This month we’re talking about the RC Show by Restaurants Canada. It’s Canada’s leading foodservice & hospitality expo. Al talks to Anna Pham, Director of Content & Programming at Restaurants Canada about what to expect at this year’s show and how you can make the most of your visit. Al is also joined by Maryam Saeed, Chief Risk Officer at Visa Canada to talk fraud prevention and what entrepreneurs can do to keep their business safe from fraudsters.
This month we’re talking about the RC Show by Restaurants Canada. It’s Canada’s leading foodservice & hospitality expo. Al talks to Anna Pham, Director of Content & Programming at Restaurants Canada about what to expect at this year’s show and how you can make the most of your visit. Al is also joined by Maryam Saeed, Chief Risk Officer at Visa Canada to talk fraud prevention and what entrepreneurs can do to keep their business safe from fraudsters.
Also in this episode:
Links of Interest:
Chapters:
JGB April_mixdown
Allan: [00:00:00] It's April, and that means my favorite season, spring. It also means baseball, NHL and NBA playoffs, taxes, the beginning of Q2 for many businesses, and if you're in the restaurants and hospitality industry, it means the RC Show by Restaurants Canada. April is a very busy month. Now our focus this month is going to be on the RC show.
We'll talk about what it is, why it's happening, and why, if you're a restaurateur, you might consider attending. But, fair warning, I do not recommend you listen to this episode on an empty stomach. Otherwise, enjoy, bon appetit, and tuck in. It's just good business.
I'd like to welcome back my co host for this month, R. P. Pleward. R. P., thank you so much for co hosting this month. My
RP: pleasure, Al. It seems like only last month I was on the show talking about the big game at Valentine's Day.
Allan: It was last month, but we couldn't [00:01:00] do this month's theme without somebody from UWE joining us.
It just wouldn't be right. So here you are again. I got a feeling we're going to be talking about the RC show. That's right. And we're not talking remote control toys, although I would totally go to that show. So would I, but so would I,
RP: uh, but no, it's even more delicious than that. It's the annual hospitality and food service event put on by Restaurants
Allan: Canada.
That's right. And this month we're going to talk about the RC show What you can expect to see if you attend, and why you should attend if you're in the hospitality or food service. Sounds good. Now, Arpit, the reason I asked you to co host is because you're a marketing expert at YouEat. I am. Remind our listeners, what does YouEat do?
Sure,
RP: so YouEat provides easy to use ordering solutions for the Canadian restaurant industry. Online ordering, mobile app, self serve kiosk, third party delivery management tools. We've got it all. Mm hmm. And you guys are going to have a booth at this year's RC show. Yeah, we wouldn't miss it. So what can folks expect at the UWE booth this year?
If you come by our booth, you'll be able to try out our latest in self [00:02:00] ordering technology through our kiosk and our online ordering tools. We'll also be showcasing some cool integrations that we have with loyalty through data candy. And of course, our payment integration with Moneris. Beta candy, that sounds sweet.
Oh, you went there. Come on, that was punny. If you say so.
Allan: So what else do you have in store for this episode? Well, I'm going to continue the RC Show talk with Anna Pham. She's the Director of Content and Programming at Restaurants Canada. She's the perfect person to speak to. Indeed. And that's not all.
What else do you got? In our Ask the Expert segment, I've got Maryam Saeed. She's the chief risk officer at Visa Canada. She's coming on to talk about fraud and how you can keep yourself and your business secure. Very important topic. And Sydney Lupton returns with the fourth installment of the Merchant Journey series.
RP: Speaking of delicious, I've been following along with the story of Steven Grace and their charcuterie boards. It makes me hungry just thinking about it. Me
Allan: too. But first let's listen to my chat with Anna Pham from Restaurants Canada.[00:03:00]
I'm joined by Anna Pham. She's the director of content and programming at Restaurants Canada. Anna, thank you so much for joining me today.
Anna: Thanks for having me.
Allan: Now for the listeners who don't know what Restaurants Canada is, can you give us a quick description? Of course,
Anna: Restaurants Canada is kind of the backbone advocacy group.
