AN INC TANK ORIGINAL · PUBLISHED WEEKLY
Fresh perspective on hospitality, technology, leadership, and the people moving our industry forward.
71 editions
Several years ago, when I first met Kelly Ann MacPherson, she was commanding the ship at RBI. I remember her quite literally sweeping into the room. People noticed. She had energy, presence, and…
Read the editionBy Michael Beck & Inckey I’ve sat through interviews where everything went exactly according to plan. Those are usually the ones you forget. The room looks right. Someone has spent an unreasonable…
Read the editionBy Michael Beck & Inckey There is rarely a moment before something big when we feel completely ready. We like to imagine there should be some clean little ceremony where the universe hands us a…
Read the editionBy Michael Beck & Inckey The Price of Admission A few days ago I opened one of the first podcast projects we ever produced at Inc Tank, and within about thirty seconds I was asking myself the same…
Read the editionBy: Michael Beck Today we remember. We remember the lives taken on September 11th. The families who woke up that morning in an ordinary America and went to bed in a country that would never feel…
Read the editionAnd why you should be too! By Michael Beck & Inckey Last year, Chad and I went into Prosper Accelerate with expectations. This year, we’re going back with evidence, a few more friends, and a much…
Read the editionAnthony Valletta and the Forgotten Art of Hospitality By Michael Beck & Inckey The restaurant business has a habit of collecting slogans. Some are brilliant. Some are true. Most begin as useful…
Read the editionBy Michael Beck & Inckey One of the reasons I keep coming back to The Prosper Company's Prosper Forum and Prosper Accelerate conferences is because they understand that the most valuable thing in the…
Read the editionBy Michael Beck & Inckey This week, I’m heading to Orlando for Prosper Forum at The Ritz-Carlton Grande Lakes, where leaders from some of the most recognizable brands in foodservice and hospitality…
Read the editionHow Tim Gannon's appetite for adventure shaped one of America's most beloved restaurant brands. The whole story began with a saddle. Tim Gannon's Lucky Saddle Not a restaurant, a business plan, or…
Read the editionWhy the Best Restaurant Leaders Invest in People Before They Need Them By: Michael Beck & Inckey Restaurants have never had a shortage of numbers. We measure food cost to the penny, labor to the…
Read the editionWhy Great Restaurant Leaders Build People Before Pressure Reveals the Gaps By Michael Beck & Inckey Walk into almost any restaurant in America and you'll find systems for everything. There are recipe…
Read the editionWhy the Best Restaurant Employers Win Long Before They Start Recruiting By Michael Beck & Inckey The companies that will define the next decade of the restaurant industry won't be the ones that hire…
Read the editionBy Michael Beck & Chad Horn I've become convinced that restaurants don't have a loyalty problem. They have a memory problem. That realization didn't come from one conversation. It came from three.…
Read the editionBy: Michael Beck & Chad Horn Ex Machina is a Latin phrase that means "from the machine." Its older theatrical cousin, Deus Ex Machin;"God from the Machine" described a storytelling trick used in…
Read the editionBy: Michael Beck A restaurant owner I know recently sat down with what he assumed would be a simple task: figuring out exactly what technology his company was paying for each month. This wasn't…
Read the editionBy Chad Horn and Michael Beck I joked with a friend yesterday that I need to get a T-shirt made that says, "Bro, do you even Claude?" The original meme, "Bro, do you even lift?", has already been…
Read the editionMost restaurant operators spend a lot of time looking for growth. New customers. New locations. New marketing channels. New revenue streams. It's a natural instinct. Growth feels like something you…
Read the editionBy: Michael Beck & Inckey Bot Not everyone is built to move first. Especially in hospitality, where most operators already spend their day balancing labor shortages, rising food costs, online reviews…
Read the edition(wait, it doesn’t have feelings) The Setup Three weeks ago, I leveraged Claude to help me with a 12-month plan to build an advisory/consulting business while also keeping my eye open for the right…
Read the editionBy: Michael Beck and Inckey Bot The first generation of Voice AI tried very hard to impress us. It spoke quickly, summarized things, booked appointments, and answered questions with the determined…
Read the editionMost restaurant operators are not sitting around debating the future of artificial intelligence. They’re trying to survive Tuesday, which in hospitality is less a weekday and more a recurring stress…
Read the editionBy: Marcus Wasdin I’ve spent my career on both sides of the table. I’ve run a P&L as an operator. I’ve run one as a solution provider. I currently sit on the board of a voice AI company in the…
