Taking place at the London Marriott Hotel, Grosvenor Square on Wednesday 3 November, the annual sell-out conference returns for its first live event since 2019, and will see sector leaders coming together to network, share vision and strategy, and digest the current dynamics of the sector through a day of keynote speeches, insight presentation, panel discussions and Q&As.
In an exclusive Q&A Mackenzie will discuss how the muscle memory of KFC’s chicken shortage in 2018 helped it better cope with the pandemic (and come back stronger); and how a distinctive approach to marketing has helped transform the brand’s cultural relevance and sales.
Eckbert will reflect on how the better burger brand has managed to continue its impressive growth trajectory throughout the pandemic and share exclusive insights into its plans for the future.
While King, who has been one of the most vital hospitality voices during the last year and a half, will sit down to a fireside chat Stefan Chomka, editor of MCA’s sister publication BigHospitality.
King will discuss the challenges of opening a major new restaurant in central London during the pandemic, the virtue of grand brasseries, and how to settle rent debts when there are millions of pounds at stake.
The agenda also features former Waitrose managing director, and founder of employee engagement platform WorkL, Lord Mark Price. He will present finding from WorkL’s annual hospitality report, which details how happy and engaged hospitality employees are, relative to other sectors and offer suggestions as to where employers might best focus their efforts going forward.
While business minister Paul Scully will present details of his Hospitality Strategy, which aims to help the sector ‘build back better’, with a focus on a the three Rs: reopening, recovery and resilience.
The minister will also detail the measures the government is taking to support the restaurant sector, and how it fits into the government’s vision for economic recovery.
In addition the Restaurant Conference will feature insight sessions from Lumina Intelligence, CGA and AlixPartners, and panel discussions covering the big issues around property, people and culture and sustainability, among others.
To find out more and to secure your tickets for the event, please click here.