TAKEAWAYS
Finding Solutions to Restaurant Problems
Restaurant owners often find themselves working with tight budgets and limited time. F3 Technologies is working hard to help solve both of these problems by providing cost-effective IT solutions and services.
Answering the Call for Customers
As the saying goes, “The best ability is availability”. Dan Diaz highlights the importance of being available to customers and the type of trust and loyalty that brings.
Valuing the Value of Restaurant Experience
The restaurant industry is full of unique challenges and opportunities. Dan has intentionally built his team at F3 with folks who have navigated these challenges because as he puts it, “if you can survive the restaurant industry, you can survive anything.”
As the CEO of F3 Technologies, Dan Diaz has found success in helping restaurant owners win back their time by alleviating many of the pain points that come with IT management and integrations. F3 is a managed service provider for restaurants and bars that provides dedicated IT strategy, operations and infrastructure support to hospitality businesses across the world.
Helping Restaurant Owners Find More Time
As Dan highlighted during his recent interview with Arun Kumar at the 2024 National Restaurant Show in Chicago, time is at a premium for leaders across the hospitality industry.
“The big thing is that restaurateurs don't have time. You know, staffing is still kind of hard to do, and turnover is high. So they don't have someone to do everything they need. And it's a really big pain point because they have enough things going on.”
It’s problems like this that Dan and the team at F3 are working hard to solve. Dan also acknowledges that the cost of IT services can be prohibitive for many businesses - even for business-critical things like a quality internet connection.
“Restaurants do not have good networks. It looks like a rat's nest. So how can we help them with that? You know, why are we so cheap? Because we make ourselves low-cost, affordable for restaurants. Because they have a shoestring budget sometimes, you know?”
Why Experience in the Restaurant Industry is So Valuable
As Dan and his team at F3 Technologies continue to grow, Dan highlights why he prioritizes experience in the restaurant industry when looking for new employees.
“If you can survive the restaurant industry, you can survive anything. That’s the reality.”
Dan also reflects on his own experience as a bartender and how that has helped him become a better CEO.
“When you’re a bartender, you’re everything. You’re a therapist, you’re a bouncer, you’re fixing things. And you have to be able to switch between all of that at the drop of a second,” explains Diaz. “Being in the industry taught me so much. I tell my wife ‘I’m going to make our kids work in a restaurant’. I want them to learn that because you learn so much.”
Finding Inspiration from a Hip Hop Legend
While there’s no question that previous experience in the hospitality industry is a foundational pillar of what Dan Diaz has built at F3, he also shared a story about the inspiration that came from a less likely source: Nipsey Hussle.
“I am a huge Nipsey Hussle fan. What Nipsey Hussle did was he was self-made. He invested in himself. He then took that philosophy into business, and he bought up more property. And so, I got laid off in April 2020. I was thinking about doing this whole thing and I thought about it, and I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to do it because it’s terrifying,” reflects Diaz. “There’s a song called ‘Perfect 10’. On there, he says ‘I didn’t quit’. And it was that song, it was that moment when I said ‘I’m in’.”
Dan Diaz has drawn on this inspiration as he has guided F3 Technologies to becoming one of the most trusted names in IT within the hospitality space. That growth is perhaps no more apparent than with recent expansions into the UK.
Through quality people and prioritizing hospitality, F3 has shown an ability to adapt quickly to new markets and has set itself apart from many competitors in the space.
Episode Links
About Dan Diaz
Daniel Diaz is the Chief Executive Officer and a Director of F3 Technologies, Inc. His experience spans POS, Medical Marijuana, Networking, Healthcare IT, and Restaurant & Hospitality Industries. Prior to F3, Dan managed the Chicago/Upper Midwest Region of Field Implementation Engineers for Toast POS. He has previously held roles at Alden, as senior IT specialist, a Private medical Marijuana Network Administrator and GM at Tequila Mockingbird. He began F3 with less than 10 technicians, working appointments himself. His proudest part of captaining our ship? “Seeing 50+ employees grow and prosper along with F3. We have truly built a family here.” Dan and his wife live in Chicago with their three children and two dogs.
ABOUT DATA DELICACIES—
Data Delicacies is a weekly podcast that dives deep into the world of technology and data as it pertains to restaurants. Host Arun Kumar interviews some of the best and brightest in the industry about all things hospitality tech, artificial intelligence, and machine learning.
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