Press Room

Pizza Marketplace’s fourth annual Pizza Brands to Watch 2025 report will highlight pizza brands of note. The nomination deadline is Oct. 31. Nominations are open for Pizza Marketplace’s “Pizza Brands to Watch 2025,” a special report highlighting up-and-coming pizza concepts and established brands that excel at customer service, innovation and sales. The report will highlight brands poised […]

The winners will be honored during an awards presentation on Dec. 10 during the upcoming 2024 Automation and Self Service Summit. One purpose of the Self-Service Innovation Summit is to recognize products and technology innovation contributing to the dynamic industry. Hence, a key event at the summit is the Automation & Self-Service Awards, formerly known as the Self-Service […]

AI is here to stay, but it’s moving so fast, it’s hard to know where it’s going. From our daily lives as consumers to our operations in business, it’s hard to keep up with the changes and trends that are transforming entire industries virtually overnight — and sometimes repeatedly. AI is here to stay, but […]

Saigon Hustle has won The Perfect Pitch, a “Shark Tank” style contest at the Fast Casual Executive Summit in Denver, Colorado. Following a global contest seeking the best new concepts in fast-casual dining today, Saigon Hustle has won The Perfect Pitch. The contest, a “Shark Tank” style event, was held at the Fast Casual Executive Summit on […]

Jason Rusk gave the keynote address at the Fast Casual Executive Summit in Denver Aug. 13. Rusk spoke about the rapidly evolving world of fast-casuals, and how innovation is paving the way for great things in the industry. Jason Rusk is the EVP of restaurant operations for Wonder Group Inc., a VC-backed food-tech startup company […]

In anticipation of her keynote address at the Self Service Innovation Summit this December, Kiosk Marketplace sat down with Gong cha’s Rebecca Kahn to discuss the brand’s digital journey and the challenges and opportunities presented by self-service technologies. In anticipation of her keynote address at the Self Service Innovation Summit taking place this December, Rebecca Kahn, Gong […]

The virtual talk show airs Nov. 13 and features c-level leaders from White Castle, A&W, Taco John’s, FAT Brands, Haven Hot Chicken, The Halal Guys and Smalls Sliders. Roland Gonzalez, the U.S. COO of Church’s Texas Chicken, will be the first guest on this year’s #QSRNEXT, a virtual podcast produced by the creators of QSRWeb, FastCasual and Pizza Marketplace. The show […]

Neely Woodson Powell, founder and CEO of the Charleston Shoe Company, shared insight on the value customer engagement in her keynote at the ICX Summit held in Charlotte, North Carolina. Neely Woodson Powell, founder and CEO of the Charleston Shoe Company, is focused on three strategies: selling her popular shoe portfolio, empowering store employees and creating […]

Regina DeMars, director of content marketing and social media strategy at FNBO, delivered a keynote session about content strategies that work at the Bank Customer Experience Summit. Content is king. But it’s one thing to say it, it’s another to treat it like a king. Banks in particular are working at developing content strategies that […]

The list recognizes top catering leaders from 30 brands, incuding Cava, Subway and Five Guys, who are drivers in one of 2024’s fastest-growing restaurant segments. FastCasual and Lunchbox, an enterprise restaurant technology provider, have unveiled the Top 30 Movers & Shakers: Catering, recognizing 30 of the most influential leaders shaping the future of restaurant catering […]

The BCX Awards honored SF Fire Credit Union, Talkdesk and Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank for innovation in banking. The winners of the 2024 Bank Customer Experience Awards were announced at the Bank Customer Experience Summit, held in Charlotte, North Carolina from Sept. 9 to 11. This year’s winners delivered innovative experiences that transformed the branch experience […]

The Interactive Customer Experience Summit announced winners of the 2024 Elevate Awards Tuesday evening during the annual summit in Charlotte, North Carolina. One of the top events at the annual Interactive Customer Experience Summit, taking place this week, is the Elevate Awards, which honor innovators in customer experience technology. The summit is being held in Charlotte, North Carolina, from […]

