Agenda

Join fast casual restaurant executives and other Summit attendees as we tour and eat out at some of Arlington's top local fast casual restaurants.

What separates a popular brand from a cult brand, and how do you scale without losing the magic that made people fall in love with it in the first place?

In this keynote, Velvet Taco CEO Chris Schultz shares lessons from more than 30 years of building brands that inspire deep loyalty. Drawing on his experience helping grow companies like Starbucks, MOD Pizza, Voodoo Doughnut, and now Velvet Taco, Schultz explores how brands maintain a clear identity as they expand, avoid the trap of “brand drift,” and create the kinds of experiences that turn customers into devoted fans.

Part strategy and part real-world playbook, this session offers a candid look at what it takes to grow a brand without losing what made it special in the first place.

Following a global contest, several concepts have been selected to be part of The Perfect Pitch, which is three rounds.

Entrepreneurs will pitch their fast casual concepts to attendees and a panel of advisers who will quiz them about their growth plans and also give them advice.

Choosing a winner: Three founders will pitch their concepts during Round 1 with the audience selecting a winner. During round 2, three more will pitch their business plans, and the audience will vote for a winner. During round 3, those two winners will go head-to-head answering audience and adviser questions. The audience will vote for a final winner.

It’s our “nicer” version of “Shark Tank,” which means it’s all about helping small but innovative concepts get off the ground. The audience members will vote on their favorite pitch, and the winner will receive bragging rights (of course), a $3,500 prize, one year of free service with Ovation and a starring spot on the Fast Casual Frontrunners series to compete for a $200,000 investment from Savor.

For over 25 years, fast casual concepts have been at the forefront of innovation in the restaurant industry, proving to be trendsetters in store design, menu development, customer experience and restaurant technology. That would not be possible, however, without the blood, sweat and tears of the men and women who lead those brands each day.

The Fast Casual Hall of Fame will honor three individuals, who through their vision and leadership, have driven not only the success of their brands, but of the fast casual segment as a whole.

Join us as we recognize this year's Fast Casual Hall of Fame Honorees.

View previous Hall of Fame inductees.

Breakfast is open to all Summit participants. Be sure to check in at the registration desk and pick up your name badge if you haven’t already.

Scaling a restaurant brand is often where the dream meets a messy reality. In this unvarnished fireside chat, Savory Co-Founder Shauna Smith sits down with CEO Clay Dover to move past the spreadsheets and get into the trenches of hyper-growth. This is an insider’s look at the "Savory System," a repeatable framework designed to professionalize brands without stripping away their soul.

Shauna and Clay will bypass the PR polish to discuss:

• The Breaking Point: Why most brands fail at scale and the #1 operational failure point.
• Founder Dynamics: Navigating the high-stakes transition of control and protecting brand identity.
• The PE Disconnect: What traditional Private Equity gets wrong about restaurant culture.
• The "Savory System": How to build a management infrastructure that handles growth while others flame out.

Get a rare perspective from two leaders who have sat in the founder’s seat, the investor’s seat, and the operator’s seat. This session is for those ready to hear the honest truth about what it takes to build a national powerhouse.

Join us as we continue on with round 2 of the Perfect Pitch and hear from more entrepreneurs as they pitch their fast casual concepts to attendees and a panel of advisers.

The drive-thru of 2026 is no longer just a window in a wall; it is a high-speed data hub. As fast casual brands continue to migrate toward suburban footprints, the pressure to deliver "fast casual quality" at "QSR speeds" has reached a breaking point. This session provides a tactical roadmap for operators looking to modernize their lanes without bloating their payroll.

Goal: Master the implementation of AI-voice ordering and "Ghost Lanes" to maximize throughput and guest satisfaction without increasing labor costs.

The fast-casual landscape is being reshaped by hyper-local preferences and viral social media cycles, but for multi-unit brands, the real challenge isn't spotting the next trend—it's executing it. Rolling out a "swavory" LTO across hundreds of locations can often lead to operational friction, supply chain headaches, and brand dilution.

