Elevating the Hospitality Industry with Technology ft. Nichita Herput, Pineapple Square

Eric (00:05.033)
Hey Nikita, welcome to Innovators Can Lab. How you doing today?

Nichita Herput (00:08.946)
Hi, I'm pretty good. Just having a blast and trying not to freeze my butt off because it's kind of cold here.

Eric (00:18.437)
Okay, let me give some background to the audience so they get an understanding of who you are. Nikita Herputz is the founder of Pineapple Square. It's an app and a network for the hospitality industry. Now here's what one person said, Pineapple Square is fantastic. I've connected with fellow bartenders, picked up tips, and even found some new opportunities. I found mentorship and even got a new job. Every new bartender should check it out.

And it's not just bartenders is for waiters, restaurant owners, food truck operators, and chefs. I'm super excited about this because I spent many years in the hospitality industry as a waiter back in Houston in New York city. So we are going to get into this Nikita. Yeah. First, tell me about your hospitality experience.

Nichita Herput (01:01.423)
Okay, that's pretty nice.

Nichita Herput (01:08.834)
Well, I started off at 14 as a summer job, just to get some money for myself to buy whatever I wanted. Then I moved on and studied in the Netherlands in one of the best hospitality management schools in the world, actually. Then I moved back home and continued working with my father, which he has a hospitality business. And I worked there for six or seven years and then something was missing.

And I just started combining hospitality and tech, which are the two things that I love about. So.

Eric (01:42.909)
Okay, yeah. Now when you were 14, what were you doing? Were you working as a waiter or what?

Nichita Herput (01:48.99)
Yes, so I actually I started off like polishing glasses for three months and then I moved on to like waiting So it took a lot of time

Eric (01:53.905)
Okay? Yeah.

Eric (02:00.157)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now, why did you go to the Netherlands for school? Do they have like a really good university or program for hospitality?

Nichita Herput (02:06.934)
Yes, so I wanted to do something great and they're top five and they're fighting with Switzerland, which is like the thing you go. But Switzerland is too expensive for me. So like Netherlands was the best bank for the buck with you know quality and the amount you pay each year.

Eric (02:25.713)
Okay, and what kind of industry or business does your dad have because he's in the industry as well?

Nichita Herput (02:31.346)
Yes, so he has a business which he sells and he basically equips hotels, restaurants and bars all their kitchen equipment, bar equipment, whatever from design to installation to sales to post sales.

Eric (02:46.561)
All right, all right. Where's he based out of and what kind of, I guess, where does he operate? Just solely in Romania?

Nichita Herput (02:53.767)
So we are based in Oradea and the area of work is mostly northwestern Romania and eastern Hungary because like we really close Hungary so it kind of makes sense for us to go there as well.

Eric (03:05.629)
Alright, so you've probably been to Debra Chin.

Nichita Herput (03:08.67)
Yeah, a lot of times. A lot of times in Debrecen, yes. It's a very nice city.

Eric (03:11.785)
Yeah, yeah. It is. I used to travel there, had a client there and, uh, I really enjoyed it. And I haven't been to Oradea yet. So this year or next year, I definitely will go to Oradea.

Nichita Herput (03:24.498)
You should, you should, you should. And everybody should at least try for a weekend getaway.

Eric (03:29.477)
Yeah. Okay. So I used to work as a waiter back in Houston in New York City. And, uh, one of the most embarrassing moments I ever had is when I served the fake dessert to a table. There was a table, a couple, uh, that was at Bear Peretti's Houston restaurant. And they came to watch the show. It was a theater show. They didn't speak any English. They were foreigners. I think they were European. I'm not sure from where. And, uh, I put the real dessert on the table that displayed the fake desserts.

The fake desserts were actually real desserts, but they were a few days old, right? And, and the ice cream wasn't real ice cream. It was actually, uh, this thing that we call Crisco. It was like this lard and I accidentally picked up the fake dessert, took it to him. They ate the cake. Nikita ate the cake.

Nichita Herput (04:03.503)
Yeah.

