Human at the Counter

Episode 7 – Now Hiring: Humans & Algorithms (with Jon Riede) What happens when the first handshake in a job interview isn’t with a person—but an algorithm? In this episode of Human at the Counter , Elizabeth explores the growing role of AI in hiring—from résumé screening and automated video interviews to the promise of reducing bias and expanding candidate pools. But as organizations adopt the...

Artificial Intelligence isn't a future conversation, it's already shaping how we staff, advise, forecast, and serve. In this episode of, Elizabeth sits down with Appalachian State University CIO Keith Werner and Deputy CIO/Deputy COO Tom Van Guilder to explore what responsible AI leadership looks like in high education and why it matters across hospitality and service industries. From predictive a...

In this episode, Elizabeth sits down with hospitality leader Jon Webster to talk about the messy middle of supervising - where data meets humanity., AI meets real-life constraints, and supervisors somehow keep everything (and everyone) from falling apart. It's a conversation for anyone who's ever been the peanut butter holding two slices of organizational expectations together - and for the techno...

Aprons off, wisdom on. Elizabeth dives into the life lessons service work leaves behind - joined by Julie Holmes, a tech innovator helping teams capture their hard-won know-how, to explore how AI can help keep hospitality human.

EPISODE 3 - The Data Diet Data and trends are everywhere in foodservice, but not all of it deserves a seat at the table. In this episode, Elizabeth Riede sits down with industry analyst and strategist Maeve Webster, President of Menu Matters, to talk about how operators can use data to forecast demand, cut waste, and engineer smarter menus without losing the human judgment that makes hospitality w...

EPISODE 2 - The Personal Touch: From Chaos to Connection The moments that matter most in hospitality aren't always the big ones, they're the personal ones. In this episode of Human at the Counter , Elizabeth Riede sits down with Michael Craig , co-founder and Chief Customer Officer of Nutrislice , an Inc 500 SaaS company based in Denver, to talk about how personalization transforms the guest exper...

Episode 1: Humanity Check: Do You Pass? Welcome to Human at the Counter , the show where we explore what it really means to lead, serve, and connect in a world that sometimes feels like it’s running on autopilot. In our premiere episode, host Elizabeth Riede kicks off the conversation about where hospitality is headed in the age of AI, automation, and convenience culture. We ask a big question fac...