BREAKOUT SESSION / TUESDAY / OCTOBER 5, 2021 / 2:30 PM
How to Digitally Transform Your Restaurant’s Operations
From food safety and preventing incidents, to ensuring team members follow your brand and regulatory standards, to delivering the optimal guest experience day in and day out – running a restaurant in 2021 is no easy task, but there are a variety of strategies and tools to make it easier.
Experts in this panel reveal what’s worked – and what hasn’t – for them.
PANELISTS
Matt Friedman | Co-Founder & CEO | Wing Zone
Back in 1991, finding Amazing Flavor was not so easy – especially at the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL where Matt Friedman and Adam Scott were away at school. Matt and Adam spent many a night in their fraternity house kitchen perfecting the recipes that one day would become Wing Zone’s trademark flavors. Starting with a single storefront, Matt and Adam built the Wing Zone brand, satisfying the cravings of Flavorholics in other towns, states and now, worldwide. Today, Matt and Adam are among the few ever to be inducted in the Buffalo Wing Hall of Flame. Wing Zone now has nearly 100 locations.
Otto Othman | CEO & Co-Founder | PINCHO
Otto Othman is an Interactive Creative Director, Serial Entrepreneur, Co-Founder and CEO of PINCHO. With 15 years of interactive design experience and fluent in 4 languages, Otto has led multi-disciplinary interactive teams on award winning campaigns for clients such as FIAT, Coca Cola, and Chrysler. Otto is currently the Co-founder of the award-winning burger and kebab chain PINCHO. Leveraging its culture, social media and technology, PINCHO has won the hearts of many guests in South Florida. The brand has 10 locations and has been successful at creating a very loyal following in Miami.
Jon Sherman | CEO & Founder | Sticky’s Finger Joint
Jon Sherman is the CEO and Founder of Sticky’s Finger Joint, a fast casual chicken brand founded in 2012 serving premium boneless chicken with a wide array of homemade dipping sauces. Sticky’s now has 13 locations across New York and New Jersey, with more in development. Over the past decade he has led all aspects of the business including operations, finance, real estate and technology. With the support of an incredible team, Jon is leading Sticky’s towards its next phase of growth. In 2020, Jon was named to Crain’s New York Business 40 Under 40. Prior to Sticky’s, he worked at the global macro hedge fund Bridgewater Associates.
Danielle Williams | Ops Services Manager | Checkers & Rally’s Drive-In
Danielle Williams joined Checkers and Rally’s Drive-In Restaurants just over 7 years ago. Transitioning from previous roles in QSR such as Human Resources Manager and Payroll Manager for the largest Taco Bell Franchisee in Florida at the time, she was excited for her next challenge. She was hired into the Checkers and Rally’s Operations Services Department to head up the new Food Safety and Protect the Brand initiative the company was rolling to its Franchise and Corporate locations. That role has now evolved into her new position of Operations Services Manager where she is the Checkers and Rally’s CMX (ComplianceMetrix) expert.
MODERATOR
Keith Cole | VP of Sales | CMX
For over 25 years, Keith Cole has helped some of the world’s largest brands achieve operational excellence in restaurant operations while mitigating risk and improving quality in those same stores by providing efficient technology solutions to their supply chain. Keith is VP of sales for CMX who provides technology solutions designed to protect brands and drive sustainable performance, through intelligent automation that combines compliance, quality, and operational activities into a single operating platform. Keith is a Certified Food Safety Professional and sits on the advisory board of the IFSL program at the University of Minnesota. A few of the brands where Keith has implemented enterprise-wide software include McDonald’s, Inspire Brands and The Cheesecake Factory.
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