James Gowans
I've spent two decades at the intersection of hospitality and technology — close enough to the kitchen to understand what operators actually need, and technical enough to build it.
That started at Squirrel Systems in 2007, working support and then key accounts for restaurant chains. It ran through Canucks Sports & Entertainment, where I worked across the hospitality technology stack for Rogers Arena and the broader CSE portfolio. It landed at Cactus Club Cafe in 2020, where I've spent six years deploying, integrating, and evolving the platforms that run 41 restaurants.
The domain is POS, KDS, payments, reservations, online ordering, workforce management. I'm also a Certified Scrum Master and Certified Scrum Product Owner — useful when you're sitting at the table where technology meets delivery.
Right now I'm focused on two things: building a technically excellent team, and figuring out what AI actually changes in restaurant operations. Both of those feel like they're just getting interesting.
I live in Vancouver with my wife Missy and our two kids, Jonas and Audrey. The sea is close. That matters.
Leading the technical practice for a 41-location restaurant group (Cactus Club Cafe & King Taps). Architecture decisions, platform strategy, integration design, and team development. Key deployments: SevenRooms reservations, DoorDash/Uber Eats/xDine POS integration, Push Operations (HR/scheduling), Hostie.ai AI phone concierge.
Worked across the hospitality technology stack for Rogers Arena and the broader CSE portfolio. Expanded well beyond POS into broader hospitality tech — the role that turned deep Squirrel expertise into genuine cross-platform range.
Started in the Solution Center, moved into product specialist work with large corporate chains, built and led the dedicated key account team. One of those key accounts was Cactus Club Cafe. Nine years of POS depth — the foundation everything else is built on.
The best way to reach me is email at james@jamesgowans.com or connect on LinkedIn.
I'm not looking for vendors, recruiters with form letters, or LinkedIn connection requests with no context. I am interested in conversations with people doing interesting work in hospitality technology, operations, or AI.