Innovation Forums: (Choose 1 of 7)
Keep your finger on the pulse of the latest developments in foodservice technology. Learn from industry experts and visionaries who are leading the way in implementing unique solutions and offering high-level insights to your operation's biggest challenges.
Today, restaurants need to understand their guests better than ever before. From operations, to menu, marketing, and the guest experience, the lens of the guest is can be a strong competitive advantage. In this session, innovative industry leaders will share how a comprehensive guest focus can drive sales, and improve financial performance.
Founder and President
Growth Partners LLC
SVP, Information Technology
Red Lobster Seafood Company
Join Caesars Entertainment, iCertainty and Zebra Technologies to learn how using the Internet of Things (IoT) to leverage sensors and automation can reduce costs and improve quality in the kitchen. This session will explore the food safety solution deployed at Caesars and how they use IoT technology to enable real-time monitoring, recording and reporting of temperatures across different food storage systems there by making it easier for the F&B teams to focus more on their core work vs having to spend time in manually recording, tracking and reporting the operations of the cooler/ freezer systems.
Account Executive – Hospitality West
Zebra Technologies
COO
iCertainty
IT Architect, Innovation & Emerging Technologies
Caesars Entertainment
As digital experiences evolve, restaurants must address how to build out scalable infrastructure across the enterprise. Toast's Sarah Kabakoff will be joined by key industry leaders to share their experiences in expanding the technology stack with mobile, cloud-based solutions to support their vision for the future, including implementation pain points and successes.
Director of Enterprise Solutions
Toast Inc
VP of Information Technology
Paris Baguette
CTO
Reach Restaurant Group
Chief Information Officer
FOCUS Brands Inc.
Where are you in the digital lifecycle? Develop a proven 90-day go-to-market digital readiness strategy that will drive revenue, align brand-customer experiences, improve employee efficiency, and integrate new technology seamlessly. NuArx has worked with hundreds of restaurant brands undergoing digital transformations – join us as we unlock the five keys to a successful digital future.
VP Managed Network Sales
Interface Systems
Chief Revenue Officer
NuArx
What does it take for customers to really love your restaurant brand? This panel delivers unique perspectives in building passionate customers through food and service, personalized loyalty, and shareable memorable marketing experiences. James Smith, CMO of Punchh and his expert panel will offer candid insights based on their business and clients. What is a modern loyalty program? Why do some brands succeed where most fail? How do you create a bigger universe of known customers? How do you best leverage customer data? Why is AI and Machine Learning so critical for your loyalty program? You will leave this session with a great understanding of how to deliver best in class customer loyalty for your restaurant brand that will lead to increased sales.
CMO
Punchh
Partner
ITB Partners
CMO
Mongolian Concepts
Co-Founder and CEO
Punchh
To gain competitive advantage and boost profits, top operators are increasingly turning to a key operational lever: team execution. Specifically, they’re investing in initiatives and technology that will give them an edge in both making store and field employees more efficient and that will raise the bar on the quality of execution across every one of their stores.
In today’s fight for talent, equipping employees with the tools and insights to identify potential issues earlier, make better decisions, surfacing where additional coaching and training is needed most is essential to success.
Join this panel discussion with Sprinkles Cupcakes CEO and VP of Ops to learn how they’re prioritizing initiatives and technology investment decisions to scale operations by elevating team execution and creating a great experience for both employees and customers.