Nichita Herput (04:17.762)
They ate the lard, the entire lard out of it.

Eric (04:20.137)
They didn't eat the lard, they ate the cake, the piece of cake, right? And so I picked up the plate, I took it back inside the kitchen and I put it in the, uh, in the bucket for it to get washed and it was at an angle and I started walking away and I realized something that the ice cream hadn't melted and it wasn't sliding down. I looked again, the dishwasher looked because, and then the person who makes the desserts look from the kitchen and they knew immediately what I had done.

Nichita Herput (04:23.42)
Okay.

Eric (04:47.781)
They, they just, they just realized it. The kitchen was just laughing. Everybody was just laughing out loud. The, the general manager came out and they're like, what's going on here. And yeah, they, they mostly spoke Spanish. They didn't really speak English. Right. And they didn't really want to tell a rat on me. So they didn't say anything. And I pretended I didn't know what's going on. I went back into the floor. Right. And so the general manager didn't know what the hell was going on, but that was my most embarrassing moment.

The couple didn't say anything. They didn't speak English. They just, they left me a shitty tip.

Nichita Herput (05:23.578)
Yeah, probably you could have gotten it from the tip, so like what's wrong with this?

Eric (05:29.917)
Yeah, yeah, I think I deserved it. What was your most embarrassing moment in the hospitality industry? Nikita.

Nichita Herput (05:38.122)
I was at this event. It was a new TV channel opening up in our city and it had this great event that the hotel was working in. And I was holding a tray full of champagne glasses, right, and just like going around and, you know, distributing it. And I knew the guy that actually opened the company and I was really scared to go to him like, here's a champagne for you. And the moment I just walked at him.

when he wanted to pick it up, he picked up one glass and it was like a tray full of it, right? Like 20 glasses. He picked one and I literally just like, I looked at him and did this.

All the champagne went on him, on everybody else around, and I just stood there like, ooh, okay. Now I really did something bad, like really, really bad. So I just excused myself like 20 minutes, started cleaning everything up. I don't know what they said, but like, probably.

Eric (06:17.776)
Ha ha!

Eric (06:38.589)
Okay, okay, so for those listening and not watching, Nikita demonstrated that he flipped the tray of all the glasses of champagne. Is that right, Nikita?

Nichita Herput (06:47.654)
Yeah, flip the entire thing on the most important person of the night.

Eric (06:53.939)
What's the relationship between you and this person? Is it non-existent?

Nichita Herput (07:00.216)
Definitely not existent. I'm happy I didn't get a restraining order after that.

Eric (07:06.173)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, okay. Now, I guess people remember you from that event that's in the industry, right?

Nichita Herput (07:16.152)
Uh, I, I hope like they kind of forgot about it, but yes, they, I, I've had a lot of stuff happening afterwards is everybody said it.

Eric (07:23.313)
Yeah. Okay. Did you apologize or did you just turn around and walk away?

Nichita Herput (07:30.23)
Uh, I, I stood silent for like 30 seconds until I, my brain realized what happened. And then I just said, sorry for the next hour. And I, I think I went to him like too many times saying I'm sorry, which was like kind of a problem, like just say sorry and you know, go whatever.

Eric (07:48.145)
Yeah, yeah, there's nothing you can do. You know, you, you quick, sorry, and be sincere and walk away. And that's it. Stay out of sight. Really? You just want to stay out of sight. Okay. Now tell us about pineapple square. Like, how did you get this name? And what was the, uh, you said that you were trying to combine hospitality and tech. Uh, so what was the light bulb moment that you realized something like this was needed?

Nichita Herput (07:50.512)
Yeah, definitely.

Nichita Herput (07:56.281)
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Nichita Herput (08:14.926)
Uh, so this actually our, uh, second startup in hospitality, uh, pineapple square comes from two things. So pineapples, the fruit of hospitality, which is like the domain that we're working in and square comes from the old algorithms of ancient Greece, like the central market in a city where professionals would meet to like, you know, mingle around, find out about latest tech and you know, what's, what's the new trends in the market.

