HUNGRY.

Restaurants lose bookings because nobody can answer the phone during service. Staff get pulled off the floor to handle repetitive questions, customer emails pile up until after the shift, and enquiries that come in at the wrong moment simply get missed.
Arran Campolucci-Bordi, founder of Ayra and operator of Liverpool institution Casa Italia, is building an AI solution around exactly that problem: a restaurant-trained assistant that can communicate with customers 24/7, understand the individual business and answer questions without adding more work for the team.
Arran joins Dan to explore what AI can actually do for restaurants beyond the hype — from handling guest communication and reservations to analysing margins, labour, menus and customer behaviour. They discuss why AI becomes dramatically more useful once it understands your specific business, how operators are already using ChatGPT and Claude to solve real-world restaurant problems, and where technology should never replace hospitality.
The conversation also digs into the brutal economics facing restaurants, VAT, marketing and PR, before Arran shares the remarkable 50-year story of Casa Italia, the importance of consistency, great service and why Liverpool remains unlike anywhere else.
00:00:00 Intro
00:01:04 What Is AI Actually Good For?
00:11:07 Can AI Make Hospitality More Human?
00:14:07 Why Restaurants Shouldn’t Pay for Reservations
00:16:08 AI-Powered Personalised Restaurant Marketing
00:22:15 The Restaurant Margin Problem
00:25:35 Let AI Analyse Your Restaurant
00:29:13 Can ChatGPT Fix Your Menu?
00:34:57 Systemising the Magic of Hospitality
00:42:50 Turning Gut Instinct Into Data
00:50:05 Could AI Eventually Run Your Business?
00:57:16 Why Restaurant VAT Is “The Problem”
01:03:36 A Marketing Campaign Restaurants Can Learn From
01:05:07 Why Press Still Beats Influencers
01:10:00 Growing Up Inside Casa Italia
01:14:13 Why Casa Italia Never Changed Its Menu
01:21:18 Three Ingredients of a Great Restaurant
01:24:09 Why Service Matters More Than Food
01:27:02 What Makes Liverpool Different?
01:31:08 How Liverpool Reinvented Itself
01:37:10 Why The Beatles Changed Everything  Ayra Edit RSS 2
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♨️Still bloody HUNGRY? Course ya are. Each week I spend 15 hours writing my newsletter. It’ll take you 5 mins to read. Full of wisdom from the biggest names in food and drink. Subscribe here - https://hungryfeast.beehiiv.com/🍲 
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🤝 Let's Connect! 
►Let’s link-up here ​ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-pope/) 
►Stalk me here ​ (https://www.instagram.com/_hungry.pod/) 
This episode was edited by: G.Thomas Craig (https://www.linkedin.com/in/gthomascraig/)

Jamie Oliver has spent decades getting Britain cooking — and occasionally pissing people off while doing it.
But what does it actually take to build, protect and evolve a personal brand that millions of people already have an opinion about?
Alison Corfield, Brand Director at Jamie Oliver Group, joins Dan to unpack the machine behind Jamie: from sugar-tax campaigns and battles with Big Food to Twitter pile-ons, brand partnerships and the fight to stay relevant to a new generation.
They get into Alison’s early days at Virgin, why entertainment beats preaching, how Jamie built extraordinary public trust, the difference between doom scrolling and genuine discovery — and what brands can learn from campaigns like Vaseline.
A cracking conversation about brand, influence, attention and what happens when your founder IS the brand.

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ON THE MENU:
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00:00 Intro
04:46 Virgin Was Doing WHAT on Flights?
07:00 Enter the Jamie Oliver Machine
13:30 Making Serious Issues Entertaining
17:55 Jamie’s Iconic Westminster Moment
23:00 Building Campaigns People Actually Notice
28:51 Why Britain Trusts Jamie Oliver
34:00 When Brand Partnerships Actually Work
38:33 “Jamie Oliver Wants to Ban Everything”
43:00 Keeping Jamie Relevant to New Generations
50:33 When Twitter Turns on Jamie
59:09 The Keith Floyd Rabbit Hole
01:08:52 Doom Scrolling vs Explore Scrolling
01:16:00 How Brands Win Attention
01:21:00 What Great Brand Campaigns Get Right
01:27:00 Building a Brand Bigger Than Content
 ============================================== 
♨️Still bloody HUNGRY? Course ya are. Each week I spend 15 hours writing my newsletter. It’ll take you 5 mins to read. Full of wisdom from the biggest names in food and drink. Subscribe here - https://hungryfeast.beehiiv.com/🍲 
============================================== 
🤝 Let's Connect! 
►Let’s link-up here ​ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-pope/) 
►Stalk me here ​ (https://www.instagram.com/_hungry.pod/) 
This episode was edited by: G.Thomas Craig (https://www.linkedin.com/in/gthomascraig/) 

