Article

Killifer: Summit not just business, it's personal

The Fast Casual Executive Summit in review.

October 14, 2010 by Valerie Killifer — Editor, FastCasual.com

If you’ve ever attended the Fast Casual Executive Summit you learn a few things quickly:

No. 1: The days are long, but full of opportunity to make personal and professional connections.

No. 2: You had better take good notes.

No. 3: The group from Genghis Grill will always outlast anyone when it comes to afterhours beverage consumption.

This year’s Summit theme was Shaken, Not Stirred. A take on the James Bond film collection and a theme meant to reflect a changing industry landscape. So for three days, fast casual executives and foodservice vendors gathered to assess concepts, discuss the evolving operating landscape and to discover what it truly means to provide strategic leadership.

In the words of Ed Rensi, keynote speaker and the former CEO of McDonald’s: “Don’t be so busy running your business that you don’t have time to run your restaurant.”

When Rensi said those words, I watched several executives bow their heads and put pen to paper. It’s a simple thought, but easy to forget when you’re analyzing P&L’s and watching traffic counts decline.

Rensi continued: “Brand is what people know about who you are. Brand essence is what people feel about you.”

As restaurant operators, you are in the business of giving your guests an emotional experience every time they walk through your doors – and, as we learned over the course of the three days, guests are demanding an emotional connection every time they dine out.

The brands that do well on paper are often led by leaders who are unabashed to show their ardor for the industry, their employees and the guest experience. And they’ve learned it’s about creating the kind of magic that can be felt within your four walls and beyond.

For those three days in Chicago, I felt a piece of that magic that the fast casual segment has worked hard to create. And I wasn’t the only one.

Rudy Miick, an event speaker and attendee, sent me his blog about the magic that occurred for him during the Summit’s opening reception in which Larry Stewart, the lead singer for Restless Heart, played to the crowd.

While Miick commented that Larry played almost completely unnoticed, it was his own magic moment.

Many of us had our own symbol of being in the right place at the right time. For example, after getting separated from his group, mUrgent founder and event speaker Boris Bugarski found himself where, 30 minutes later, the Stanley Cup arrived in a limousine.

“I can't believe I stumbled into a bar and partied with the Stanley Cup,” Bugarski said. “Is that not the coolest or what?”

Magic happens everywhere, as evidenced by a correspondence I had with Rudy after the event.

During one subsequent e-mail string, Rudy and I discussed the magic that occurs around us daily. When I read his response to that discussion (while sitting at a stop light) I thought to myself: ‘I bet there is magic around me now if I just opened my eyes and paid attention.” Not more than 30 seconds later I glanced up at the license plate on the car ahead of mine: 007. Magic.