And that's what we're trying to do in a digital place, like get together hospitality and put them in a square so they can communicate with each other and start doing business.

Eric (08:55.369)
Yep. All right. I wish I had this when I was younger because it seems like this is a really cool way to highlight your, not just your experience, but also what you're really good at, because I felt like I was one of the best waiters at the restaurant. And I felt like with a technology like this, I really could have been in demand by some of the best restaurants in the area. So when people discover this, whether they're a waiter or a bartender, or maybe even a chef, what do they get excited about Nikita?

Nichita Herput (09:27.711)
So there are different opportunities that you can get. So right now, hospitality is a really bad place from a worker's point of view. And there's like a waiter or a spark and they always want to make some extra buck, right? So where can you find like new gigs to work on? Where can you find the best restaurants to work on? So I think the main thing right now is gigs.

So when restaurants need an extra bartender and they have a special party, that somebody with special skills, they can find them there. From my point of view, you are the best waiter, depending on the best experience you have, the best restaurant you've been to. So if you feel kind of stuck in a place you want to look for something new.

We also have that use case of like people searching for restaurants and just finding the best place to work in or at least trying to get a job there.

Eric (10:24.481)
Okay, how does the business model work? Is it free for waiters and bartenders? How does it work?

Nichita Herput (10:30.174)
Yeah, so right now, at this moment in time, it's free for everyone. So for bartenders and waiters, of course, it's gonna be free. And we're gonna put in a subscription model for the restaurant so they can get access to the network. And then on top of that, if they actually hire somebody for a gig or a job, we will take a small percentage, smaller than a HR company, that that's our goal. So they can fill out more of their vacant

jobs, you know, faster and easier and cheaper. That's where we want to get.

Eric (11:06.091)
Okay. And if you're a restaurant or a waiter and you want to try this out, where can you find

Nichita Herput (11:12.015)
App Store and Google Play.

Eric (11:13.801)
Okay, and where you guys live at right now, just particularly in Romania and Hungary, like where?

Nichita Herput (11:19.298)
So yes, most of our users right now are in Romania. Hungary, not that much, to be honest with you. And we started off in the United States. And actually the past six weeks, we've been in San Francisco at an accelerator program. So we started kicking stuff off in US, see if there's a market fit in the US as well. But yeah, mostly Romania and second place is United States.

Eric (11:46.173)
Okay, do you know if there's you got competitors in the US with a similar app or no?

Nichita Herput (11:50.85)
Yes. So in the United States, there are similar apps. There's one particular one, like an old incumbent that, you know, they do a good job, but like they're not great, you know, they're old, old company, right. But in Europe, actually, we didn't find anyone to like, fit the fit, let's say 80% of what we do, you can think of indeed, maybe, but like, it's very general, it doesn't try to help us.

Eric (12:19.141)
Yeah. How have you gotten traction so far here in Romania? Like the first users, what have you guys done?

Nichita Herput (12:26.21)
Uh, so we've launched like three months ago, the app itself. Right now we have a, around 500, like a blue color works, like, you know, bar, bartenders, waiters, chefs, there's a mix of it and around 50, 60 restaurants, bistros, uh, you know, let's say businesses inside. Uh, that's what we've got with no marketing spend, nothing. It was just like, you know, we're here to do this.

uh you know spreading the word out yeah word of mouth uh and actually uh before going to san francisco we went to like the biggest bartending event in romania called brift uh which like the first and foremost the best bartenders in romania are there but they have like this amazing uh people from the united states london other bartenders to show off what they do and we had a blast there like

Eric (12:57.641)
word of mouth, yeah, yeah.

Nichita Herput (13:24.114)
If I could show you the pictures, like everybody was just having so much fun. We had this game, you know, throwing pineapples at a board, getting points. It actually went better than we were expecting. Like we had no idea that this would go this way. So right, only from that place, we got around 100 to 120 users in two days. Yeah, which was amazing. Yeah, and very good people. Like very good people, very good bartenders.

Eric (13:45.269)
Wow, very, very cool. Very cool.

