RLC Update | MonkeyDish

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.

Leadership lessons from an American hero

If the youngsters working in restaurants today don’t strike you as the raw material for tomorrow’s business leaders, keep that notion to yourself around Barry McCaffrey, the retired four-star...

Sampling locals' favorite Mexican spots

A culinary education is waiting outside the RLC’s conference rooms for attendees who can find time to sample Phoenix’s rich array of Mexican restaurants. Ranging from the authentic to the Disney-...

Education opportunities away from the main stage

If remembrances of leading the free world don’t interest you, how about a primer on controlling your flour costs? Or maybe a look at purchasing via the internet? Or new marketing techniques for engaging...

CONSUMER INSIGHTS: Tracking gluten-free and Latino preferences

Once, Latinos and customers with special dietary needs were on the fringe of the mainstream chain-restaurant market. Not any more, as attendees will learn in RLC breakouts focused on the changing consumer. One...

BENCHMARKING: How do you compare to the industry?

A hallmark of the Restaurant Leadership Conference is the opportunity for attendees to benchmark their brands’ financial performance and market position against what’s happening within the industry...

Read more
OPERATIONS: From catering to food-cost management

Speakers ranging from former Burger King CEO John Chidsey to two farmer-ranchers will provide C-suite executives with insights into the challenges and opportunities faced by multi-unit restaurant operators....

Read more
MARKETING & TECHNOLOGY: High-tech ways to connect

A number of sessions at the RLC will look at the mobile, web and other digital tools that operators can use to engage and attract consumers. Attendees of last year’s conference learned how the public...

Read more
SUSTAINABILITY: Saving green by going greener

New York City and Boulder, Colo., are looking to become the 24th and 25th municipalities in the country to ban polystyrene food containers because of environmental concerns. With county bans adding more than...

Read more
Chef (and burgermeister) Hubert Keller to provide a peek under his toque

Having a casual burger concept is almost as common for today’s fine-dining chefs as wearing whites. How do they channel the creativity and passion of a white-tablecloth place into an operation that can...

Read more
Brain food for the "C" suite

Restaurant executives say they lack the time to hunt for ideas or leadership lessons, the undisputed deliverables of Restaurant Business’ annual Restaurant Leadership Conference. Attendees lament that...

Read more
A Dialogue with President George W. Bush

President George W. Bush has agreed to address the 2013 Restaurant Leadership Conference in a keynote session that will be more of a discussion than a traditional speech. The former Texas governor and former...

Read more
Catering to be in the spotlight at RLC 2013

A new feature of the Restaurant Leadership Conference will provide attendees with an opportunity to learn how they can exploit the boom in catering. The two-hour education program will cover such issues as why...

Read more
'Shake hands and come out talking'

Advertising and TV star Donny Deutsch will bring his distinctive interviewing style to the Conference stage for candid give-and-takes with Steve Wiborg, president of Burger King’s North American division...

Read more
Why you should listen to Joe DePinto

The tradition of spotlighting innovators from other industries will continue at the 2013 Restaurant Leadership Conference with a business download from 7-Eleven CEO Joe DePinto, who may be the toughest...

Read more