I’ve had a great time. This is my first time at Fast Casual Executive Summit and I’m very much enjoying it. Everyone’s sort of thinking about the same things and has the same challenges … whether it’s how to leverage marketing or how to attract employees. So, it’s great to see where the leaders in the industry are coming out on that.

Darden Coors, MAD Greens

Such a great conference. I thought it was all top notch and heard similar comments from many other attendees.

Neil Harfert, MOD Pizza

The conference has been great. Really good content. I’ve been really impressed with the people that are in attendance. It’s not just marketing. It’s not just operations. But you get a well-rounded group of folks. Some really interesting conversations and I’ve learned a lot. We will definitely be here next year.

Ryan Weisert, MomentFeed

I’ve actually met a ton of fun people. I have pages of notes because it’s been full of great content and I have lots of things to review with my team when we get back.

Shauna Smith, Four Foods Group

We found the sessions and interactions super helpful. Would love to join you again next year!

Russell Wagstaff, Lady Yum

Certainly, if fast casual is one of your verticals or sub-segments, I think this is a great place to meet executives.

Amir Hudda, Qu

This was my first Fast Casual Executive Summit and I had a great time. I thought the speakers were great and met a lot of awesome people through networking!

Alison Corbett, Sub Station II

The Fast Casual Executive Summit was a celebration of people who breathe great food, drinks and hospitality. It’s a room of people driven to deliver great experiences.

Tony Bradshaw, Street Shak Caribbean Kitchen

This is my first year at this conference and I am just loving this event so far, surrounded by such great concepts and people. It’s just awesome!

Josh Morgan, Melt Shop

I’ve had the greatest time at the Fast Casual Summit 2017. This is my first year attending and I was really amazed and happily surprised at all the interesting different topics that were covered that are all very relevant to my business. I would totally attend this Summit again and I would absolutely recommend it to my peers in the industry.

Margaret Furniss, Caviar & Bananas

This is a great event. I look forward to future years with the Fast Casual Summit.

Rob Rinke, Par

I think this is a terrific venue. It’s got a great mix of very experienced concepts and up-and-coming concepts that are trying to make their mark. We will definitely be back and we’d definitely recommend it for others who are looking to achieve what we’re trying to get done as well.

Doug Sutton, Steritech

I very much enjoyed participating and would like to do so again next year.

Steve McMahon, Saladworks

Thank you again for an amazing experience at this year’s Fast Casual Summit… it was such a key event for me and PPF. I’m still excited about all of the info I learned, new ideas and especially the contacts. Hands down the best industry event I’ve been to…possibly ever.

Logan Niles, Pot Pie Factory

Thanks to the sponsors. As a group, we appreciate what you guys do to allow us all to come together. I think this is one of the best events of our industry.

Sean Kennedy, Cowboy Chicken

Great event! Hats off to your team for maintaining an impactful event. Unlike many others we attend, it’s not a 3-day dog and pony show. Instead, our team has great networking opportunities, can find leaders in the industry and has the opportunity to engage in knowledgeable conversations about the future of fast casual. The food tour is the perfect kickoff to this high-level event!

Sarah Bessette, Steritech

The diversity of this event is great! And that’s why I’ve enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

Beth Brown, United Mail

The networking here at the event has been absolutely fantastic. These are the people that need our help every day and these are the people that we want to create relationships with for the next 20 to 30 years.

Don Hawkins, Middleby Corp.

The sessions have been great with that person-to-person communication and the ability to call them when I hit that road bump in the future has definitely been my biggest takeaway. Always space to get better no matter how good you are doing. So definitely we’ll be back.

Jerry Reece, Dat Dog

Definitely planning on coming back every year.

Jason Valentine, Cousins Subs

So many different brands here. So many emerging brands. This is probably the best place if you really want to find the leaders of the next generation of the restaurant business. It’s really great.

Scott Davis, Panera Bread

People here are happy. I see a lot of people with a smile on their face. It seems like they’re really enjoying what they’re doing, unlike normal conferences that I’ve been to in the past. A big theme that I see today is our industry is changing. There’s a lot more going on and it’s more customer-centric and it’s being driven by clients. And if you’re not able to provide that, then they’re going to go to other concepts that can deliver the things that they’re looking for.

Dave Eckels, PAR

You rarely get an opportunity to come into one place for just a couple of days and get the kind of contact and meet the kind of people that you do here. You have bigger companies that are reaching down and helping the little guys out. And I think that’s absolutely phenomenal. We’ve been a five-year Platinum Sponsor and we will be back.

Don Hawkins, Middleby Corp.

The Summit was so much fun! It brought a lot of people together that had never met before. And it was good for bigger franchises as well as somebody just starting out in the industry.

Neil Syal, Rockfire Grill

It was awesome! I loved it. It was honestly the best conference I’ve been to in a long time. Such great quality attendees, fantastic content.

Debbie Goldberg, Fresh Brothers

For me it’s all about the people. Amazingly talented, smart people in this industry and sharing ideas and hearing thoughts and expanding your mind. It’s just a great time.

Randy Gier, Pizza Inn

It’s been amazing! This is Custom Culinary’s third time supporting the event and this has been better than years past. It’s been a great opportunity for us to network with a fast casual community.

Rob Pellicano, Custom Culinary

The good thing about the Fast Casual Executive Summit is that it’s an intimate gathering. The format is unique. It’s very collaborative…There’s true collaboration and interaction between vendors as well as vendors and operators. The content and information is always relevant…We’ve loved coming here to the Summit every year…I think as a package it’s a great, fun conference to come to, as a vendor or as an operator.

Mo Asgari, Monkey Media Software

I really enjoyed the summit, got a lot out of it and was glad I made the decision to come.

Andrew Hubbard, Bob Evans Farms

“I almost skipped the event this year as I thought I was too busy running my restaurants. Thank goodness I changed my mind and registered last minute. I always leave the conference with dozens of take-away ideas from not only the presenters, but from operators I meet during the breaks.

Brian Bailey, Ichor Restaurant Group

See ya next year…. Thanks for another great event.

Ody Lugo, Giardino Gourmet Salads

The show was great! Thank you so much for your help! Well done!

Michael Hagen, LevelUp

Thank you all for a great experience! These events are never easy to organize and the preparation and thoughtfulness that went into this Fast Casual Executive Summit was tangible at every level. We truly enjoyed the opportunity to work with you on this project. It was great to talk about what we do at SpenDifference while interacting with so many wonderful people.

Peter Conway, SpenDifference

Thank you for all the answers, leads, connections, possible different ways to heat tortillas, etc. I’ll be back with friends from Bueno Y Sano (Good & Healthy, Inc.) next year.

Bob Lowry, Bueno Y Sano

Thanks for a really well organized, enjoyable conference.

Arnel Javier, Bento Yo!

This has been an awesome Summit. I’ve been a number of times and this is one of the very best. I’ve enjoyed it thoroughly.

David Gilbert, Heartland Payment Systems

We’ve met many of our existing customers. We have met many of our potential customers. We have met many of our partners and other suppliers. And everyone has been absolutely open and fantastic, warm and welcoming and sincere. We’ll be back.

Neil Sudaisar, DIRECTV

It was so nice meeting you all! What a great group of people. Thanks again to the Fast Casual show for having us as a sponsor again. See you next year!

Keith Sawka, Philips