A fireside chat with leaders from Boston Retail Partners and Windstream as they share how guest expectations are pulling the restaurant industry to invest in improving the dining experience.

Digital is greatly impacting guest behavior and operators are scrambling to close the execution gap between guest expectations and technology capability.

I sat down for an informal chat with Melissa and Aaron to get some perspective on our global survey on emerging technology in retail, and understand what is required to execute on these fancy hyped terms. Opinions flew, but no data-points were harmed during our conversation. A transcript of our candid chat follows.

People are the core of digital transformation. “Digital” is more than selling stuff on the web. The core of retail needs a gut rehab. A thought exercise for SAP. Costco co-founder Jim Sinegal’s prophylactic references. This, and more in my recap of SAP’s 2017 Retail Executive Forum in NYC.

Notes from my fireside chats with some of the most talented professionals in the consumer industries responsible for driving digital transformation for their brands.