The Modern Hotelier #125: The Value of Human Resources in Hospitality | with Alissa Partee
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Steve Carran: Welcome to another episode of the Modern Hotelier. We're excited to release this episode with Alissa Partee from Restaurant Technologies. David, what were some of your favorite highlights this episode?
David Millili: Well, for me, finally, somebody defined what a chief people officer is, which was great for me. Um, and then on top of that, what was great about her is that she just saw hospitality and everything. So as she described her background, everything was hospitality to her.
Steve Carran: Yeah. One of my favorite things was how they've incorporated so much flexibility into their workplace. I feel like we talk about that so much in hospitality, how companies need to be more flexible. They really incorporated those three to four day work weeks.
So their technicians and drivers could have longer weekends and also service those companies that might be a little further away. So. win win for employees and also their customers. Overall, great episode and excited for you guys to give it a listen.
David Millili: Enjoy it. All 

David Millili: Welcome to The Modern Hotelier, the most engaged podcast in hospitality. I'm your host, David Millili.
Steve Carran: I'm your co host, Steve Carran.
Jon Bumhoffer: And I'm the producer, Jon Bumhoffer.
David Millili: Steve, who do we have on the program today?
Steve Carran: Yeah, David, today we have on Alissa Partee. Alissa is the Chief People Officer at Restaurant Technologies. Alissa has over 15 years of experience working in the HR space and has helped Restaurant Technologies win multiple Best Places to Work awards in the Minneapolis St. Paul region. Restaurant Technologies helps food service operators make their kitchens safer.
smarter, more efficient, and sustainable, serving more than 36, 000 quick service and full service restaurant chains, independent restaurants, grocery delis, hotels, casinos, and convenience stores, universities, and hospitals nationwide. Welcome to the show, Alissa.
Alissa Partee: Thank you so much for having me. Excited to be on.
David Millili: All right, guys, so we're going to get started. So we're going to go through a couple areas. We're going to go through a quick lightning round. We're going to get to know some things about your background, your career, and then we're going to dive into some industry topics. Sound good? All
Alissa Partee: Sounds great.
David Millili: right. So what was your first job,
Alissa Partee: My very first job was actually working for a resort that my family owned in northern Minnesota called Pamush Resort. So everything from cleaning cabins, cleaning boats and watercraft, making sure the beach was maintained, all the way Cleaning fish was like the worst part of my job, but had to do it. Um, and like really learning from an early age young, young, legally allowed to work, young age, uh, what it meant to have a hospitable place for people to spend some time.
David Millili: What's something that you wish you were better at?
Alissa Partee: God, there's so many things. How do I pick just one? Um, wish I was better at, sticking with a hobby. I wish I would, like, find something I, like, really wanted to do every, you know, all the time. I bounce around quite a bit, so finding a way to relax consistently.
David Millili: so what's a luxury you can't live without?
Alissa Partee: A heated blanket.
David Millili: What's a place you've never been to that you most want to go to?
Alissa Partee: I have never been to any part of Asia, and I would love to go. One day, I will.
David Millili: So if you had your own late night talk show, who would your first guest be?
Alissa Partee: It would actually probably be Oprah Winfrey.
David Millili: Okay, that's a good answer, yeah. All right, this is the last one. So, if you had a time machine and you could go into the future or into the past, which way are you going and what year are you going to? 
Alissa Partee: I would go to, I don't know exactly what year it would be, but I would go to the year I would retire. So I would wanna, I'm gonna fast forward. Can I fast forward to that? And not because I don't love what I do, but just to be able to like, I Get there and experience that.
I'm like, look, I'm looking forward to it. Although I love what I do.
David Millili: No, it makes sense.
Steve Carran: And then you get to focus on your hobbies. Exactly. Well, now, those are the hardest questions of the 
podcast, so now you can relax, okay? Now we're just going to talk about, you know, your personal details and your background. 
Alissa Partee: That stuff I know. Okay.
Steve Carran: exactly. So, you grew up in Pelican Rapids, Minnesota, is that correct? Yes.