President and CEO
Sprinkles
VP of Operations
Sprinkles
CEO
Zenput
Stop Making Your Guests Hangry: Meet Their Needs with Conversational AI
Common inefficiencies, like inaccurate orders and long wait times, not only lead to hangry guests, but also cost you money and result in missed sales. So, how can you remove these inefficiencies from the equation to achieve maximized sales and guest loyalty? Automating tasks like guest ordering and guest care with Conversational AI can provide a more efficient experience for your guests while maximizing operational efficiencies by allowing you to:
•Deliver exceptional guest experience to create loyal guests
•Increase upsell opportunities with personalized options
•Decrease inaccurate orders that cost you time and money
•Reduce missed sales from abandoned calls and drive-bys
CEO & Founder
SYNQ3
Digital Product Manager
Chipotle
General Session
Location: Trinity BallroomRestaurant Business recognizes companies that are revolutionizing their business model by using technology that results in operations improvements or an enhanced guest experience—and ultimately bottom-line growth. From among the three winners—one each from a national chain, a growth chain and a “nontraditional” foodservice operation—one will rise to the top. Join us as we celebrate the innovations and accomplishments of sweetgreen (Growth Chain), Wingstop (NationalChain), and 7-Eleven (Nontraditional). And then, of course, enjoy the excitement as we announce the Tech Accelerator of the Year!
Content Director, Foodservice
Winsight Media
VP Digital Product + Experience
sweetgreen
Senior Vice President, Digital
Wingstop Restaurants, Inc.
Digital Customer Experience | 7NOW Delivery, eCommerce and Digital Marketing
7-Eleven
Editor-at-Large and Vice President of Content Innovation
Restaurant Business
Is Bitcoin going to take off as a form of payment in restaurants? Probably not anytime soon. We hear about all of the new technologies, but we also know that cashless hasn’t proved to be the best bet, so what does the future landscape look like? As debates wage on about the fairness and/or viability of cashless restaurants, the best form of digital ordering and payments—website or in-app—and whether or not tap-and-go/NFC technology is worth turning on, operators need to address how consumers will want to pay tomorrow, and what technology is and will be available to get there.
Program Director, Membership Engagement Team
National Restaurant Association
IT Director
Snooze, An AM Eatery
VP Retail Business Development and Marketing - Americas
GLORY
Director of Digital Commercialization
Inspire Brands
Thinker, tinkerer, inventor, problem solver, backyard engineer, special effects wizard, pyromaniac.. and co-host of the hit series MythBusters on the Discovery Channel. Adam Savage has proven that it's cooler than ever to be a geek. From his unique way of thinking to his unique experiences as a designer, expect Adam's presentation and interactive moderated Q&A session to be insightful, entertaining and unforgettable. Look at science and innovation and risk taking in a whole new way--lessons applicable to all types of businesses and organizations.
Award-Winning Special Effects Designer, Host of MythBusters
Technology Showcase and Networking Lunch
Location: Trinity Exhibit HallThe Technology Showcase opens for another day of tech sampling and networking. FSTEC's Technology Showcase is the only place you're sure to stumble upon "the next big thing." Be sure to see what each unique supplier has to offer while enjoying a delicious lunch!
Innovation Forums: (Choose 1 of 7)
Keep your finger on the pulse of the latest developments in foodservice technology. Learn from industry experts and visionaries who are leading the way in implementing unique solutions and offering high-level insights to your operation's biggest challenges.
We don’t have a crystal ball to predict the future, but our panelists have been making strides testing many new technologies. Emerging technology is transforming foodservice from the Internet of Things, Big Data and blockchain to robots, ghost kitchens and food halls. How do you separate the shiny objects from legitimate problem solvers? We discuss BOH and customer-facing technologies that are changing the game.
Manager - Operations Technology
KFC
Chief Executive Officer
Mission Data
Founder and Chief Data Scientist
PXY Data
Chief Operating Officer
Gusto Farm to Street
Business & Partner Development
The Kroger Co.
Join thought leaders from some of the industry’s top OEM & solution providers to hear real life cases of how they are breaking the mold in restaurant technology by helping operators bring enhanced customer experiences through efficiencies realized in their selection, deployment and ongoing maintenance & support models.
