AGENDA

Third-party delivery is now table stakes—but the fees and lack of customer ownership are eroding profitability. This session dives into how pizza brands are rebuilding direct relationships through smarter digital ordering, loyalty programs, subscriptions, and personalized offers. Panelists will share how they’re balancing marketplaces with first-party channels to increase frequency, protect margins, and future-proof their customer base.

Technology promises efficiency—but only when implemented with discipline. This session focuses on practical, ROI-driven tech investments that are helping pizza operators improve speed, consistency, forecasting, and labor productivity. Panelists will discuss automation, AI, and data integration through an operator lens: what’s worth the investment, what’s not, and how to avoid tech overload.

Labor challenges aren’t going away—but forward-thinking operators are learning how to manage them better. This panel explores hiring, retention, training, and productivity strategies that align with today’s workforce realities. Learn how pizza brands are redesigning roles, investing in culture, and using smarter systems to get more consistency and performance from smaller teams.

Gen Z and younger Millennials are redefining what loyalty, value, and brand authenticity mean — while long-time customers still drive the bulk of revenue. This session explores how pizza brands are evolving their marketing, menu, digital presence, and community engagement to stay culturally relevant without losing what made them successful. Panelists will share how they test new ideas, leverage social platforms, embrace limited-time innovation, and communicate brand values in ways that resonate across generations.

As in-store traffic softens and delivery margins tighten, catering offers pizza operators a powerful way to drive incremental, higher-margin revenue using the same kitchens, teams, and ingredients they already have. This session explores why catering demand—from offices, schools, healthcare, and events—is rebounding, and how pizza brands are uniquely positioned to win. Panelists will share practical guidance on pricing, packaging, operational workflows, and sales strategy, along with the common mistakes that derail catering programs before they scale.

Most pizza brands have a loyalty program—but far fewer are seeing meaningful ROI from it. This session breaks down what separates high-performing loyalty programs from those that quietly bleed margin. Operators will share how they’re using loyalty to increase visit frequency, grow average order value, and shift customers to direct ordering without over-discounting. The discussion will focus on simple, scalable strategies that work for both independents and multi-unit brands.