Alissa Partee: I graduated from Pelican Rapids. I actually was born and raised in a small town called Embarras.
Steve Carran: Embarrassed. 
Alissa Partee: Like the emotion. I'm embarrassed to say that, but I'm not. 
So it's in next to Virginia, Minnesota. It's on the iron range part of, Minnesota. My parents actually were working in the mine up there. That's Um, and then my, uh, dad decided to join, seminary and he became a pastor when he was 40 years old.
So then that kind of put, put us on a track of moving quite a bit. and we ended up landing in Pelican Rapids when I was a junior in high school. So we 
moved every year. I moved my first grade, second grade, third grade, fourth grade, fifth grade year and my 10th grade year. So it was like move, move, move, move, move, settle, graduate, move again to college.
Steve Carran: Oh my goodness. And you spent some time in Montana in there as well, kind of all throughout the Midwest, right?
Alissa Partee: Yup, Big Timber, Montana, Near Minot, North Dakota, and then, uh, yeah, Pelican Rapids, Detroit Lakes area of Minnesota.
Steve Carran: So, how did that moving around, ending up in northern Minnesota, how did that shape you into who you are today?
Alissa Partee: Couple things, I've, I've reflected on this a lot. I get this question quite a bit. Um, one thing that I think has helped is really engage quickly with new people. New people, like I just kind of had to figure it out at a really young age. Oh, there's a new class or a new church or a new community. It was like, okay, like it or not, you better find somebody who you can talk to and you better do it quick because it wasn't really an option to hang back and and not engage.
And so I think it's a really, it's forced me to become more comfortable in new settings and in new situations and break the ice pretty quick.
David Millili: So you went to and then DePaul, 
your MBA finance and human you get down that path? I, this is a fun one too, um, I remember when I went, so, so backing up just a quick In, of Minnesota you 
Alissa Partee: incredible in resource management. How 
I 
was extremely involved with campus wide activities, joined a sorority, a lot of, kind of a love hate, a lot of people have a love hate relationship with sororities, but in my case it was an incredible experience.
And through that, applied for a scholarship to open up a chapter, by applying for the scholarship you would agree to open up a new CAPA chapter somewhere in the country. And it happened to be the one. They were looking for somebody to open in Chicago, actually at Loyola University. And applied for the scholarship, was accepted and granted the scholarship, and they would pay for my MBA school, which was a blessing because I just, I didn't have it.
I didn't have the money to do it. I would have probably waited to get my MBA, maybe work a couple years and then go, but ended up being sprung into it quickly from this, this, this. Scholarship opportunity that presented itself. And so I moved to Chicago and I sat down with the counselors at DePaul and they said, you know, what are you doing?
I said, well, I've done internships in human resources and really like it, but, I really am kind of more of a like a little bit of a math nerd. So I said, I think I want to have a balance between corporate finance and human resource management. And I remember the counselor was like, Yeah, you're crazy.
Like, nobody gets along in those two, universes in corporate America. Human resources always looks at finance and thinks that they're Penny Finchers. finance always looks at human resources as a waste of money. Like, it's kind of like, I was like, yeah, I want to break that dynamic a little bit. So, I was getting this dual degree, and while I was there, I met an individual who owned his own consulting company, Don Dell's, and I worked, I met him through a really hap, like, kind of a happenstance chance that I met him.
And he was like, I was working for a temp agency just trying to make a little bit of money to kind of help with, help with the cost of Chicago, let's call it. Chicago was a lot of fun. And so, met him, and he was like, I want you to be a, Part time consultant for me. So I was like, okay, sounds good. So I've got the Loyola thing going on.
I've got a full time MBA program going on. I said, as long as you're flexible, I'll do it. And that actually was. The perfect combination of corporate of finance because he was an executive compensation consulting firm and human resource management. So like I spent most of my time with him, like really getting into these organizations that were compelling and incentivizing their executives in a certain way to drive value.
