SPEAKER BIOS
John Bostwick, Owner, Contentment Companies, LLC, Franchisee of Shanes’ Rib Shack and Bojangles’ Restaurants
After beginning his career in real estate in 1992, John Bostwick and his wife decided to add restaurant ownership and operations to their business goals. First opening a Bojangles in 2002, he proceeded to open three more locations over the next four years and served on the packaging franchise advisory group. That same year he ran a successful race to become Mayor of Bostwick, GA. During his second term as mayor, Bostwick and his wife decided to expand their restaurant portfolio with the addition of a Shane’s Rib Shack.
Session: Serving Up A Better FOH-BOH
Jason Doyle, CEO, Doyle Restaurant Group and The Wine Loft wine bar
Jason Doyle, the Doyle Restaurant Group’s Founder and CEO, began this company in 2002 with the mission for his brands to the market leaders by “Executing a successful, social experience in a unique venue.” This mission holds strong today as The Doyle Restaurant Group (DRG) continues its expansion across the country and world. The flagship offering from the DRG is the Wine Loft wine bar which opened in New Orleans in 2002, which now has 26 locations nationwide. The DRG is poised for major expansion with the inclusion to its portfolio of Hueys 24/7 Diner, Rasputin Vodka Bar and La’ Crepe Nanou.
Session: Perfect Pairings
Joe Gabriel, Association Alliances Manager, Fishbowl
Joe Gabriel is the Association Alliances Manager at Fishbowl, the leader of online marketing solutions for the restaurant and hospitality industry. In his role, Joe brings over 20 years of restaurant industry association management experience while managing Fishbowl’s partnership with over 30 state restaurant associations (SRAs). Through seminars and webinars, Joe has been presenting to SRA members the value of online marketing tactics as a means of differentiation, which is particularly essential in today’s economic climate. Prior to Fishbowl, Joe managed the membership department at the Restaurant Association of Maryland.
Session: Online Marketing Strategies to Increase Guest Frequency and Sales
David Henkes, Vice President, Technomic, Inc.
David Henkes is Vice President of Technomic, Inc. and is responsible for directing strategic consulting and research assignments for supplier, operator and trade association clients active in the food and beverage industries. He is also the Executive Director of Technomic’s Adult Beverage Insights Group and oversees the firm’s On-Premise Beverage Alcohol Practice. David’s range of expertise includes market and strategic planning, customer satisfaction benchmarking, acquisition and new product evaluations, concept testing, and opportunity, usage/attitude and distribution systems analyses. Prior to Technomic, he gained international food experience working with Nestle Germany in Frankfurt. He has held positions with Marriott Management Services and McDonald’s and has worked as a federal investigator in Washington, DC. David is often a featured speaker and has been cited in publications including Time, The Wall Street Journal, Crain’s Chicago Business, and Reuter’s and Associated Press syndicated articles. He has appeared on NPR and First Business.
Session: Top On-Premise Trends
Gordon Jackson, Senior Partner of Jackson, Shields, Yeiser, and Holt
Gordon Jackson is a nationally renowned author and speaker on the subject of building positive employee relations and human resources issues. Mr. Jackson is a member of the National Speakers Association and a Who’s Who in Professional Speaking. He is a frequent speaker at management meetings and seminars throughout the nation and has averaged in excess of 100 speaking engagements annually, during his 30 year career. Regarded by many as the nation’s leading authority on labor avoidance, Mr. Jackson is the author of 20 books including How to Stay Union Free, his best selling reference guide to union prevention.
Session: Employee Free Choice Act Workshop
Joshua Katz, Partner, El Media Group
Josh Katz started off his music career at companies like Arista Records and Jive Records doing sales & marketing for Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, No Doubt. In 2004, he partnered with Ernie Lake and started El Media Group. Since inception, El Media Group has established itself as the top custom music provider for hotels, restaurants and retail stores. El Media Group creates custom CDs, Music Programming and A/V design and installation for many of the top hospitality companies worldwide. Some examples of our work include Gansevoort Hotel Group, Morgans Hotel Group, Borgata Hotel & Casino, Nobu, Tao Restaurant and many others.
Session: Music & Sensory Branding in Hospitality
Izzy Kharasch, President, Hospitality Works, Inc.
HWI is an operational foodservice consulting, training and management firm founded in 1987. Izzy is known for implementing profitable food and beverage programs for his hotel, restaurant, private clubs and gaming clients around the world. Izzy is the sought after expert in successful menu design, menu analysis and menu re-engineering.
Session: Dynamic Menu Designs Increase Profits!
Tim Kirkland, CEO, Renegade Hospitality Group
Tim Kirkland is an author, speaker and consultant focusing on sales-building, service-energizing and team-building in the foodservice industry. His best-selling book, “The Renegade Server”, is used in over 5,000 restaurants, bars, nightclubs and hotels worldwide to train and inspire front-line crews to sell more and serve better. During his 20+ years in the hospitality industry, Tim has led training departments for numerous respected restaurant and nightclub brands and has been award-winning operator and successful restaurateur. He is the exclusive certified trainer and presenter for Sullivision.com, whose clients include Walt Disney, McDonald’s, Starbucks, American Express, Cheesecake Factory, Anheuser-Busch, Brinker International and more. Tim is the founder of Renegade Hospitality Group, which serves as a professional advisory resource to the restaurant, hotel, retails and customer service industries.
