What Happens When Google, Toast, and the Restaurant Industry Come Together in NYC? Big Things.
Shawn Walchef, founder of Cali BBQ Media, traveled to New York City for a special purpose: to connect with other industry leaders at the Restaurant Industry Influencer Summit, hosted at Google HQ. The invite-only event brought together top marketers, operators, tech leaders, and creators to explore how Google’s tools—from Business Profiles to YouTube—can help restaurants grow smarter and faster.
As someone who’s always preaching “every restaurant is a media company,” Shawn showed up to help bridge the gap between tech and hospitality. And the timing couldn’t be better.
Toast and Google: Power Partners for Restaurants
One major highlight of the day was the deepening partnership between Toast and Google. Kelly Esten, CMO of Toast, shared how they’re working to better integrate restaurant tech with Google’s ecosystem. That means more first-party tools directly connected to Google Search and Maps—like ordering and reservations through Toast Tables—giving operators more ways to own their customer journey.
Kelly also emphasized how important it is to listen to restaurant operators. “What I learned today was really about listening to our Toast customers—how they’re using Google, how they think about it for their business, and how Toast can help make it more powerful for them.”
YouTube Isn’t Optional Anymore
Another big topic: YouTube. Both David “Rev” Ciancio and Troy Hooper underscored how underutilized YouTube still is by most restaurants—and how much opportunity is being left on the table.
Rev shared a lightbulb moment: “While Shawn was still on stage, I emailed our content creator and said, ‘Everything we’re doing for TikTok—we need to post on YouTube and Google Business too.’”
Troy echoed the sentiment, pointing out that YouTube is still the second-largest search engine in the world, and it’s time restaurants started treating it that way. “Most people treat YouTube as a content library. It should be a business engine.”
The energy in the room was undeniable: restaurants don’t just need to be online—they need to think like creators, partners, and digital marketers. With support from platforms like Toast and Google, the path is clearer than ever.
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