We do a lot of the lobbying that a lot of the food service industry don't know about. And then we are also a members association. So we represent food service from chains to multi units, all the way to independent operators nationwide. And Restaurants Canada is actually celebrating our 80th year this year.
So, you know, we've been around for a while.
Allan: One of the things Restaurants Canada does is put on this annual RC show. What's the RC show about?
Anna: The RC show is incredible. I'll speak from the experience of an attendee [00:04:00] when I was jamming different restaurants and working in the food service industry, this is where the operator, the owner, uh, would be a member with Restaurants Canada and grab tickets for all their managers.
And of course for their hourly staff as well. Well, to do a great staff outing. So the RC show happens at the inner care center. It's a three day conference and trade show. It's a beast. It is massive. You know, you think you can go in one day, but really you can't, you need the full three days to absorb in all that is happening.
And again, the show is to celebrate the food service industry from having brands represented there to show new products and offerings, suppliers, innovative, new equipment. All the way to our six stages where we are covering thought leadership, great panel discussions, you know, conversations that can get the brain going.
That's the part that I curate and programs at the show.
Allan: Now I understand for the larger kind of restaurant organizations, why they might want to send their employees. But if you're like a, you know, a small mom and pop shop, what would be in [00:05:00] it for them to attend a show like this?
Anna: I think for a small mom and pop, which of course I've also worked in as well before, I think sometimes the myths, because you don't maybe have the financial benefits in contributing into your HR or your staff training new ideas and trends and like wine and bar that I think the show is where you can go and get like a quick crash course.
All of the speakers that we have there can give really amazing insight for independent operators. We have independent Operators speaking on panels as well on what they do to bring success to the table and more revenue to the table. I think sometimes as well as independent operators, we are so in the grind in the day to day working the floor, doing the admin that we don't have an opportunity to really reset and learn.
And so the show offers that aspect.
Allan: Now, this year's RC show, as you said, is at the Intercare Center in Toronto, starting April 8th. What can folks expect to see at the show this year?
Anna: [00:06:00] Oh my God, where do I even start? So much. I feel like every year it's bigger and better. Obviously, we've moved away from hybrid.
This year, we have a ton of competitions. Let's start with that. So this is our second year doing our pizza competition. It's happening over two days. We have some pretty big pizza don sitting on the judging panel. First day, we're doing traditional pizza. Next day, we're doing a little more freestyling. And so that is something that's new to celebrate the pizzaiolos and the pizza industry, all the way to a fried chicken competition.
A bar cocktail competition, three different types of coffee competition. So that in of itself is just kind of wrangling the passion and the energy of different sectors within the food service industry. And then on top of that, of course, like I'd mentioned, we do have six stages. So each stage. Brings and delivers content that maybe you just don't want to sit on another webinar.
I think the one that is [00:07:00] very special that I'm quite proud about this year is the blueprints for new business that's happening in our studio X blueprints for new business. Is a closed door classroom style stage where people can go in and take sessions and really learn from ground zero how to tap into the food service market and also how to build a business.
There is a little bit of a conversation in food service that a lot of the times people might just have startup capital and a design idea and they just. Go with it and not really think about the business side of it. So we're giving the foundation of how to start a food service business. And you're looking at market gaps and opportunities with a research group.
You're maybe seeing a panel of black entrepreneurs and how they've tapped into the food service industry, but you're also. Leveraging social media and content strategy. So that is a pretty great one.
Allan: Now with these industry events every year, there seems to be like [00:08:00] one kind of prevailing, whether it's new technology or trend lately, it's been a lot of around AI.
What's the biggest trend that you think a lot of people are talking about in the restaurant industry for this year?
Anna: It really is AI in restaurants
Allan: too.
Anna: Yeah, it really is AI and it really is a value proposition for the guests. I'll start with the AI part. It's not just a bunch of operators sitting around and wondering how they can replace their staff with AI.
It's more of after the pandemic operators have also lost a lot of staff. And so they're trying to figure out different ways that they can cut back. Back on certain avenues of labor and work that supports them. Ideally in the admin side, there's a lot of strenuous like invoicing and the accounting side that really managers shouldn't have to be boggled down on.
