FSR March 2023

E D I TO R ’ S L E T T E R

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ED I TOR I A L

E D I T O R I A L D I R E C T O R Danny Klein dklein@wtwhmedia.com Q S R E D I T O R Ben Coley bcoley@wtwhmedia.com F S R E D I T O R Callie Evergreen cevergreen@wtwhmedia.com A S S O C I A T E E D I T O R Sam Danley sdanley@wtwhmedia.com D I R E C T O R O F C U S T O M C O N T E N T Peggy Carouthers pcarouthers@wtwhmedia.com C U S T O M C O N T E N T A S S O C I A T E E D I T O R Charlie Pogacar cpogacar@wtwhmedia.com C U S T O M C O N T E N T A S S O C I A T E E D I T O R Kara Phelps kphelps@wtwhmedia.com A R T D I R E C T O R Tory Bartelt tbartelt@wtwhmedia.com A R T D I R E C T O R Erica Naftolowitz enaftolowitz@wtwhmedia.com P R O D U C T I O N M A N A G E R Mitch Avery mavery@wtwhmedia.com gsanders@wtwhmedia.com N A T I O N A L S A L E S D I R E C T O R Eugene Drezner edrezner@wtwhmedia.com 919-945-0705 N A T I O N A L S A L E S M A N A G E R Edward Richards erichards@wtwhmedia.com 919-945-0714 N A T I O N A L S A L E S M A N A G E R Amber Dobsovic adobsovic@wtwhmedia.com 919-945-0712 N A T I O N A L S A L E S M A N A G E R John Krueger jkrueger@wtwhmedia.com 919-945-0728 S A L E S S U P P O R T A N D D I R E C T O R Y S A L E S Tracy Doubts tdoubts@wtwhmedia.com 919-945-0704 CUSTOM MED I A STUD I O DES I GN & PRODUCT I ON SA L ES & BUS I NESS DE VE LOPMENT G R O U P P U B L I S H E R Greg Sanders

A Collection of Minds (Literally)

Come join us in September for two conferences we hope will take the entire industry forward.

and The NextGen Restaurant Summit (full-service emerging chains). They will both take place September 6–7 in the Buckhead district of Georgia (head to our websites to learn more). We’ve put together an agenda of more than 100 speakers address ing topics from is the POS dead, to ghost kitchens to what makes a best franchise, employer, eatertain ment concept, and far more. We’ll also present a collection of fireside chats to illuminate stories behind the curtain—from CAVA to Dickey’s to Firehouse to Chipotle to Subway to First Watch, and, as before, a lot more. Chick-fil-A CEO Andrew Cathy will kick off the opening keynote and we’ll get the show started. Personally, this was the first time I’ve had a hand in planning an event of this scale. That’s probably a comical understatement. But many of those nerves dropped over a steak dinner with an industry friend, Jack in the Box VP of franchise recruitment Van Ingram. He was the first outside person I let in on our plans. His response was something along the lines of, “our industry is looking for this kind of deal.” He thought people would gravitate toward it, three-plus years removed from COVID, ready to share ideas again. And he was right. There are so many threads of chal lenges and opportunities to address today, across both sides of segment lines. To me, 2023 is a year where we all need to catch our breath from breathless innovation and find real solutions to meet demand in every channel, through all avenues. So let’s do that together. I hope you’ll join us in September.

This is our thirdyear of publishing a “crossover” issue between QSR and FSR . We always approach the concept from a base—what trends and realities separate the full- and quick-service worlds? And which bind them? Or, spun differently, has the pandemic brought these arenas closer together or further apart? Like many points in foodservice, you can’t broad-stroke the answer. There is truth in both (thanks mostly to technology) and yet, COVID did accomplish something the customer was already pushing pre-2020: it all but evaporated the middle ground. This long-ago idea of embracing millennials by trying to appease everyone—“all things to all people”—has vanished. Category wise, it brings us to a place where experiential brands and experience driven ones thrive as murky ones struggle. However, what innovation taught operators amid the crisis is you don’t have to sacrifice one for the sake of the other. You can bring hospitality to the drive-thru window just as you can the table. And maybe that’s the cost to entry now. Yet with all of this in mind, I want to take you back a fewmonths to a pivotal moment for us here at QSR and FSR . We transitioned to the WTWHMedia family of brands officially in September. One of the first things we set course on was to host a conference dedicated to the future of restaurants. So naturally, this progressed into a vision where everything comes together in an effort to foster collective evolution; a place where one operator can learn from another, and one category from a completely different one. Starting this month, we opened registration for two conferences: QSR Evolution

ROSIE ROSENBROCK

DKLEIN@WTWHMEDIA.COM

QSR MAGAZINE

Learn more:

QSREvolution Conference /

NextGenRestaurant Summit /

FOUNDER Webb C. Howell

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