So it was like, if you didn't know the finance side of the business, You really wouldn't be able to walk the walk, talk the talk, and if you didn't know the people side of the business, you wouldn't know kind of what drives people to do certain things, good or bad, right? So, the degree like solidified itself kind of in tandem with this First job opportunity when, when I was in Chicago and you know, I always tell people in my own human capital teams and said, if you don't understand that side of the business, like you really are going to give bad advice.
So I always start that, like, understand how, what a company does and how they do it. But
Steve Carran: That's awesome. So you kind of led into this. You were the president of Kappa Kappa Gamma while you were at 
Minnesota, right? Awesome. So what did you learn from being the president in those early days, maybe in those college days, or even while you were starting that new chapter in Chicago? Did you learn anything in those early days that helps you today?
Alissa Partee: big one was, around like time management and communication. When you're in a leadership position like that, and a lot of people like roll their eyes at sorority or fraternity leadership. And I said, actually, you know what, I think it's one of the hardest times to be a leader. You're among your peers.
You all of a sudden get put into this position where you're trying to do good with the chapter. There's a lot of philanthropy involvement. There was a lot of social activities, of course, but balancing, helping people manage time, whether they held another position in the chapter or making sure people.
Had enough time for studies while having a social life and everything like that and then having this being part of something bigger, right? Kappa is the Kappa chapter at Minnesota is one of many chapters and so you're part of something bigger and it's how do you uphold the values of that organization and how do you help Women who were joining the organization, grow and develop at a young age too.
So I, a lot of different opportunities that I still kind of call on now in more senior leadership positions, you know, in a wildly different setting than a college setting. But the opportunity to say like, what are people's communication preferences? How do people want to hear information? How do people want to be given feedback?
Because the one thing, if somebody was off the rails at, at Kappa in college. Being able to tell them like, hey, I need to have you get things back online. You're talking like a lot of emotion involved. And so some of that actually is still very the same. Like in my role today, it's like, we got to talk, have a tough conversation.
What I learned and how to do it then in a really tough situation has, has been something I brought with me kind of everywhere I've gone.
Steve Carran: That's awesome, that's awesome. So now we're going to go into a little bit about your career, how you got to where you are today. So during college, you worked as an HR coordinator at a Crowne Plaza. What did you kind of learn in those early days about the hospitality world
Alissa Partee: So that 
Steve Carran: and HR 
Alissa Partee: interesting, yeah, both, right? Um, hospitality. So yeah. So, HR, um, at Crowne Plaza, so part of obviously a much larger, um, hotel chain, and it is a tough environment. So, I give a lot of credit to individuals who are, first of all, in the hospitality industry. And I've got a, I've got a big kind of mantra in life, and I'm going to take a divergent for a second, and I apologize for this, but I'm a big believer, I've said this before, food brings people together.
Okay? Food brings people together, and Some of the oldest forms of hospitality, whether it's like, go way, way back, people always needed a safe, comfortable place to stay. And they always looked for a meal and, and people have celebrated things over food. So I'm a big proponent of the hospitality industry.
Because it gives people two things that they need the most. Food, water, and shelter kind of thing. So it's really at our core to have an experience, whether it's in restaurants or in hotels, that meets people where they're at and gives them what they need. And you're, you're, you're entrusting others to take care of you.
So it's at the core of our human nature to hopefully take care of others. So when I was at the Crowne Plaza early days, young, like in my early 20s, right, um, in I think I was probably 20 years old, I see how hard they work to provide a great experience to their guests, especially when they have choice all over.
The country and where to stay. So seeing just how hard, like even the cooks in the restaurant worked and, or the bellmen, like make kind of standing out there in the weather, making sure people could quickly come in and easily go out and the dedication that they had to their craft, it was, It's kind of like a, it's probably why I fell in love with being involved with the hospitality industry.
Of course, I spent some time at Marvin Windows and Doors later in my career, but there was still a little bit of a hospitality component even in that, but the deep appreciation that is in, in me, kind of like directing how I think about stuff is the hardworking nature that goes into running a place where people need 
a safe place to stay. 
David Millili: That's great. And so you touched on it, so after your master's, you did some consulting, Buffalo Wild Wings, Marvin Windows and Doors, you just then became chief people Coffee. some advice you have HR space? 
