From left, Danielle Porto Parra, chief marketing officer at GoTo Foods (formerly Focus Brands), Juan George of 858 Partners, and Maria Rivera, CEO of Smalls Sliders, are among this year’s FODC speakers.
The leading conference in the delivery and off-premises landscape is happening right around the corner.
The seventh annual Food On Demand Conference is May 8-10 at The Bellagio in Las Vegas. Produced by Franchise Times sibling publication Food On Demand, this year’s FODC will kick off with a keynote conversation with Uber founder Travis Kalanick, who also founded City Storage Systems, the parent company of CloudKitchens and Otter.
The first day will include an Off-Premises Round Table with Michael Boyan of Shake Shack, Wade Allen of Costa Vida, Andrew Garfrerick of Papa Johns and Angela Coppler of Cousins Main Lobster, delving into how the industry has changed in the last year and where the on-demand ecosystem is heading next. Chief marketing officers from top franchise restaurant companies GoTo Foods, Five Guys and BurgerFi will take the stage next to discuss how to take multi-channel marketing to the max. Day one will close out with industry research experts sharing exclusive data to understand a shifting market, plus we’ll put the spotlight on the new Outstanding Operator program.
A first for Food On Demand, Outstanding Operators recognizes 20 innovative restaurant brands taking creative paths to success with all things off-premises. Winners will be recognized on-stage and receive a $1,000 charitable donation to the organization of choice.
The second day begins with a Q&A conversion on building the digital restaurant, moderated by leading industry voices Carl Orsbourn and Meredith Sandland. The duo will conduct fireside chats with speakers from GoTo Foods (formerly Focus Brands) and Smalls Holdings. Next up is the return of the Third-Party Deep Dive, where attendees will hear directly from Doordash, Uber Eats and JustEat/Grubhub.
Travis Kalanick
Amid ongoing inflationary pressures, key decisions in pricing, menu management and technology will all be featured on the “Boosting Your Off-Premises Economics” panel, moderated by food tech investor Brita Rosenheim of Vita Vera Ventures. Panelists include Michael Montagano of Dog Haus, James Field of Jersey Mike’s and Shelly Rupel of Devour.
With a surge in available technology solutions, the “Build vs. Buy” panel will dive into the advantages and challenges of developing custom solutions versus opting for off-the-shelf technology, led by Juan George of 858 Partners, and featuring speakers from Red Robin, Birdcall and Whataburger.
Other sessions on day two touch everything from capitalizing on next-gen artificial intelligence for restaurants, autonomous innovation, drone delivery, trends in restaurant loyalty, first-party conversion strategies, and a session on the new reality of delivery-only models, which dissects the state of virtual brands and ghost kitchens.
A powerhouse Friday agenda features one of the hottest topics right now, with a catering focused panel exploring a modern take on catering success. This is followed by an operator panel discussing packaging solutions that all operators need to know.
As the accounting and reconciliation side of the business for restaurants has become more onerous than ever, the final day will also feature a session on “best practices to manage reconciliation and chargebacks” with top tech leaders, and operator perspectives on solutions that will improve the bottom line.
In addition, Food On Demand will again host the Catering Growth Forum, produced in partnership with ezCater. This is a special free event for all Food On Demand attendees. Held on the morning of Wednesday, May 8, before FODC officially begins, the forum will cover strategies to understand how the catering market is shifting, how to attract high-value customers, and what operators of all kinds can learn from industry experts.