Ayra is your external front of house. An artificially intelligent communications manager that lives on your website and across your social channels, chatting and responding to customers 24/7 with warmth and personality.
She's trained on your business and built to act. Taking the reservation, holding the card, sending the reminder, recovering the lost booking. Instantly and autonomously.
click the link to learn more.

Did Riordan's ego land him in prison?
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♨️Still bloody HUNGRY? Course ya are. Each week I spend 15 hours writing my newsletter. It’ll take you 5 mins to read. Full of wisdom from the biggest names in food and drink. Subscribe here - https://hungryfeast.beehiiv.com/🍲 
============================================== 
🤝 Let's Connect! 
►Let’s link-up here ​ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-pope/) 
►Stalk me here ​ (https://www.instagram.com/_hungry.pod/) 
This episode was edited by: G.Thomas Craig (https://www.linkedin.com/in/gthomascraig/)

Café Continental founders Ryan Robinson and Lee Ferguson join Dan Pope to break down what it really takes to build a restaurant people actually want to return to.
From balancing creativity with brutal financial realities to going viral, working with food influencers and knowing when an idea simply isn’t working, Ryan and Lee share the principles behind one of Greater Manchester’s most exciting independent restaurants.
They get into why Michelin stars don’t guarantee a profitable business, the nightmare of serving brunch, why overly complicated menus are a red flag, the backlash against small plates, and how Ryan’s years as a DJ shaped the atmosphere and energy of Café Continental.
Plus: Manchester’s creative culture, the influence of San Sebastián, restaurant awards, social media, staying relevant without chasing trends, and why sometimes the smartest thing you can do is admit you got it wrong.
A proper conversation about food, hospitality, business, creativity — and having a good time while doing it.
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ON THE MENU
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00:00:00 Intro
00:00:55 Creativity Is Booming — Restaurants Are Closing
00:04:40 Why Café Continental Had To Feel Different
00:10:55 The Restaurant Strategy That Made Them Viral
00:16:40 Three Things That Keep Restaurants Booked
00:24:00 The Reality Of Food Influencers
00:29:00 Michelin Stars Don’t Make You Money
00:36:00 Why Breakfast Is A Nightmare
00:44:00 Customers Don’t Care About Your Process
00:51:00 Admit When Your Idea Isn’t Working
00:57:00 Manchester’s Next Creative Revolution
01:02:33 From DJ Booths To Restaurant Culture
01:09:33 What Levi’s Teaches Restaurants About Branding
01:16:33 Why They Bet On Stalybridge
01:23:33 Ryan’s Strange Route Into Hospitality
01:30:33 What Makes A Bad Restaurant?
01:35:33 Why Everyone Hates Small Plates
01:43:33 San Sebastián Changed Their Food Philosophy
01:49:33 Great Restaurants Need Great Timing
01:53:33 Don’t Forget To Have Fun 

 ============================================== 
♨️Still bloody HUNGRY? Course ya are. Each week I spend 15 hours writing my newsletter. It’ll take you 5 mins to read. Full of wisdom from the biggest names in food and drink. Subscribe here - https://hungryfeast.beehiiv.com/🍲 
============================================== 
🤝 Let's Connect! 
►Let’s link-up here ​ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-pope/) 
►Stalk me here ​ (https://www.instagram.com/_hungry.pod/) 

Ayra is your external front of house. An artificially intelligent communications manager that lives on your website and across your social channels, chatting and responding to customers 24/7 with warmth and personality.
She's trained on your business and built to act. Taking the reservation, holding the card, sending the reminder, recovering the lost booking. Instantly and autonomously.
click the link to learn more.

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