Alissa Partee: a big part of, like, my expectation and, like, the mentorships that I, 
like, if I have the, chance to be a mentor, uh, to 
David Millili: at Caribou 
Alissa Partee: is get to 
David Millili: What's who's 
Alissa Partee: like, anybody outside of HR knows it. So HR, I look at it as kind of an agnostic function within an organization.
We don't exist to serve. HR a very unique mission. So, finance has a unique, you know, their own unique very mission of closing the books, making it accurate, helping forecast and plan and all that good stuff. But HR transcends like every function. We're helping bring people into the organization. And if you don't know, not only just like what a company does, I always ask people like, what do you do?
And they'll say, this is what I do. I was like, what does your company do? And they'll say, this is what the company does. It's like, well, how does the company work? And then all of a sudden they're like, 
How do I answer that? And for, for my, I guess I would say, like, if I'm helping somebody kind of get to where I'm at now.
That's where I start. I say get to know how your company works because then you're going to be looked at as more of a business advisor or a business partner who happens to do HR, which is a kind of a technical function in one way. But if you don't know how it works, you're not going to be able to help identify Talent decisions that need to be made to make it work better.
You're going to have a hard time creating programs that attract people into the organization that once they get here and then get into the machine of how it works, they get either like it or they don't like it. So I said, get to know the business so well that you are almost forgotten as an HR person and that you're welcomed in so many more conversations as a business partner. 
And I push that on kind of everybody who joins my team. And I hold myself to that standard. Like, if I don't know what's going, how sales is working, I'll, I'll, I'll spend the time to do it. I, nobody's going to give that to you. You have to seek out those opportunities, opportunities to learn.
Steve Carran: That is awesome advice. So in 2020, you came to Restaurant Technologies as their Chief People Officer. What made you choose to come to Restaurant Technologies?
Alissa Partee: There was a lot of things. Um, I do want to share, like, I've never left an organization that I didn't love. I loved Buffalo Wild Wings. I loved Marvin. I loved Caribou Neinsteins, I loved kind of each of what they did independently, but there was a very compelling change. For me to look at restaurant technologies.
First of all, meeting the executive team, hardworking, very involved in the industry, they knew what their customers needed, and we had a very unique, uh, solution for an industry that I've seen on the inside, um, working with Buffalo Wild Wings, working at the hotel, working at. The need for it. So I'm like, wow, I really believe in what we do and how we do it.
I believe in our solutions. And I was actually miffed when I, when I came across, I didn't know who restaurant technologies was. I had to do my own research. I studied hard on it and was like, wow. This is an incredible solution for an industry that needs it. You've got restaurants that are struggling to attract workers.
You have high chances of slips, trips, and falls related to tight restaurant space, tight back of, back of house spaces, and I have a lot of good friends who are restaurant owners, and I, when I had the opportunity come up, I asked a couple of them, I said, hey, have you ever heard of Restaurant Technologies, and one of my really good friends owns, um, Malone's Bar and Grill in Maple Grove, Minnesota, A.
J. Stephens, he goes, That company is incredible. They've saved. He was my work. My team used to have burn marks up their arms and now it's like push button technology to help us safely deliver like fresh cooking oil and get rid of our waste. He's like, brilliant. We love them. So I've got this raving fan.
And then I've got this, this, I'm looking at this company, by the way, like four months post the bomb dropping on the restaurant service, the restaurant industry from COVID. And I'm like, should I make the change right now because of that? But I've got a raving fan talking in one ear, I've meeting the executive team, saw the depot how we run it.
And then there's like deep love for the industry and wanting to help in a way that I think is a great solution. So it just. 
It married up a lot of different things and I was like, I got to give this thing a try. And I love it. I absolutely 
love what we do.
David Millili: And 
so, you know, there's been a lot of new C level positions. So Chief People Officer is one that most people aren't as familiar with as, you know, CEO or COO or CFO. tell what are your main responsibilities as the Chief People Officer?
