With their front-row view of industry performance and trends, the authorities at Technomic and Restaurant Business will provide a timely and data-backed look at what is challenging operators and what strategies are used to build traffic, sales and consumer demand among top brands. Peter Romeo and Joe Pawlak will cover sales trends, consumer demands, a look at new approaches to menu and marketing, and more, in an overview tailored for restaurant growth enterprises.

Today, most fans know Guy Fieri as the Food Network superstar with the spikey hair. They’re unaware that he climbed to fame through operations and kitchen jobs at several chains that would fit right in with the Restaurant Directions audience, from Louise’s Trattoria to a casual brand owned by Stouffer’s. He even proved himself an able concept creator, turning a tricycle into The Awesome Cart to sell soft pretzels in his hometown—at age 10. He’s been involved with the food business ever since, not only as the host of such hit TV programs as “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” but also as an entrepreneur who’s opened more than 63 restaurants worldwide. He showed his devotion to “real” food when he rebelled as a kid against his parents’ macrobiotic and natural cooking. Yet he hates eggs, loves kale, and can’t bake a cake (his son Hunter is the pastry chef in the family). Join Fieri as he shares behind-the-scenes stories about his TV shows, the 17 one-of-a-kind restaurant concepts that bear his name today, his six best-selling books and his many escapades in cooking, dining and traveling.

With disruptive forces assaulting business from every direction, creativity has been labeled the single-most important business attribute. To succeed, leaders must be focused on creating a resilient culture where everyone’s engaged; a torrent of fresh, creative ideas needs to flow from every level of the organization. Top leaders then employ a secret weapon: a systematic approach to selecting and launching the ideas that will best drive growth and innovation. Josh Linkner weighs in with a fresh perspective on this critical leadership challenge. A highly successful serial entrepreneur and now a tech investor, Linkner shows leaders how to employ his simple but effective framework to ramp up the creativity and identify/launch ideas that will break through and defy gravity. This presentation will help leaders:

•Challenge assumptions and conventional wisdom

•Build courage to foster responsible risk-taking

•Authentically express your own creativity and tap into the hidden creativity of your team members

•Develop “everyday creativity” to attack business problems of all sizes

•Deploy creativity beyond R&D to re-imagine processes, drive efficiency, and improve operations

•Uncover fresh approaches for reinvention and growth

With so much new technology on the market, it can be hard for growth-minded operators to decide where to spend their dollars, and when. Similarly, it’s a challenge to determine which “hot” innovations have lasting power versus those that are just fads. This panel will address the types of technologies that actually make a difference to the bottom line—those that customers will notice, those that will have a positive impact on operational efficiencies and those that just make sense for restaurants today.

Exploring broad consumer trends can lead to mixed messages, as different groups often behave in very different ways. Instead, this deep dive into three demographic groups that are critical to restaurants---millennial parents, Gen Z and Hispanics---will provide insights into their habits and preferences, as well as stealable ideas to get them in the door. 

So much interest around the Future 50 comes from what type of concepts are on the list now. Not just which brands are the up and comers, but what are the new trends/categories rising up. This panel will feature from those type of concepts, with a conversation around what’s new and what could change the emerging chain world.

Every year, restaurants and other food service entities in the U.S. squander $161 billion due to excess food purchasing, preparation and disposal.  By methodically tracking and reducing your restaurant’s excess food, for every $1 invested in food waste reduction, your business can save $7.  In this session, you’ll learn about the environmental and economic impacts of wasted food, how to leverage EPA’s Food Recovery Hierarchy, and strategies & tools for measuring and reducing the volume of surplus food generated on a day-to-day basis.

Take a picture of consumers dining in your establishments today and compare it to three, two, even one decade from now. The images will portray a distinct evolution toward a more diverse consumer as the growth of Hispanic, Black/African American, and Asian populations continues to transform both the consumer landscape and the foodservice industry. The food and dining preferences of these groups have been and will continue to be influential and far-reaching. Learn what you can do today, and in the coming decade, to prepare for these impactful and long-lasting demographic and cultural shifts.

With an eye toward growth, there are a lot of different channels for finance and funding.