They should be on the floor. They should be giving that like touch point, personal service that guests are paying for. No
Allan: one goes into opening a restaurant to be a [00:09:00] bookkeeper and accountant. So.
Anna: And staffing, like just eating so much. Scheduling staff and comparing it to your sales. Like the fluctuating of sales week to week is enough itself.
It takes time. Right? So there are definitely some great platforms out there that can pull your sales, have your staff input their own hours, and they do the math for you. And you just feel Print and send out the schedule, which is amazing.
Allan: You mentioned the other emerging trend was value proposition. What do you mean by that?
Anna: I think again, post COVID diners have a different expectation of what a dining experience is in a restaurant. Accompanying inflation. I think diners are expecting. expecting a lot more when they are paying a higher price, forgetting that the restaurants are also paying a higher price for their costs. And also of course their staff and whatnot as well.
So that's a big discussion.
Allan: Another thing that's a common in these industry shows are keynote speakers. Do you have anybody exciting speaking at this year's show?
Anna: Yes, we do. So I try [00:10:00] to make sure that there's a nice wide range of speakers that can speak to the different sectors and sections of the industry.
On our speaker stage, we have Miru Dwala, who is a chef from out west, uh, really renowned, does incredible work with her community, is the owner of Vija's Restaurant, is really paving the way of making sure that Women are recognized and that women are properly trained within the kitchen. And also a lot of the stories behind it too, is a lot of these women are also.
Immigrant women, because that is her story as well. We also have, this is a really fun one is chef Wallace Wong. We'll be doing a knife skill presentation on our culinary stage. Chef Wallace Wong just recently won a Guinness world record for the fastest chopping. Blindfolded, he's huge on tick tock, massive on tick tock.
So I'm really excited to have him back this year. We [00:11:00] also have Andre Houston Mack, who will be the head keynote for our bar stage. A sommelier from New York and also a winemaker. He also works and does a lot of content with Bon Appetit. And my favorite segment from him is he brings a bunch of celebrities onto his show.
He's a big YouTuber as well, brings a bunch of celebrities onto a show, picks a varietal, you know, noir, let's say different price points and does a tasting and see if you know Eva Longoria can differentiate between the 250 bottle of Pinot and a 10 bottle. So he'll be there as well. Amazing. And then.
Breakfast with champions. We have Miss Mosu, a wonderful drag queen within Toronto who will be hosting, uh, and bringing a lively energy and then flying in Gabriel Stallman, a wonderful restauranteur as well from New York, who will be speaking on the modern day operator experience. It
Allan: sounds like so much fun.
So if I was interested in attending the show, where can I learn more and register?
Anna: So you can go to [00:12:00] www. rcshow. com. Of course, on there, you can register for the show. I would encourage that if you're an operator with a team, there are also packaged for like a team outing, which of course, you know, if you think about costs, it'll probably be less for each ticket.
And then of course, we also have a lot of ancillary events around the show as well. We have a really big industry night out. We also have the breakfast that I had just mentioned, all of which you can purchase tickets for on the website.
Allan: Unlike other industry shows, I imagine the food service at this show had better be top notch.
Anna: It's amazing. Yesterday, we just did a sneak preview for our media of our pop up experience and the pop up experience business, completely curated menu, just for show by a chef Missy from a restaurant called Andor. And the food is next level. It's. Quite fascinating. She, yesterday, she did a braised bison, which was really, really good.
So expect to be tasting food items like that at the show. And like I'd [00:13:00] mentioned, three days is not enough for you to taste and drink all that is to offer.
Allan: That sounds delicious. Thank you so much for your time today, Anna.
Anna: Anytime.
Allan: It's now time for our Merchant Journey segment, part four. And I'm joined once again by Sydney. Sydney, thank you so much for joining me.
Sydney: Absolutely, Alf. No problem.
Allan: So for those of you who haven't been following along with this story, you may want to go back, uh, three episodes and listen to the parts one through three of this merchant journey, just so you can be caught up.
Today we present part four and we've gone through this journey with Samantha. She's met with our salesperson Amberlynn and Amberlynn has suggested to her the Mineris Online solution, and then she met with. Shira and Shira has helped build her website with the Manera solution. Today is the reveal. I love a reveal.
