How Technology Advancements are Changing your Kitchen and BoH Operations

Two technological advancements are already improving restaurants around the world – robotics and adding smart technology to foodservice equipment. Both are not only changing the customer experience in the front of house but also the level of productivity and labor in the kitchen.

This session will explore how operators must embrace the kitchen of the future in order to automate meal production and to take better care of their units.

Panelists:
• Derin Alemli | Founder & CEO | Square Roots Kitchen
• Geoff Alexander | CEO | Wow Bao

Handling Workplace Diversity, Compliance and Soft Skills Training with Mobile Technology

Trying to fix a problem is much more costly than putting the training and systems in place to prevent it from occurring. This is doubly important when dealing with difficult issues like workplace diversity and gender equality in the workplace. When disasters revolve around these topics, it’s rarely clear what the point of failure was or how to fix it. Thus prevention is a must for businesses.

This session will give attendees insight and the tools needed to ensure that their workplace is a positive and inclusive environment.

Panelists:
• Bill DiPaola | COO | Ballard Brands
• Steve Felson | EVP, Business Operations | BurgerFi
• Michael Mohammed | CEO | Chronic Tacos

Moderator:
• Paul Bradley | Head of Product Management | PlayerLync

Controlling Your Marketing: Are Your Franchisees Going Rogue?

The signs and materials in all locations need to be exactly the same — except when they shouldn’t. But how do you know when to be consistent and when to allow flexibility for local market requirements? This session will help you strike the right balance between protecting your brand without stifling local-store marketing efforts.

Panelists:
• Chris Braun | CEO | Juice It Up!
• Matt Friedman | Co-Founder & CEO | Wing Zone
• Rachel Layton | VP of Marketing + Growth | Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe

Moderator:
• Kathi Woolsey | Director of Business Development | Visualogistix

Get in the Delivery Game: Ways to Solve Restaurant Delivery Dilemmas

Whether it’s keeping hot food hot or ice cream frozen, this session will teach attendees how to maintain food integrity and help mitigate food safety risks. It will also focus on customer food quality expectations by sharing recommended practices for a stellar delivery experience with third-party delivery partners.

Panelists:
• Tad Low | Director of Off Premise Marketing | Moe’s Southwest Grill
• Jason Morgan | CEO | Original ChopShop and bellagreen
• Kelly Roddy | President | Schlotzsky’s

Moderator:
• Doug Sutton | President | Steritech

Freeing Your Restaurant from Tablet Hell

Many fast casuals rely on third-party companies to help meet their delivery needs, but what should be an easy way to add an additional revenue stream can easily turn into an operations and customer experience nightmare. Orders are often lost or typed in wrong, for example, when employees have to pull orders from a tablet and manually enter them into a POS system.

This session offers advice from restaurant operators who have been to tablet hell and back.

Panelists:
• Scott Goodrich | COO | Stacked Pickle
• Dawn Nielsen | COO | Kolache Factory
• Desi Saran | Founder & CEO | Sweetberry Bowls

Moderator:
• Sterling Douglass | Co-Founder & CEO | Chowly

Why Follow When You Can Lead? Uncovering Menu Trends of 2020

Predicting the next major menu craze has always been a challenge, and as we move into a more integrated and interdependent world, customers are exploring foods and flavors from around the world, which makes it even more difficult.

This session’s experts will reveal what menu trends are most popular and where and show attendees how to apply them to their menus.

Panelists:
• Hagop Giragossian | Partner, Culinary & Operations | Dog Haus
• Josh Morgan | COO | Melt Shop
• Ike Shehadeh | Founder | Ike’s Love & Sandwiches

4:00 pm | Breakout Session

To Respond or Not to Respond?

The number of reviews per location is increasing faster in food service than any other industry. For the first time, it will surpass Hospitality, so how do restaurant brands respond and control those customer reviews? This session will answer a variety of questions including:

• Should I let my GMs and franchisees respond?
• How do I keep control of the branding and voice?
• What kinds of technologies are out there to help me?
• Are they worth the cost?
• How can I measure ROI?

Panelists:
• Tom Carr | VP of Marketing | Chicken Salad Chick
• Sam Ferreira | President | Gloria Jean’s Gourmet Coffees and It’s A Grind Coffee House
• Will Hanrahan | Digital Brand Manager | Fazoli’s
• Kyle Noonan | Owner & Founder |  Mutts Canine Cantina

Moderator:
• Lee Zucker | Head of Industry, Food Service | Yext

4:00 pm | Breakout Session

No (Marketing) Money, No Problem!

It’s true that small or emerging brands can’t afford to compete on the same level with the big brands when it comes to advertising, but the good news is that they don’t need to try. In today’s social media landscape, nearly any brand can create a lot of buzz with very little money.

This session will show you how far a little creativity and ingenuity can take you.

Panelists:
• Jeff Fenster | Founder & CEO | Everbowl
• Pedro Mora | Founder & CEO | Fajita Pete’s
• Angela Petro | CEO | Sweet Carrot & Two Caterers
• Liz Vanzura | CMO | Rangoon Ruby

10:05 am | Breakout Session

Taking the Temperature of Fraud: Protecting Your Brand in the Rise of Mobile Ordering

Online ordering can no doubt increase sales, but it also has opened new ways for fraudsters to steal from you or disrupt your business.