Super Session: Finders Keepers: How to Recruit, Engage and Retain a Top Team
Fred Langley, Restaurant Owner and Executive Chef, Langley’s on the Green
Fred Langley is the executive chef and owner of two restaurants in Windsor, Calif., in the heart of the Sonoma County wine country. Langley’s on the Green, a fine dining establishment, and Pizzeria DePaoli, a family style Italian restaurant, are living, breathing examples of how essential systems can be to a successful restaurant. His unique restaurant setup, family involvement and high standards make him an incredible coach and teacher to other independent restaurant owners.
Session: 10 Systems for Small Bar Operators to Find More Profits
Mark Laux,Profit Pioneer & Menu Engineer, HotOperator
Mark and his team have developed more than 1,000 menus and have influenced more than 60,000 more with his proven menu engineering process. Mark has written countless articles, given presentations nationwide and has been interviewed in many of the nations leading web sites and trade publications. The leading authority on menu design and engineering, Mark offers real life experience and practical advice on ways to grow sales and check averages.
Session: Wing Central's Roadhouse Grill Menu Makeover
Dave Magrogan, CEO and Owner, Kildaire’s Irish Pub and Doc Magrogran’s Oyster House
Dave Magrogan has achieved many personal and professional accomplishments and accreditation, a list more common for someone twice his age. He has been a finalist in the 2006 and 2007 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the year competition. He was also recognized by the Philadelphia Business Journal as one of the region’s “40 Under 40” in 2007. He also received the Small Business Administrations Entrepreneurial Success Award for 2008, and his restaurants were ranked number 26 in Philadelphia ’s Fastest Growing 100 Companies. Most recently, Kildare’s was ranked #7 in the world for Best Irish Pub.
Session: How to CHARGE in Any Economy
Mark McWilliams, English Department, United States Naval Academy
Mark McWilliams teaches literature at the United States Naval Academy. His work on food and American culture has appeared in numerous scholarly journals and in the Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium of Food and Cookery.
Session: Serving Nostalgia: The Origins of American Comfort Food
Chris Morocco, CEO, Petrus Brands
Chris Morocco has been play calling since his days as Clemson University's starting quarterback in the late 80s. Two decades of business entrepreneurship have landed him in his position as CEO of Petrus Brands, which owns and operates two emerging national franchise concepts, Shane's Rib Shack and Planet Smoothie. Morocco has lined up on all sides of business -- financial, capital, branding and marketing, real estate and business development which has given him the kind of perspective that often is absence of many chief executives.
Session: Serving Up A Better FOH-BOH
Jonathan Newman, Chairman & CEO, Newman Wine & Spirits
Jonathan Newman has been recognized as one of the top leaders in the wine industry during the past decade. In 2003, he was named Wine Enthusiast’s Man of the Year. In 2006, he was named Chairman-Elect of the National Alcohol Beverage Control Association, which represents the 18 control states. He was the recipient of the Rotary Club’s Vocational Service Award in 2007 and was the keynote speaker at the Nightclub & Bar Convention in Atlantic City in 2008. Now at Newman Wine & Spirits, Jonathan is revolutionizing the wine-buying process with his unique business plan of opportunistic buys that provide great value to the consumer with superb profit-margin opportunities for the retailer and restaurateur. Jonathan is very active in his community. He is currently a Director of the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation. Jonathan graduated Summa Cum Laude from Bowdoin College and received a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
Session: Increasing Restaurant Profits with Cutting-Edge, Innovative Wine Programs
David Scott Peters, The Restaurant Expert, TheRestaurantExpert.com
David Scott Peters is The Restaurant Expert, known for his “SMART Systems” approach to boosting profits. He likes to say he can walk into any independent restaurant in America and find $10,000 in undiscovered cash before he hits the back door - Guaranteed! He's able to do this using a series of systems he perfected working in restaurants for more than 25 years, including as the chief operating officer of a 30-unit franchise operation. Now he teaches these systems to independent owners to help them compete with the chains and make more money.
Session: 10 Systems for Small Bar Operators to Find More Profits
Fred Phillips, President and CEO, PDC/Restquip Inc.
Mr. Phillips has been in the foodservice industry as an operator, developer, chain executive, and consultant since 1981. He has been involved in the opening of over 350 restaurants, and the closing of over 400! He has provided services to Fortune 100 companies such as Citicorp, GE, and Wells Fargo, as well as both chain and independent operators. Specializing in reducing the cost of opening or remodeling restaurants, Fred will provide a fun and informative session with great take-aways to help you reduce your costs, while delivering an improved product to your customers.
Session: Equipment 101: How Design and Re-Use Can Save You a Ton!
