Registration Now Open for New Series to Start on July 16, 2020
Clarion Events Food and Beverage Group in conjunction with TechBytes and the International Food and Beverage Technology Association (IFBTA) will be offering a five part webinar series. The 60-minute complimentary sessions all moderated by Robert Grimes, Founder and CEO of IFBTA will start Thursday, July 16 and run until August 13, at 3:00 pm EST. The webinars will focus on technology solutions for restaurant, foodservice and retail professionals and focus on making a restaurant contactless; best practices for working from home; leveraging take-out, delivery and catering options; online ordering, and customer connection. Industry leaders from national chains, independents and consultants will offer their expertise.
“We are thrilled to be partnering with the IFBTA through the TechBytes series, to offer this timely content to help restaurants, foodservice and retail professionals successfully navigate during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Tom Loughran, Vice President for the Clarion Events Food & Beverage Group. “As producers of several industry leading events, we are committed to providing education in a virtual format.” The Tech Thursday Series include the following webinars:
- Thursday, July 16, 3:00 pm EST – The New Human Touch: How to Make Your Restaurant Contactless – Sponsored by NCR In this webinar, Martin “MJ” Worsham, Project Manager, Information Technology at Five Guys Enterprises; Lori Ness, Sr. Director, Store Systems, Hard Rock; and Jesse Shlachtman, Manager of System and Operations Analytics, Yardbird Group will discuss the various contactless options, including those for ordering, reservations, and payment, and how to implement new technology given the current industry landscape and the various resources available. Click here to register.
- Thursday, July 23, 3:00 pm EST – Make Work From Home Work For You – Many employees are using their time at home to think of creative ways to work with their teams in both an effective and safe way. Additionally, some companies have found new ways to utilize their employees within their restaurant. In this webinar, Lou Grande, VP of IT, Red Lobster; Donna Herbel, VP Training and Culture Development, Perkins Restaurant & Bakery; and James Hyde, Vice President, Human Resources, Red Lobster will explore how HR processes are changing to accommodate governance and health recommendations as well as the considerations to assess when bringing on new employees. Click here to register.
- Thursday, July 30, 3:00 pm EST – The Pivot to Take-Out, Delivery and Catering: Leveraging the Opportunities – With new options in take-out, delivery and catering there are a number of routes food can take through online ordering that allows for on-site pick-up, meal delivery services, on and off-premise catering, and more. Hear from Geoff Alexander, President, Wow Bao, Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises; Chris Incorvati, Director Cafe Operations and Support, Panera Bread; and Pankaj Patra, CIO, Brinker International who will help navigate the available take-out, delivery and catering options looking at this from all sides; offerings, service, quality and cost. Click here to register.
- Thursday, August 6, 3:00 pm EST – Online Ordering: Your Virtual Lifeline – Online ordering has been top of mind for many in food and beverage, but the industry has had to drastically pivot to either get their offerings online or optimize their online presence to accommodate the rapidly changing landscape. Yoo Jin Yi, IT Manager, Gibsons Restaurant Group will explore the key ways to optimize online ordering channels to sustain and grow to a business. Click here to register.
- Thursday, August 13, 3:00 pm EST – Why Customer Connection is Key – As digital technologies ramp up and available options seem endless, creating a digital strategy to reach and engage current, past, and prospective clients is key. Especially in the time of a global pandemic, a digital footprintand touchpoints are becoming more and more important. But which strategy is best to give customers the information they need while allowing for growth? Kathleen Chugh, CIO North America, Nando’s PERi – USA and Dan Simons, Founder and Co-Owner, Farmers Restaurant Group will discuss the ways in which to connect to customers through the digital world, including a presence and through others on social media and marketing programs, and why ways to stay connected with a direct connection to customers and fans. Click here to register.
Restaurant and foodservice professionals impacted by COVID-19 have access to the Food and Bev Shows virtual webinar series covering such important topics as creating a cash flow plan, applying hospitality skills to non-hospitality jobs, staying calm in anxious times, rent assistance programs, tools for operating safely now and later, and many others. To access the webinars, visit their website.
Clarion Events has 37 events across 13 sectors of both trade and consumer events. The shows that are part of the Food & Beverage portfolio include the International Restaurant & Foodservice Show of New York, Western Foodservice & Hospitality Expo, Florida Restaurant & Lodging Show, Healthy Food Expo, CoffeeFest and The NGA Show. Clarion Events, backed by The Blackstone Group, has become one of the fastest growing event companies in the U.S. with aggressive growth through both acquisition and launch. Clarion acquired PennWell in early 2018, bringing 4 Tradeshow 200 events into the U.S. portfolio and super-charging the already rapid growth. Clarion Events has offices in Trumbull, CT; Kennesaw, GA; Boca Raton, FL; Tacoma, WA, and Fairlawn, NJ.
The International Food and Beverage Technology Association (IFBTA), a nonprofit trade association, promotes the use of technology within the global food and beverage industries with a specific focus on education, certification, standards, research and networking, while aligning with other industry associations and groups in support of their technology related initiatives; and to further the common business interests of the information technology industry by promoting the utilization of technology within all segments of the global food and beverage industry, including restaurant/ foodservice, hospitality/lodging, gaming, onsite, beer/wine/spirits retailing, c-stores, catering, travel and other related segments of the food and beverage industry. For more information, visit www.ifbta.org.
