Paul Molinari -Hospitality Doesn’t Need More Tools—It Needs Better Messaging

In this episode of Captive Conversations, we chat with Paul Molinari, the founder of Popcorn GTM and former head of marketing at Crunchtime.

Paul shares his journey from working hospitality jobs at a yacht club, to selling stereos at The Wiz, to leading B2B marketing teams for iconic brands like Crunchtime and Digitas (running CRM for General Motors!).

He dives deep into what makes sales and marketing alignment critical, how to build a "marketecture" that drives real results, and how brand consistency scales your business.

🎯 Highlights:

• The power of curiosity and integrity in business

• How a stereo sales job led to a career in tech

• Scaling Crunchtime from $5M to $60M

• Why message maps are the blueprint every brand needs

• The real value of invisible restaurant tech

• Why “restaurants” aren’t an ICP – and how to define yours

  
  

Whether you're a founder, marketer, or ops leader in hospitality, this episode is packed with practical insight.

Paul’s Podcast Answers

🔥 Best Hospitality Experience: Bouchon (Coral Gables, FL) – a Thomas Keller restaurant

🔥 Best Hospitality Tech: Curbit – tech that ensures off-premise food arrives hot, fresh, and on time

🔥 Best Restaurant: Cava

🔥 Best Burger: Five Guys

🔥 Best Hotel: Marriott Hotels

🏷️ Brands & Platforms Mentioned

• Crunchtime – Enterprise back-of-house operations platform
• Curbit – Smart order timing & kitchen capacity tech
• Olo – Digital ordering platform
• QSR Automations – Kitchen display systems