Shawn Nelson, founder and CEO of Lovesac, a keynote speaker at the ICX Summit, shared insight on how sustainability impacts the retail customer experience. There’s one prime fact to know when it comes to sustainability in the retail realm: it’s likely not going to drive any massive sales and it is pretty much a bust […]

Five fledgling concepts will vie for The Perfect Pitch title and a prize on Oct. 14 at the Fast Casual Executive Summit in Denver, Colorado. The Perfect Pitch is a “Shark Tank”-style competition at The Fast Casual Executive Summit in Denver October 13-15. Five fledgling concepts will vie for The Perfect Pitch title, a $3,500 […]

Nominations are open for the inaugural Top 30 Movers & Shakers in Catering in partnership with Lunchbox. Closing Sept. 1, the list will highlight the restaurant industry’s most innovative and influential leaders in catering. You may nominate yourself or another leader here. “Our industry has always been impressive — it’s why we launched our annual Top 30 Women in Food list […]

Professor Steven King shares a preview of his upcoming keynote at the ICX Summit in Charlotte on the future of retail. ICX Summit will be hosted by Networld Media Group from September 9-11. The retail experience is changing as fast as the tech underpinning it, both for operators and customers. Artificial intelligence, virtual reality, blockchain, wirelessly-powered […]

Jason Rusk, SVP of operations for Wonder and a former Red Robin executive, will discuss growth and leadership in the evolving world of fast casual restaurants. As innovation and scale become more important than ever to the success of restaurants, leaders must learn how to lead brands into a new age, said Wonder SVP of Operations Jason […]

Wednesday marks the 3rd annual Pizza Leadership Virtual Summit, and there’s still time to register. Qualified pizza executives and pizzeria owners can register for the event for free. The Pizza Leadership Virtual Summit starts at 11 a.m. on July 31, 2024. The half-day livestream event starts with an opening keynote interview with David McKillips, CEO of […]

Regina DeMars at First National Bank of Omaha and this year’s keynote speaker for the Bank Customer Experience Summit, shared how banks can develop content that works. Content is king. But how should content rule? In order to properly serve customers, banks need a solid content strategy that both retains current customers and brings in […]

Nominations are now being accepted for the Automation & Self-Service Awards (formerly Self-Service Innovation Awards). The awards honor innovators who are leading the way in the advancement of automation and self-service technologies, including vending, kiosks, robotics and AI. Nominations are now being accepted for the Automation & Self-Service Awards (formerly Self-Service Innovation Awards). The Automation & Self-Service […]

L&L Hawaiian and Original ChopShop also received awards for technology deployments. As part of our Fast Casual Top 100 Movers & Shakers gala, which recognized the industry’s top 75 brands and 25 executives Sunday night in Chicago, FastCasual also presented four “special awards” in partnership with four companies focused on helping restaurants grow their businesses via technology […]

Nominations close June 30. At FastCasual, we are passionate about spotlighting up-and-coming brands, which is why we created the Perfect Pitch 10 years ago to allow emerging brands to ask for advice and find investors. We are excited to open nominations for this year’s event, featuring five brands pitching their concepts to attendees of the Fast […]

Over 240 fast casual executives attended the gala to find out their rankings. Shaquille O’Neal-owned Big Chicken had much to cluck about Sunday when it took top honors at the Fast Casual Top 100 Movers & Shakers awards gala in Chicago at the LondonHouse. Josh Halpern, president, accepted the award for the 40-unit brand, which […]

The Restaurant Catering Workshop will provide a blueprint for restaurant operators focused on catapulting catering sales. Although order management technology is the heartbeat of any solid catering framework, catering expert Erle Dardick, founder of The Off Premises Growth Academy, understands it’s just one piece of the overall business strategy. The fact that many independent and multi-unit […]

Neely Woodson Powell, founder of the Charleston Shoe Company, will be a keynote speaker at the upcoming ICX Summit taking place Sept. 9-11 in Charlotte, North Carolina. When Neely Woodson Powell, founder of the Charleston Shoe Company, opened her first retail location in Savannah, Georgia, she knew success was all about enticing shoppers into her […]

