General Sessions
Featuring world class speakers from within and outside of the industry, the StorePoint Restaurant General Sessions bring you the latest actionable insights into trends of today and opportunities for the future, providing you with the means to inspire innovation, leadership and growth within your own organization.
Peer Panels provide an interactive opportunity to hear directly from thought leaders from within your peer community on timely and relevant issues and topics that are impacting your business.
Please visit frequently to see the exciting General Sessions as they are added.
Keynote
Sunday, March 28th, 2010
6:00-6:45PM
Herberger Ballroom 1&2
 David Adjey, Food Network Celebrity Chef
TITLE: Innovating the Restaurant Experience: an Evening with Chef David Adjey
OVERVIEW:
A magnetic personality on stage, Adjey has a passion for food and life that is simply infectious. A Food Network superstar, David Adjey may be best known for his star turn on Restaurant Makeover, the hit show where he reinvents struggling restaurants, helping owners revive their menus and, often, their sense of hope. The transformative insight -- and the sheer joy and fun he brings to each business--could not come from a more qualified person.
BIO: The best chefs," David Adjey believes, "are great communicators." A Food Network superstar, Adjey is an acclaimed chef whose entrepreneurial chops and tough love approach (he's often dubbed "Canada's Gordon Ramsay") have made him a resounding success in the restaurant business, on television, and in front of live audiences across North America.
A global soul, Adjey is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, has apprenticed with master chefs in Italy, was named Best New Chef in California by Frommers, ran a top kitchen in New York, owned his won acclaimed restaurant, competed on Iron Chef America, and was the personal chef to Dan Aykroyd, who calls him "a genius culinary talent." Adjey has also starred in his own Absolut Ad, appeared on The Tonight Show, and written a bestselling book, Deconstructing the Dish. His new series, Restaurant 101 with David Adjey, to debut in 2009, will air throughout North America, making him the only Canadian Food Network star with his own hour show.
Peer Panel Breakout Sessions
Monday, March 29
11:30 AM – 12:15 PM
Session A:
Tapping Emerging Technologies for greater efficiency, output and savings. This panel session will offer insight into which technologies are delivering the greatest results and a glimpse of what is on the horizon.
Kitchen Equipment - HVAC -Lighting -
Panel led by: Bill Strenglis - Unified Brands
Chain Exec - Mike Nolan- Panera Bread
Chain Exec- Robert Frost - Domino's Pizza
Chain Exec- MO Sawda - Buffalo Wild Wings
Session B:
Stretching your Capital Investment Budgets: Hear tips, tricks and case study examples on how to get the most out of your capital investments from a panel of Peers and Industry experts.
Moderator: John Miologos EVP Architecture, WD Partners
Chain Exec: Larry Parnell - Panda
Chain Exec: Karen Nettleton - Kahala
Chain Exec: Mike Shotzbarger- Johnny Rocket
Chain Exec: Chris Allen - Red Robin
Session C:
GREEN BUILDING – Successes and Pitfalls. This panel will offer real world examples of green projects that have blossomed as well as some hard earned advice to help you avoid the thorns.
Moderator – Don Fisher – President, Fisher Nickel
Chain Exec - Scott Shippey - Chipotle
Chain Exec - Dave Luxton - CKE
Chain Exec - Rick McCaffrey – Brinker International
General Session
Tuesday, March 30th, 2009
8:55AM – 9:40AM
Rainmakers Ballroom
James Damian,Senior Vice President Experience Retail Group – Best Buy and Chairman of the Board – Buffalo Wild Wings
TITLE: Experience Matters Most
 BIO: James Damian is Senior Vice President, Enterprise Design Group, at Best Buy, where he is responsible for reinventing the experience of shopping in mass specialty retail. He is, in his own words, “a right-brain ambassador for the value of design within the left-brain world of big box retail.”