VP of Sales, - Mid-West/Mountain West
Verifone
Director of Sales – Western Region
ELO
President
Level 10, LLC
It’s adapt or die for the food service industry in today’s Now Economy. Neither you nor your customers are satisfied with delivery. In this session, you will hear from leaders at Panera, Puesto, and one additional special guest, who will share their perspectives on:
•How brands are balancing the demand of delivery with the mandate to fulfill dine-out orders with dine-in food quality
•How brands are innovating customer experience with technology
•Which solutions are providing strong ROI as well as increased customer satisfaction
Tacoteur & Co-Founder
Puesto
Director of Café Systems
Panera Bread
President of Marketing + Communications
Rakuten Ready
According to the 2019 National Restaurant Association and Technomic study, Harnessing Technology to Drive Off-Premise Sales, 58 percent of restaurant occasions are off-premise. Welcome to the era of the multichannel kitchen where restauranteurs must skillfully juggle preparing dine-in, drive-thru, takeout and delivery orders to remain relevant. Join us as we share kitchen optimization and production best practices for successfully navigating this new paradigm, including how to plan and prepare for anticipated spikes in order volumes, build secondary make lines to accommodate digital orders in your existing footprint, and gain insights from your kitchen data.
Vice President of Marketing & Inside Sales
NCR Voyix
In this fast moving environment, integrating delivery platforms to POS integrations is becoming table stakes. What is next? What is a true POS integration? What is a true two way third-party integration? Let's talk about the system of records? What about the service component in this POS integration? For the multi unit operators, how can we truly solve the pain points generated by these delivery services? ItsaCheckmate invites a panel of operators who have been there and done that to talk about it.
Founder and CEO
ItsaCheckmate Inc.
VP of Enterprise Sales
ItsaCheckmate Inc.
CFO & Co-founder
Wing Zone Franchise Corp
While the features and functions of your back office platform are important, the partner behind the platform is what truly determines the success of any BOH initiative at your restaurant. This session will feature a panel of experts with decades of experience deploying back of house systems in complex operating environments. They will cover the entire back of house journey, from identifying need and selecting your vendor through implementation and continued support. You’ll get a peek behind the curtain and learn how to avoid common pitfalls, while walking away with a checklist of what to consider to maximize the success of your implementation.
President & CEO
CrunchTime!
VP of Information Technology
Five Guys Enterprises
President
Return on Information Consulting
Labor costs are skyrocketing. Increases to the minimum wage coupled with low unemployment make controlling labor costs a real challenge for all operators, regardless of size. With the ever-increasing complexity of labor laws putting additional strains on every organization, keeping compliant is becoming a nightmare for many restaurant operators. Come and learn from our panel of successful restaurant operators as they share their experiences surrounding this hot topic.
Director of Operations
Altametrics
Senior Business Analyst
Bobby Cox Companies, Inc.
Director of Information Systems
Gala Corporation
Results thru Strategy
Innovation Forums (choose 1 of 7)
Keep your finger on the pulse of the latest developments in foodservice technology. Learn from industry experts and visionaries who are leading the way in implementing unique solutions and offering high-level insights to your operation's biggest challenges.
Innovation in the restaurant technology space are growing exponentially every year. Restaurants big and small are entrusting their integration and marketing needs with external parties and cloud services. We'll be discussing the pros and cons of having services off-site, when it's a good idea to bring services back in-house, and the value of owning your own data - including the potential pitfalls of providing the wrong partner with access to your POS data. This Forum is relevant for restaurant brands of all ages and sizes.
Co-Founder & CEO
Chowly Inc.
Chief Operating Officer
Chowly, Inc
Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer
Chowly, Inc
With the proliferation of restaurant technology over the past decade, the multiple disparate systems restaurants use today are perceived as a technology stack with the POS system as its hub. With the advent of the cloud, interconnectivity between systems is now achievable, however, the restaurant industry is lagging behind the technology curve. See how the old-school technology stack with the POS system as its hub is about to be taken over by a new-age technology ecosystem with fully integrated POS, accounting, back office, payroll and reporting.
Founder
Restaurant365
Disruption is consistently an ever-present force in the restaurant industry- one that will not sit idle for long. Restaurant owners who do not adjust their strategies to accommodate flexibility and acceleration, by aligning with the right technology partners will suffer. Join Paul Rubin, Chief Strategy Officer at PAR, as he shares his vision on the key strategic initiatives you can’t afford to ignore; as restaurant operators work through today’s challenges while simultaneously preparing for tomorrow’s.
