FED Global Thought Leadership 2024

The past few years, the restaurant and foodservice industry found itself dancing and moving to unprecedented rhythms. The industry did what it needed to do to survive and the consumers it serves have emerged with new expectations when it comes to experiences, food quality, technology and more. With this period of reaction over, it’s time for the industry to free its collective mind and start creating its own vision of what’s to come by exploring how design, equipment selection and collaboration can pave the way for a successful future.

Sojo Alex

“This is not my experience of campus dining when I went to college!”

Sojo Alex, Principal, Envision Strategies

We constantly hear how campus dining has evolved or changed over the last few years from students and parents. With everchanging enrollment, declining auxiliary revenue and high demand from colleges and universities to add to the “experience,” operators have to get immensely creative to demonstrate value of not only the food purchased but the overall college experience. A similar scenario is playing out across other restaurant and foodservice segments. This requires operators and their design teams to be visionaries, influencers and strategists to have a seat at the table among decision-makers to help make that change. Explore how higher education is providing value to students and parents that goes beyond the classroom and the expectations of the role of foodservice in this experience and how that can apply to the broader foodservice industry.

Chef Nick Barrington

Enhancing Efficiency is Par for the Course

Chef Nick Barrington, CEC, ACE, President & CEO, U.S. Culinary Open

The foodservice industry faces numerous labor challenges and the only way to resolve these challenges is to create operations that are both staff and guest friendly. Today’s facilities need to be easy for culinary staff to execute the menu in a timely manner and they need to be just as easy to clean and maintain. Making these jobs more enjoyable has a direct impact on not only employee retention but also satisfaction. All of this must happen while providing the guests with a top-notch experience. No longer can good design be considered only guest or employee centric. It must be both. And in today’s foodservice industry, well, that’s just par for the course.

Dr. Shirley Everett

My Leadership Journey to Achieve Inclusive Excellence

Dr. Shirley J. Everett, EdD, MBA, Senior Associate Vice Provost for Residential & Dining Enterprises, Stanford University

Inclusive excellence is a framework designed to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion while driving organizational success by creating a positive environment for all stakeholders. This approach is not something leaders can achieve quickly; it is a purposeful, intentional, and ongoing journey to foster a culture of excellence. In this session, I will share my vision and leadership journey toward building an equitable ecosystem within my organization, where all staff feel empowered to bring their whole, authentic selves to work and experience a sense of belonging. In this environment, I envision that race or any other social identity will no longer determine access to merit or opportunities, allowing everyone to reach their full potential and truly thrive.

A Unique Cafe Business, Focusing on Possibilities Rather Than Disabilities

Natalie Griffin, Co-Founder & Board President; and Amy Philpott, Co-Founder & Board Vice President, Gerry’s Café

Eighty percent of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities struggle to find meaningful work. In August 2023, Amy Philpott and Natalie Griffin set out to change that in their own way by co-founding Gerry’s Café. This non-profit coffee shop employs adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities and provides its team with extensive training experience, teaching transferable job and life skills and paying competitive wages. Amy and Natalie will share their fearless journey in starting a unique business in the northwest suburbs of Chicago and offer ideas and suggestions on hiring the “unhirable”, which will enrich your own business beyond measure.

David Grossman

We Are Going on a Bear Hunt

David Grossman, President & CEO, Epic Burger

As this beloved children’s book taught us, life is full of obstacles. Because you often can’t go under, over or through these obstacles, you just have to learn how to work your way through them. During this fireside chat, moderated by Zoomba Group’s Joe Carbonara, Epic Burger’s David Grossman will share his story of personal and professional tragedy and triumph for the first time publicly. Grossman will share how the lessons from the book “We Are Going on a Bear Hunt” helped to fan the flames of his entrepreneurial fire and honor his family.

