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Listen "Niko Papademetriou on Turning Restaurant Struggles into Scalable Tech Solutions"
Episode Synopsis
In this episode of the Restaurant AI Podcast, Matt Wampler, CEO and Co-Founder of ClearCOGS, sits down with Niko Papademetriou, Co-Founder of Qu POS, to trace his unconventional path from investment banking to owning a massive Dupont Circle restaurant, and eventually leading growth at one of the industry’s top enterprise POS providers.
Niko shares candid stories from the trenches of restaurant ownership—navigating failing equipment, oversized kitchens, payroll pressure, and learning to become a “Swiss Army knife” operator. He explains how those hard-won lessons now inform his approach to building enterprise-grade technology that can scale securely while adapting to the nuanced needs of individual operators.
They dive into why Qu started with large multi-unit chains instead of independents, how AI is reshaping both product development and internal workflows, and why security and stability should be treated as areas for innovation rather than obstacles to it. Niko also talks about using tools like Gong to capture and share critical customer insights, the balancing act between rapid product releases and reliability, and his bullish outlook on AI as the connective tissue between scalable platforms and personalized experiences.
From hard-earned lessons in the trenches to big-picture thinking on where restaurant tech is headed, this episode packs battle-tested wisdom with forward-looking insights you can act on.
Episode Links:
Qu POS: https://www.qubeyond.com/
Connect with Niko: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikopapademetriou/
ClearCOGS: https://www.clearcogs.com/
Connect with Matt on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewjwampler/
00:00 Intro
02:01 Niko's background and favorite pizza
07:57 From investment banking to technology
14:25 Jimmy Johns in the Maryland/D.C. area
15:33 Starting a restaurant from scratch
24:35 What he learned from owning a restaurant
29:40 Transitioning to the technology space
36:20 Building for independence / Building for enterprise
40:18 Deploying AI internally
46:13 Security and reliability are contradictory to innovation
49:20 Best outputs on the product side
54:52 "Unifying commerce platform"
58:40 What sets Qu apart from other POS products
1:00:20 Best in class software vs All in one
1:07:40 AI-powered POS of the future
1:12:20 "Do more with the same."
1:13:18 AI in kitchen displays
1:15:25 How today's technology would've impacted Niko's first restaurant
1:17:41 Outro
Niko shares candid stories from the trenches of restaurant ownership—navigating failing equipment, oversized kitchens, payroll pressure, and learning to become a “Swiss Army knife” operator. He explains how those hard-won lessons now inform his approach to building enterprise-grade technology that can scale securely while adapting to the nuanced needs of individual operators.
They dive into why Qu started with large multi-unit chains instead of independents, how AI is reshaping both product development and internal workflows, and why security and stability should be treated as areas for innovation rather than obstacles to it. Niko also talks about using tools like Gong to capture and share critical customer insights, the balancing act between rapid product releases and reliability, and his bullish outlook on AI as the connective tissue between scalable platforms and personalized experiences.
From hard-earned lessons in the trenches to big-picture thinking on where restaurant tech is headed, this episode packs battle-tested wisdom with forward-looking insights you can act on.
Episode Links:
Qu POS: https://www.qubeyond.com/
Connect with Niko: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikopapademetriou/
ClearCOGS: https://www.clearcogs.com/
Connect with Matt on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewjwampler/
00:00 Intro
02:01 Niko's background and favorite pizza
07:57 From investment banking to technology
14:25 Jimmy Johns in the Maryland/D.C. area
15:33 Starting a restaurant from scratch
24:35 What he learned from owning a restaurant
29:40 Transitioning to the technology space
36:20 Building for independence / Building for enterprise
40:18 Deploying AI internally
46:13 Security and reliability are contradictory to innovation
49:20 Best outputs on the product side
54:52 "Unifying commerce platform"
58:40 What sets Qu apart from other POS products
1:00:20 Best in class software vs All in one
1:07:40 AI-powered POS of the future
1:12:20 "Do more with the same."
1:13:18 AI in kitchen displays
1:15:25 How today's technology would've impacted Niko's first restaurant
1:17:41 Outro
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