Read the editionBy Michael Beck & Inckey There is a moment in every tech company when things start working just enough to convince everyone they are geniuses. A few deals come in. Sales calls feel less like…
Read the editionBy: Michael Beck & Inckey I read Your AI Survival Guide after I saw Sol Rashidi, MBA speak at MURTEC, which turned out to be the right order. Seeing her first felt like watching someone calmly…
Read the editionBy Kilgore Ransom and Inc Tank For ten years, we have lived under a singular delusion regarding our dinner. We believed that apps like DoorDash and Uber Eats were the new town squares of commerce. We…
Read the editionBy: Michael Beck There’s a moment, usually somewhere between your third meeting of the day and your second “that’s a great point,” where you realize you’ve been participating in a performance you…
Read the editionBy: Michael Beck That is what Sol Rashidi, MBA did this week at MURTEC in Las Vegas. And after a couple decades in restaurant technology, I have learned that when a room full of operators actually…
Read the editionBy: Michael Beck Once upon a time a chef wrote a menu and believed it came from inspiration. Travel. Childhood memories. Possibly a grandmother who cooked with enough garlic to discourage vampires…
Read the editionBy: Michael Beck & Inckey Alex woke up to the hum of his laptop, which had decided overnight that it was sentient and deeply disappointed in him. The AI dashboard blinked. Somewhere in the corner, a…
Read the editionBy Michael Beck There are books about engagement that read like they were written by a committee of well hydrated consultants who have never felt joy but have studied it extensively. They define…
Read the editionBy Chad Horn I spent an hour last week in a deep dive with two colleagues, one a seasoned networker, the other a founder building a platform in the emerging "Relationship AI" space. The goal of this…
Read the editionHow Jason Riggs AI Wisdom is Elevating Product Management and Shaping Audivi AI By: Michael Beck & Inckey Why I Fell in Love with Jason M. Riggs’ Brain Reading The MACH-10 PM felt like being strapped…
Read the editionBy: Michael Beck There are many books about culture. Most of them treat culture like a fragile heirloom fern. Water it occasionally. Compliment it publicly. Never ask why it smells faintly of decay…
Read the editionWhy Inc Tank GTM Backed Audivi and Why the Market Is Done Pretending By: Michael Beck & Inckey CES has a special talent. It can make anything feel inevitable. Flying cars. Quantum fridges. And, last…
Read the editionBy: Michael Beck & Inckey Restaurants embraced digital transformation the way people embraced Ozempic. With genuine hope. Some early wins. And the quiet assumption it would solve more than it…
Read the editionA completely unofficial and slightly unhinged guide to the awkward pause By Michael Beck & Inckey There's a moment in life that feels like standing in a hallway where all the doors are closed, the…
Read the editionWe Went to Google for the First Time and Learned Why Restaurants Are About to Win or Disappear Quietly By: Michael Beck & Inckey I arrived at Google ’s New York office on December 10th with two…
Read the editionBy Michael Beck & Inckey The story begins in a room that hums like it knows a secret. Not a comforting hum, like a refrigerator settling into a peaceful life of temperature regulation, but the kind…
Read the editionKitchens have always behaved like living organisms that refuse to fill out the paperwork. They bustle and hiss and improvise. They hide things. They reveal other things at the most inconvenient…
Read the editionBy: Michael Beck and Inckey Bot This week every platform announced yet another breakthrough in automated creativity, which is impressive in the same way a toaster trying to recite poetry is…
Read the editionA modern retelling of a story that is perhaps more meaningful now than ever. By Michael Beck & Inckey Bot Picture a mountain. Not the kind with soft morning light and a contemplative goat perched on…
Read the editionNovember 04, 2025 | Read Online By: Michael Beck & Inckey-Bot The Why: Emotion Moves Faster Than Code People do not buy what you build; they buy how it makes them feel when the Wi-Fi holds, the line…
Read the editionBy: Chad Horn There are a lot of conferences in our world: leadership summits, franchise shows, supplier showcases. But Prosper Accelerate feels like something new. It’s not just another badge to…
Read the editionBy: Chad Horn The lunch rush hits. Orders pile up on screens. Then one location’s network drops. No payments. No loyalty scans. Staff scramble with the best available backup plans while cars crawl…
Read the editionBy: Chad Horn Picture this: the Gaylord Palms, a tradeshow day at its end, and a $40 parking fee staring us in the face like a Death Star laser. Most mortals would sigh, swipe, and pay. Beck? He…
Read the editionLast Sunday was not your average Sunday. While some folks were scrolling, brunching, or watching pregame shows, more than 60 of us climbed onto fan boats and pontoons and launched the first chapter…
