Restaurant Leadership Conference

7-Eleven CEO talks change, not encroachment

The CEO of 7-Eleven could have boasted about the inroads his chain has made into a market that was once owned by attendees of the Restaurant Leadership Conference. Joe DePinto certainly had the sales numbers to support a little braggadocio: $2.7 billion from fresh food, $5 billion from beverages, 1 million cups of coffee, 100 million fountain drinks.

Understanding the gluten-free customer

Celiacs may have spurred demand for gluten-free menu options, but experts say that only 1 percent of the 44 million people estimated to be in the gluten-free audience have celiac disease. While some of these consumers may be gluten intolerant, research shows that about 29 percent simply perceive gluten-free as a healthier way to eat.

These statistics confirm a trend with staying power. “Gluten-free is not going away anytime soon,” dietician Michelle Dudash declared during a session at last week’s Restaurant Leadership Conference.

Other than selling burgers, the chains seem to have little in common. One is an established industry giant, battling the other global behemoths as it wages a constant struggle to stay fresh and relevant. The other is a brash upstart, unencumbered by the baggage of older concepts, even though nostalgia is a big part of its appeal. But as the executives of Burger King and Five Guys revealed during a session at the Restaurant Leadership Conference, their brands share a conscious commitment to style over substance in their marketing approaches.

Answers to the Obamacare pop quiz

Here are the definitions to the terms in our pop quiz:

In a matter of months, restaurateurs will need to notify employees of their new health insurance options under the Affordable Health Care act, officers of the National Restaurant Association alerted attendees of last week’s Restaurant Leadership Conference. In a short, focused presentation, CEO Dawn Sweeney and chairman Phil Hickey stressed that operators need to learn their obligations and options now to contend with one of the greatest challenges ever faced by the industry.

'Give me mas'

Taco Bell is on a tear to grow from a $7-billion brand to a $14-billion category killer in the next 10 years, CEO Greg Creed told the audience at the Restaurant Leadership Conference. To get there, Creed said in his keynote address, the chain is on a mission for mas—more locations (up to 2,000 new stores), more flavor, more heart, more value.

Attendees take away a basket of catering tips

Catering offers a big opportunity for fast-casual and quick-service restaurants, but the effort to exploit it is often an afterthought, according to participants in a Restaurant Leadership Conference session focused on building sales.

"Right now for off-premise catering, your customers are going to the grocery store—Costco, Safeway, etc," said Erle Dardick, a former restaurant operator who now serves as CEO of a company that markets catering software, MonkeyMedia.

The fortunes of the restaurant industry and the economy as a whole have improved since the dog days of 2009, but it's been a roller coaster ride to get there, attendees learned at this week's Restaurant Leadership Conference.

"It seems as though just as we get some good [economic] news something shakes us again, whether natural disasters [or] gas prices," said Todd S. Jones, managing director at GE Capital, Franchise Finance. "Up and down and up and down."

Wildflower Bread Company's rules of hiring

Wildflower Bread Company recruits what it calls "Breadheads." The 12-unit chain runs its own manufacturing plant where it takes three days to make each loaf of bread. Founder and owner Louis Basile says they only hire A+ or “A+ potential” recruits. Basile is a former VP of operations and, later, VP of international and domestic franchise development and VP of research and development at Au Bon Pain. Basile says he has been able to ensure hiring great talent with Wildflower’s “five core truths of hiring”:

Getting Hispanic consumers to try your place

How do you attract Hispanics to your restaurant? An early-morning session at the Restaurant Leadership Conference answered that question.

The importance of the Hispanic consumer is well known: there are 50.5 million Hispanics in the U.S., according to the 2010 census. That represents a 43 percent population growth, compared with a 1 percent growth in the non-Hispanic population.

In the QSR segment, they ‘re near-ideal customers, visiting more often, buying more items and spending more money than non-Hispanic consumers.

RLC attendees hear the industry's 'new rules'

There are “new rules” to competing in the restaurant industry, attendees of the Restaurant Leadership Conference learned during an opening breakout session hosted by Darren Tristano and Ron Paul of Technomic Inc. They outlined 10 strategies for restaurateurs to consider.

1. Fast-food chains can do gourmet.

Fast casual still leading the way

Darren Tristano felt the need to apologize for a key point in the data he presented to attendees of the Restaurant Leadership Conference.

“We’re all probably tired of hearing about fast casual and how well it’s doing,” the executive vice president of Technomic said during a breakout session that opened the conference, “but there’s a lot we can learn from it.”

To begin with, fast casual is driving growth in the restaurant industry, up 13.2% in sales in 2012 compared to an industry average of 5.1%.

Movement in mobile

If you took a United or Delta flight to the 2012 Restaurant Leadership Conference in March in Scottsdale, Arizona, you had the option to forego a printed boarding pass, using a QR code sent to your smartphone instead. In a world where 80 percent of the population owns a mobile device (and only 47 percent own a toothbrush), cellphones and tablets are replacing pagers, wallets, credit cards and even keys. Here’s a round-up of mobile solutions from the floor of RLC to keep an eye on.

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