Food On Demand 2021

Where is the space going next? Three leaders chart the course to the future of delivery, virtual dining and real estate.

Moderator: Tom Kaiser, Food On Demand

Panelists: Kevin Kearns, SVP, Restaurant Network, Grubhub;
Robert Earl, President, Virtual Dining Concepts; Sam Nazarian, CEO, C3 by sbe

High-level executives from the leading ghost kitchen and virtual restaurant providers discuss the economics, operational challenges and future potential of these capex-light growth channels as they quickly become a significant part of the restaurant and delivery landscape.

Moderator: Tom Kaiser, Food On Demand

Panelists: Alex Canter, CEO, Nextbite: Powered by Ordermark; Michael Beacham, President, REEF Technology; Corey Manicone, Co-Founder/CEO, Zuul

Research experts from Sense360 and YipitData will delve into exclusive data to shed light on what changes are still underway in restaurant delivery, online grocery and other verticals.

Moderator: Carl Orsbourn, Author, Delivering the Digital Restaurant

Panelists: Andrew Custage, Head of Analytics, Sense360; Ariane Turley, Sr. Research Analyst, YipitData

Food On Demand editors Tom Kaiser and Nicholas Upton moderate 10-15-minute conversations with executives from the three largest North American third-party delivery providers, DoorDash, Uber Eats and Grubhub.

Moderators: Tom Kaiser & Nicholas Upton

Panelists: Yadavan Mahendraraj, Head of Merchant Operations, Uber Eats; Kenny Klein, Sr. Director of Sales, Grubhub; Toby Espinosa, VP of Business Development, DoorDash

Franchised and enterprise restaurant executives answer big questions about the off-premises evolution of their businesses and discuss how their leadership teams are preparing for a future with more drive-thru, takeout and delivery sales than ever before.

Moderator: Laura Michaels, Editor, Franchise Times

Panelists: Angela Coppler, Sr. Dir., Global & Non-Traditional Dev., The Wendy’s Company; Ryan Ostrom, EVP/CMO, Jack in the Box; John Powell, Director, Delivery Strategy & Partnerships, 7-Eleven; Ralph Ortiz, VP of Strategic Initiatives, Five Guys

Independent restaurant operators faced brutal challenges during the pandemic. On the backside of this historic crisis, growth-minded multi-concept operators are reinventing their businesses, adding new revenue streams, cutting out costs and bringing in new technologies to move from survival to growth. 

Moderator: Chris Monk, CEO, Your Fare

Panelists: Alistair Levine, Chief Revenue Officer/Owner, KitchenSync/Vine Hospitality; Oscar Edwards, Owner, Complex Oakland; Sean Reiter, Director of Online Revenue, The Melt

Enterprise and franchised restaurant brands are using virtual restaurants and ghost kitchens as low-cost, low-risk ways of entering new geographic markets and testing new concepts. This panel examines the various operational strategies, supply chain considerations and economics involved in putting these new growth channels to work for your brand’s future.

Moderator: Beth Ewen, Senior Editor, Franchise Times

Panelists: Aaron Noveshen, CEO, Starbird | Founder & Chairman, The Culinary Edge; André Vener, Founding Partner, Dog Haus; David Bloom, CDO & COO, Capriotti’s and Wing Zone; Thomas Krouse, CEO, Donatos

 In today’s convenience economy, you may never see the faces of your best customers. With customer data becoming the holy grail to personalize the guest experience and maximize customer value, this panel of marketing-leading data experts will help your brand collect more customer data than ever before to retarget your most valuable customers, access new data-driven insights and inform the next stage of your growth strategy.

Moderator: Andrew Peskoe, Chairman, Golenbock

Panelists: Mike Vichich, Co-Founder & CEO, Wisely;
Zack Oates, Founder & CEO, Ovation; Niko Papademetriou, SVP Sales & Business Dev., Qu; Kinesh Patel, Chief Technology Officer & Co-Founder, SevenRooms

Nearly every aspect of a modern restaurant is now digitized, meaning most operations use multiple, disparate systems that weren’t designed with each other in mind. From the host stand and pick-up counter to the back of the house, this panel of leading technology experts will examine the opportunities and challenges for operators of all sizes seeking to implement an integrated approach to the increasingly expansive restaurant tech stack.

