2023 Restaurant Leadership Conference: 10 Key Learnings

April 26, 2023

As a full-service, food-and-beverage brand and digital agency, we’re fortunate to attend the most recognized conferences and events in the industry. We had the exciting opportunity to attend this year’s Restaurant Leadership Conference — four days of first-class industry data, outlook, menu trends, innovation opportunities, technology, AI, marketing opportunities, and more! Here are ten notable takeaways that will influence the restaurant industry in 2023:

1) Menu Innovation Has Returned

Over the past couple of years, restaurants have taken steps to reinvent their menus, adding new items that align with trends and consumer dining preferences. In fact, total menu items in the U.S. were at 850,000 in Q4 of 2022 vs 835,000 in Q4 of 2019.¹ Reinvesting in menu innovation has allowed operators to experiment with new flavors, textures, and ingredients, demonstrating their culinary prowess along with their ability to connect with ever-evolving consumer tastes.

Operators who stay on the pulse of consumer dining trends will be set up for success. Mixing up menus with a variety of offerings and experiences that include seasonal LTOs, regional flavors, unique ingredients, and twists to classics are all ways to attract new customers, increase traffic, and boost online orders.

2) Where Artificial Intelligence Can Work

According to the 2023 Restaurant Technology Outlook, even with tight budget parameters, restaurants have embraced technology and agree that making smart investments will help them achieve their goals. The report found that “92% of operators are likely to add new solutions to their tech stack in the coming 12 months.”²

Operators are becoming more interested in the benefits of AI integration and are seeking solutions that drive operational efficiencies including:

• Helping to empower employees by easing their everyday challenges
• Improving order accuracy and transaction time
• Reducing food waste with computer vision
• Improving food safety
• Enhancing drive-thru ordering and efficiency
• Implementing order personalization
• Providing real-time and historical inventory management
• Refining loyalty programs
• Allowing for customization of future location buildouts

3) Top Alternative Proteins

Plant-based is here to stay! Consumers and foodservice operators alike are encouraged by alternative protein options and new consumption trends adding excitement to the category. 40% of consumers plan to purchase plant-based meat substitutes in 2023³. Furthermore, 95% of operators anticipate their sales of plant-based options will increase or stay the same in the upcoming year⁴.

The Restaurant Leadership Conference highlighted top alternative protein menu items from the past five years including:

• Tofu (77.6%)
• Veggie Protein (15.8%)
• Plant-based poultry (3.4%)
• Plant-based beef (1.9%)
• Plant-based pork (1.1%)

Source: Technomic Iginite Menu

Still in their infancy stage in terms of menu penetration, seitan, tempeh, plant-based seafood, and plant-based egg were on the list. However, plant-based seafood is gaining traction as seafood is predicted to be a top trend in plant-based for 2023.⁵

4) Four Explosive Flavor Trends

Operators have a blank slate when it comes to innovating with flavor as consumers are craving bold, flavor-forward foods they can literally sink their teeth into. In fact, according to a recent survey from FMCG Gurus, 87% of consumers consider flavor influential when choosing food and drink products.⁶ Botanicals, reimagined familiar flavors, international comfort flavors, and flavor fusions with spicy accompaniments are all influencing today’s flavor trends.

The Restaurant Leadership Conference noted a 10-year trend of four explosive flavors making their way across the menu life cycle:

• Inception: Yuzu +180%
• Adoption: Elote +854%
• Proliferation: Plant-based Cheese +321%
• Ubiquity: Bacon Ranch

Source: Technomic Iginite Menu

Operators can use these flavor and cycle trends to help guide their menu planning exercises and inform seasonal and LTO specials.

5) How to Identify Fad vs Trends in Flavors

One key takeaway we were excited to learn is how to identify what flavors are fads versus trends and how social media plays a strong role in understanding which trends have staying power. Flavor fads are categorized as ones that are media-driven, have a limited true need, recently experienced hyper-growth, and have a strong retail catalyst. Flavor trends are considered to be restaurant-driven, have a greater underlying need, grow organically, and are democratize-able for all.

At least 70% of U.S. consumers indicate that their food preferences are driven primarily by what they encounter on restaurant menus—more so than what they find on grocery store shelves or in a recipe book.⁷ Flavor trends typically originate from a concept, often with cultural influences, that take root, grow over time, and have a longer life expectancy. And, many of these flavor trends are driven by sharing on social platforms or having an influencer mention, like, or use an ingredient or product on their social feed. Knowing the difference between fads and trends can help operators optimize menus and cater to consumers’ evolving taste preferences.

6) Dave’s Hot Chicken is the Fastest Growing Chain

Leveraging the popularity of Nashville-style hot chicken sandwiches, Dave’s Hot Chicken founders Arman Oganesyan, Dave Kopushyan, and brothers Tommy and Gary Rubenyan, opened their first pop-up location in an East Hollywood, CA parking lot in 2017 and haven’t looked back since.

