Author: Vance Miller
I had the opportunity to go to our first show in almost two years — the MURTEC Executive Summit. It was so nice to attend an actual in-person event and see people face-to-face again.
After pondering our first event outing after so long, I wanted to share a few observations and learnings from the event.
The hotel where the conference was being held was more of a ghost town than anybody would have expected. Granted, it was the middle of the week during the school year at Disney World, but the emptiness of the entire property was amazing. Fortunately, this was not indicative of the attendees at the show. We were pleasantly surprised at the number of attendees and with the content shared during sessions and during individual conversations.
The MURTEC Executive Summit was proof positive the Restaurant industry is ready to start attending shows again. The attendance and the interactions I had with multiple brands showed people are definitely ready to get back to in-person events, and you could visibly tell how much the attendees enjoyed networking with each other.
There were many meaningful conversations with key decision-makers as well. It is clear that the labor shortage is top of mind for everybody and finding solutions that will help combat this will be at the top of the priority list for most brands. Understanding the commerce-at-the-table options will be a critical component to helping solve some of the FOH labor issues. The attendees at this conference were clearly there because they were looking for answers to their needs to their ever-evolving struggles.
I truly enjoyed the event and seeing new as well as familiar faces. I look forward to our next in-person event and the many more to come!
