Chatting Ballard Brands and More with Bill DiPaola & David Mesa

Catching up with Bill DiPaola and David Mesa at Ballard Brands HQ on the north shore of New Orleans was a lot of fun. In this conversation, we covered a lot of ground, including learning about the business, its family roots, multi brand operations and development, approach to technology and more. One insight that I pulled away was that they were very focused on technology impacting experience from the EMPLOYEE prospective first. Let us know what you pulled away from this chat. Follow Us On Facebook and LinkedIn: @MODRNbusiness @Zjfishman (insta too) @RyanThomasHicks (insta too) SPONSORS: SCORPION INTERNET MARKETING: www.Scorpion.co/mb Named the #1 franchise marketing company in America by Entrepreneur Magazine, Scorpion delivers all-in-one solutions for franchise brands looking to defeat disjointed marketing and increase revenue. As a marketing partner, Scorpion assists franchises in the management of branding, website design, online listings, paid advertising, and more, eliminating the need for multiple vendors. To learn more, visit www.Scorpion.co/mb VALYANT.AI: www.valyant.ai Imagine automating the order taking process at your restaurant and freeing your employees to focus on food preparation, payment processing and order accuracy. Valyant AI's artificial intelligence software, think Alexa or Google Home, can speak directly with your customers and take all drive through orders. As a result of automating this task, early Valyant customers have seen their customer’s wait times drop by 10% to 25% on average. The AI never gets tired and you can be assured that in every situation where it makes sense, customers will receive custom up-sell messages. Valyant’s software uses data like trending food items, time of day, weather and even a customer’s decisiveness, to make specific product recommendations. This has resulted in an average order increase of 70%. That’s additional capital you could be earning today. If you think your business could benefit from decreased wait times, and additional revenue, check out www.valyant.ai or contact them directly at info@valyant.ai to learn more. Title Sponsor of the Summer Tour: Franchisors.com Audio Engineer: Ben Kliever