The ICX Summit kicks off Sept. 9-11 in Charlotte, North Carolina, with notable keynotes and panelists on a wide range of retail customer experience topics. The ICX Summit, which kicks off Sept. 9-11 in Charlotte, North Carolina, is celebrating its eighth year with notable names as keynotes and panelists on a wide range of retail customer […]

David McKillips, president and CEO of CEC Entertainment, the parent company to Chuck E. Cheese and Peter Piper Pizza, is keynoting The Pizza Leadership Virtual Summit, a free half-day learning event for qualified pizzeria owners, operators and executives on July 31, 2024. Hosted by Networld Media Group, the parent company of Pizza Marketplace, FastCasual and QSRWeb, the virtual […]

The Bank Customer Experience Summit 2024’s first early bird deadline is coming up on May 3rd. The Bank Customer Experience Summit is coming up this September 9 to 11 in Charlotte, North Carolina, and will offer a unique opportunity to learn about innovative customer experience efforts in banking and more. The event will be co-located […]

Fast Casual’s parent company aligns with IFMA to bring the food-away-from-home ecosystem closer together. Networld Media Group, a B2B publisher of several online trade publications, including FastCasual, Pizza Marketplace, QSRWeb and Food Truck Operator, is teaming up with The International Foodservice Manufacturers Association, a trade association for food-away-from-home that provides insights, education and networking opportunities for the industry. The partnership will […]

The survey for the 2024 ATM & Self-Service Software Trends report is now up. This is the 17th year for the report, which is sponsored by KAL ATM Software. Five financial institution participants will be selected to receive a free pass to the upcoming Bank Customer Experience Summit, held in Charlotte, North Carolina from Sept. 9-11. The event […]

Three TikTok experts led a panel discussion on using the social media platform at the Restaurant Franchising and Innovation Summit in Kansas City. If you’re not using TikTok, your competitors probably are — and that’s setting your restaurant brand behind the marketing game. That was the key takeaway from “Workshopping It with TokTok,” the keynote […]

Slice House has awarded over 139 franchise agreements since the brand began franchising last year. California-based Slice House by Tony Gemignani took the top spot on Pizza Marketplace’s 2024 Top 100 Movers & Shakers list and was honored Tuesday at the Pizza Top 100 Gala at the Las Vegas Country Club. Helmed by World Pizza […]

Nominations are now being accepted for the 2024 Elevate Awards which will recognize and honor organizations effectively leveraging technology to elevate the customer experience. Nominations are now being accepted for the 2024 Elevate Awards which will recognize and honor organizations effectively leveraging technology to elevate the customer experience. The awards program aims to inspire retailers and brands […]

Nominations are officially open for the 2024 Bank Customer Experience Awards, which will be presented at the jointly held Bank Customer Experience Summit and Interactive Customer Experience Summit from Sept. 9 to 11 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Nominations are officially open for the 2024 Bank Customer Experience Awards, which will be presented at the jointly held […]

Elliot Maras, the editor of Vending Times and Kiosk Marketplace will retire Feb. 26. He plans to work on creative writing and travel in his retirement. Elliot Maras, editor of Vending Times and Kiosk Marketplace, is retiring effective Feb. 26. Maras has headed the editorial content for the sites since 2016. Vending Times and Kiosk […]

Networld Media Group, the parent company of the ICX Association, is transitioning the Interactive Customer Experience Association Board to the Interactive Customer Experience and Bank Customer Experience Advisory Council. This council will gather bankers, retailers, restaurant and hospitality executives to provide insights and guidance for the upcoming jointly held Interactive Customer Experience Summit and Bank Customer Experience Summit from […]

Los Angeles-based Dave’s Hot Chicken and Sweetgreen, Chicago’s Wow Bao and BurgerFi, headquartered in Florida, may seem to lack commonalities, but they share one major distinction. They’ve taken the No. 1 spot over the past few years on FastCasual’s list of Top 100 Movers & Shakers. Dave’s was the 2023 champion, Wow Bao made history as the first brand to take the title […]