Eric (13:52.369)
Yeah. Now who's your team made up of? Like who's on your team right now?

Nichita Herput (13:56.738)
So right now in our team we have Octavian Ginga, which is, I'm actually at his house right now. He's in a separate room. And we have Razvan, which is our designer, which I haven't actually met since I came back to the US. So I have to go and see him today. Yeah.

Eric (14:18.105)
Okay. And your day to day role, like responsibilities, obviously a founder wears many hats, but like, what is your, your thing that you love to focus on?

Nichita Herput (14:27.018)
Uh, so I would go with sales and operations. Like I used to be a sales agent and business developer at that company. That's what I did for so many years. So it's kind of like natural for me. Um, and operations like I think I'm a pre organized person and I like to like, you know, make sure everything runs smoothly. Um, these are the main hats, but all the Jack of all trades, like whatever it's necessary, I'm there. Except for coding, except for coding. I'm not, I'm not.

I'm not putting myself out there as a coder. No way. No way. Yeah.

Eric (14:57.885)
Yeah, neither am I. Neither am I. I'm a no code guy.

Okay, if you had a magic wand to basically tackle your biggest obstacle right now, what would you do?

Nichita Herput (15:13.002)
My biggest obstacle right now.

Nichita Herput (15:21.47)
I would, if I have a magic wand, I would create like the biggest hospitality conference in our city. I would love everybody to see our city and just have the biggest hospitality conference where I can bring up, you know, the best chefs, partners and restaurants out there so they can, you know, meet each other and just see what happens if you do that.

Eric (15:45.457)
Okay, okay, very cool. And last question before we get into rapid fire, what was the big difference differences that you saw in the hospitality industry in the Netherlands versus Romania?

Nichita Herput (16:01.934)
I think like the, so in the Netherlands, they put a lot of emphasis on procedures and quality. I would definitely say that. Romania is like, if you are willing to work, they're okay with putting you out there. In the Netherlands, not so much. Like they would like you to be trained a lot before, make sure you know, maybe a bit of Dutch. So it takes a long time to actually get into the thing. That was my experience. I mean, I have no idea what's happening right now, but like my experience was like, I...

trained for three or four months before I was able to go there and meet clients actually.

Eric (16:37.806)
In your brief experience in the States, did you notice any differences?

Nichita Herput (16:42.414)
Uh, actually, yes. So I would, I would definitely say that Europe does a way better job in hospitality than the U.S. The U.S. is a bit chaotic and like the quality of service is just not there. Like, honestly, I, I feel like, you know, food wise, it looks better in Europe. It tastes better. Uh, but you know, probably I didn't go to the right places as well. I don't know. That was my.

Eric (17:06.373)
Oh, wow. Yeah. Now my experience is totally different. So when my wife moved to the States, uh, she was shocked. We would walk into a Walgreens and you're greeted, hi, how you doing today? Let me know if I can help you. And here it's like everywhere. I feel like there's like a lack of good customer service. I went in for a teeth cleaning a couple of days ago and I was the dentist. He was reading a book and I'm there to get my teeth clean. And he looked at me and he's like, Oh, I just gave me like four more minutes. I'm still reading my book. I'm like,

Nichita Herput (17:36.482)
Oh yeah, definitely. I'm just putting here for hospitality, but the rest of it, if you go in a store in Romania, you're like, I don't wanna talk to you. What are you, what are you, I'm not gonna talk to you. But hospitality, I don't know, it kinda feels like, I would put a bit more better quality in Europe, but, you know.

Eric (17:36.549)
Okay.

Eric (17:58.173)
Yeah. I guess if we're talking about two different things, maybe customer service in general versus hospitality, like restaurants or hotels. Yeah. There's two different things. Okay. All right. Rapid fire time. Give me the first thing that pops into your mind. Are you ready?

Nichita Herput (18:08.562)
Yeah.

Nichita Herput (18:13.242)
Okay, ready.

Eric (18:15.057)
All right, what is something weird that you obsess about Nikita?

