A data driven conversation with a mix of industry leaders about the balancing act of plant-based items and what is happening in within consumer trends, menu innovation, sustainability, supply chain, and more. Where are we and where do we go from here?  

This lighting round hot seat style session will feature top restaurant leaders who will addresses some engaging questions about their business that cover the "why" to the "how"! The common thread and theme for this session highlights CEOs who were former CMOs before they took their current leadership seat. Each mini one-on-one interview will provide insightful business practices, leadership advice and unique stories about their path to success. 

To appeal to customers, restaurants need to take advantage of trends.  But trends have a life cycle, and at each stage they offer something different to consumers: an opportunity to explore, to have & share a new experience, or to belong.  Please join our discussion on how to make the most of a trend, identifying the right time to jump on it & bring it to life on your menu.  And TASTE our culinary examples!

With the speed of change in the industry, restaurants face a range of new challenges that make managing day-to-day profitability, brand standards, and the overall customer experience across locations more difficult than ever before. Join us to hear how top restaurant chains navigate these challenges and put themselves into a position to grow and succeed in today’s complex environment. Our prestigious panel of technology leaders will share the best practices their organizations are using right now to compete consistently and profitably, from ensuring quality team execution and training to managing the two most impactful costs to the business – food and labor – all while managing the proliferation of technology in their organizations.

Today’s restaurant customers are more demanding than ever before and expect seamless experiences across channels. That means connecting with them in their living rooms and delighting them within your four walls. Learn more about how industry experts at CKE and Zaxby’s evolved their tech stack to create a personalized experience that puts customers first. 

Whether it’s improving staff training and streamlining day-to-day operations or engaging customers with modern apps, personalized experiences, and faster wait times, your competitive advantage relies on carefully orchestrating hardware and software. And while your hardware may be on a 3-7 year lifecycle, your software sure isn’t. Having the confidence to fearlessly deploy software to any and every endpoint — be it your POS, KDS, kiosks, on-table tablets, digital menu, or consumer app — means you’re always putting your best foot forward.

Join executives from Esper and Tray as they share the secrets to unlocking predictable software deployment for the restaurant industry. No matter where you are on your technology journey, you’ll gain insights that can reduce IT OpEx and CapEx, create new revenue streams, and keep your customers and staff happy.

New technologies are transforming customer expectations of the restaurant experience. To stay relevant, restaurants must provide seamless experiences for their customers and grow their digital relationships. Join us to learn how to best utilize your resources to deliver the most compelling and personalized customer experiences.

In the fast-paced world of franchising, success depends on having technology solutions that streamline growth. One of the best ways for multi-unit brands to accelerate their expansion and increase profitability is by combining territory management and predictive analytics in a single platform. A comprehensive market-planning suite can help franchisors maximize their territories’ revenue potential, recruit the right franchisees, and track development projects — all while leveraging the latest location intelligence. 

Today’s A.I.-powered models can give you answers fast, but the insights you glean will only be as deep as the data they come from. Despite the rising popularity of omnichannel service, delivery data has remained an uncracked black box, leaving brands struggling to analyze their delivery customers and understand how delivery services influence stores’ trade areas. Attend this panel discussion to learn how new access to third-party-delivery transaction data will help brands harness the power of this closely held information for a distinct competitive edge. 

...how Bojangles assembled the right tools & partners to power digital transformation. 
 
Join leaders from Bojangles, Radar and Plein Air for a discussion on their digital transformation to create seamless pick-up experience and award winning on-premise modes. We’ll dive into Bojangles efforts and how they’ve architected a highly flexible & scalable technology ecosystem. It’s Bo time!

During this session, we’ll explore digital transformation from the inside out, and share how marketing (CMO), technology (CIO), digital (CDO), and operations (COO) specialists can combine superpowers to enhance the guest experience and drive profitability. You will learn how to overcome organizational and structural challenges to harness data and technology to better know your guests, deliver personalized offers and messages, measure and improve marketing and advertising campaign effectiveness, build resilient digital channels, and innovate on behalf of your brand and guests.

Restaurant executives recognize that change and constant innovation is required in order to run a successful business. In this session, we apply that to menu innovation. We’ll chat first about the right amount of innovation, candid stories about greatest successes and failures, and tips and tricks for your business. We’ll dive into a debate on new food and beverage categories, unique pairings, side dish items, LTOs and other ways to drive sales and increase the bottom line. 

