Bar & Restaurant Expo 2023

Learn why social media marketing has lost its effectiveness over the years and how content marketing can give you a simple, much-needed edge. Master the "fishbowl vs. the ocean concept" and start increasing guest counts where the new customers are: Google, TripAdvisor, and Yelp - not social media. Do not listen to the “one size fits all” social media people who put their own best interests ahead of your restaurant’s success. This interactive workshop will explore best practices as well as new and fresh ways to properly market your bar or restaurant organically while pacing ROI.
Participants will learn:

1. How to properly use TikTok
2. How to garner attention using Instagram Reels
3. How to run digital ads while tracking walk through rates for ROI

What is your image? Can you sum it up in 3 words? Comfort, classic, cozy? Innovative, inspiring, inviting? These are the adjectives your customers will come to use when they describe their experience at your business. In this session, Jenna Oxford, Marketing Director for Westside Concepts, also Instagram's @sunnyjennadanielle (branding, marketing, tacos & sarcasm) will share her guru skills to help you identify your "voice" and use it to maximize current customers and entice new, repeat customers. This session will make the connection between providing a clear brand to your patron and an increased, recurring revenue stream.

The #1 reason restaurants fail is because they adopt a "Field of Dreams" mentality... "If I build it, they will come." Wrong! They won't. Why? Because as consumers we already have places we know, like, and trust. In this session Chip Klose will take attendees through the fundamentals of marketing and best practices. Attendees will be introduced to a framework called The ABCDs of Marketing:

• Audience : How to clearly define your product 
• Brand: Identifying the perfect customer base
• Competition: Understanding who your "real" competitors are
• Differentiation: How to stand out from the competition.

From TikTok to influencers to everything in between; what’s actually going to move the needle for your business? Moderated by  Sarah Archer, CEO and Co-Founder of hospitality focused digital marketing agency, Firecracker Marketing, this panel discusses the benefits, drawbacks, successes and challenges of utilizing trending digital strategies for your business. This panel aims to keep it real and tell what’s worth pursuing and what’s worth leaving to the Gen-Z’ers

A panel of experts will discuss how to properly market your menus, build and promote your concept brand through social media strategy and navigate the current supply chain to maximize sales. In this session, attendees will gain access to the tips and tricks for building a menu that drives sales of the highest profit-margin items. You will learn from the mind behind the most heavily followed social media channel for alcohol beverage and bartending. And our national chain operator will guide the audience through best practices for managing supply chain and avoiding out of stock and substitution issues. Bring your questions and challenges and we will provide actionable solutions and ideas.
Key Takeaways:
Demystify social media marketing to gain traction and engagement
Build a menu that moves sales in the right direction
Generate increased profits and avoid overspending through supply chain management tactics

Sure, social media is all the buzz and it works great—but it’s even better with an integrated digital strategy. Discover how to develop an omni-channel (paid, earned, and owned) marketing strategy to keep your brand consistent and in front of your potential customers. Learn how to implement the omni-channel strategy from choosing the best social channels and on-brand influencers, to a digital media buy—this session is for restaurants of all sizes looking to perk up their digital marketing strategy.

• Learn how audio/visual technologies can improve your customer’s experience
• Choose the best monitoring equipment to reduce operational cost and improve productivity
• What to Consider in designing your space for digital transformation and equipment integration

Session Sponsored by Black Box

We will share success and failure stories from industry leaders small and large relaying that there is not one cure-all method to achieving work/life success. It starts with asking the right questions for your specific business. This panel will provide real world examples along with the ethos that we can all work together to increase morale, retention, productivity, ubiquitous financial wealth (for all stakeholders), and create that harmony the industry all wants and deserves.