MURTEC Executive Summit Innovation Report

“Innovation comes from the good questions.” − Susan Carroll-Boser, VP of IT, White Castle There were plenty of good questions − and answers − at the 2019 MURTEC Executive Summit, which took place October 28-30 at the Four Seasons Scottsdale at Troon North in Arizona. Top-level executives from restaurant companies ranging from the industry’s major chains to regional independents joined together with leading solutions providers for three days of learning and sharing, tailored around “The ROI of Experience.” The theme provided attendees insights on how brands must rethink how to win stomach share in a digital-first world. Arrival day offered a mix of education and adventure. An interactive workshop on “Bridging the IT & Business Divide,” was facilitated by Matt Sebeck vice president of digital, for sponsoring company WWT Digital, who was joined by Anita Klopfenstein, CIO, Little Caesars, the 2019 Breakthrough Award Winner for Customer-Facing Technology, and Scott Scherer, CIO, Jersey Mike’s, a 2019 Honorable Mention Breakthrough Award Winner. Both shared how their organizations have transformed their respective brands’ digital footprints. Attendees got to hear how these two leading brands have created cohesive omni-channel strategies in order to yield positive business results. For Klopfenstein, innovation begets innovation. “Doing the new and innovative things, gets you the good tech people,” she says, “If you don’t have good tech people, then you can’t move the needle on the other things.” Arrival day featured a golf outing pairing foursomes to enjoy the sun and impressive vistas of a day out on the greens and invaluable networking. That same arrival afternoon a bold-hearted troupe of explorers took off on a high-octane Desert Jeep Adventure Tour, giving attendees a bumpy ride through the wilds of Scottsdale’s more rugged terrain. Is anyone not talking about tech? No, everyone’s talking about techAdrian Butler, CIO, Dine Brands Global and the 2019 MURTEC Executive Summit’s honorary chairman, opened the day on October 29. Emphasizing the role technology is having on society as a whole, Butler asked, “Is there anyone who isn’t talking about tech today?” Before giving the stage to Summit keynoter, Shawn G. DuBravac, Butler reminded attendees to take full advantage of their time at the Summit and embrace having the time to try to “solve common challenges together.” Keynote speaker, DuBravac, a New York Times best-selling author, futurist and trendcaster, unpacked “What’s Real & What’s Next in the Service Experience.” DuBravac, with his decade-plus tenure as chief economist for the Consumer Technology Association / CES, took attendees on a journey outside of restaurants and hospitality, illustrating how other industries are rethinking the customer journey. Dubravac put a lens on how these innovations “have been building for decades” and deconstructed the concept of disruption to the most basic element − that disruption is the decoupling of value chains. As retail is adding AR to help customers visualize how items will look on them and in their homes, customers will come to expect the same technology in hospitality as well. For example, customers will use AR to preview the burger they’d like to order, illustrating how the lines between the physical and digital worlds are irrevocably blurred. Data is redefining our environments, he said, adding “an explosion of data requires new processes.” The challenge will be how to sift through “operationalize all the options” and “differentiate” and find “what resonates with a particular business.” From Interactive Innovation Sessions to Interactive Late Night Noshing & IT Innovation Labs (brief presentations followed by interactive, instructional exercises) were back at the 2019 Summit. First up was Building the Next Generation Customer Journey with White Castle’s VP of Technology Susan Carroll-Boser. Carroll-Boser shared how the QSR − famed for its sliders and crave cases − is building its next generation customer journey. Carroll-Boser shared how to approach the IT roadmap with the customer journey as a foundation, showing benefits, needs and the expected ROI. She led attendees through several exercises to identify problems and the appropriate solutions to solve for business problems. Many of these new technologies White Castle was testing and iterating at its Scottsdale location that opened Oct. 23 to door-busting crowds that shut the location down on its opening day due to the demand. This prototype includes geolocation, beacons, tableside ordering and more. Did you say this awesome operational incubator of innovation was conveniently located in Summit host city Scottsdale? Oh yes, we did. Attendees got all aboard the Crave Train … or more accurately, the “Night Castle Tour Bus” for a special late night tour of Arizona’s first White Castle. All the way to Ahhh: Coca-Cola Inspires & Integrates In the session, Refreshing The Enterprise: Digital Download from a Global Leader, Coca-Cola executives shared insights on how brands need to refresh digital tech strategies to deliver on customer demands. The legacy beverage brand is seeking to help its restaurant partners in this new age of empowered consumers that has technology embedded in their lives, by empowering restaurants to integrate with appropriate, effective tech partners. “The consumer has never been this unreasonable and they’ll never be this reasonable again,” said Melissa Fahs, VP, foodservice digital commerce. Fahs and Billy Koehler, director of marketing technology, shared how the brand assesses and anticipates the competitive landscape and counsels restaurant partners to do the same. Fahs and Koehler warn against the fragmented tech culture of NOW, where decisions are forced in urgency, which may not ultimately be the best solution long-term. The afternoon included lively panel discussions. The first, discussed digital transformation, unraveling the concept through the counterpoints of business enabler or security disabler? Kiosks and digital menu boards and more are increasing efficiency, but are they also adding more vulnerabilities to your network? The panel was comprised of Carissa De Santis, VP of IT, Dickey’s Barbecue Restaurants; Intel Corp. and Fortinet. De Santis suggests a stress test: hire your vendor to hack and evaluate your network. The average data breach costs $3.2M, and restaurants’ network departments are tremendously understaffed. For many brands, the best road to a secure enterprise may be outsourcing. A second panel discussion on Mastering the Evolving Ordering Experience included Lou Grande, VP of IT from Red Lobster, Robert Notte, VP of IT, MOD Pizza and John Robinson, Director of Retail Systems, Sonic. This trio of execs shared how their brands are addressing customers’ shifting preferences to order ahead or bypass human servers. In short, there’s no one size fits all solution. Experience + Innovation = Success Brandon Coleman III, president of Del Frisco’s Grille, delivered a rousing keynote on the who and why of customer experience ROI. He shared the equation he uses to measure the viability of new technology on customer experience. In short, customers need to get more than they give up. In his presentation, Getting a Return on Experience, Coleman made the case for why tech has to fuel customer experience. It has to be more than cool. “ROI is just a numeric equation,” he explains. “It has limited variables and a specific value. Return On Experience (ROE) has so many more attributes. It’s the collective addition of perceived value. It requires a broader look at customers and seeing value from their perspective.” Before a brand can embrace next-gen customer-centric tech, he said it must not only know the customer, but also stay true to the brand itself. “Be specific,” Coleman advised. “Your offerings will have different values for different people.” In what has become a tradition, the Summit concluded with a powerhouse panel of IT leaders. The illustrious 2019 group included: Honorary Chair, Adrian Butler, CIO, Dine Brands Global; Anita Klopfenstein, CIO, Little Caesars; Dave Harris, CIO, Shake Shack; and Chris Satchel, CIO, Zume Pizza. Moderated by HT’s editor-in-chief, Dorothy Creamer, the group shared their views across a range of topics from how to apply convenience to the experience without sacrificing quality, to how to get buy-in from franchisees and staff. Butler brought it back to basics saying, “how do we help our franchisees become more profitable?”

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