Unlike traditional browsing and access via a computer, mobile devices introduce many new elements that complicate the user verification process. This session will arm attendees with all the info they need in order to protect their customers and their businesses.

10:05 am | Breakout Session

Convenience Over Culture: The Future for Restaurants in an On-Demand World

Two mega-trends — delivery and personalized customer engagement — are rocking the restaurant industry and defining winners. It’s no coincidence that Starbucks, Dominos, and Panera, who are industry leaders in same-store sales, have invested heavily in off-premise and customer data. And the landscape is only getting more fiercely competitive.

To compete, restaurants must own their customer data and provide memorable, personalized interactions that are just as magical outside the four-walls as within.

This session will discuss how restaurants with limited budgets can successfully “play big” and grow revenues in this new era of convenience and personalization.

Panelists:
• Carl Howard | President & CEO | Fazoli’s
• Frank Paci | CEO | Corner Bakery
• Steve Schulze | CEO | Nekter Juice Bar

Moderator:
• Zach Goldstein | Founder & CEO | Thanx

11:25 am | Breakout Session

What the Heck Does ‘Fast Casual’ Mean These Days, and Does it Even Matter?

When the term “fast casual” emerged more than 20 years ago, it was used to describe a restaurant brand that offered higher-quality food in a more upscale setting but didn’t use servers. As the popularity of “fast casual” concepts increased over the years, other sectors, including casual dining and QSRs, have changed everything from their menus to service models in an effort to stay competitive.

Today, the line is blurry, but does it even matter to customers?

Panelists:
• Alonso Castañeda | VP of Brand Development & Strategy | Four Foods Group
• Akash Kapoor | Founder & CEO | Curry Up Now
• Jim Vinz | CEO | Mongolian Concepts

11:25 am | Breakout Session

How to Use the IoT to Create a Safer, Faster and Smarter Cold Chain

Customers increasing demand for fresh food is forcing fast casual restaurants to increasingly serve temperature-sensitive perishables instead of relying mostly on products with long shelf lives.

That means brands are having to reconfigure their supply chains to keep food at the proper temperature during transport while also working with vendors to get their orders in as quickly as possible in order to meet customer expectations regarding speed and convenience. Neither of those challenges comes cheap, but passing the price increase onto customers isn’t an option; they still expect inexpensive food options at their favorite fast casual restaurants.

What’s a brand to do?

This session will explore how restaurants can rely on technology, such as on-demand monitoring and product traceability solutions, to reduce risk and waste without going over budget.

1:10 pm | Breakout Session

Building Off-Premise & Delivery – The Silver Bullet or A Profit Drain?

The debate around delivery continues to swirl; is it the silver bullet you’ve been looking for or a deal with the devil that steals your profits? As delivery options continue to multiply, understand the questions you need to ask to determine whether it is right for your brand. Learn from industry experts on how to maintain control of the delivery experience and present your brand in a way that keeps customers searching for the re-order button.

In this session, you will hear from operators who have succeeded, the hurdles they overcame, and the companies that connect the dots to make it work.

Panelists:
• Zaid Ayoub | Founder & CEO | SAJJ Mediterranean
• Joe Guith | President | McAlister’s Deli
• Keith Hill | Co-Founder | I Love Bacon

1:10 pm | Breakout Session

Women in the Lead: How the Restaurant Industry is Benefitting by Embracing Female Executives

It’s no secret that the restaurant industry has been slow to offer c-level positions to females, but that’s changing. More women than ever are holding leading fast casual brands as chefs, CEOs and vice presidents, and this panel brings several of them together to discuss how the restaurant culture can be even more inclusive.

Panelists:
• Janene Hoelig | Executive Chef/VP of Operations | Hot Indian Foods
• Kristi Kingery | SVP of Supply Chain & Quality Assurance | Tropical Smoothie Cafe
• Sue Petersen | VP of Human Resources | Noodles & Company
• Robin Robison | COO | Modern Market

2:30 pm | Breakout Session

Waste Not: Should Restaurants Take Responsibility for Minimizing Waste?

Restaurants are clearly responsible for a lot of waste. They serve food in plastic bowls, lids, cups, forks and straws to millions of people every day, which end up in landfills for hundreds of years. But plastic straws became the enemy in 2018, despite only making up 4 percent of all plastic usage. Did straws get a bad rap?

And who decides how to hold brands accountable for the waste they’re causing? Those are just a couple of many questions that restaurants execs will take on during this panel.

It will not only identify several brands making a positive impact on the environment but will also give inexpensive ways for restaurants to reduce plastic, waste and energy.

Panelists:
• Janani Lee | Chief Sustainability Officer | Just Salad

2:30 pm | Breakout Session

Are You Prepared for a Mobile Future?

While most restaurant leaders would agree that having a mobile presence is imperative to the future of their businesses, more than half of the respondents of a recent survey expressed doubts over their ability to keep up with the speed of mobile technology changes and felt threatened by their mobile-enabled competitors.

And that fear isn’t unfounded; to remain relevant, restaurants must act quickly to modernize their mobile strategy and offerings. Experts on this panel will discuss how restaurants can embrace mobile and back-end technology to drive higher ticket value, enable upsell. cut labor costs and improve the guest experience.

Panelists:
• Aaron Noveshen | Founder & President | Starbird & Culinary Edge Ventures

Moderator:
• Bob Gibson | VP of Sales | Oracle Food and Beverage