Alissa Partee: So it's fun, Chief People Officer is a fun way to say like Chief Human Resources Officer. I think Chief Human Resources Officer is just a mouthful, so I go Chief of Peeps. Okay, that's an easy 
David Millili: so
us 
Alissa Partee: it's a, it's an easy, it's a, it's kind of a classic function. Like, we've got everything from talent acquisition, so attracting people in.
Talent enablement is a growing, segment of the function, which is, Anything, we really look at it from like enabling the best in people. So it's development focused. There is a training element to it, but it's kind of beyond just traditional training. We've got total rewards, which is everything from why people work outside of wanting to work with people.
Like it's your paycheck, it's your benefits. It's all of that good stuff. Nobody works for free. Uh, well aware of that. So that's the total reward space. And then we have an HR business partner model as well, which we've got very capable, talent partners who help our leaders make talent decisions either like now there's something that's going right or wrong and I need to make a call on it or planning for the future of who we need to bring in for, for growth or expansion of the business model.
Um, so, Just a really dynamic team. and like I said before, my expectation is that they understand how the business works so they can serve it the best as possible. 

Steve Carran: So now that we understand a little bit more about your career, we're going to get into the industry thoughts a little bit and how restaurant technology is kind of almost changing the game when it comes to worker satisfaction. So as I said in the beginning, you guys have won multiple awards for best place to work in Minneapolis, St.
Paul area. And I have a feeling this next Reason is one of the reasons why, um, you have incorporated a three or four day work week. And I think you can do 13 hour, three days or 10 hour, four days for your drivers and techs. And one thing I love about this is the hospitality industry is not as flexible.
So how did you identify that this was a need? And then what went into the execution and how has it been received by the drivers and techs?
Alissa Partee: They made this change before I got here, but we really codified it since I've been here, like it's something that we've actually recognized as a main reason for satisfaction with Frontliners. So think about where, Our team members who service our customers come from, we've got drivers who obviously deliver the oil, pick up the used cooking oil.
And then we have our technicians who install new customers, keep our systems up and running and make sure that the, the customers have the right, right understanding of how the system works. They're coming typically from. Other like inline profession, right? You're a driver from a, from a different company who either has a typical like five day work week and technicians are usually very similar.
Five day work week, maybe even on weekends. and so we wanted, we wanted to like, We identified this, like, niche that we could offer. We could say, hey, this actually works. So, our drivers can run 313 routes or 410 routes, to your point, and our most of our technicians are running 410s. So, they either have a four day weekend, sign me up, or a three day weekend, also sign me up.
So, that is like a differentiator for us, and I'm confident that if we ever pulled back on that and we walked back to a 5 8, traditional kind of 5 8, we would The line out my door would be longer than we've ever seen. It'd be like tickets to the Taylor Swift concert, right? They'd be like, no, absolutely not.
So we've incorporated that, but it's not just for the benefit of our employees. There's actually a customer benefit as well. So a longer route, like a 313 route, allows us to get further from our depot to service more customers far away. Instead of just running an eight hour drive, we have essentially, we can get further out and reach those customers who are a little bit more in a remote market, still pretty urban, but we can get up there where traditionally a customer or a company wouldn't be able to service them.
efficiently, and let alone people love the three or four day work the weekends like that. So a win win, um, that we'll continue to maintain. It's just been a real, a real win for the team.
Steve Carran: I love that and I read a quote from a driver like in other past jobs that he worked at he had to work weekends and you know was working these longer hours but with you just it has been such a game changer not only for his life but for his profession as well so kudos to you all that is phenomenal and keep up the great work on that one.
Alissa Partee: Yeah, we love it. Absolutely love it. And the nice thing about our drivers and our technicians, there's a ton of autonomy. We like, the, the drivers are running single routes, right? There's not a partner in the truck with them. we can service cust this is a like, mind blowing fact for a lot of people.
We're like, we can deliver oil whether you're open or not. And a lot of custom. Like potential customers don't realize that we're like, you don't need to be open for us to service you. They're like, what? Every other vendor we work with, we've got to be open or have a manager on duty who can take in the shipment or handle like the equipment repair guy comes in.
