Several of the restaurant industry’s heaviest hitters have agreed to share tips and business practices at this year’s Restaurant Franchising & Innovation Summit, slated for March 29-31 in Dallas.
“We had already booked some of the industry’s top leaders to speak, including Dairy Queen’s EVP of marketing and Fazoli’s CEO, but we’ve also just confirmed several other industry all-stars as well,” said Cherryh Cansler, managing editor of food and retail publications for Networld Media Group, the company producing the event. “Attendees are going to learn from the best of the best.”
A few new names to the agenda include:
- Jeff Linville, CEO of Taco John’s, who will share best practices when it comes to mastering the supply chain
- Jeff Dinard, CIO of On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina, will give insights on how mastering the Internet of Things can help franchises win customers
- John Davis, CEO of US Beef, which owns 400+ Arby’s units, will give tips on growth and expansion
- Shawnon Bellah, COO of Crest Foods, franchisor of Nestlé Toll House Café by Chip, who recently appeared on ABC’s Undercover Boss. She will discuss what it takes for franchises to expand internationally
- Rafik Farouk, VP of franchise ops and development of Consolidated Restaurants Operations, which operates more than 91 full-service and 24 franchise restaurants in 17 states, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, will join Bellah on the international expansion panel.
- Jesse Gideon, executive chef and COO of Fresh to Order, will join Linville in the supply chain discussion
- Chris Newcomb, CEO of Newk’s Eatery, will discuss how to attract millennial franchisees
The event is for c-level executives and franchisees of restaurant brands, said Cansler, who noted early-bird registration ends soon. Other confirmed speakers include:
- Andrew Gruel | CEO and Founder | Slapfish
- Barry Westrum | EVP of Marketing | Dairy Queen
- David Adjey | Founder/Head Chef | The Chickery
- Connie E. Alires | Director of Franchise Development | Which Wich
- Sean Brennan | Founder/CEO | The Pie Hole
- Laura Rea Dickey | CIO | Dickey’s Barbecue
- Scott Goodrich | COO | Uncle Maddio’s Pizza Joint
- Paul Hicks | SVP, Operation Svcs. and New Concept Dev. | Corner Bakery Cafe
- Carl Howard, President & CEO | Fazoli’s
- Jeff Jackson | Co-Founder & President | Billy Sims BBQ
- Stacey Kane | CMO | East Coast Wings & Grill
- Michael Morales | CFO | MOOYAH
- Tim Mullany | CFO | Pie Five Pizza Co.
- Michael Nishi | CFO | Wetzel’s Pretzels
- Stacy Peterson | CIO | Wingstop
- Laura Sporrer | Director of Franchise Development | HuHot Mongolian Grill
- James Walker | President of Operations & Development | Johnny Rockets
Registration for the Restaurant Franchising & Innovation Summit is available at: http://franchisinginnovation.com/register/
ABOUT NETWORLD MEDIA GROUP Founded in 2000, Networld Media Group is a leading business-to-business (B2B) media communications company specializing in digital media, associations and events in the mobile, self-service, digital signage, retail, food service and financial services industries. Online properties include ATMmarketplace.com, DigitalSignageToday.com, FastCasual.com, PizzaMarketplace.com, KioskMarketplace.com, MobilePaymentsToday.com, VirtualCurrencyToday.com, QSRweb.com, RetailCustomerExperience.com and ChurchCentral.com. Networld’s event properties include the Fast Casual Executive Summit, CONNECT Mobile Innovation Summit, Interactive Customer Experience (ICX) Summit, ATM & Mobile Innovation Summit and the Restaurant Franchising & Innovation Summit. Networld also operates the ICX Association.
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