The restaurant industry is expanding at a strong pace again, but there's a difference to the growth and the strategies driving it. Chains are creating opportunities by peering further into the future and anticipating the trends in consumer preferences, restaurant recruitment, financing, politics and restaurant operations. They're hungering for ideas, innovation and insight.
Reviewing our notes after the show, the editors of Restaurant Business spotted 10 ideas that any non-attendee of the RLC shouldn't miss. We suspect that some would've been lost to attendees, too, because of the sheer volume of innovations that were aired during the event. Consider this your Cliff Notes for the keepers:
Restaurant CEOs told RLC 2014 attendees that a valuable management tool is blundering, sometimes spectacularly.
Many, many weight loss diets come and go, but the sad fact is Americans have gotten fatter every year since 1990. While restaurants have been the easy-to-blame scapegoats for this obesity epidemic, they’re not the only ones at fault, said Dr. Jim Painter at the innovation session entitled “Your Brain on Food: Why Consumers Eat As They Do” held on Monday, March 26 during the 2012 Restaurant Leadership Conference in Scottsdale, Arizona.
If Marcus Luttrell had merely qualified to be a Navy SEAL, served in an Afghani hot zone or written two best-selling books, he'd have an inspiring story to tell. But the drama doesn't end there, as moviegoers are learning from the hit film based on his life, "Lone Survivor." It's the story attendees will hear from Luttrell himself at this year's Restaurant Leadership Conference.
Opening one of the restaurant industry’s largest conventions, commentator Laura Ingraham asked attendees of the packed Restaurant Leadership Conference to raise a hand if they were inspired by any of potential contenders for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. A hush filled the room and not a hand was raised.