Agenda

All attendees, sponsors and speakers must check in at the registration desk and pick up a name badge. Badges must be worn at all times. The registration desk will remain open throughout the entire summit. 

Explore the pavilion featuring products and services dedicated to improving franchise operations, from POS and staffing tech to supply chain and marketing platforms. The pavilion remains open throughout the entire summit.

Join us to kick off the 2027 summit with a look at what's ahead over the next three days. 

Roll up your sleeves for an hour of hands-on giving back to a local New Orleans organization. It's a fun, low-key way to meet fellow attendees while making a tangible difference for community families.

Celebrate the start of the summit with Louisiana-inspired bites, cocktails and live music.

Breakfast is open to all summit participants. Check in at the registration desk and pick up your badge if you haven't already. 

Four short, high-energy talks from operators and executives who are rethinking what growth looks like in 2027 — from founder-led culture to AI-driven decision-making to bold brand reinvention.

Everyone is chasing workers. The brands winning the talent battle are doing a few simple things differently. Learn the hiring tactics, leadership habits and technology tools that reduce turnover, build stronger managers and create teams that can support rapid expansion without burning out. 

Attendees will learn:

• Hiring strategies that attract better candidates.  
• Low-cost ways to improve retention.  
• Leadership development ideas that prepare employees for the next store. 

The best franchisees know how to make a national brand feel like the neighborhood favorite. Discover practical ways to empower local marketing while protecting brand standards, plus ideas your operators can start using immediately. 

Attendees will learn to:

• Build brand standards and SOPs that scale cleanly across new and existing markets. 
• Set up quality and audit systems that catch drift before it becomes a brand problem.
• Create local store marketing frameworks that empower franchisees inside clear guardrails.

Real vendors and real operators pair up for four rapid-fire 15-minute case studies on recent technology or operations rollouts — what changed, what it cost, and what it actually returned.

Your financial statements are full of clues — if you know where to look. Learn how top franchise brands uncover hidden margin, identify struggling locations before they become problems and use data to make smarter growth decisions.

Attendees will learn to:

• Spot early warning signs of margin erosion before they show up on a quarterly report.
• Use menu and labor data to find hidden profit inside existing operations.
• Build a co-investment approach to technology and marketing that strengthens the franchisor–franchisee relationship.

Customers don't think in channels — they just expect every interaction to be easy and intuitive. Learn how leading brands connect loyalty, mobile ordering, AI personalization and delivery into one seamless experience that keeps guests coming back. 

Attendees will learn to:

• Design a mobile and loyalty experience that drives repeat visits across every channel. 
• Use AI-driven personalization to increase average order value without feeling intrusive. 
• Balance third-party delivery partnerships with owned, direct-to-consumer channels. 

Weather, tariffs and labor shortages aren't going away. Learn how franchise systems are building backup plans, stronger supplier relationships and having access to clear data to keep restaurants running — and profitable — during disruptions. 

Attendees will learn to:

• Diversify supplier relationships to reduce single-source risk.
• Use tracking and visibility tools to catch disruptions before they hit the store.
• Build a proactive risk plan for pricing volatility and regional shortages.

Stop wasting ad dollars. Learn how brands are using AI to target the right guests, partner with local creators and build campaigns franchisees can actually execute without a huge marketing team. 

Attendees will learn to:

• Use AI tools for precision targeting and more efficient ad spend.
• Identify and work with local micro-influencers to build authentic brand advocacy.
• Turn engagement data into repeatable, store-level marketing playbooks for franchisees.

Grab a breakfast burrito while participating in four 15-minute small-group discussions on the challenges facing operators today. Every attendee rotates through all four tables over breakfast.

For most brands, growth isn't coming from the dining room anymore. This session covers how to expand and optimize every off-premise channel — including virtual brands, digital ordering, ghost kitchens and hub-and-spoke delivery — with a special focus on catering as an underused growth lever.  

Attendees will learn to:

• Evaluate virtual brand and ghost kitchen opportunities for existing footprints.
• Build catering programs that win repeat, high-value corporate business.
• Protect brand quality and speed across every off-premise channel.

Ready to grow but not sure how to fund it? This session breaks down the current lending and investment landscape for franchise growth, from traditional bank financing to newer alternative capital sources, and what lenders actually want to see before they say yes. 

Attendees will learn to:

• Compare traditional and alternative capital options for new unit development.
• Build a financial case that holds up under lender and investor scrutiny.
• Plan capital access around a multi-year, multi-unit growth timeline.

A practical, hype-free look at where AI and automation are actually delivering ROI in franchise kitchens today — from prep robotics and smart dispensing to predictive staffing and inventory systems. 

Attendees will learn to:

• Identify the highest-impact automation opportunities for back-of-house operations.
• Use AI-driven forecasting to cut waste and improve staffing accuracy.
• Understand realistic ROI timelines before committing capital to new systems.

Grab a drink and settle in for an unscripted closing conversation with operators who will share what's really working — and what isn't — heading into the rest of 2027. Come with questions; the floor is open.