Restaurant Franchising & Innovation Summit attendees will find out about Tony Roma’s transition into the quick informal market, Duck Donuts’ development technique and Tropical Smoothie’s secret to increasing in a troublesome market. UFG and PreciTaste leaders will weigh in on business challenges as effectively.
The Restaurant Franchising and Innovation Summit, being held March 20-22 in Coral Gables, Florida, is nearing, which impressed me to supply perception on the occasion’s closing keynoters:
- Ramon Bourgeois, CEO and COO, Tony Roma’s.
- Betsy Hamm, CEO, Duck Donuts.
- Ray Titus, CEO, United Franchise Group.
- Charles Watson, CEO, Tropical Smoothie Cafe.
- Ingo Stork, co-founder and CEO, PreciTaste.
Speak about heavy hitters!
Bourgeois led the full-service model’s entry into the quick informal market when it opened the primary Tony Roma’s Bones & Burgers final month in Orlando.
“Informal eating has had its challenges by means of the years,” Bourgeois mentioned in a latest interview. “These have been nice eating places again within the Nineteen Nineties when everybody was constructing 250-seat eating places. The dynamics have modified. Individuals are consuming in another way,”
Throughout the panel, Bourgeois will focus on how Bones & Burgers will function a development car for the model whereas holding prices down. The menu, for instance, has solely about 12 objects, and 4 workers per shift can function it, which is a big financial savings on labor contemplating a standard Tony Roma’s restaurant requires as much as 80 staff.
Duck Donuts’ Hamm can also be altering issues up. The previous COO, who took over as CEO in 2021, when the chain was bought to NewSpring, landed on the FastCasual’s 2022 listing of Prime 25 executives and is gearing as much as to take the 100-unit model to 200 areas after which to 300. The chain opened it is first Canadian location final 12 months and began 2023 by launching the Chocolate Lover’s Assortment, a limited-time assortment, that includes mini chocolate chips and chocolate mixtures, accessible by means of Feb. 26.
The third panelist is Ray Titus, CEO of United Franchise Group, which homes a wide range of companies and franchises, together with Graze Craze, Correct Franchising and The Nice Greek Grill, comprising over 1,600 franchises in over 80 nations. Titus will actually “college us” on the franchise enterprise, contemplating the person has created the Titus Middle for Franchising at Palm Seashore Atlantic College.
Subsequent up is Tropical Smoothie Cafe CEO Charles Watson, who has been rising the smoothie chain since 2018. In 2022, franchisees opened 158 cafes, and the chain signed 258 franchise agreements. It additionally opened its first double-drive through late final 12 months, proving it is not afraid to take dangers.
Rounding out the panelist of consultants is Ingo Stork, co-founder and CEO of PreciTaste, a supplier of sensible software program automation for restaurant operations administration. The corporate not too long ago created a line of off-the-shelf merchandise — Prep Assistant, Planner Assistant and Station Assistant — to assist staff of mid-sized QSRs and quick casuals. Stork additionally is aware of just a little one thing about elevating capital as he and his accomplice, Laura, raised $24 million of their first spherical of funding, attracting a number of traders, together with Enlightened Hospitality Investments, the expansion fairness fund co-founded by Shake Shack founder Danny Meyer.
“Immediately’s labor shortages and rising meals costs are a continuing uphill battle for operators — typically a crew of 5 must do the job of seven,” Ingo Stork informed FastCasual. “Instant assist is required, and that’s precisely what our newest software program automation options have been created to do — are available quick, guarantee immediate labor effectivity and expedite profitability.”
Panelists can even be quizzed on how they’re dealing with labor shortages, rising meals prices and a wide range of hot-button points dealing with the business. In reality, attendees could have the possibility to ask them no matter they need, so register right here to be within the viewers.
Cherryh Cansler is VP of Editorial for Networld Media Group and senior editor of FastCasual.com. She has been overlaying the restaurant business since 2012. Her byline has appeared in Forbes, The Kansas Metropolis Star and American Health journal, amongst many others.
