Bar & Restaurant Expo 2025

In this advanced workshop, bar and restaurant owners will learn how to elevate their operations by fostering a true hospitality mindset within their teams. Going beyond basic customer service, this session focuses on creating a guest-first culture that drives loyalty, satisfaction, and long-term business success. Learn how to instill a sense of purpose in every interaction, empowering your staff to exceed guest expectations and deliver memorable experiences. This workshop will provide actionable strategies to build a culture that prioritizes genuine hospitality at every touchpoint.
• Develop and communicate core values that emphasize hospitality in every aspect of your business.
• Train staff to anticipate guest needs and personalize service accordingly.
• Implement regular feedback loops to ensure continuous improvement in guest interactions.
• Foster a culture of empathy and empowerment, enabling your team to handle challenging situations gracefully.
• Create recognition programs that reward employees for embodying the hospitality mindset and going above and beyond for guests.

In today’s competitive and fast-changing restaurant landscape, businesses may need a pivot for various reasons—whether it’s due to shifts in the marketplace, increasing competition, outdated menus, or even the need for a cosmetic refresh. Successfully navigating these changes requires a clear and strategic approach. Whether the issue is culinary direction, customer engagement, or operational inefficiencies, this session will help restaurant owners and managers create a clear path to revitalization.

• Identify Core Challenges: Participants will articulate the specific challenges their restaurant faces, whether it’s menu fatigue, market pressures, or operational inefficiencies, setting the foundation for revitalization
• Asses how your restaurant’s brand, audience, and market position stack up against competitors, using this information to guide the revitalization process.
• Learn how to incorporate the correct key partners, to assess or design recommendations for solutions
• Evaluate your financial resources, define operational processes, and implement testing strategies to ensure the successful execution of your new concept.
• Develop a clear, actionable plan to re-create the process with your team and revitalize your restaurants.

You’ve done the hard work, opened your business, and successfully promoted it and the sales are coming in.  But how do you make it profitable?  This seminar will take a deep dive into basic and advanced restaurant accounting helping to ensure you run a profitable business.  Participants will learn the art of calculating, controlling, recording, and profiting from the numbers that every successful operation needs to know.  The purpose of this seminar will be to familiarize operators not only with the three most important costs affecting an operation (the Prime Numbers: Food Cost, Labor Cost, and Beverage Cost) but also with the entire P & L statement, balance sheets, and budgeting.  All operators know (or should know) the importance of these numbers, yet few understand how to derive them accurately, let alone interpret them and put them to use.  With this knowledge, participants will unlock the profit potential within their operations.  This will be an intensive, hands-on, in-depth seminar in which participants will learn to:

• Budget the Prime numbers, both for start-ups and established operations, as well as techniques for easily adhering to these budgets
• Accurately calculate food, beverage, and labor costs (including advance formulae for detecting, budgeting, and pricing for waste)
• Create, analyze, and interpret a P&L and Balance Sheet
• Create annual and declining budgets
• How to define controllable figures
• Deliver consistent profitability through properly budgeted and managed Prime Numbers

There will be numerous hand-outs from which the attendees can follow along. Interactive Q&A throughout the seminar will be encouraged. Participants will engage in real-time problem-solving and be guided through a step-by-step process in which they will learn the topic easily.
Seminar participants will be fully prepared to utilize the information learned upon leaving the seminar, being able to action their knowledge at their own establishments immediately.

Unlock the power of digital marketing with actionable insights and strategies tailored to the hospitality industry. This seminar covers the latest trends in branding, social media, and content creation, giving you the tools to elevate your online presence and drive customer engagement.

• Analyze the current digital marketing landscape and its impact on customer loyalty.
• Explore influencer partnerships, storytelling, and targeted advertising on platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Google Ads.
• Learn how to craft a compelling brand identity that resonates with your target audience.
• Create high-quality content and develop a content calendar aligned with your marketing goals.
• Develop and refine social media strategies through interactive workshops and real-life case studies.

Not all promotions lead to profit—some can cost you more than they bring in. Using real-life examples like Red Lobster’s “Endless Shrimp” promotion, this session will help you design food and cocktail events that resonate with guests while avoiding financial pitfalls.
In this session:

• Identify the common pitfalls in promotions that cost time and money.
• Use case studies to understand the risks of poorly planned events.
• Learn how to create effective promotions that connect with your audience.
• Project and manage budgets for events and promotions.
• Engage with brands for sponsorship opportunities and boost your marketing efforts.