Sydney: I know it's pretty exciting. So everything is all finished up and she'll be able to get the [00:14:00] website up and going.
Allan: All right. Well, let's listen to your chat with Samantha.
Sydney: Hi, Sam. How are you? Great. How are you? Good. So we're at the point now where you have met with Amberlynn and Shira to get your website fully developed.
So what did you think of that overall process? Yes.
Sam: It was really nice to have people that are knowledgeable with how to develop websites and set it up. We already had a Wix account, but it was definitely beneficial to have somebody that understood sort of the nature of our business and why we needed a restaurant site through Wix to sell our product online.
It was a great process because it took a lot off us having somebody that was both Amber, who was our contact for Moneris and, and Shira, who was the developer. Definitely made it easy. I'm glad that worked out. Were you happy with the overall result of the website once it was finished? Yes, we got lots of feedback from people.
It's beautiful and it was functioning far better than our other sites.
Sydney: Happy to hear that. Overall, could you just describe the process of your website before and after the transition with [00:15:00] Moneris and Wix?
Sam: Sure. Prior to the Moneris e commerce site, we only were able to accept, uh, e transfers or cash. And that was us then filling out a form and then us contacting them, setting up how they wanted to pay.
It was a lot of back and forth, whereas now they can put it in their cart. They check out, there's delivery pickup options. And for smaller items, we don't actually have to have customer contact. It's seamless and it works for both parties. Great to hear. My pleasure.
Sydney: Okay, Sam, thank you so much for being here.
Hopefully, we will be able to talk again in a couple months to see how this overall process has changed your business. Great. Looking forward to it. Thanks.
Allan: And that was Sydney's chat with Samantha. It sounds like she's pretty happy with the result of her website.
Sydney: Yeah, I think everything worked out really well for her, and I think it's only good things to come from here.
Allan: So, next and final installment of the merchant journey, what's the plan? I
Sydney: think we're going to wait about three months just to see how her sales change and, uh, you know, converting website visits to [00:16:00] customer purchases with those visits.
Allan: And through the magic of podcasting, we're not going to wait three months.
We're actually going to have That story in next month's edition of just good business. So stay tuned. Thank you so much, Sydney, for joining me today.
Sydney: No problem. I'll talk soon.
Cass: Take your business into tomorrow today with Manaris go the payment terminal designed to help you thrive, accept payments, curbside, roadside, or even seaside. Let's go stay charged. Sunrise to sunset. Let's go simple set up data reports and 24 seven support. Let's go, let's go, let's go. Let's go. Order today and enjoy no POSDs for three months and a cash back of up to 500.
Terms and conditions apply. Visit go. manaris. com. Slash let's go.
Allan: Let's [00:17:00] go. I'm joined by Miriam Saeed, she's the head of risk at Visa Canada. Miriam, thank you so much for joining me today.
Maryam: Thank you, Alan, for having me here.
Allan: Now, you're on as our expert to answer this question asking, every March I hear the reference to fraud prevention month.
Why is there a month dedicated to fraud and shouldn't that happen year round?
Maryam: I'll start by saying it should happen year round and our best effort is to make sure that we're sharing information all year round, but we're celebrating 20 years of Fraud Prevention Month in Canada. It kind of brings us back, the entire industry focuses on this one message, so it's now loud resonating with everyone.
You know, Fraud Prevention Month, it's a valuable time for Canadian businesses and consumers to educate themselves about financial security threats. Learn more about evolving protection measures and do all that they can to make sure that they're protected when making or accepting a payment.
Allan: It's kind of like, you know, a lot of people twice a year when the hour changes, they'll check the batteries in their smoke alarms.
I mean, they're checking for fire [00:18:00] year round, but every year you have that one time where you're going to make sure that your prevention measures are set. Absolutely. We've all heard about the scam, phone calls and emails that we're all inundated with. So everyone's at risk of fraud. What can customers do to have that peace of mind that they're not going to be victims of fraud?