Highlighted at the conference and according to Technomic, Dave’s Hot Chicken was named the fastest-growing chain in the U.S. last year opening 62 restaurants with sales that grew by 262% to $79.6 million. The causal brand shows no signs of slowing down as the company says it’s on track to launch up to 75 new locations in 2023. “Keeping its menu small and simple is one key to the chain’s success,” noted Insider reporter Nancy Luna. Consumers can find seven heat options from plain (no spice) to mild, medium, extra hot and what it calls the “Reaper” – made with Carolina Reaper peppers which scores over 1.6M heat unit on the Scoville scale based on Guinness World Record reports.⁸

7) Drive-Thru AI Order-Taking Works

Since the pandemic, operators have continued to look for solutions to increase operational efficiencies while boosting productivity and profits. Labor shortages remain a pain point within the restaurant industry – from finding enough staff to cover multiple shifts to keeping employees happy and incentivized to come to work.

One area of focus is improving drive-thru experiences by utilizing AI to handle order-taking responsibilities. Today, new technologies exist that not only speed drive-thru service but also allow operators a chance to increase checks by upselling. According to Presto, AI upselling increases revenue 8x and it starts with an upsell offer rate of 82% with Presto AI vs. 17% with human counterparts. Based on live location data from 9,000 orders per month, Presto data shows that using Presto Voice™ had a conversion rate of 31% (human equivalents 3.4%) and a monthly upsell revenue of over $4,000 (human equivalents $520). Considering upselling technology may be the answer operators could consider to help drive incremental profits.

8) Responsibility is Elevated

Sustainability is of growing importance to many consumers — a survey by Descartes found 45% of respondents say that helping the environment is either quite or very important in their daily life.

Patrick Noone, Executive Vice President, Business Development at Technomic, walked us through key findings from their Corporate Social Responsibility & Sustainability Study which showed that 64% of consumers value sustainability and 61% value social responsibility with 90% of 18–34-year-olds saying that sustainable practices are important to them. Noone shared how Technomic split both categories into digestible sub-topics of focus for operators moving forward.

For sustainability, areas of emphasis include:

• Environmental and soil protection
• Pollution, emission, and waste reduction
• Animal welfare
• Energy efficiency
• Recycling/reuse
• Local sourcing and plant-based ingredients

For social responsibility, concentration centered on these initiatives:

• Employee safety, insurance, and mental health
• Hunger reduction
• Human working conditions
• Community involvement
• Diversity/inclusion
• Equity/charitable giving

Moving forward, restaurants that align with their customers’ values are setting themselves up for greater success as well as a more sustainable future.

9) Robotics

As automation has become an important reality for foodservice operators, robot technology has been a catalyst for restaurants serving in both front- and back-of-house capacities.

With labor shortages a factor, costs for training and maintaining staff are at an all-time high. In fact, the average cost to train a new employee adds up to $3,959 per trainee.⁹ Integrating robotic automation can ease labor and help reduce the cost of labor recruitment and training.

Implementing robotic technology at select White Castle locations is just one success story shared at the RLC. Back in 2020, White Castle started with one Flippy test location from Miso Robotics and expects to add 100 more of the next-generation, Flippy 2, robotic frying units to locations nationwide. Jeff Carper, chief operating officer at White Castle, tells Robotics and Automation News, “Our partnership with Miso continues to lead the way on what’s next for back-of-house restaurant operations looking to empower team members with technology to better satisfy customers.”¹⁰

We look forward to seeing how robotic technology will be used across all foodservice segments in the coming years.

10) Looking Ahead

The outlook for restaurants is strong moving through 2023. For Restaurants, Technomic predicts that 2023 will be a year of cooling costs as supply chain fluctuations start to level set, growth even despite economic headwinds, continued investments in innovation, and never-ending transformation. Restaurants will need to acclimate to market changes, consumer lifestyle trends, and dining preferences, and embrace technology-forward strategies to remain competitive.

One thing is certain if any industry can adapt to market changes and challenges, it’s the restaurant industry. We’re excited to be a part of it all, helping our clients stay true to the trends and industry forecasts. For more practical and progressive solutions to accelerate and nurture your business strategies, connect with us, here.

¹Technomic Ignite Menu national foods trends data
² 2023 Restaurant Technology Outlook, Market Leader Report, Nation’s Restaurant News Intelligence, April 2023
³2023 Food Trends, ReportPro, Datassential
⁴ The Future of Plant-Based, FoodBytes, Datassential Trendspotting, Vol. 108
⁵ “The brave & new food trends in 2023: products.” Brave New Food, 1/9/23
⁶ FMCG Gurus, Flavor, Color & Texture, November 2022, USA
⁷ Predicting Food Trends Before They Happen, White Paper, Datassential
⁸ Insider Report, 3/18/23
⁹ The State of Restaurants in 2023, Annual Report, TouchBistro
¹⁰ White Castle orders 100 fast-food robots from Miso Robotics, Robotics, and Automation News, 2.18.22