Human at the Counter

Now Hiring: Humans & Algorithms

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 these tools, a bigger question emerges: Are we making better hiring decisions—or just faster ones? Elizabeth sits down with technology and talent expert Jon Riede to unpack the good, the bad, and the slightly creepy side of AI-powered hiring. Together they explore how leaders can balance efficiency with judgment, and why culture still depends on the human behind the interview.

Bytes, Bites, and Campus Intelligence: AI Across Higher Education

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 analytics to policy guardrails, they unpack the tension between efficiency and equity, proactive support and the risks and rewards of being "creepy helpful" Because AI can optimize operations. But trust? That still requires humans.

The Supervisor Sandwich (with a side of AI)

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 technologists building tools for people running at full tilt.

What We Keep (When the Robots Clock Out)

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.

The Data Diet

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 work. From "data rich and insight poor" dashboards to the ethics of AI and personalization, Maeve and Elizabeth dig into what it really means to go on a data diet: choosing the right metrics, asking better questions, and remembering that numbers don't feed people - people feed people.