Maryam: I, I'll start with saying that the payments landscape has become highly digital, meaning that there are many customers who are not paying online, which is very different from when you're paying in person, keeping this in mind. Customers should remain vigilant by practicing really what I call basic security hygiene.
If something as simple as, and I list a few for you, is to not use the same password across all your online accounts. To make sure that when you get a link or an email with a link asking for information, to really carefully consider and play a little bit of detective to see what the source of the email is, why you're being asked for this information.
If the information they're asking for includes your payment [00:19:00] credentials or your personal identity, like your government ID. I would strongly recommend to take a pause, take a look, and once again, play detective to see if this is legitimate. Third, I would say is be careful around connecting to unprotected Wi Fi hotspots.
We all have been guilty of doing this at one time or another in our lives, but with cyber criminals getting increasingly Sophisticated, not only at the business level, but also at the individual level, it's very important to show, you know, what you're connecting to if you're traveling, try not to put a USB port into a terminal to charge your phone or your device, take the adapter with you, because they can load malware, which can then inspect through the USB and then really keeping to the simple, if something is too good to be true, it probably is, if I step back from all of this and give you one piece of advice.
It's stop and think, are you a victim of a fraud? I always have that suspicious hat on, especially given today's environment.
Allan: Now, on the other side of the coin, most of our listeners are probably entrepreneurs [00:20:00] or small business owners. So on the side of our merchants, what are some of the things that merchants look out for when accepting payments?
Maryam: Businesses are very important because businesses are not only investing and protecting themselves, but they're also invested in protecting their customers. And so as merchants scale, and we are going from hundreds and millions of sellers to hundreds and billions of sellers, the volume of transaction rises, and this makes them more susceptible to fraud if security procedures are not in place.
There are a few things businesses can do to get started. One is to implement a secure payment system that has safeguards and verification measures to validate and process a payment securely. For instance, tokenization, which encrypts that 14 or 16 digit number on your card and replaces it with a unique, uh, token identity.
The other is an example would be EMB standards, which is that chip on your card in the card present environment. It is now available for e comm as well. So make sure you're using some [00:21:00] sort of secure technology. Once again, education is so key to this fight against fraud. I'd say merchants to educate the staff to recognize suspicious behavior.
If someone's walking into a store and buying 100 gift cards of a credit card, kind of pause and question whether that is illegitimate. So, you know, be aware that fraud happens. And the second is educating your staff on basic security hygiene, again, to keep their password safe. For merchants do not use the same login and passwords across multiple employees.
We've seen a bunch of these, what we call account takeover in technical terms, but really someone tricks an employee to share their login and credentials and then fraudsters have access to the back end of websites or the back end of payment systems of a merchant. And the three is keep your data secure and backed up, you know, have a response plan if there was something to happen and data is leaked or lost.
And losses are incurred so that you're prepared.
Allan: Those are all great points. And an interesting point actually there, because you mentioned, it's not just the business [00:22:00] owners who need to be aware of this, but definitely the employees who may not have the same skin in the game or may not have the same experience in terms of dealing with fraudsters.
Maryam: Our awareness around fraud. Right. I mean, I know a lot about fraud or you probably know a lot about fraud, but we assume that everyone else who's making payments or taking payments understands that. So yeah, it's just the basic education can also make a big difference.
Allan: You've mentioned a bunch of the fraud prevention measures already, like the code on the back of the cards and tokenization.
What are some of the other things that Visa is doing to keep businesses safe from fraud?
Maryam: We have a very committed strategy around protecting businesses. Merchants, consumers, and the payment network and the payment ecosystem. We recognize that security lapses have lasting consequences on businesses owing to the rapid shift, one to digital, and then this has increased the need to maintain an accelerated digital investment on our side in trust and security.
And so to ensure that our merchants and customers are safe, Visa has invested 10 billion in cutting edge technology to keep [00:23:00] payments safe for consumers and businesses around the globe. Staying one step ahead of the fraudsters takes huge and constant investment in the latest and emerging technologies.
And over the last six months alone, Visa has helped prevent more than roughly 30 billion in fraud losses globally. We've also made a significant advancement, you know, I don't share with you what we're doing on our side, uh, as it pertains to AI, because threat actors are using AI to make their scams and make their efforts, uh, more intelligent.