The Self-Service Innovation Summit honors the most innovative solutions for kiosks, vending and facilities for adapting to the new normalcy of COVID-19 and its aftermath. Innovation took center stage during the Automation & Self-Service Awards presentations at the Loews Coral Gables in Miami Tuesday night. The awards are a highlight of the Self-Service Innovation Summit being held through Wednesday. […]

Mike Abecassis, founder and CEO at GameTime & General Vending Service, delivered the opening keynote address at the Self-Service Innovation Summit, exploring the history of self-service and principles for success, as well as trends and predictions. How can a remote hotel in the Swiss Alps in the 90’s teach modern vendors how to surprise and […]

Pizza Marketplace’s Top 100 Movers & Shakers list is back for 2024 and your brand could be listed! We’re looking for the best and the brightest pizza brands, including independents, regional chains and large chains. The deadline to submit your pizza brand is Dec. 22, 2023. It’s the second annual year for our list. “Our Pizza […]

The winners will be honored during an awards presentation at 5 p.m. EST on Dec. 5., when the Summit honors the most innovative solutions for kiosks, vending and facilities for adapting to the new normalcy of COVID-19 and its aftermath. One purpose of the Self-Service Innovation Summit Dec. 4-6 is to recognize the products that are contributing […]

Attendees at the Self-Service Innovation Summit next month in Miami will get an inside view of how the global technology player maintains its service delivery standards during a keynote presentation, “User Experience Determines Success: How to Achieve it with AI and a Trusted Partner.” People from all walks of life enjoy customizing and printing pictures […]

Nominations are now open for the 2024 Top Food Trucks to Watch report. This second annual report will honor food trucks with innovative concepts, menus, equipment and marketing/social media presence. You can nominate your food truck by providing the name of the truck and founder(s), number of trucks and its area of operation. Click here to nominate your food […]

Next month, Neil Thompson of HMSHost will share his insights about what future innovations are in store for airports during a keynote presentation at the Self-Service Innovation Summit Dec. 4-6 in Miami. Some of the most stressful moments a consumer experiences take place at the airport, with flights and circumstances often changing. Hence, it’s no […]

The Restaurant Franchising and Innovation Summit, produced by Networld Media Group, will host its eighth annual event there in Kansas City, March 24-26. The early bird deadline ends Nov. 17. If you’ve not heard, Kansas City is the place to be these days. Just ask the world’s most famous woman, Taylor Swift, and her Super […]

Mike Abecassis, owner of GameTime and General Vending, will deliver the opening keynote at the Self-Service Innovation Summit at the Loews Coral Gables on Dec. 4. The family entertainment business took a hit during COVID-19, but the industry is back on a growth track as consumers are shifting from playing videos games at home and […]

James Walker, CEO of Frisch’s, will give the keynote address on menu innovation at the #QSRNext half-day event for restaurant executives on Nov. 8 at 10 a.m. ET. In the ever-evolving landscape of the restaurant industry, menu innovation stands as a crucial battleground for brands of all sizes and backgrounds. Regardless of the budget, company […]

Haven Hot Chicken won The Perfect Pitch concept competition at the Fast Casual Executive Summit in Louisville, Kentucky on Oct. 9. Following a global contest, three fledgling brands competed for a cash prize and the title of The Perfect Pitch winner at the Fast Casual Executive Summit on Oct. 9 in Louisville, Kentucky. Executives from the three companies addressed […]

Nathan Lester, senior director, drive-thru innovations for Scooter’s Coffee, spoke about pairing innovation and growth during the keynote address kicking off the Fast Casual Executive Summit in Louisville, Kentucky on Oct. 8. Innovation, at its root, is the backbone of growth. That was the takeaway from the keynote address from Nathan Lester, senior director, drive-thru […]

The Interactive Customer Service Association announced winners of the 2023 Elevate Awards Tuesday evening during the annual summit in Charlotte, North Carolina. Leading customer experience innovators were honored Tuesday at the 2023 Elevate Awards presentation during the Interactive Customer Experience Summit in Charlotte, North Carolina. Presenting the five awards were Alicia Lavay, executive director at the ICX Association, […]