Reinventing Customer Experience for Restaurants | Kyle Vorkink from Ovation

Ernesto Quezada: Pathmonk is the intelligent tool for website lead generation. With increasing online competition, over 98% of website visitors don’t convert. The ability to successfully show your value proposition and support visitors in their buying journey separates you from the competition online. Pathmonk qualifies and converts leads on your website by figuring out where they are in the buying journey and influencing them in key decision moments. With relevant micro experiences like case studies, intro videos, and much more, stay relevant to your visitors and increase conversions by 50%. Add Pathmonk to your website in seconds. Let the AI do all the work and get access to 50% more qualified leads while you keep doing marketing and sales as usual. Check us on pathmonk.com. Welcome to today’s episode. Let’s talk about today’s guest. We have Kyle from Ovation, head of marketing out there with them. How are you doing today, Kyle?

Kyle Vorkink: Doing good, man. How are you?

Ernesto: I’m doing great. Great. Thanks for being on today’s show. I really want to learn more about Ovation and give our listeners a better insight. Well, in your own words, Kyle, what is it all about?

Kyle: Yeah, so Ovation is a guest feedback platform for restaurants, and it’s really about a modern take on building trust and connection between restaurants and their guests. We help restaurants measure and improve their guest experience, and we do this through frictionless, two-question, SMS-based surveys that then enter guests into real-time chat with managers who can resolve concerns privately, save guests, and build those relationships. We analyze all of that feedback and put it into powerful reporting so that restaurants have a good sense of what’s going on and what they need to do to improve.

Ernesto: Awesome. That’s great to hear. Maybe for listeners to get a good understanding of your company, what would be a key problem that you solve for your clients?

Kyle: Yeah. So the problem with restaurant feedback has been that traditional solutions don’t really work. You’ve got receipt surveys, which no one really takes. It’s like, “Go to this URL, type in 50 characters, and answer 100 questions for a cookie next time.” No one likes those. Then you have table touches, where someone asks how your food was, and even if it wasn’t great, you might still say it was fine. It’s awkward, and it’s not scalable. Online reviews are great, but you tend to get only the extremes—people who are really happy or really upset. You don’t hear from the average guest. Ovation solves that by making it really easy for guests to give feedback. We use QR codes in the restaurant or on delivery packaging, or after you eat, you might get a text asking about your experience. The surveys are just two questions: “How was your experience?” If it was good, we direct them to leave a review or buy a gift card. If it was bad, we ask them to share more, and the restaurant can resolve the issue in real-time. It’s immediate and builds that connection, which is what hospitality is all about.

Ernesto: Wow, that’s great to hear.

Kyle: Right?

Ernesto: What you mentioned about the receipt surveys—I did it once out of curiosity, and I was like, “Oh my God, I’m never doing this again.”

Kyle: Exactly! Like watching paint dry. It’s rough.

Ernesto: Definitely. So would you say your focus is solely on restaurants, or do you serve other industries too?

Kyle: Our focus is restaurants. We’ve designed the product for them. We do have some retail clients—like clothing stores—and we’re in a few other verticals, but by far, our focus is on restaurants.

Ernesto: Awesome. Well, you being the head of marketing at Ovation, what does your top client acquisition channel look like?

Kyle: We’ve got a few, but one I’d highlight is events. We go to a lot of industry trade shows, conferences, and events—maybe too many! But these have been great because the restaurant industry is very relationship-based. People buy based on who they know and what they see their peers doing. So it’s important to get out there, shake hands, and build relationships. Our CEO, Zach Oates, is amazing at these events. He’s energetic, outgoing, and excels at sales and marketing. When he’s at an event, we get leads and deals. Our presence at events is a major investment, and sometimes we land clients after meeting them several times. We also do a lot online—content on LinkedIn, webinars, and we have a long-running podcast called Give Ovation, where Zach interviews restaurant leaders.

Ernesto: Definitely. I agree. And speaking of your website, ovationup.com, it’s a gorgeous website. What role does it play in client acquisition?

Kyle: It’s huge. While our sales team does a lot of great outbound outreach and we attend events, nearly every deal touches the website at some point. It’s that digital first impression, and it’s really important.

Ernesto: Absolutely. Are you using any tools or methods related to AI for lead generation?

Kyle: As far as AI goes, no, not yet. I’ve seen some cool tools, but we haven’t implemented any. We’re focusing on foundational things right now, but I think there’s potential there for the future.

Ernesto: Oh, we agree. Well, let’s switch gears a bit, Kyle, and talk about you as a leader. What are your key tasks in your day-to-day work?

Kyle: Since we’re a startup, my tasks change every week. One week I’m an email marketer, the next I’m a web designer or event coordinator. But every day, I try to ask myself, “How is what I’m doing driving revenue for the company?” In marketing, there’s an infinite number of good things you could do, but you have to ruthlessly prioritize and focus on what’s most important.

Ernesto: Totally agree with that. Let’s jump into some rapid-fire questions. Are you ready?

Kyle: Let’s do it!

Ernesto: First off, what’s the last book you read?

Kyle: The last marketing book I read was Your Marketing Sucks by Mark Stevens, which emphasizes taking a critical look at all your marketing activities. The last non-work book I read was Unreasonable Hospitality, which we read as a company. It’s by the guy who turned Eleven Madison Park into the number one restaurant in the world, and it’s all about going above and beyond to surprise guests.

Ernesto: Very cool. What’s the one thing your company is focused on the most at the moment?

Kyle: We’re focused on growth and building out our product to be more suitable for larger restaurant chains. We’ve got a great product for mom-and-pops, but we’re expanding to serve bigger brands too.

Ernesto: If there were no boundaries in technology, what’s one thing you’d want to fix in your role?

Kyle: I’d love to perfectly attribute everything we do at trade shows and events. It would be amazing to know exactly how many events or interactions it takes for someone to become a lead.

Ernesto: Definitely. Is there one repetitive task you’d love to automate?

Kyle: I’d love to automate saying no to people who email me asking if I want to buy industry contact lists! If I could preemptively decline those emails, that would be great.

Ernesto: What’s one piece of advice you’d give yourself if you were restarting your journey as a marketer?

Kyle: Don’t try to reinvent the wheel. Look to other companies that are doing marketing well and take inspiration from them. You don’t need to start from scratch every time.

Ernesto: Great advice. Well, Kyle, thanks so much for being on the show. I want to give you the last word. If someone forgets everything about the interview, what’s the one thing they should remember about your company?

Kyle: Ovation is all about making guests feel heard and important. That builds connection and success, not just in restaurants but in life.

Ernesto: Absolutely. Well, Kyle, thank you so much. If our listeners are in the restaurant business, check out ovationup.com for actionable guest feedback. Thanks again, Kyle, and thanks to our listeners for tuning in. Looking forward to our next episode of Pathmonk Presents.