The voice of experience will speak loudly at the 2007 Mid-Atlantic Food, Beverage & Lodging Expo. At the two-day show, Sept. 19 and 20 at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Md., six distinct seminars will be led by speakers who can draw from years of expertise in their respective fields.
Kicking off the seminar series is a franchising discussion at 10 a.m. Sept. 19, "Are you ready to franchise your restaurant?" This 45-minute session will pose questions to a three-member panel that include Richard Sharoff, senior partner and CEO of FranPoint Partners LLC; David Cahn of Franchise Business & Law Group; and Bob Phillips of California Tortilla.
Sharoff, who has experience as both franchisor and franchisee, said questions the panelists will answer may include "What is the most surprising challenge to franchising that you have experienced?" and "What piece of advice do you wish you had gotten much earlier?"
While a couple of questions are planned in advance, Sharoff said the majority of the session will draw from audience questions to get the dialogue moving.
Sharoff has high hopes for those attending the panel discussion.
"My business is helping emerging restaurant franchisors get into franchising," he said. "My personal goal is to get exposure for them and hopefully help some folks out."
At 1 p.m. both afternoons, Andrew Hardy of Petaluma Winery in Australia will explain the defining characteristics of the Piccadilly, Clare Valley and Coonawarra regions. Hardy will draw from more than 25 years of experience, as he moved through the ranks at Petaluma from cellar hand, trainee winemaker, chief winemaker and viticulturist.
Samples of 2006 Petaluma Hanlin Hill Riesling, 2004 Petaluma Piccadilly Valley Chardonnay and 2002 Petaluma Coonawarra 51-49 percent Merlot will be available.
Attendees also will have the opportunity to learn how to become more eco-friendly. Scott Fritz of Marvesta Shrimp Farms, will begin the second round of seminars at 10 a.m. Sept. 20 with "How to become more sustainable, renewable or green."
Self-proclaimed "marketing techno-chef" Mark Thomas, president of M.D.T. Ltd., will bring "Engineering your menu for profitability" at 11 a.m. both days. In this session, Thomas will teach attendees how to, for example, evaluate the performance of each menu item and determine which items stay and which ones go.
Thomas also will share "Designing new products for your foodservice operation" at 3 p.m. Sept. 19 and "Getting the most profit from your menu" at 3 p.m. Sept. 20.
Attendees to these seminars will take away concrete skills they can use immediately to positively affect their businesses' profitability, Thomas said.
"I know that if they attend and they listen, they will have actionable skills that they'll be able to go back to their operations and implement these right away to have an impact on their profitability," he said. "They'll better understand where their business is coming from and how better to manage it."