This session provides a tactical roadmap for brands looking to regionalize their menus without losing centralized control. We will explore the governance models and agile frameworks that allow leading operators to move at the speed of social media while maintaining 100% brand consistency.

Key takeaways include:

• The Shift to Controlled Regionalization: Strategies for balancing local menu flexibility with national brand standards.
• Agile Promotion Cycles: Designing systems that support rapid LTO deployment without sacrificing order accuracy or labor efficiency.
• Data Governance & Compliance: Managing real-time nutritional, allergen, and pricing updates across fragmented supply chains.
• The "One Story" Rule: Aligning in-store signage, digital menus, and third-party platforms to ensure a frictionless guest experience across every channel.

Goal: Move away from static national rollouts and implement a high-velocity, regionalized promotional strategy that increases local relevance and boosts unit-level ROI.

The labor crisis has shifted from a "hiring" problem to a "holding" problem. With the cost of training a new team member now exceeding $3,500 per person in lost productivity and administrative overhead, the most profitable move an operator can make is keeping the talent they already have.

This session moves beyond the "now hiring" banner and into the psychology of the modern workforce. We will explore how to build a culture where employees feel like stakeholders, not just line-mats, by leveraging technology to give them the flexibility and recognition they crave.

Goal: Moving past "Help Wanted" signs. Practical steps for "retention-first" scheduling and gamifying training to reduce turnover.

Operators hear pitches all the time about products and services that will grow their business, but where’s the proof? We’ve got it right here.

This session includes three 15-minute presentations, each featuring one vendor and one operator sharing the how, when and ROI behind recent rollouts.

Every new delivery tablet, labor tracker, reporting process, or 15-step checklist adds complexity — but not all complexity impacts profits the same way. By 2026, the most successful fast casual brands won’t be the ones adding more; they’ll be the ones understanding which operational costs drive performance and which quietly erode margins.

In this high-impact panel, operators share how they simplified SOPs, tech stacks, labor practices, and menu execution by using operational visibility and comparative benchmarking to identify what was helping — and hurting — profitability across locations.

Goal: Audit operational friction through a profitability lens to uncover the hidden tasks, tools, and processes that slow down operations, confuse staff, and weaken margins — while identifying the operational practices that drive stronger financial performance.

Most fast casual brands are "data rich but insight poor." You have plenty of spreadsheets, but can you identify your most profitable 10% of customers? Do you know which menu item is most likely to turn a first-time guest into a regular? By 2026, the competitive advantage has shifted to those who can see the "Total Guest Picture."

In this session, we take a deep dive with operators who have stopped guessing and started using data to drive every decision — from menu engineering to real estate expansion. We’ll show you how to break down the walls between your tech systems to create a unified view of your guest that drives immediate ROI.

Goal: Connect the dots between your POS, loyalty, and online ordering to understand exactly who your guests are and how to make them spend 15% more.

The "spray and pray" coupon model is dead. Guests are tired of irrelevant emails, and operators are tired of giving away margins to customers who would have paid full price anyway. The winning strategy has shifted to hyper-personalization — delivering the right offer to the right person at the exact moment they are likely to make a decision.

This session explores how to use the data you already have (from POS, loyalty, and WiFi) to create a "segment of one." We will show you how to move away from "creepiness" — tracking guests in ways that feel invasive — and move toward "relevance" — providing value that feels like a concierge service.

Goal: Using AI and guest data to send "smart offers" that drive frequency without eroding your brand or making guests feel over-monitored.

The "Squeezed Middle" is the primary battleground for market share. Casual dining giants have weaponized the $10.99 price point — offering full-service hospitality, bottomless chips, and "3-for-Me" bundles that challenge the perceived value of a $17.00 fast-casual bowl. For the first time in a decade, middle-income diners are trading "down" from fast-casual to sit-down restaurants to get more "bang for their buck."

This session is not about a race to the bottom or slashing your margins. It is about value engineering: a strategic approach to menu architecture that makes your brand the obvious choice for a high-quality, high-speed meal that still feels like an upgrade.