Nichita Herput (18:21.63)
Oh, actually my computer, I obsess about, you know, about making sure that everything in my PC just arranged as hell. Like my files are in the right place, everything is the right place.

Eric (18:36.385)
Okay. All right. What are you stubborn about?

Nichita Herput (18:41.694)
everything. Jesus Christ. Like I want to make it my way somehow. I don't know. I'm just stubborn. Sorry, I'm just stubborn.

Eric (18:51.209)
Are you a Taurus by any chance? A Taurus? Yeah.

Nichita Herput (18:53.762)
What? A tourist? No, I... okay, I'm in September, so I'm not sure how it's called. Fitchwater? New Romanian? Like the girl thingy?

Eric (19:01.601)
Uh, yeah, I don't know what that is, but yeah, tourists are typically stubborn and I'm married to one, so I know, I know what that's all about.

Nichita Herput (19:09.426)
Yeah, my parents are both Taurus, so I probably got that one as well. Virgo, Virgo. I'm a Virgo.

Eric (19:13.985)
There you go.

Okay, okay, so there's stubborn too, but if your mom and dad were both Taurus's, that explains it. Yeah. Okay, next question for you. What is a funny phobia or fear that you have?

Nichita Herput (19:31.758)
Heights. I, yeah, Heights.

Eric (19:32.969)
Heights, okay. All right. Next question. What happened during a hilarious bad date?

Nichita Herput (19:44.382)
I walked out. I said nothing. I just grabbed my phone and my thing, I just walked out.

Eric (19:45.505)
Hahaha, whatever.

Eric (19:50.961)
Was it based on something the person said? What happened?

Nichita Herput (19:54.903)
Uh, yeah, she basically like one minute afterwards. She told me I don't like your glasses. So like No, thank you

Come on. My glasses, really? No, a Caribbean.

Eric (20:06.045)
Hey, she was Dutch, right? Was she Dutch?

Eric (20:11.605)
Caribbean? Oh, what the Dutch? Yeah, yeah, because the Dutch are very direct.

Nichita Herput (20:18.387)
It was Dutch Indies, so probably, you know.

Eric (20:21.733)
Yeah, I've discovered that recently since interviewing a lot of Dutch startup founders, how they're pretty direct versus Latin culture. Okay. All right. Last question for you. What secret strategy do you use to drive leads? I know you guys just got started, but what are something that you're anticipating experimenting with?

Nichita Herput (20:28.459)
Yeah. Yep.

Nichita Herput (20:42.566)
Conferences. Actually like conferences and you know exhibitions they just work. Personal connection gives you some like the word of mouth you get from there it's unbeatable. You cannot do it online from my point of view. No way.

Eric (20:58.769)
Yeah, yeah, no, I agree. You can't beat, you can't beat in-person meetups. Uh, last thing I will mention here is I loved your LinkedIn page. Uh, on your about page, you have this section that says things that I do and get paid for, and then you have this section, things that I do and do not get paid for and you have gaming, TV, binging, cooking, cross country and a few other things, Nikita, thanks for coming on this show. It's been a pleasure.

Nichita Herput (21:18.282)
Yeah.

Nichita Herput (21:24.302)
Thank you very much, Eric. It was amazing. Thank you very much.

Eric (21:27.749)
Yeah, and for everybody listening, if you enjoyed this, hit subscribe, tell others about it. I'll put links to Nikita's LinkedIn and Pineapple Square. Yeah, one other comment. Nikita? Nope.

Nichita Herput (21:37.89)
Uh, go, no, actually go to the first restaurant and say, thank you to the waiter and the bar that served you. That's, that's something I would like everybody to do. They, they work their ass off. They worked their ass off.

Eric (21:50.141)
Absolutely. Oh, I know I used to be a waiter and, uh, I know it's a, it's a very, it can be a very stressful job, especially when you get hit with like three or four tables at one time, everybody. Thank you for joining me on this episode with innovators can laugh. I will see you next week. Cheers.

Nichita Herput (22:08.609)
Alright.