Moderator: Nicholas Upton, Food On Demand

Panelists: Vishal Agarwal, Founder & CEO, ItsaCheckmate;
Bryan Solar, Head of Restaurants, Square; Tom Fox, Chief Business Officer, Omnivore Technologies; Hope Neiman, CMO, Tillster

The lunchtime daypart has been uniquely impacted by the pandemic as old routines have given way to new consumer habits and return-to-office deadlines continue being pushed back. This panel focuses on new ways to generate business and reach customers wherever they are during midday hours—with the realization that old ways might be gone for good as new channels present themselves.

Moderator: Ryan Palmer, Partner, Lathrop GPM

Panelists: Ben Cattoor, Founder & CEO, Foodsby; Mark Robbins, Owner, Salata; Zak Edgington, Head of Corporate Sales – Western Region, Grubhub; Mark McNamee, Chief Administrative Officer, Grant Thornton

Operating a virtual restaurant or existing brand inside a restaurant or ghost kitchen is significantly different than running a traditional restaurant. This panel examines the culinary and menu engineering side of the equation, with two companies that are leaders in the virtual restaurant and ghost kitchen spaces to go beyond the marketing speak for a real-world look at what it takes to actually cook food, turn a profit and consistently keep customers happy in these new restaurant formats.

Moderator: Callie Evergreen, Business Reporter, Franchise Times

Panelists: Joey Simons, SVP of Operations, C3; Alp Franko, Founder, The Local Culinary; Molly McGrath, Head of Culinary, All Day Kitchens;
Vincenzo Rossy, VP of New Store Openings, C3

As the economy recovers and more supply comes online from reopenings and new virtual concepts, marketing and loyalty has never been so important. Next-gen CRM and engagement providers can help restaurants target their VIP customers, find lookalike users, and seamlessly track the customer journey from app to delivery to make sure nobody falls through the cracks or is lost to the competition.

Moderator: Fred LeFranc, CEO, Results thru Strategy

Panelists: Abhinav Kapur, Co-Founder & CEO, Bikky;
Hadi Rashid, Co-Founder, Lunchbox; Zach Goldstein, CEO & Founder, Thanx; Jamie Marshall, Co-Founder & COO, Snackpass

Catering will absolutely come back, and this panel is designed to help operators prepare for that return. In the meantime, with the pandemic devastating the business-to-business side of the foodservice industry, we’ve brought together a panel of experts dedicated to helping operators and suppliers pivot their attention to third-party and direct-to-consumer channels to keep the transactions flowing.

Moderator: Erle Dardick, Sr. Partner, Off Premises Growth Academy

Panelists: Michael O’Hanlon, Head of Catering Partner Business, ezCater; Dilip Rao, CEO & Co-founder, Sharebite; Marty Hahnfeld, Chief Customer Officer, Olo; Aaron Hoffman, Co-Founder & CEO, DeliverThat; Jim Rand, Operating Partner, Act III Holdings

The largest third-party delivery providers aren’t the only game in town, with growing options focused on specific cuisine types, regions and ethnic categories in the restaurant space. Whether it’s pickup or delivery, this session will introduce the audience to four of the most interesting online restaurant platforms that are on the rise, but not as well known as the biggest players: EatStreet, Black & Mobile, Chowbus and Waitr.

Moderator: Tom Kaiser & Nicholas Upton, Food On Demand

Panelists: Matt Howard, CEO, EatStreet; David Cabello, Founder, Black & Mobile; Linxin Wen, CEO, Chowbus; Carl Grimstad, CEO & Chairman of the Board, Waitr Holdings

Delivery providers are moving beyond delivering just restaurant meals, with key acquisitions expanding their offerings into the pharmacy, convenience, alcohol and grocery spaces. Now, a new wave of instant-delivery startups are building micro-fulfillment infrastructure to provide delivery in 10 or 15 minutes—and all of them are focused on moving into retail, too, which is a sea change for the delivery-on-demand industry.

Moderator: Tom Kaiser, Food On Demand

Panelists: Atul Sood, Chief Business Officer, Kitchen United;
Jay Scherger, Head of Innovation, Kroger; Raj Beri, VP Grocery & New Verticals, Uber Eats