Over the past four years, a sudden surge of delivery orders, fueled by new technology, consumer demand and the jaw-dropping growth of third-party delivery providers, has transformed the industry.  While the debate rages on regarding the impact of off-premise dining on operations and profitability, operators who are in the trenches have been revisiting every aspect of their business to meet this demand and streamline execution.  In this session, Melissa Wilson, Principal at Technomic, will provide an update on the current State of Off-Premise and moderate a panel of restaurant operators who will share their experiences, offer tips on the approaches they have found to be most successful in navigating the ever-changing off-premise reality and insights into what’s coming next.

Traditionally, breakfast has been the most habit-based and traditional meal of the day. While that continues to be true, innovation, shifting eating patterns and global influences are changing what breakfast is and can be. Join us in this session that will discuss the drivers reshaping the breakfast daypart and the trends that will drive innovation moving forward.

Datassential’s signature trend identification process used in a workshop format. Using recipes from the event to highlight flavor opportunity areas. This presentation will discuss how to take an experience and determine the bigger trend at play and decide if it warrants ‘acting’ upon it. Limited to first 50 people.

Drinking vinegars have been around for centuries. Often for health and to cure ailments but also in cocktails. Today they are quickly hitting the shelves and winding their way into the beverage scene. Join David Commer as he navigates through the this trend and showcases the various styles. This is a tasting session with interactive elements and maybe even a shot of Voodoo Juice!

Issues influencing health and wellness trends will be explored along with how to successfully navigate them and white space not yet discovered.  Influencers will be discussed as they pertain to the shaping of marketplace trends and how they impact the creation of new products.  Health and wellness issues layer benefits attractive to consumers which create a winning combination that can lead to making food and beverage products and menu items successful in the marketplace. We will explore consumer drivers – including trust, control, and prevention issues – and the biggest media and consumer driven issue in health and wellness to date.  The talk will examine the fermentation, high protein, beauty, gut health, weight loss, and cognitive function territories and reveal their birth patterns, parents, drivers, and impact on resulting food and beverage trends.  The trend patterns note more cautious behaviors and activities; a sense of mindfulness, reserved experimentation, self-care, and vulnerability.  It also paints a more complex landscape to have to navigate, but at the same time more freedom to focus in areas of interest or expertise for the industry.

Join this panel of F&B experts to discuss some of the best practices for reaching your guests with your menu descriptions
Understand what your food/beverage menu is telling your guest today and evaluate if your menu is telling your brand story.
This session will showcase ways to improve messaging and consumer connection

Syndicated research and reports are important to the innovation process, but the sensory experiences of market immersions can provide invaluable inspiration. The key to a successful Market Immersion is aligning on goals and objectives prior to beginning the research and planning process. Then, using that information to identify unique venues that exemplify the focused trends and organize the capturing of findings to distill into actionable outputs.
During this round table discussion with operators we will cover how to maximize the value of Market Immersions by reviewing the planning process, identifying value of involving cross functional team members, overall goals and out puts of Market Immersions as well as provide successful examples of menu innovation resulting from recent Market Immersions.

This panel session will explore the forces driving modern food product development, and how brands are pushing the boundaries with new foods and flavors as a result of new trends and consumer demands. We'll delve into how the new product-development mindset—tapping both the scientific side and the consumer insights side—is resulting in cutting-edge flavors and innovations, ultimately raising the bar for both menu developers and foodservice consumers.

Dr. Painter will present the “in the trenches” applications for using whole food, whole grains and fruit ingredients in categories of food products to create ‘hot products’ in light of the FDA’s labeling law changes and a changing consumer landscape.

An exciting session is coming soon....

The youngest generation of diners is already influencing the restaurant scene. More than Millennials 2.0, Generation Z demonstrates its own unique preferences around flavor exploration, craveability, health and tech in the dining experience. Engage with current Technomic research to understand how best to connect with this increasingly influential and important generation.

Non – Alc and Low – Abv has been a common topic, but how many of us are actually taking action with the trends? With the constant growth of these categories, there’s an exciting pulse that’s disrupting our beverage menus with more exciting beverage innovation – expanding drink menus with more Culinary inspired Non-Alc cocktails, to a well balanced stirred Low-Abv cocktail, and so much more. Operators are beginning to understand that this trend, may be a lifestyle choice as well. The Spirits In Motion; Tony Pereyra and Phil Wills, are seasoned vets and experts when it comes to Bar Operations, Recipe Innovation, and elevating the Guest Experience. In this session you will taste the discussed drink trends, understand how to inspire and optimize your Non-Alc and Low-Abv category, Cost Analysis and Profit Margin, and how maximize the relationship between the Beverage Director and Executive Chef.

How does the use of sous vide allow your business to create/ offer products previously unavailable due to traditional cooking methods?