Looking to enter or expand in the U.S.? This session will provide the necessary background and up-to-date intelligence for any restaurant concept planning to enter or expand within this competitive marketplace. The session is designed to give you, the operator, insight into the U.S. foodservice market, including the current size of the market, trends in foodservice, who the successful restaurant operators are and who to watch. Additionally, learn what issues restaurant brands face when entering the U.S. related to the marketplace, distribution and local governments. After gaining a foundational understanding, walk away with an invaluable framework for your expansion strategy toolkit. 

As the industry rapidly changes to meet consumer trends and demands, it’s crucial for companies to evolve in order to succeed in the future. Greg Creed, CEO of Yum! Brands – whose brands KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell are global leaders of their respective food categories – will open the 2019 GRLC with a keynote providing valuable insights on trends in the quick-service restaurant industry and the role that culture and talent play in driving innovation, fueling results and building distinctive, relevant and easy brands.

As GRLC shifts focus to Singapore and the Asia Pacific region, so too do our philanthropic efforts. GRLC is honored to spotlight Project Dignity, an award-winning social enterprise and Asia’s leading community platform for experiencing local cuisine while doing good. Our focus is on Dignity Kitchen™, the world’s first food court run by people with disabilities and the socially disadvantaged. The company provides structured training for anyone serious about gaining street food skills. Join us to hear more about this incredible organization and how you can continue to have a positive global impact.

For the third year, Coca-Cola is proud to present the State of the Global Foodservice Industry. Attendees will have an exclusive look at the latest and most trusted global market foodservice data, generated and presented by Technomic, the world’s leading foodservice research firm. During this session, Technomic experts Joe Pawlak and David Henkes will reveal authoritative industry sales data and overarching trends that span the globe and are fueling industry growth. Rankings of the Top 150 global restaurant chains will be presented along with fact-based insight about the factors driving success among industry leaders. The latest consumer research spanning the globe will be shared. Learn the macro forces shaping future food and beverage usage and what drives global consumers to restaurants and what they expect from the experience.

James Quincey, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Coca-Cola Company, will talk about the enduring power of partnership, key consumer trends impacting the global foodservice marketplace, and the large-scale opportunities he sees for growth and greater value creation in the worldwide restaurant market. His speech will be followed by a one-on-one discussion of these and other topics with Dawn Sweeney, president and CEO of the National Restaurant Association.

Join Victor Gielisse, CMC, DBA, Partner in the CIA Consulting Group, as he explores with you Menu Engineering best practices and key opportunities in the tightly competitive food service and hospitality market. He will also delve into the ongoing challenges for operators of creating and implementing something new - a new product, process, service or perhaps a new business model. Explore the opportunities that operators face and the need to understand when a current practice adds value and at what stage to initiate another point of differentiation to stay ahead of the competition by delivering new value creation for their business. Take-aways from this session include:

• Understanding and improving upon your business innovation dimensions
• The value of using cross-functional teams and co-development process strategies
• Explore effective Innovation Management practices

Don’t make the same mistakes the others made! “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” That phrase has been attributed to a number of people and the concept continues to hold true. Over the years, many franchisors and franchisees have committed the same errors as they begin their international expansion or as they refocus their efforts on those initiatives. The title of this Forum is “Common Errors” – they’re common because so many franchisors have committed them. This Innovation Forum is intended to provide a warning to those who are just beginning to expand outside their home countries and to provide a reminder to those who have already established an international presence. Attendees will have an opportunity see a list of the most significant errors and exchange experiences and examples with other restaurant colleagues in the room. Our guest panelists have many years of experience in multiple countries with various restaurant concepts. They’ve seen many of these errors first hand and heard about many others – and sometimes even committed some of them themselves! 

Menu trends are emerging at a rapid pace and have never been more mobile across the globe. While it’s imperative that operators keep their offerings in line with current food and drink trends, it can be a challenge keeping up with the many food fads and crazes, as well as determining which trends are more lasting and how to adapt them to a specific market and segment. This session will focus on the key strategies that operators employ when adopting and adapting fast-moving menu trends for their local market. 

The Global Restaurant Leadership Distinction Awards are awarded to those restaurant brands that excel in the global marketplace through Innovation, Industry Service, Partnership and Expansion. The Innovation category recognizes international success by crossing boundaries, staying ahead of consumer demands and enhancing operations, and GRLC is pleased to recognize Dodo Pizza (Russia). The Service award honors the brands that give back to their communities, the industry and even the planet itself; the 2019 award goes to The Minor Food Group (Thailand). The Partnership designation highlights an operator who successfully developed a brand that originated in another country or its own, adapted it to the marketplace and made it a success; this Partnership award honors SPC Group (Korea). Expansion recognizes growth - increase in sales, unit count and average unit volume over the prior year and tracking into the current year. This year’s winner is Restaurant Brands International (Canada). Join us as we celebrate these international stars!

