[xgarland]

Even the approach of sending cold emails may not be as effective, since plenty of restaurants still don't leverage basic tools available for communication and connection, including the internet.

As Yiggy said, try sourcing targets from Yelp and Open Table, then proceed to catch someone who is willing to talk during low traffic hours.

Not sure if this strategy is the best, but just something to think about when dealing with people in and around the service industry.