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Denver’s restaurant scene provides a vibrant backdrop for the show, and attendees will get a chance to experience some of the city’s best restaurants. On the opening night of MUFSO, the Taste of Denver welcome reception will feature dishes from some of the city’s hottest chefs. Here’s a sneak peek of the menu: rotisserie porchetta with couscous and feta from chef Chase Devitt of BriDer; tomato braised bacon and cheesy grits from chef/proprietor Justin Brunson of Old Major; hamachi crudo with sudachi, mango and crunchy garlic chile oil from chef/owner Troy Guard of Tag Restaurant; jamon croquettes and caldo verde crudo from Jennifer Jasinski of Ultreia and char siu pork belly from chef Nick Kayser of Vesta. The reception is sponsored by Daiya and Ventura Foods.
A limited number of attendees will have the chance to connect with fellow restaurant operators over casual dinners on Oct. 14 at one of five participating restaurants: BriDer, Tag, Ultreia, Vesta and ChoLon. At these MUFSO Meet Ups, sponsored by SevenRooms, participants will enjoy a pre-set menu including appetizer, entrée, dessert and wine. Seating is limited to restaurant operators only, and 10 seats per restaurant venue. Sign up at MUFSO.com.
There’s no question that this is CBD’s breakout year. Consumer demand is growing fast, but complex regulations can make it a minefield for operators. MUFSO offers multiple ways for restaurant operators to understand this fast-growing market.
First, attendees can get a behind-the-scenes look at all things CBD on a tour of four local businesses making or selling CBD products. Presented by Datassential, the “From Plant to Table” tour, which will be held Oct. 14, will kick off with lunch at a Denver favorite, Hank’s Texas Barbecue, featuring a custom CBD-infused menu and a presentation by CBD experts from Datassential. Next up: Seed & Smith, a state-of-the-art cannabis cultivation facility, will host a backstage tour to show the cannabis process from beginning to end. Tour participants will then visit Native Roots, a CBD wellness dispensary to learn about the breadth of CBD uses. The tour wraps up at Choice Market, a Denver-based c-store concept that offers groceries, prepared foods and a variety of packaged CBD edibles and beverages. Choice Market CEO Mike Fogarty will join for a Q&A session on the CBD market. Pre-registration is required and attendance is limited to 50 people.
The following day, MUFSO attendees can also hear from legal experts on how operators can navigate the ever-evolving regulations around CBD and cannabis-derived products.
Menu Insights and Innovation, an in-depth culinary workshop for restaurant R&D professionals, will be held Oct. 13-14 at Denver’s Metropolitan State University. Menu developers from all segments will have access to comprehensive consumer intelligence from Datassential. In addition to presentations on the latest trends, the summit will include cooking demonstrations, tastings and hands-on workshops on developing limited-time offers. The items developed in those workshops will then be screened overnight with consumers and the highest scoring one will be honored Oct. 15 during MUFSO.
Menu Insights and Innovation will also include a keynote from Datassential’s Marie Molde on “The Changing Food Landscape.” Molde will explore how consumer eating patterns have shifted and identify the flavors, ingredients and dishes that will be trending in 2020 and beyond.
Gary Vaynerchuk — bestselling author, venture capitalist and digital media vanguard — will deliver a keynote address Oct. 15 on how executives should approach today’s customers in the business environment he has dubbed “The Thank You Economy.” With more power in the hands of consumers today, businesses must bring back the touchpoints of caring for their customers, paying attention to details, being responsive and emphasizing quality. Vaynerchuk will recalibrate the way attendees relate to consumers and explore how “out-caring” and “out-loving” customers, employees and stakeholders is the key to success. Vaynerchuk’s keynote is sponsored by MomentFeed.
For insights from restaurant leaders, attend the Oct. 15 CEO panel, sponsored by CardFree, which will feature NRN’s 2019 Norman Award honoree Alice Elliot, CEO of the Elliot Group, as well as the five 2019 Golden Chain Award recipients. This year’s Golden Chain winners are Sam Fox, founder of Fox Restaurant Concepts; Julie Masino, Taco Bell U.S. president; Tim McEnery, CEO and founder of Cooper’s Hawk; Scott Svenson, co-founder of MOD Pizza; and Liz Smith, executive chairman of Bloomin’ Brands.
For more than two decades, Nation’s Restaurant News’ Hot Concepts Awards have identified the next big restaurant brands. The five rising brands in this year’s class of winners — &Pizza, The Crack Shack, Garden Bar, Mulberry & Vine and Maple Street Biscuit Company — will be celebrated during the show. MUFSO attendees will get a chance to sample dishes from these concepts at a special Hot Concepts reception and hear from company leaders during a session on “The DNA of a successful emerging brand.” The Hot Concepts Awards are sponsored by V&V Supremo.
“Where should we eat?” Just ask Google. That’s what billions of consumers are doing every month — and what they find when they search can make or break the dining decision. A restaurant’s digital footprint is arguably its most important marketing tool, and MUFSO attendees will have a chance to get inside information directly from the search giant. An Oct. 16 session titled, “How to Win the Consumer Journey” will be led by two Google executives and will include: top takeaways from the Google research, unveiled for the first time at MUFSO; three critical steps that will help restaurants win the consumer journey and drive guest traffic; and a look at the marketing and technology innovations that will prepare your business for what’s ahead.