Nando's is a culinary and consumer masterpiece. The restaurants, conceptualized in South Africa and started in 1987, now number some 1,250 units in 23 countries, including South Africa, Asia, , U.K. and Northern Ireland, Canada, Australia, Malaysia and Dubai, with Washington, D.C. and Chicago as the first U.S.-based sites. This global concept speaks to healthy food, purpose-related values , and hey…it's the people that make the Flame Grilled Portuguese Style Peri-Peri Chicken! From a unique website and intriguing brand story to strong internal cultural strategy and purposeful localization initiatives, Nando's exemplifies an evolved food brand!

The boom of delivery, growing demand for off-premise food and drink, increased pressure from nontraditional competitors and hurried lifestyles have forced many operators to rethink how and where they set up and locate their restaurants. Today’s restaurant chains are tasked with doing more with less—servicing more dayparts, offering delivery and providing seamless ordering solutions—often with smaller kitchens and a tight labor market. This session will examine how leading operators are revamping their operations to address the modern industry landscape. 

Travel and tourism is driving food like never before. Skyrocketing numbers of people are travelling to and within Asia creating more demand than ever for Asian culinary experiences back home. Increasing travel and more frequent visits to favoured countries has resulted in deeper culinary knowledge, expanded taste buds and a desire for an authentic food experience. This forum will discuss how to take Asian cuisine such as Thai, Vietnamese, Malaysian and even Chinese to the world in new formats with the genuine tastes that consumers seek: from revamped airport food offerings to deep-dive dishes that are loved by the 61% of world travellers that from Asia Pacific.

Technology plays an intrinsic role in our lives today and consumer expectations are continually advancing. But globally, there are huge variations in technological capacity and capability as well as local attitudes and expectations. So how do multi-national restaurant chains handle the myriad technological needs and speeds in the different countries in which they operate? How do they manage a global platform at the same time as ensuring local relevance as well as building for the future?

Dr. William Tan has dared more in his lifetime than most of us would dream to attempt. He's an accomplished scholar, scientist, and athlete but realized, "winning medals, trophies or prize money should not be an end to itself. It should be a means to further goodness and to help people." Since then, he has devoted himself to championing great causes worldwide. He has helped raised more than $18 million on a voluntary basis for charities locally and internationally over the last 22 years.  Ultimately, his battles and fighting spirit have have transformed him into a more compassionate physician and invigorated him to dedicate his new lease of life to doing more for humanity. His journey of resilience and reinventing oneself to scale greater heights in the face of adversity continues to inspire many individuals and corporate leaders.

It either forces you to get stronger, or it slowly destroys your life – There’s no in-between. Author of ‘Your Oxygen Mask’ Kevin Lawrence and Business Coach to International CEOs and Executives has discovered seventeen habits that allow any leader to transcend the perils of success and to keep achieving.

Just as consumers now expect more in terms of the food they eat, they are also beginning to take note of restaurants’ “green” practices for management of supplies, buildings and infrastructure. Major global and regional chains are making important changes and—importantly—promoting them aggressively, indicating that they have reason to believe “green” positioning resonates with their customers. Walk away from this session equipped with the forward-looking initiatives industry leaders are deploying to become more sustainable and build business off of it.

We have entered an era where brands function as more than their original intention. Restaurants, fitness clubs, and retails brands have rooted their identity and values in something deeper than their product offerings. Their unique value propositions stem from creating a company culture built on a strong mission and a definable purpose.

Join us we discuss restaurants that are becoming lifestyle brands and how these companies are leading the charge on what it means to offer more than food. Learn how you can firmly communicate your brand's mission to your guests and connect everything you do back to it. 

Restaurants brands that expand globally do so in an increasingly tumultuous world. Hear global restaurant leaders share their perspectives and experiences navigating political, economic and regulatory headwinds while doing business outside home borders in a time of rising expressions of national self-interest.

Given this extraordinary conclusion to an unprecedented gathering of global industry leaders, do not miss the final conversation at GRLC:  an assembly of four of the world’s smartest, most accomplished restaurateurs, interviewed by a highly-regarded foodservice business development veteran.  These visionary leaders will share what’s driving their respective companies’ growth as it relates to international opportunities and provide actionable insights they’ve garnered in their collective decades of leadership and foodservice success.  Each highly respected panelist will provide compelling imperatives for global growth through the power of partnership in the future.