Chief Strategy Officer and Senior Vice President of Product
PAR Technology
We are on our 3rd generation of digital POS. Yes, things have gotten somewhat easier – better Uis, and such. However, the process of configuring, daily management and monitoring of your system is still an enormous amount of work, and not much different than 20-30 years ago. In fact, to some extent the effort is growing because of the proliferation of technology: kiosks, online ordering, delivery, etc.. Something has to change, because there will continue to be more technology, not less, going forward. We need solutions built with a whole new paradigm – where the system “runs itself”. Is this possible? When? How might that work? Let’s explore what POS SHOULD look like sooner rather than later.
Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer
Revel Systems
Mobile Digital Transformation and Managing Change are macro industry levers used to address today’s business challenges, all leading back to costs reductions, revenue generation, and market relevance. The evolution is on and businesses that survive adapt to change the fastest. Join industry expert, Paul Bradley of PlayerLync, and learn why you current mobile content strategy could be negatively impacting your transformation -- or worse, not giving you the edge you need to compete in today’s fast-paced environments.
Director of Strategic Accounts
PlayerLync
Whether you’re looking to grow revenues through new delivery partners or wanting to take the manual cost and strain out of labor management, the need for systems integration has never been greater in the restaurant industry. In this session you’ll hear how leading operators are connecting a number of different types of system to help them grow.
Head of Sales for Strategic Accounts, and Sports & Entertainment
Oracle MICROS Food & Beverage
Senior Director, IT Retail Store Systems
Dunkin' Brands
Operational Systems Analyst
Delaware North, Sports Services
CIO, CIO/Partner, Executive Data Chef
Sonny’s BBQ; Restaurant CIOs; datapaths
The customer journey starts with a question, and a question shows intent to buy. Consumers search for food more than any other business category, and optimizing that journey drives transactions in your restaurant and your digital channels. In this session, we'll explore how you can supply the right answers to search queries (even the unbranded ones), map the customer journey across AI-powered discovery services, and drive measurable results— leading hungry consumers to your tables, counters, and drive-thrus.
Head of Industry/General Manager - Food Services & Hospitality
Yext
General Session
Location: Trinity BallroomAs the Grammy Award-winning guitarist for The Doobie Brothers and one of the founding members of Steely Dan, Jeff "Skunk" Baxter is particularly skilled in looking at existing technologies to see other ways they can be used. As he said in an interview some years ago, this "happens in music all the time and happens to be what terrorists are incredibly good at." He successfully brings his creativity and passion for music to his work today, which includes consulting for the U.S. Department of Defense at the highest levels. Baxter highlights creative, unconventional problem-solving and planning techniques by showing audiences how to apply knowledge gained in one area to advance goals in completely different fields. He explains how to approach issues with new "logic templates" and how to leave preconceptions behind. Through humor and lateral thinking, Baxter helps corporations and colleges map effective strategies and rediscover the drive to innovate and ignite passion.
Technology Showcase and Networking Reception
Location: Trinity Exhibit HallWithin FSTEC’s 2019 program, there are several valuable ways for you to expand your knowledge, attract new clients and tell others about your business – and have some fun in the process. Join us at this evening’s Networking Reception, YOUR opportunity to build some meaningful and lasting relationships within the tech community.
IFBTA Celebration of Technology
Location: Bowlounge (167 Turtle Creek Blvd, #103, Dallas, TX 75207)Join the International Food and Beverage Technology Association (IFBTA) and your industry peers for a Celebration of Technology on Monday, September 9th from 8:30-11:30pm. Hosted at Bowlounge in the heart of Dallas, you’ll be treated to desserts, drinks, and networking while playing a round of retro bowling and enjoying vintage arcade games. All FSTEC attendees and IFBTA members are welcome to attend and transportation will be provided to and from the Hilton Anatole starting at 8pm.