Why You Should Attend a Restaurant Conference This Year
There’s no doubt about it: the web is a fantastic resource for free and valuable tips on how to improve your restaurant. And when you’re running on slim profit margins, free guidance always sounds like a good thing (which, arguably, it is).
The only problem with sticking only to the free stuff is that you miss out on deeper insights made available when you attend events like restaurant conferences and trade shows. It’s not that you can’t find all of that information online, but it will likely take a while to do so and also doesn’t come with the added benefit of being able to directly engage with restaurant experts as well as your peers.
In truth, there are a lot of reasons why you should attend a restaurant conference this year. If you haven’t set aside the time or money to step away from the business for a couple of days, you should give it some serious thought.
Be sure to keep reading to the end of the post to get recommendations for the 4 restaurant conferences that are worth every penny.
Why You Should Attend a Restaurant Conference This Year
Self-taught improvements will certainly help you move the needle little by little on your business, but in-person events like a restaurant conference or expo? They’re packed to the brim with educational opportunities.
Here are just some of the things you get out of attending professional restaurant events:
1. Learn About New Food and Dining Trends
Many of the hot new trends that hit the restaurant industry are first brought to light at major conferences. If you want to know what’s going to be hot in the food and dining space in the next year, you can be one of the first to learn about it.
2. Learn About New Tech
There’s always new technology making its way into restaurants, and sometimes it comes from unusual or unexpected directions. If you want to stay ahead of the curve, conferences and trade shows give you a close-up look at some of that game-changing tech.
3. Learn About Business Topics
Conferences aren’t just focused on restaurant processes. They also have seminars and panel discussions where you can learn better ways to manage your business. There are even some conferences dedicated to specific segments of restaurant business management, like finance and marketing.
4. Taste New Food Products
Industry trade shows are a great way to combine all that education about what’s trending and upcoming with actually getting to try it out. What’s more, if you encounter something that really sparks your interest, this is a great opportunity to negotiate a good rate with the vendor.
5. Connect with the Restaurant Community
Whether you attend a national event or one on a more local scale, you have the chance to exponentially grow your network within the community. You can meet up with old restaurant pals, too, while you’re at it.
6. Expand Your Brand Awareness
As you’re mixing and mingling on the trade show floor, sitting around waiting for the next speaker to queue up, or hanging around at the after hours party, open up and share a bit about what you’re doing at your restaurant. Have your business cards ready, too, so people will have a reminder to look up your restaurant when they get home.
7. Ask Questions
At many conferences, you have the opportunity to speak up and ask those burning questions that you can’t get an answer to anywhere else or that you wouldn’t have otherwise considered without the conference speaker bringing it up. Trade shows present an even better opportunity as you can target vendors you’ve been curious about and pick their ear about how their product will affect your restaurant.
4 Best Conferences and Trade Shows for Restaurateurs
As you can see, you get a lot of value for the cost of registration (and perhaps a hotel if you have to travel). But which one should you attend?
MURTEC
Where: Las Vegas
When: March 9–11, 2020
What: The Multi-Unit Restaurant Technology conference is dedicated to revealing the hottest upcoming tech trends in the industry. Details for the next show have not been released, but you can subscribe to MURTEC’s email list and get weekly updates on what’s shaking things up in restaurant tech now.
National Restaurant Association
Where: Chicago
When: May 16–19, 2020
What: Consider this the go-to conference for everything. Learn about food, beverages, suppliers, tech, finance, marketing, and more. And not only will you get to sit through very informative talks, you can attend culinary and technology demonstrations.
Restaurant Finance & Development Conference
Where: Las Vegas
When: November 11–13, 2019
What: This event is for multi-unit restaurant operators or franchisors that want to improve their bottom line. You could attend this event in order to meet finance companies, banks, investors, real estate developers, and more. Or you could attend simply for the financial education aspect of it.
Restaurant Leadership
Where: Phoenix
When: March 20–22, 2020
What: While this conference has already taken place in 2019, the next one is scheduled for less than 12 months from now, so start doing your research. While the upcoming agenda isn’t available, you can get a good sense for all of the networking and educational opportunities this event offers leaders that attend it just by looking at this year’s notes.
And if you’re nervous about springing for one of these bigger ones on your first go, that’s fine. Check the closest city and see if there’s a local restaurant conference or expo happening there. The crowds will be smaller and you may find more success in meeting possible vendors, partners, or investors if they’re operating out of your community.
