Local restaurants had pop-up stations throughout the event. Bartaco is pictured here.

CREATE officially kicked off with a talk on diversity featuring Coca-Cola senior vice president and chief of staff, customer office Tanika Cabral; Bloomin’ Brands group vice president diversity and inclusion Sheilina Henry; and Chipotle Mexican Grill chief, diversity, inclusion and people officer Marissa Andrada. The panel was moderated by Dr. James Pogue. Read more about the discussion here.

The panel was followed by the Hot Concepts panel featuring three of the five Hot Concepts winners: Bill Phelps, CEO of Dave’s Hot Chicken; Khanh Nguyen, CEO of Zalat Pizza; and Chris Britt, director of operations for Agave & Rye.

A drum line welcomed audience members to Day 2 of CREATE.

Denny’s product development chef Dontre’al Haigler was named the winner of the Texas Pete Kitchen Hero Cook Off on Tuesday morning.

Keynote speaker Monty Moran told the CREATE audience that “leadership outshines management” during his keynote.

Michael Lastoria, CEO of &pizza, spoke on labor.

Datassential and the Wisconsin Cheese Board partnered for an event called “Raising the Bar” in which participants were invited to sample pairings of alcohol and bar snacks during a presentation from Datassential.

Andre Vener, founder and partner at Dog Haus, spoke about virtual brands.

Jane Grote Abell, chairwoman for Donato’s, spoke about innovating at legacy brands.

Carin Stutz, CEO of Native Foods, spoke about what it’s like being a woman in the C-suite.

During a reception, the CREATORS were crowned and celebrated. Read more about them here. Plus, Nation’s Restaurant News named the CREATOR of the Year.

Greg Kingen, chief revenue officer for Black Box Intelligence, gave the company’s annual "State of the Restaurant Industry" presentation. Read more about the talk here.

Four winners of the inaugural CREATOR Awards shared the stage on the final day to discuss how they stay relevant in rapidly changing times.