MATT PLAPP of America’s Best Restaurants on Online Marketing That Works

Matt Plapp is on a mission to help the best restaurants become even better. Watch this interview with the America’s Best Restaurants CEO to learn about restaurant tech, collecting customer data, and how it only takes 600 guests to transform your P&L.

WHAT DID YOU LEARN on this episode of the Restaurant Influencers podcast, sponsored by the Toast point of sale and restaurant management company? Let us know by leaving a YouTube comment below!

• Improve Your Restaurant with Toast

CHAPTERS:

[01:38] - Matt Plapp 2-Minute Drill

[03:56] - Restaurant Tech Stack

[06:46] - Technology is a Bridge

[09:55] - 600 Customers Transform Business

[19:46] - America’s Best Restaurants Show

Matt Plapp is a Restaurant Influencer —

The founder and CEO of America’s Best Restaurants jokes that restaurants used to be 20 years behind in technology, but these days restaurants are only 10 years behind.

In addition to running America’s Best Restaurants, Matt Plapp is also CEO and founder of numerous other companies, including Deep Work Space, MPTV, Database Dynamite, and more. He’s also the author of multiple books, including “Don’t 86 Your Restaurant Sales” and Restaurant Marketing That Works.

“I realized we had a secret sauce that was working with restaurants,” Matt Plapp said on the Restaurant Influencers podcast hosted by Shawn Walchef of

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ABR is an acronym of America’s Best Restaurants but it’s also an acronym for Attract, Build, Retain — three principles Matt Plapp’s company follows.

1. ATTRACT — How do you attract the attention of customers?

2. BUILD — How do you build a customer database?

3. RETAIN — How do you keep their attention?

One thing restaurant owners can do right now to improve their business is take a look at the technology they are using (their “tech stack”) and see how they can simplify their processes.

Using Toast for example, allows a restaurant to become a digital restaurant with online ordering and other point of sale technology.

“I think one of the biggest atrocities in restaurant marketing and small business marketing is they don’t actually know who their customers are,” he said. “Point of sales are a key way to gain customer data.”

NOMINATE A RESTAURANT INFLUENCER — Do you know someone or a restaurant who is great on social media? Let us know by emailing influencers@calibbq.media or sending the @calibbqmedia team a DM on social media.

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EPISODE LINKS:

• America’s Best Restaurants Website

• Matt Plapp Website

• Restaurant Owner Podcast and Videos

• Own Their Phones Podcast with Shawn Walchef and Matt Plapp

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SUBSCRIBE TO RESTAURANT INFLUENCERS PODCAST

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ABOUT MATT PLAPP (@mattplapp):

Matt Plapp got his start in digital marketing in the late 1990's, building a website from scratch for a family owned business. By leveraging the new online marketplace of websites and chat rooms, the business grew to be one of the region's largest boat and RV dealerships. Matt soon realized that other businesses could directly benefit from his digital marketing expertise.

• Matt Plapp on LinkedIn

ABOUT RESTAURANT INFLUENCERS:

Welcome to the Restaurant Influencers podcast series. Every week host and restaurant owner Shawn P. Walchef (@shawnpwalchef) talks with leaders in restaurant and hospitality about their secrets to Smartphone Storytelling and how to show up and engage where customers are spending time online.

The entire team at Restaurant Influencers is thankful for Toast (@toasttab) for being the primary sponsor of this show and allowing us to share the stories of successful digital first restaurateurs all over the world. Schedule a Toast Demo

• Entrepreneur Media

• Yelp for Business

• Cali BBQ Media

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RESTAURANT INFLUENCERS IS PRESENTED BY TOAST:

Restaurant Influencers is brought to you by Toast, the powerful restaurant point of sale and management system that helps restaurants improve operations, increase sales and create a better guest experience.

Toast — Powering Successful Restaurants

• Learn more about Toast at