Technicians are a little bit different cause we have to get inside there, but our delivery system allows us to deliver 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. So. It's just a, they love, the customers 
love that fact too, and those 13 hour routes or 10 hour routes allows us to get 
there kind of whenever we need to. 
David Millili: And another thing that you guys do, which I think is great, you empower and encourage employees to submit that can make better. So are there any samples of that or some that stick out to you that, you know, over the years? We've got a couple different ones, um, there's a couple that were kind of most notable that we, like, are, are, you see right away is we had a lot of people ideas 
Alissa Partee: we go through a lot of gloves. And so they wanted to have like on a 10 hour route, uh, servicing anywhere between eight and 10 customers.
Likely they're changing their gloves 30 to 40 times. Like they're hooking up hoses, taking off the hose, unhooking the hoses, taking off the gloves. Like, so there's like, we're going through more and more of these gloves. And so we said, like, could we, how. In our doing our little perfectly in the world, is there a way that we can be a little bit more aligned with our values of sustainability so we found a better vendor that had.
More compostable gloves. And they, it still works for the drivers. They, they don't, the texture is good and makes them easy to work with. So that was one example. And that came from one of our team members saying like, you know, there's a lot of waste that we have with this type of glove, can we make a switch?
so that's one, a lot of what we do in operations. So there's a function that we have called operations excellence. There's, It's all about simplifying how they work so it's easier to work, as a team member at RT. And the numbers of ideas that when we're spending that time in the depots, it's like, hey, have you guys ever thought about this?
It might keep us safer. if you just take a moment to listen and hear them out and take some notes and follow up with them. Your front-liners know. what could be better? And that's not just unique at RT. That's in literally every industry. I'm willing to bet the housekeepers know best about what would make the look, the hotel room More accommodating.
They see it cause they're in it and they know what's going on. And so my advice as kind of an executive of the, of a team. If there's other people in the industry, take a moment and ask the frontliners, like, what would you do differently? And we've got a lot of ways to funnel that information up to us, follow through on it and let them know if you can or can't make the change and why 
Steve Carran: That's awesome. And there's a difference between just hearing what your employees are saying or what they want and really encouraging them to go out and lead the initiative themselves. How have you seen empowering your employees has really helped restaurant technologies
Alissa Partee: part of it, is it through greater employee retention? Like if they feel seen, heard, appreciated and valued. They'll stay. and what we've noticed is if people stay with us, like if they kind of hit that one, two or three year mark with us, they don't want to leave. We have incredible employee retention.
and when we don't, it's, there's some reasons why it doesn't work out. Like we're not going to, I always say, you're not going to bat a thousand, but, in the most cases when people have been able to contribute, they stay. And when you have, When you're not running the playbook with a bunch of freshmen on the field, you tend to win more because you've got the seniors on the team, you've got the juniors on the team, and they're out on the field and they're playing for you, and they have that institutional knowledge that they have.
They infuse into others, of course, but also they think about the business more holistically and give better advice for making it better. So because they've been here for a long time and we've got great employee retention, I'm so thankful for that. it allows us to kind of continually up our game. So there's a lot of, God, there's a ton of different areas I see it, but most of 
it is, you know, happy employees tend to stay happy.
Employees tend to 
contribute more. 
David Millili: Yeah, that's great. And so kind of along those lines, what are some steps or some hints or suggestions you can give to companies to help them improve their, to improve the culture, you know, to address all those things you just spoke about? 
Alissa Partee: I think one of it is starting with intention about the employee 
experience, like 
you have to want it. You have to, as much as companies say we gotta win, we gotta grow, all of 
those good, those are, those are valid pursuits. But it does take intention, just like you have to be intentional about selling new opportunities.
You have to have intention behind the employee experience. And breaking it down, we have an employee experience, five different factors that lead to a great employee experience at RT, and we're constantly measuring ourselves against those. So the first one is, how was the onboarding experience? That's one factor of the experience.
