In this episode of Captive Conversations, Adam Forman sits down with Massimo from Restaurant Keys to explore what it really takes to build, grow, and scale hospitality brands without losing their soul.

Massimo shares his experience working with operators across the UK and internationally, from opening restaurants from scratch to helping brands expand nationally and abroad. The conversation covers relevance in marketing, the importance of listening to teams on the floor, and why hospitality remains a deeply human business.

They also discuss how technology, design, and operational flow should support people rather than replace them, and why comfort, familiarity, and emotional engagement are becoming more important for guests.

#hospitality #restaurantindustry #guestexperience #peopleandculture #hospitalityleaders #captiveconversations

The final episode of 2025. What a year it's been.

In this one, Adam sits down with Oliver Pugh, founder of Yeti Pay, and Chris Jolliffe, their Sales Director, to explore how a simple observation about tipping behaviour sparked a payments revolution.

It started with a question most people never ask. When a guest leaves a tip on a card, why doesn't the waiter feel it? Oliver noticed this disconnect years ago. And instead of accepting it, he built something to fix it. The result? Tips went up 300%.

From the early days of Table Yeti to winning BrewDog and building embedded payments infrastructure, Oliver and Chris share the realities of competing in a crowded market by doing things differently.

This is a conversation about listening before building, enabling partners instead of competing with them, and why hospitality deserves payments that actually feel different.

Thank you to everyone who listened this year. Here's to 2026. 🎧

#CaptiveConversations #YetiPay #HospitalityPayments #EmbeddedFinance #FinTech #Hospitality

As the year comes to a close, Episode 80 of Captive Conversations takes a step back to reflect on how hospitality makes decisions.

Adam speaks with Mark from Tenzo about why instinct alone is no longer enough, how operators are overwhelmed by dashboards, and why better data frameworks matter more than more reports.

They explore how context, experience, and curiosity still play a critical role, and how AI can support teams without losing the human side of hospitality.

A grounded conversation for anyone thinking about how to approach the year ahead. ✨

#hospitality #hospitalitytech #restaurantdata #leadership #captiveconversations