Welcome to "The Late Night Restaurant Podcast" with Canada’s Restaurant Guy & Domenic Pedulla.
The ultimate podcast for those who live and breathe the restaurant industry. Hosted by Canada’s Restaurant Guy & Domenic Pedulla we dive into the real conversations shaping food and hospitality today.
Shot LIVE | Unfiltered & Real
Each episode tackles the biggest issues in restaurants, labour, digital marketing, sustainability, and emerging trends, all with an edutainment approach: informative, engaging, and fun.
Is Google Reviews in Trouble? Meet Zest, the AI Restaurant Finder You Text
What if finding your next favourite restaurant was as easy as sending a text message?
On this episode of The Late Night Restaurant Show, Jay Ashton and Domenic Pedulla welcome Mario Gomez-Hall from Zest, an AI-powered restaurant discovery platform changing how people find restaurants, explore local food scenes and decide where to eat.
Forget scrolling through hundreds of online reviews. Zest combines artificial intelligence, recommendations from friends, verified restaurant visits and personal dining preferences to help people find great places to eat.
And the best part? You don't even need to download an app to experience its text-based restaurant concierge.
In this episode, we explore:
• How Zest uses AI to recommend restaurants based on your tastes
• Why recommendations from friends matter more than anonymous online reviews
• How verified dining visits help address fake restaurant reviews
• Finding hidden gems, trending restaurants and local favorites
• Planning date nights, group dinners and restaurant reservations through text
• What AI-powered restaurant discovery means for restaurant owners and operators
• How restaurants gain visibility as consumers change the way they search for food
We even put Zest to the test in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, and Thunder Bay, Ontario, with some surprising results.
For restaurant owners, chefs, hospitality professionals and food lovers, this conversation offers a look at where restaurant search, AI technology and guest experiences are heading.
Subscribe to The Late Night Restaurant Show for conversations with the people shaping foodservice + hospitality.
#RestaurantTechnology #RestaurantMarketing #ArtificialIntelligence
26 Oct 2026
Why Restaurant Guests Don’t Come Back | Preston Lee
Guests came in. They ate. They paid. What gives them a reason to return?
Preston Lee, founder of Thirty Percent, joins Jay Ashton and Domenic Pedulla on The Late Night Restaurant Show to talk about guest loyalty and the work behind a consistent restaurant experience.
The conversation covers:
How training, systems and leadership work together.
Auditing the guest experience, from the parking lot to the table and back.
Why having regulars doesn’t tell you your guest retention rate.
Building daily habits, including pre-shift meetings and recognizing your team.
Focusing on the parts of your business you control.
Preston shares his approach to helping restaurant teams improve hospitality, develop leaders and give guests a reason to come back.
There are plenty of laughs, too, especially when Preston gets drawn into Jay’s 10% rule.
26 Oct 2026
Restaurant Equipment: Buy, Lease or Rent? With Tyrone from Econolease
Before you spend thousands on restaurant equipment, this conversation deserves a listen.
Tyrone Ho from Econolease joins Jay and Dom on The Late Night Restaurant Podcast to talk equipment financing, cash flow and choosing equipment for the business you’re running today.
From testing a slushy machine to outfitting a full kitchen, they discuss:
Buying outright versus leasing or renting.
How Econolease’s Rent-Try-Buy program works.
Why operators sometimes buy more equipment than they need.
Questions about upgrades, returns, warranties and maintenance.
Keeping working capital available during the first months of operation.
Tyrone also shares his perspective on Canada’s restaurant industry, including why openings and opportunities deserve attention alongside closure headlines.
Expect practical questions, honest discussion and plenty of laughs with Jay and Dom.
Who has been a guest on Restaurant LATE Night Show
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Craig Milliken-Smith
Josh Bennett
Doug Stephen
Kevin Morrison
Bruce Nelson
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
1 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
2 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 44 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
89
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
0
Contact Restaurant LATE Night Show
Guest appearances
Does not typically book guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Questions about Restaurant LATE Night Show
Who hosts Restaurant LATE Night Show ?
Jay and Dom and Dominic host the show. Published by Ashton Media.
How often do new episodes come out?
The show publishes weekly, based on its RSS feed.
Does Restaurant LATE Night Show take guests?
The show does not typically feature guests, based on episode analyses.
Host of Restaurant LATE Night Show ?
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