Okay, what can improve? So we're breaking something that's big, meat, like big hairy goals of having a great experience. We're breaking it down into measurable bite sized pieces. Onboarding, total rewards, work design. Change management. How do we help people through change? And then talent enablement is the last one.
So if you try to solve it all at once in one big melting pot of culture change, you're not going to do it because there's not enough specific, specific focus on certain things. And measure it. We have a pulse survey that we constantly calibrating with the team. Like how do we do a change management? We suck at it.
Okay. Let us know. So we can make a change. Do the total, do our total rewards benefit, benefit. Meet your needs and your family's needs. No? Okay, what would? so it's asking those questions and being willing to do something about it. And when you can't Employees are actually very understanding. They know we can't always increase wages up to a bazillion dollars an hour.
They're not asking for that. They just want, they want it. a a healthy livable wage and, and pathways to earn more. That's what they want, but they don't need unlimited PTO. They don't need unlimited pay. They want reasonable, well balanced pay. And all you have to do is be really, Clear and transparent with them about that, but if they don't know what's going on, if they don't understand, they don't have clarity, they're gonna invent something that's not real.
So intentionality, communication, focus, pausing and listening to their feedback, doing something about it, and if you can't change it, tell them why. They want, they want you to be real with them. Ooh,
David Millili: That's great advice. 
Steve Carran: That is awesome. So, now we've been asking you questions this whole time. We put you on the hot seat earlier with the tougher questions, but now we're going to turn the tables a little bit. Is there any question you'd like to ask David and I? Okay.
Alissa Partee: um, this is great. Um, I, I would love to know, like, what, what do you hear from your listeners? Like, what do they say about the impact of your podcast? Like, what resonates most with them? Do you, do you get feedback like that?
Steve Carran: we do. I think, um, I think some like, I think one of the things that people really like about the podcast is kind of when our guests come on is how personable they are. And I think, you know, we've come up with a good format that hopefully you're comfortable and having a good time on the podcast, but you've really given some awesome insight and you just seem really, really Relax and comfortable doing it.
It's not like an interview where we put the mic in your face and it's high pressure or anything like that, but you know, you're an expert in your industry. You're one of the people that has led to your company being one of the top companies to work with. St. Paul, Minneapolis area. So, you know, they like to hear what the best people in the industry are doing.
And, you know, you might not be working for hotels, but you're still telling, helping people enjoy their work with flexible schedules with just listening to your employees and things like that. So 
I think 
that's one of the things like you're an expert, and that's why people tune 
in to see what the best 
people in the industry are doing.
Alissa Partee: Sure, 
David Millili: Yeah. And I think, you know, Steve touched on, I mean, one of the things that we're, I think we're unique is we're really kind of one of the few podcasts in hospitality that does have a format. So when people listen, they know what they're getting. And it's also us about making, you know, the guests, the focal point of the podcast and the whole idea behind this podcast is so that, you know, whether it be, this is great, someone's learning about HR.
People learn about technology, learn about different, you know, hotel companies and things of that nature. So I think what I like when people us feedback is that they find 
that they've gained something from listening that to an extent. so kind been our sauce where, know, there are 
others, uh, won't name names, it's more about kind of like trying to be the star of the podcast, not the guest, and that's just not the way we do it.
So,
Alissa Partee: Yeah, I love your avenue 
David Millili: to it's 
Alissa Partee: out. Like in 
David Millili: And and then them 
Alissa Partee: in terms of margin or it's sometimes just in time getting stuff done because it's an, it's. Overwhelming to serve in some cases.
And so you want to have a way for people to quickly, it's like, I've got five or 10 minutes, or I got a half hour on a walk or a drive to listen. If there's something that one person can benefit and apply to back into their company, it's like that, that's a great way to pay it forward in an industry that needs, needs support.
Um, and also, so like, I love your, I love your format.
David Millili: Thank you. 
Steve Carran: Thank you so much. Well we've been asking you questions this whole time. You're probably sick of getting asked questions by us. We're going to finish off the episode. Our producer Jon has been listening in this whole time, so he's going to ask you one more question before we get you out of here.