Federal agencies regulating the food service industry have grown in size, reach, and influence. At the core of many of the new rules and regulations is care for the dining public. However, the application, interpretation, and enforcement of these regulations can present challenges for operators. It is critical to the success of food service businesses not only to understand but to be compliant with new and progressively complex laws. In this session, experts from ServSafe will help you get ahead of the curve (and your competition) as they lay out recent and upcoming food service laws and their impact on your business. 

The truth about data-driven marketing is that the massive amount of available data makes it really challenging. The explosion of big data with billions of real time signals, means it is virtually impossible to stay on top of everything. Add to that your consumer data, an avalanche of available analytics and a vague definition of what data-driven marketing is, and seasoned marketers start to wonder what they’re missing.

This panel, moderated by industry veteran, Peter Boivin, will get down to the nitty gritty of data activation must-haves and best-in-class campaigns. Learn how to personalize campaigns, capitalize on industry trends and consumer buying patterns to inspire consumers to act. This panel will cover the practical application of using data in a powerful way to:

• Acquire New Guests
• Increase Customer Loyalty
• Grow margin
 

We look forward to meeting you.

Restaurant marketers know they need loyalty programs. They also know they need to get the most out of the data, control their own online ordering platform, own the CRM and leverage a mobile app. But how do you make all of those work together to go beyond the parts and create a much stronger whole? How do you make all these pieces work together to execute a true digital engagement strategy that meets guests where they are, as individuals? 

During this session Paytronix CEO Andrew Robbins will talk with Chris Schefler of Mr. Pickles Sandwich Shop and Renae Scott, industry expert and former CMO for Ike’s Love and Sandwiches, about how brands can align all the pieces of a digital guest engagement platform to keep guests returning again and again. 

Over the last decade, a number of well known restaurant chains have invested $100 million or more to build their digital channels and incorporate innovative new technologies. Now that operators have gone "all in" on digital, many organizations are still trying to determine how to best manage and optimize the ROI of their existing digital channels, as well as how to rapidly experiment, pilot, and deploy next generation channels in a way that doesn't take the next decade and another $100 million! Join ItsaCheckmate, along with our panelists, as we dive into methods to better manage existing digital channels, explore the next generation technologies that will shape digital ordering, and discuss how to test and deploy it all for $100 a month.

How engaged are your hourly workers, shift leads, assistant and general managers? Do you send communications to GMs and expect them to disseminate all the information to their teams? The best shot to align your teams and have everyone on the same page is to create engagement and communication channels down to the hourly worker. When restaurant teams are engaged and aligned, they deliver tremendous results. In this session, YOOBIC and special guest Jim Mizes, who successfully led Blaze, Freebirds, Jamba, and Noah’s will discuss strategies to use technology to increase engagement and compliance, reduce costs, and focus on effectiveness — not just efficiency.

Explore the latest tools in online food ordering and delivery that can help create more visibility for your business and boost sales. Learn how you can transform your restaurant’s delivery ecosystem by putting you in control to own your customer data, lower fees, and create a more seamless and superior customer experience, and finally learn how the power of legislation and public policy will rebalance the current ecosystem to make delivery more sustainable. 

Join us for a fireside chat with Jennifer Bell, CMO of Lettuce Entertain You Restaurants, and Austin Vance, CEO of Focused Labs, where we’ll discuss Lettuce’s journey in modernizing hospitality, and delivering the ultimate digital loyalty member experience to customers.

“How can generative AI reimagine my business?” That’s the excitement we’ve been hearing since Microsoft broadly announced developments in AI, including partnerships with Open AI and ChatGPT.

Join us as we explore the opportunities available to restaurant chains to enhance their guest experience and strengthen brand loyalty.

This lively session will involve audience participation to help fuel the conversation about important industry hot topics.  A prestigious panel of top restaurant leaders will be on stage to tackle the challenges presented and to help identify and strategize the best industry solutions. 

Derek Jeter is one of the most famous athletes of his generation- five-time World Series champion, member of MLB’s 3,000-hit club, Baseball Hall of Fame recipient, and bestselling author.  His name is synonymous with “baseball” worldwide and his impact on and off the field has earned him recognition as an unmatched leader! In this one-on-one fireside chat, Derek Jeter will share stories about his historic 20-year career with the Yankees, and his path to the c-suite, being the first African-American to serve as the CEO and part-owner of a Major League team, creating a path to better diversify talent in business!