Joining Best Buy in 1998, Mr. Damian evolved and scaled the store concepts from suburban to urban market places, throughout the USA, thus changing the game in consumer electronics retail.
In 2004, Mr. Damian led the design of Best Buy’s first concept
stores out of the big box, to get closer to the female and young male customer, with Studio D and Escape in Chicago. These breakthroughs enabled the innovation methodology, and developed the company’s “new store experience”, through an R&D capability. He continues to lead optimization of the big-box design for a shopping experience that not only answers, but also anticipates changing customer desires, for Best Buy North America, Asia and Europe. He names legendary Tiffany’s window designer and creator of the ‘blue box’, Gene Moore, as his primary source of teaching, coaching and inspiration.
Prior to joining Best Buy in 1998, Mr. Damian held positions with Howard Sant Partnerships, a London architectural firm; Harvey Nichols, a London-based luxury retailer; B. Altman & Co. and R.H. Macy & Co. department stores in New York; and Hindsgaul Mannequins Worldwide of Copenhagen, New York, London and Paris. He also served as President of Damian Randd (Resources Advancing New Design Directions).
Mr. Damian is Chairman of the Board of Buffalo Wild Wings and is a member of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, the Minnesota Orchestra Board of Directors, and the editorial advisory boards for DDI (Display & Design Ideas magazine) and the Fashion Institute of Technology (F.I.T) in New York City. He is also involved with P-O-P Industry as a keynote speaker and was recently nominated for induction to the Hall of Fame.
At Best Buy, he is executive sponsor of the employee resource group P.R.I.D.E. (People Respecting Individual Differences Equally).
Mr. Damian is a graduate of F.I.T. and holds a degree in retail store design, exhibition design and corporate identity. In 2005 he received the Markopoulos Award, his industry’s highest award, sponsored by DDI for his many contributions to the design industry. He also recently received Best Buy’s Culture of Innovation Award in recognition of his leadership and vision in concept development and execution.
Mr. Damian resides in Minneapolis with his wife Deborah; they have three children.
General Session
Tuesday, March 30th, 2009
11:30AM – 12:15PM
Rainmakers Ballroom
 Hudson Riehle, VP Research and Information Services Division, National Restaurant Association
TITLE: The Future of Foodservice: 2010 and Beyond
OVERVIEW:
The U.S. Restaurant Industry has truly evolved into a mega-industry, an economic juggernaut which spans nearly 40 distinct segments, from tableservice and quickservice restaurants to foodservice operations in schools, businesses, hospitals, and military installations. In a challenging business environment, how will trends in economics, consumer demographics, labor-force composition, and technology shape the future of foodservice markets and their suppliers as well as impact profitability? New data from the National Restaurant Association’s 2010 Forecast will offer strategic insights and present a snapshot of the restaurant industry’s unique challenges as restaurant operators strive to meet customer demand for food away from home.
 BIO: As the senior vice president of the Research and Information Services Division for the National Restaurant Association, Hudson Riehle directs the Association’s consumer, economic, market, human resources, tourism, and operations research as well as oversees its extensive information services and library activities. Frequently cited in major national and international newspapers and appearing on major national television broadcasts, he has authored a variety of articles and serves as an information source and spokesperson for the restaurant and hospitality industry.
Mr. Riehle received his bachelor of arts degree from Skidmore College in New York and his master of business administration with a concentration in strategic planning from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Appointed by the Secretary of Labor, he has been a member of the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Business Research Advisory Council; a former Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Alexandria (VA) Convention and Visitors Association; a former member of the International Franchise Association Educational Foundation’s Research Advisory Committee and the Travel Industry Association's Research Advisory Council; and is included in the current edition of Who’s Who in America.
A unique event that provides a structured and networking friendly environment for positive and proactive interaction of restaurant executives with major service providers. It combines networking with learning and sharing in a fast paced, yet stress free setting, which is refreshingly different.
SVP of Development – Panda Restaurant Group
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