Webinar
Your Restaurant’s Not Perfect and Why That’s a Good Thing: Harnessing The Hidden Value of Guest Recovery
April 1, 2025
You may be frustrated by the mistakes made in your restaurant, but each one is actually an opportunity. The reality is that guest issues are inevitable, but what separates thriving restaurants from struggling ones is how they handle them. In this webinar, Zack Oates dove into the hidden value of guest recovery, explored how restaurants can turn negative experiences into opportunities for long-term loyalty and revenue growth.
Attendees learned:
- Why traditional feedback methods fail to capture real guest sentiment and keep guests coming back
- The true cost of a lost guest (and how just ten lost customers can cost restaurants nearly $30,000 per year).
- How to recover 5X more of your unhappy guests
- How to leverage the "service recovery paradox" to turn unhappy guests into brand advocates
Join us for a data-driven, actionable session that will change how you think about guest recovery and why embracing imperfection could be the key to your restaurant's success.
Meet the Speakers
Zack Oates
Founder & CEO
Ovation
Zack Oates is a three-time founder who launched an international NGO, rang the NASDAQ bell, was recognized as a Top 100 Entrepreneur three times, authored a book, hosted over 350 podcast episodes, traveled to 50 countries, and speaks at dozens of events annually.
His journey in the restaurant industry began as a teenager at Friendly's, where he learned that everything revolves around the guest experience. However, the existing ways to measure that experience—online reviews and long surveys—were either unfair to businesses or inconvenient for guests. This realization led him to eventually start Ovation, the #1 guest experience management platform for restaurants. Ovation helps restaurants collect frictionless feedback, engage with guests in real-time, and achieve operational excellence, and serves thousands of restaurants across the country.
Gregg Majewski
Founder & CEO
Craveworthy Brands
Gregg Majewski is the CEO and founder of Craveworthy Brands and former CEO of Jimmy John's Gourmet Sandwiches. He also serves as the CEO of Dirty Dough Cookies.
While at Jimmy John's, Gregg expanded the company from 33 restaurants to 300 open and another 600 sold. He implemented and restructured all 300 of Jimmy John's restaurants' operational standards by introducing new systems, procedures, management incentive programs, training programs, franchisee enablement and shifting marketing strategies toward grassroots and a focus on freaky fast delivery.
Known for driving business transformation while putting people first, Gregg leads teams with humility. His approach includes introducing new revenue streams and crafting effective grassroots marketing strategies.
Gregg serves on the Board of the Texas Restaurant Association, the Advisory Board of Ovation, and the Lunchbox Food Tech Council. He lives in the greater Chicago area with his family.
Meet the moderator
Mandy Wolf Detwiler
Editor
Pizza Marketplace and QSRweb
Mandy Wolf Detwiler is the site editor for PizzaMarketplace.com and QSRweb.com. She has more than 20 years' experience covering food, people and places.
About The Sponsor
Ovation
How Great Restaurants Get Better - Guest Experience Management Platform
Ovation is a guest experience platform for multi-unit restaurants that starts with a 2-question survey to drive revenue, streamline guest recovery, and easily improve operations. Thousands of restaurants, including leading brands like Dave's Hot Chicken, use Ovation to get more feedback, recover guests in real-time, and improve.
