Nation’s Restaurant News publisher Randall Friedman announced Monday at the 15th annual Foodservice Technology Conference and Showcase that FSTEC would be co-located with the Multi-Unit Foodservice Operators conference, or MUFSO, beginning in 2011.
The news came on the second day of this year's FSTEC, which is being held through Wednesday at the Long Beach Convention Center. There are more than 700 attendees gathered this year to discuss foodservice technologies, with discussions already spanning social media, consumer facing applications like kiosks and digital menu boards, as well as PCI best practices. FSTEC is produced by Nation's Restaurant News and Robert Grimes of Accuvia Consulting.
The co-located MUFSO and FSTEC conferences are scheduled to take place Sept. 25-28, 2011, in Grapevine, Texas, at the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center.
"The decision to co-locate but not combine FSTEC and MUFSO recognizes the shared interests of each show's attendees and exhibitors, and the extraordinary time pressure on busy foodservice executives," Friedman said. "Without compromising the integrity of either of these leadership events, hosting them separately under one roof in 2011 will only increase the value to attendees and the exhibitor-sponsors.
"The networking firepower will only increase for both operators and suppliers," he said.
Both FSTEC and MUFSO will retain separate conference agendas, educational programs, exhibit floors, registrations and sponsorship packages. The conferences will share networking opportunities including some hospitality events, keynote speakers and general session presentations.
Attendees also will be able to visit each other's exhibit floors.
"Co-locating these events under the same roof creates a highly concentrated new networking opportunity for everyone who attends or exhibits to meet more decision-makers on the team and uncover new business opportunities," said FSTEC co-founder Grimes.
Meanwhile, top foodservice IT professionals meeting for FSTEC 2010 here in Long Beach continued to discuss key trends while sharing current IT strategies and tactics.
During the popular CIO Panel on Sunday evening, top industry chief information officers addressed such innovations as social networking, Web-based ordering, and mobile computing as well as best practices in purchasing.
Brian Pearson, vice president of information services for BJ's Restaurants, said his chain was in the process of focusing on new social networking tool sets. "We originally had about 1,200 friends on Facebook," Pearson said. "Now we've got 40,000. They're the most loyal followers you'll ever find, even more than some loyalty programs."
Pearson said the brand has integrated social networking into its marketing group and uses it to feature product and new restaurant information. He said one person in the marketing group is responsible for adding daily postings.
Gary Johnson, director of information services for In-N-Out Burger, said his company has been using social networking as an internal information source. For example, he said, a new unit opened recently in Salt Lake City, and the company monitored Facebook and YouTube to observe "what has been posted about us. It's been very beneficial."
Panelists also discussed the shift toward Web-based ordering. While Johnson said In-N-Out Burgers was "not contemplating it," Allison Watanabe, vice president of information technology for El Pollo Loco, said her chain was in the process of redesigning its website and had plans to build an online ordering component into it.
"We have the expertise in-house to do it ourselves," she said.
Pearson said BJ's has offered online ordering for a couple of years. "I think it's great," he said. "We're a casual-dining operator and have a larger, complex menu. This is an opportunity to get the order 100-percent right."
Moderator Rob Grimes also asked panelists whether they were using any iPhone applications in their marketing strategies. Charles Lee, CIO of Taco Bell, said the Mexican quick-service brand was using "a couple." One was a store locator while a second was being used to market its menu and showcase "how much food you get for under $5."
An attendee question posed to the panelists asked whether they had any recommendations for smaller operators looking to purchase a new POS system. Alan Liddle, managing editor of technology for NRN, advised restaurateurs to purchase systems that were efficient and that could aggregate and report data, and communicate with the brand's headquarters.
Grimes suggested that restaurateurs "write down requirements before you start looking. Know what's available in the marketplace, and if there is a market leader in [your restaurant segment], look at what they are using."
Pearson, responding to a question about lessons learned from unsuccessful technology rollouts, recounted that his department believed it had discovered a piece of equipment that would streamline the payment process at curbside or the table. But then, during a test, he found out that the servers didn't like using it. "They came back afterwards and said it was too heavy and it got too hot," he said. The test was discontinued.
"You can't push technology if somebody isn't looking to buy it," he said.
"We're all in the technology business and see technology that we think might be the answer to an issue," said Johnson of In-N-Out. "But if it's not sponsored or driven by someone outside of IT, it can feel like you're paddling upstream."
The CIO Panel was sponsored by Radiant Systems Inc.
Contact Paul Frumkin at [email protected].