Brad Robinson, Restaurateur and Founder of the Newest Industry Learning Platform, Tipshare, Shares How He Aims To Help Other Business Owners Grow Professionally
Whether you’re a long-time restaurateur or just starting in the industry— you know how challenging it can be to access vital resources to guide your career or business.
Brad Robinson, founder and CEO of Tipshare, a new all-in-one restaurant learning platform, experienced the same frustrations firsthand.
Before Tipshare, Robinson founded Craft Pies Pizza Company in Dallas, Texas. While the local pizza brand was successful—having six locations and over 120 employees—Robinson recognized limitations from a lack of shared knowledge within the industry.
“Access to information was really the main thing we were missing, and that was holding our growth back,” Robinson said. “Had I had the resources available at the time, I feel like we could have grown much larger, much faster, and ultimately made more of an impact.”
Having sold Craft Pie Pizza Company to private equity—Robinson decided to take this moment and create the resource platform he wished he had while running his business.
“I can either take the resources, knowledge, and the information that I’ve gained to [open another concept] and keep all of that to myself,” Robinson shared. “Or I can try to reinvent how restaurants learn and ultimately grow their businesses.”
Pausing his career as a restaurateur, Robinson decided to take the plunge and launch Tipshare so industry experts could come together through a learning community.
Tipshare just launched at the end of March, but the site will continuously develop three main components for users to learn and expand in their careers.
First, there is a Course library full of content produced by Tipshare and free for anyone using the platform.
They plan on adding courses with various resources for career development and restaurant operations and management.
“Let’s say that an aspiring entrepreneur is looking at starting their own restaurant concept,” Robinson said. “We’ll have courses on raising capital, the in’s and out’s of real estate, franchising their growth, restaurant marketing that works—if they’re looking at taking over a failing restaurant as I did, how to fix a failing restaurant and turn it around.”
Next, Tipshare hosts a marketplace where other industry consultants and experts can upload and sell their own courses and content.
Users can expect to find top-rated recipes from other chefs, templates and checklists from other restaurant consultants and operators, and anything anyone running a business needs to know.
Their third learning component is an AI forum.
Anyone on Tipshare can ask any question within the forum, and the AI component will be able to respond with helpful information and advice.
Other industry experts can also respond, adding more creative advice for anyone seeking guidance. These conversations will continue to help the AI learn and develop its ability to answer more challenging questions.
Additionally, Tipshare’s B2B Directory provides those in the industry with a comprehensive list of all restaurant software and services so they can find a solution that works for them.
Each listing contains a brief description of the company and its products with photos, customer reviews, and helpful contact information to learn more.
“We want to take all the reviews on each company from all the different platforms and funnel them into our B2B directory. This way, business owners only have to go to one place to see all the reviews on the companies they want to do business with,” Robinson explained.
Whether you’re looking for a point of sale system, a loyalty program, an email marketing software, and more—you’ll be able to find essential insights from across the internet, all from their database.
And while Tipshare primarily focuses on owners/operators within a restaurant, there is something for everyone.
Workers, too, will be able to find helpful information for career advancement—and even jobs.
Poached has partnered with Tipshare to feed their jobs site so that we’re expanding our customer reach for new applicants, and industry workers can find more opportunities through Poached on Tipshare.
“I created the Tipshare platform to ultimately empower restaurants and their teams by providing access to valuable connections, innovative ideas, and crucial information that will help transform their businesses,” Robinson said.
While the Tipshare platform is very new, having launched at the end of March—they have big plans and goals as they continue to roll out.
We’re excited to partner with Tipshare and look forward to how their platform will help the industry thrive!
If you’re looking for new ways to grow your business and career—or have services you think could be helpful to others, check out Tipshare today.