Jon Bumhoffer: Alright, I'm just gonna preface this by saying I do have a backup question, um, in case you don't wanna, in case this one goes nowhere, but you said, you said a couple of things that I was, that, one, the first, the first thing you said made sense, and then you said the other thing, and I was like, wait, how does that work?
So, one, you said your first job was at a resort that your family How does that work? that your family owned. And then two, you said your dad went to seminary and maybe was then a pastor or whatever. And so I'm like, how does that work? That your family owned a resort, but your dad's also in the ministry.
I'm just fascinated by this intersection here. 
Alissa Partee: No, this is great. So my fam, my family, when I say my family owned a resort, my, um, my mom's sister and her husband owned the resort. So family in the family, but not my parents. my parents had no problem shipping us off to have work either at the resort or, um, I actually, my grandma, my mom grew up on a farm, a, uh, Dairy farm to be specific.
And so we got to pick our poison a little bit. Do you want to go work at the resort or do you want to go work at the farm? But you can't stay here. and so trust me, I spend enough time on the farm. I'm actually deathly afraid of cows. So that was like one of the reasons why I couldn't spend a whole lot of time on the farm.
It was. Incredibly anxiety ridden for me. Everybody else was like, they're just guys. They're dumber than you. I'm like, you don't know that? Like, like give me a break. So I spent a lot of time on the resort, uh, because of that. But I, but I did help a lot on the farm too. So my parents separate from that, uh, my dad became a pastor.
Jon Bumhoffer: Okay, can I have one follow up? So growing up in in northern Midwest, and then your dad's also pastor in ministry. How did that like impact how you viewed hospitality and also working at a resort? There's a lot of this stuff going on in your life. Like how does that like how you view just hospitality in general?
Alissa Partee: hospitality at its core is taking care of people. It's like that, you can strip away a bunch of other noise when it comes to hospitality, but the basis is, is how do you take care of people? my dad, incredible minister, he, he was there for people. Kind of in their best of times and their worst of times, in many cases.
So when joyful moments like, baptisms or births or weddings, he was there. But then also like the hardest times, which is funerals, loss of loved ones, really scary times. Like I remember 9 11, he held a prayer service because people just didn't know what was going on in the world and it was scary.
Right? So people seek out comfort. And I take that to heart. And actually, when I said earlier, like, Marvin has a comfort element of working at Marvin. It was creating beautiful homes and, like, through windows and doors to make it a homey, cozy feel. Like, there's an element in hospitality and almost any industry if you're creative enough to think about how you take care of people.
But, I guess, I don't know, it must be in my, my bones or my DNA to say, like, I've said this before, if I'm not helping here, give, give, give. Kick me out. Like, I'm here to help and serve, truly, in my leadership, in the industry, and if I'm not helping, get out, get me, get rid of me. and I, I learned that, I think, from an early on, like, with, whether it was at the resort or seeing, like, how my dad took care of people in their best and worst of times, 
just swirls all together, I guess, is how 
I'd describe
Jon Bumhoffer: Very cool. 
David Millili: Well, that does it for another episode of The Modern Hotelier. This is where you get to plug away, let people know how they can get in touch with restaurant technologies, how they can connect with you. floor's yours. Alright, so, um, first of all, guys, thanks for having me. Uh, it's great to meet you through this format. But, if anybody's interested in connecting with me, I think 
Alissa Partee: the easiest is LinkedIn. So find me, I always say, it's Alissa Partee. My last name is two golf terms, Partee. 
David Millili: So, 
Alissa Partee: Um, and some people are like, you're Alissa Partee from RT.
I'm like, yeah, see, it rolls right off your tongue. That's why I'm supposed to be at Restaurant Technologies. Alissa Partee from RT. So. Hit me up on LinkedIn, find me that way, send me a message, um, and then if I can't help you, I know who can. So if you're a customer or potential customer, 
anything in that order, if it's not me to help 
you, I know who can. 
David Millili: Well, that does it for another episode of The Modern Hotelier, the most engaged podcast in hospitality. If you're watching or listening, we thank you and we'll see you again soon. Thank you.