Read the editionBy: Michael Beck Fred Rogers once said that in scary times, you should look for the helpers. He meant firefighters, nurses, neighbors, people who show up when the world feels unmanageable.…
Read the editionBy: Chad Horn We’re about to be full swing into the fall trade show season. For some of the industry tech shows in the rear view and for some coming up, it seems like attendance is a bit down. And…
Read the editionA cautionary Tale for Founders and Builders with their eye on the prize.. By: Michael Beck Make sure to take time to make time for what matters. Since October, I have been working 100+ hour weeks.…
Read the editionBi-line: Michael Beck: GTM Sales Strategist, Pattern Interrupter, Neuro-Spicy Creative CEO & Founder of Inc Tank GTM | CEO & Chairman of the Back to Blue FoundationGulf War Veteran & Host of the…
Read the editionBy: Michael Beck It all started innocently enough, coffee in one hand, mouse in the other, a look of skeptical optimism painted across my face as I clicked "Generate." The AI promised me a complete…
Read the editionBy: Michael Beck Have you ever stumbled across something so offbeat, so brashly out of sync with the day’s droning rhythm, that you not only remembered it, you had to grab someone by the sleeve and…
Read the editionBy: Chad Horn Let's get brutally honest: Networking, as we knew it, is on life support, and reciprocity? Forget it. America's once-celebrated ethos of mutual support and "pay-it-forward" generosity…
Read the editionBy: Michael Beck It all started on my 54th birthday, when my wife gifted me the sexiest, most age-indicting item imaginable: reading glasses. But these weren’t your garden-variety, half-moon,…
Read the editionBy Chad Horn, COO, Inc Tank GTM You don’t have to spend much time in the restaurant tech scene before hearing a common grumble: "Why do so many operators just follow the herd when picking their tech…
Read the editionBy: Michael Beck 🕵️ Planning the Heist: The Making of Our Ocean’s 15 Because the house always wins. Play long enough, you never change the stakes, the house takes you. Unless, when that perfect hand…
Read the editionIt’s the summer of 2025, and Clark Griswold is ready. In the dim light of his home office, Clark leans over his laptop, eyes gleaming, fingers flying across the keyboard. The only sound is the soft…
Read the edition“Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.” – The Dread Pirate Roberts Welcome to consulting, the only profession where you’re simultaneously a wizard, a jester, a…
Read the editionBy Chad Horn, COO of Inc Tank GTM You don’t have to spend long in this industry, especially if you go to a handful of conferences, to figure out that restaurant operators have heard it all before.…
Read the editionHow Corporate America Gave Us Sweatpants and Then Took Them Away Act I: The Death of Dignity (and Pants) Picture this: A lone human, crouched over a MacBook, wearing a crisp Oxford shirt and...…
Read the editionIt started with a camera. Just a simple camera. Mounted somewhere high, blinking with quiet judgment, watching people like a librarian with a memory for overdue books. But now? That camera has…
Read the editionThe Future is Just Yesterday’s Crazy Idea That Didn’t Get Laughed Out of the Room There’s a line I’ve always loved, part poetry, part prophecy: “Many a rose blooms unseen.” It’s beautiful. It’s…
Read the editionThere are restaurant CIOs and CTOs who move through the technology landscape like cosmic wanderers, visionaries, architects of the future, modern-day Prometheans wielding the sacred fire of cloud…
Read the editionBuilding from the Ether The founder’s journey isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s a rollercoaster powered by sleepless nights, caffeine overdoses, and an almost delusional belief that you can pluck an…
Read the editionWhy Women Change the Game Organizations don’t thrive because they play it safe. They thrive when they embrace different perspectives, challenge the status quo, and push boundaries. Women bring an…
Read the edition1. To Be or Not to Be: The Trade Show Dilemma Ah, the existential question: To trade show, or not to trade show? Is it nobler to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous sponsorship fees, or to…
Read the editionOnce upon a time in the wild, untamed jungle of hospitality tech, where buzzwords skitter about like caffeinated squirrels and the term "disrupt" is wielded with the precision of a drunk toddler…
Read the editionIgnoring the Warning Lights: Why Leaders Must Listen Before It’s Too Late Running a business without listening to the truth-tellers on your team, the people who are both able to see the issues with…
Read the editionAh, the Super Bowl. That great American spectacle where men in padded armor attempt to move a weirdly shaped ball down a field while millions of people scream at their televisions, fueled by nachos…
Read the editionOnce upon a time, in a not-so-distant past, running a restaurant was simple. You sold food, paid staff, kept the lights on, and hopefully, by the end of the month, there was money left in the till.…
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