Goal: Strategies to compete with casual dining value-combos while maintaining your premium fast casual identity.

Join us for a second round of three 15-minute presentations, each featuring one vendor and one operator sharing the how, when and ROI behind recent rollouts.

• Culinary Tides

Join us for four 15-minute small-group discussions on challenges facing operators. Each attendee will participate in all four discussions.

Topics include:

• Managing Delivery | Presented by TOPPAN Packaging Americas

Join Fast Casual Nation hosts Cherryh Cansler and Paul Barron as they shoot an episode of the Fast Casual Nation podcast featuring Justin Mennen, Chief Information and Technology Officer at Shake Shack, as he discusses the company’s evolving approach to technology through Project Catalyst.

In this session, Justin will share how Shake Shack is thinking about the role of technology in supporting its long-term growth and enhancing the guest experience, while staying grounded in its commitment to Enlightened Hospitality. The conversation will touch on key areas of focus, including:

• AI and Operations: How Shake Shack is exploring AI-driven insights to support restaurant teams, improve decision-making, and reduce operational friction.
• Loyalty and Guest Engagement: The brand’s approach to building its first loyalty platform with a focus on strengthening guest relationships and enabling more personalized communication.
• Modernizing Restaurant Systems: Ongoing efforts to evolve POS and kitchen systems to better support speed, accuracy, and a seamless experience across digital and in-Shack channels.
• Building a Data Foundation: The importance of creating a more unified view of the business to inform decisions and support future innovation.

This session will offer a look at how Shake Shack is approaching technology as an enabler of growth—focused on supporting its teams, improving operations, and delivering a more seamless and engaging experience for guests.

In this session, you will hear four short, thought-provoking talks that will leave you challenged and inspired.

• Scaling with Purpose | Jennifer Durham
• Move Fast and Break Things | Troy Hooper

The average fast casual operator is juggling 12 to 15 different technology vendors. This "Frankenstein Stack" creates data silos, redundant subscription fees, and — most importantly — massive labor inefficiencies as managers spend hours manually syncing reports and troubleshooting API failures. The "tech debt" is finally coming due.

This session provides a tactical roadmap for "The Great Consolidation." We will explore how leading brands are stripping away unnecessary "spot solutions" in favor of unified platforms where the POS (Point of Sale), KDS (Kitchen Display System), and inventory management talk to each other in real-time. This isn't just about saving on software fees; it’s about reclaiming the 10-plus hours a week your managers spend in the back office so they can get back onto the floor.

Goal: Move from fragmented "spot solutions" to a unified tech stack. Learn how to consolidate your POS, KDS, and Inventory systems to slash administrative labor by 15%.

Join us as we continue on the Perfect Pitch and hear from our top 2 finalists! Who will take home the prize?

As fast-casual brands face rising construction costs and a tightening real estate market, the traditional "build it and they will come" model is evolving. In this session, development experts will share how they are leveraging AI-driven site selection, modular construction, and flexible footprint designs to maintain aggressive growth targets without sacrificing ROI. We will explore the tactical roadmap for operators looking to modernize their expansion strategy without bloating their capital expenditures.

Goal: Pivot from traditional "gut-feeling" expansion to a data-backed development model that reduces site-selection risk and lowers initial build-out costs.

Catering is the "Holy Grail" of fast casual profitability — high average checks, predictable prep times, and massive brand exposure. But if you’re fulfilling those orders through a third-party marketplace, you’re basically working for them. In 2026, the brands winning the catering game are "hijacking" that relationship and bringing the corporate guest directly into their own ecosystem.

This session is a tactical deep dive into building a professional, frictionless, first-party catering operation that makes your brand the default choice for every board meeting and office party in your zip code.

Goal: Stop donating your catering margins to marketplaces. Implement a first-party B2B system that captures high-volume orders and keeps the 30% commission in your pocket.

Grab an adult beverage or a soda and join several fast casual CEOs discussing the important issues restaurant operators face today and what it will take to succeed in 2027 and beyond.