2007-2011…

I just had a very interesting conversation with a marketing manager at a regional chain a few days ago. She was pretty savvy about restaurant marketing in general and loves the notion of connecting online with her guests. She is in love with social media. In fact, she admitted that she is addicted to TweetDeck and that little tone that bleeps every time a new message arrives. 

It's a neurotransmitter that some researchers have linked our cultural obsession with social media –…

While preparing for my Keynote next Tuesday at #FSMU, I almost want to change the title to "Stress Test, Surviving Silicon Valley". Startups are hard enough without all the strange stuff Silicon Valley tosses at you. I presented to a white-shoe venture fund a couple of weeks ago. They’ve invested in several social media companies and loved what we are doing here at FohBoh. They loved our business model, how we’ve evolved a social media insights and web analytics company, our…

I am not sure what the final attendee count was, but my guess is more than last year and far less than 2008, when attendance was close to 55,000 over the four days. Like most things that occurred before 2008, NRA's annual event is what it is, rather than what was. 

Attitude is what I tend to focus on most. Because I network and communicate and listen to what people are saying, my sense is that this year, the general attitude was great. Industry stakeholders were engaged and willing to…

Checking in at SXSW in was nearly a full-time job. This being my first time I was a bit overwhelmed. If you don't know, SXSW means South-By-South-West, a conference held annually for the past 25 years in Austin, Texas. It started out as a music festival and now, more than 125,000 people attend during its 10 days. This place is nuts. It's where Interactive, film and music intersect. Tech executives, geeks, musicians and movie stars collide with movie buffs, authors, fans,…

I just had a very interesting conversation with a marketing manager at a regional chain a few days ago. She was pretty savvy about restaurant marketing in general and loves the notion of connecting online with her guests. She is in love with social media. In fact, she admitted that she is addicted to TweetDeck and that little tone that bleeps every time a new message arrives.

It's a neurotransmitter that some researchers have linked our cultural obsession with social media – iPhones,…