Neurodiverse Dining

Hannah Rose Higdon, LifeGuides & Sarah Stegner, Prairie Grass Cafe

All restaurant operators seek to provide a warm and hospitable environment for all diners. But what constitutes a hospitable environment can vary, particularly for people with autism, sensory input disorders, sensory sensitivities, or other physical, cognitive, or developmental disabilities, and their families, friends, and caretakers. That’s where the Sensory Friendly Dining Hour comes into play. The Prairie Grass Cafe Sensory Hour provides an inclusive atmosphere for individuals of all ages and abilities to enjoy a meal in a relaxed and crowd-free dining experience with limited people and contact. This includes minimizing the noise, dimming the lights and updating service to ensure everyone has an enjoyable experience. In this presentation, Chef Sarah Stegner and consultant Hannah Rose Higdon will discuss the Prairie Grass Cafe's award-winning approach to neurodiverse dining and will offer some advice for restaurant operators moving forward.

2025 Trends: Solving for Evolving Consumer Needs

Maeve Webster, President & Mike Kostyo, Vice President, Menu Matters

There's a central tension that consumers are dealing with right now. On the one hand they are still anxious and uncertain, dealing with high prices, seeing global wars in the news, and preparing for a looming presidential election. On the other hand, they are ready to be excited again, looking for those sources of hope and optimism - a chance to let loose and have fun. It's a transitional time, when all of these consumer needs are in flux. So how can the food industry help solve that tension and guide consumers to the other side? In this session, Menu Matters experts Maeve Webster and Mike Kostyo will look at the latest consumer trends, data, and research to understand how we can help prepare for and respond to evolving consumer needs. You'll come away from this session with unique insights into how you can use trends to be a source of optimism and engagement for consumers.

Tarah Schroeder

How to Listen & Ask Questions like a Designer

Tarah Schroeder, FCSI, LEED AP, Vice President, Ricca Design Studios

Active listening & asking the right questions can build trust and connection, aid in problem-solving, and create a safe space for speakers to fully share their message without judgment and critique. Needed skills for not just today’s hyper-polarized world, but also for the day-to-day of a foodservice designer. Learn the techniques and strategies that foodservice designers use to listen to clients and ask the right questions for customer service, problem solving, and crisis management during this insightful presentation.

Steve Spittle

Sustainability in Foodservice…It’s Not What You Think

Steve Spittle, Chief Commercial Officer, Middleby and President, North American Association of Foodservice Equipment Manufacturers (NAFEM)

There are many definitions of sustainability, but most often sustainability is synonymous with the long-term viability of a community. So, let’s talk about our community, commercial foodservice, and how we are cultivating our future leadership. This is an area of continued evolution and we should give as much attention to guiding the next generation as we do to the latest product innovations. Steve will discuss how we can work together to attract, mentor and retain top talent, to ensure success for our emerging leaders and the future of our industry.

Adam Stover

Creating Stories, Crafting Spaces

Adam Stover, Senior Principal, Populous

Venues are more than just spaces; they are the heart of communities, where memories are made and shared. As we aspire to be innovators of our craft, this conversation will challenge how we deliver experiences with a level of bespoke hospitality. Adam will position perspectives on the integration of culinary as an important part of the narrative for design and storytelling, the opportunities around autonomous culinary experiences, and the drive for creating the unexpected in all of our venues.

Todd Tekiele

6 Easy Steps to Thriving Foodservice Partnerships

Todd Tekiele, CEO, City of Hospitality Group

The term partnership gets tossed around frequently in today’s foodservice industry. Unfortunately, most partnerships are pretty transactional, with one party providing goods and services for a fee to the other. This type of approach often leads to complacency, mistrust, lost time, inconsistency, friction, high stress and more. This is especially the case in the foodservice industry, where daily variables and distractions are many (that's an understatement). For partnerships to truly thrive both parties need aligned goals and clear direction. It's possible - and even probable - to have mutual success while saving time and reducing stress with the right approach.

Richard Young

Where to Start on Kitchen Decarbonization?

Richard Young, Director of Outreach, Frontier Energy Food Service Technology Center

Commercial kitchen decarbonization is a major challenge that must be solved in a way that is both environmentally and economically sustainable. While some operators are moving aggressively towards all-electric kitchens, this is not necessarily possible for many operators, especially those with franchisees. Asked by a major operator to create a cost analysis for a total kitchen electrification project, the Food Service Technology Center's Richard Young provided a challenging true-cost scenario for full electrification along with a more realistic approach using induction cooking as a transitional technology. This short presentation will present the 360-degree analysis of the induction cooktop and share why it makes sense as a starting point for kitchen decarbonization.

Photos of the Event