Richard Pignetti, Director of Culinary Development, Doyle Restaurant Group
Richard Pignetti is Director of Culinary Development for Doyle Restaurant Group, which operates The Wine Loft wine bar with 26 locations nationwide. Richard is a Graduate of CIA with over 20 years of restaurant ownership.
Session: Perfect Pairings
Jim Rowe, Owner, Wing Central’s Roadhouse Grill
Jim Rowe is a very successful restaurant operator with two restaurant and bar concepts. With sales growth of over $1,000,000 in the past 12 months, restaurant operators can learn a great deal from Jim's abilities to grow his business. Jim will share his insights on the menu engineering process from the client’s perspective, and how a new menu has impacted his business.
Session: Wing Central's Roadhouse Grill Menu Makeover
Walter Sasiadek, President, Business Development Strategies
Las Vegas based resident, Walter Sasiadek, has over 30 years experience in the hospitality industry. He has worked at many elegant operations like The Hotel Pierre, The Waldorf-Astoria and has successfully held positions in the hospitality field including Executive Chef at Squaw Valley Ski Resort, Executive Chef Cal Neva Lodge and Casino - Lake Tahoe, Food & Beverage Director - Olympic Village Inn and Director of Operations - Modern Jazz Cafe chain. Walter started Business Development Strategies in 1987 and provides on-hands consultation, training and support services to Casinos, Restaurants, Country Clubs and other hospitality businesses.
Session: Powerhouse Management Performance
T.J. Schier, President and Founder, Incentivize Solutions and p.o.d. Training
T.J. Schier provides keynote addresses, consulting and training materials on motivating and training today’s generation and enhancing guest service and sales. He works with many of today’s leading chains and has authored a variety of books and articles, developed server training kits and created the Bartender M.D. (Mobile Device), a training tool for servers and bartenders. Frequently featured or quoted in Business Week, The Wall Street Journal, Nation’s Restaurant News, Franchise Times, and other leading publications, Schier founded both Incentivize Solutions and p.o.d. Training, an innovative training approach focused on delivering training in handheld video devices. He is also a member of the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation’s HR Advisory Council.
Super Session: Run a SMART Operation
Jon Taffer, Chairman, Taffer Dynamics, Inc.
A 28-year hospitality veteran, Jon Taffer is an internationally recognized & award-winning bar, nightclub & restaurant operator, owner and concept developer. His unique expertise spans the food and beverage, hotel and hospitality arenas, as his experience includes hands-on experience in the creation, development and management of full-service, limited-service, quick-serve and large theme restaurants, resort facilities, live entertainment venues, nightclubs, specialty concept clubs and other trendsetting food and beverage formats. Jon’s projects and Taffer Dynamics’ clients have included Ritz-Carlton Hotels, InterContinental Hotel Group, Marriott Hotels, Molson-Coors Canada, DB Brewery-New Zealand, Rainforest Café, The Hollywood Palace and many, many others worldwide. Jon is also a Founding Member of Nightclub & Bar Magazine’s Advisory Board.
Session: Five Steps to Building a Food & Beverage Sales Machine
Byron Vaughan, Associate Publisher, Santé Magazine
Byron Vaughan is the Associate Publisher of Santé magazine. In addition to an extensive business publishing background he is an accomplished photographer and an avid home chef. Session: Developing a Luxury Brand Program
D. Clay Wallin, Consultant, VinTank D. Clay Wallin is a consultant with VinTank, a strategic wine industry think tank establishing strategies to work with wineries and wine industry companies. VinTank enables strategies to deliver improved wine selection, content, and new channels of distribution. Clay has been in the business of providing Strategic Consulting services and software for the beverage industry since 1999 as co-founder of eSkye Solutions and founder of Terra Sage Corporation. TSC launched Bevinco of Miami to deliver profits to the premier operators in Miami. Clay also served as Executive Vice President Sales & Marketing with Compli, Inc. a winery compliance services and software firm. Session: Direct Wine Sourcing: New Channels for Improved Profit, Differentiation and Control
William Wooten, Managing Partner, Energy Beverage Worldwide, LLC “Enerbev” William Wooten is an attorney and beverage entrepreneur. He is a founder and owner of Energy Beverages Worldwide Limited, which develops and produces international energy shots. William was the President of Business Development for the international Hip Hop Superstar Nelly and was an integral part of the development of Apple Bottoms Clothing Company. William also has previous management experience in the entertainment, beverage, and clothing industries where he developed expertise in writing business plans, negotiating domestic and international licensing deals, obtaining product endorsements and sponsorships for athletes and artists, and providing creative legal solutions for great business ideas. Session: Employee Free Choice Act Workshop
Chris Weinberg, CEO, The BarFly Group Chris Weinberg is the CEO of The BarFly Group, a national restaurant consulting and operations management company. Having opened and managed more than 250 restaurants worldwide, Chris has served as the COO of a publicly traded company, as president of two regional chains, and as an owner/operator of several high-volume restaurants. A nationally recognized speaker, Chris connects with audiences ranging from operators to executives, ensuring relevant, interesting insights for everyone. Workshop: P & L Management Made Easy
Session: Top Tips EVERY Restaurateur Should Know to Ensure Longevity