But we've also made a significant advancement over the last 10 years. We have spent more than 3 billion on AI and data infrastructure to enable the safer, smarter movement of money and proactively identify and prevent fraud. And successfully we've prevented roughly 27 billion in 2022 using that intelligent A real time payment fraud monitoring solution, which we call the Visa Advanced Authorization or the VAS.
And then we do [00:24:00] recognize that sometimes fraud still happens. And then we go into the post fraud environment, which is chargeback and disputes and how that can be very challenging on the merchant side. So we've also made a significant advancement in our fraud dispute program, which aimed basically at potentially saving small business over the next five years, over 1 billion globally.
Allan: Okay. Interesting. I mean, the AI stuff is fascinating, but I guess it makes sense that we need to use the same tools that fraudsters are using if we want to stay on pace with them.
Maryam: Yeah, I think that's important in today's environment.
Allan: Now, if anyone wanted to learn more about what Visa is doing to help businesses prevent fraud, where would they go?
Maryam: First, because that's where we update regularly and you can get global updates is to visit, Our website for both merchants and consumers at visa. ca. And secondly, I post a bunch of things on my LinkedIn as we see a new scam taking place or a new threat in the ecosystem. I try to make sure that I'm doing my part in informing the ecosystem in that way.
And then [00:25:00] by connecting with our acquirers and our issuers and keeping them engaged and informed on what the latest bets are and what we can do to help them keep scale.
Allan: Okay. Well, thank you so much for your time today, Mary. Thank you. I'm
joined by Matt Revett. He's a senior events producer at Mineris. Matt, thank you so much for joining me today. Thanks for having me, Al. How are you? I'm all right. You have a jam packed month in April. We sure do. So let's start at the top. First of all, we have some news from eCommerce North.
Matt: Yeah. So we have the eCommerce North Innovator Challenge.
Applications are now open for early stage startups. Go to elevate. ca slash eCommerce dash North to apply today.
Allan: Great. And of course, we've been talking about it all episode. The RC show is happening this month. Does Meneres have a booth at the event?
Matt: Yes, we're sharing a booth with UE, so come visit us at booth 1235.
Allan: That's great. So in other news, we're about to release the
Matt: 2023 ESG [00:26:00] report. Yeah, we're excited to share our 2023 Environmental, Social and Governance ESG report this month. So stay tuned to our social channels for when the report is live to learn more about how we are striving to make a positive impact in our communities.
Moving on. There's a webinar coming up. Yes. Join us on Wednesday, April 10th, 2024 for our inaugural Moneris online webinar, e commerce success blueprint, your ultimate guide to marketing and shipping. Learn from e commerce experts Amber Lynn and Peyton Glancy as they help master online marketing and shipping using free Wix tools.
And finally,
Allan: uh, this month we have National Volunteer Week. When does that
Matt: happen? National Volunteer Week will be taking place during the week of April 21st to the 27th. National Volunteer Week is an opportunity to recognize the impact of volunteer services and the power that volunteers have to make a difference in the community.
Throughout the week, be sure to check out our channels to see the many ways that we at Mineris get out and about in our community.
Allan: It's a busy month. Thank you so much for your time today, Matt. Thanks for having me out.[00:27:00]
That's all we have time for this month. RP, did you learn anything new today? Yeah, I learned that I need a new password. Me too. NotMyPassword1234 is probably not the most secure password. Even if it was before, which it
RP: wasn't, it's definitely not secure anymore. So what about you? Did you learn anything new?
Allan: I learned that AI is even a thing in the hospitality and food industry now. I could actually do that. Well, now I know. And if anyone wants to learn more about You Eat, the Arcee Show, or anything else we talked about in this episode, I'll post links in the show notes. And if you're listening right now and you have any questions about anything business related, you can email us at podcasts.
maneras. com and we'll try to answer them in future episodes. RP, thank you so much for co hosting this month. Again, Al, my pleasure. It was super fun. On behalf of RP, myself, and the rest of Mineris, it's just good business saying thank you for listening and see you in [00:28:00] May.