March 11-13, 2025 | Myrtle Beach, SC — Price increases by $150 after December 13. Register Now

Breakout Session / Friday / April 1, 2022 / 1:30 PM

Revving Up Your Drive-Thru Experience

The pandemic elevated the importance of a fast, accurate and friendly drive-thru experience and established it as the primary touchpoint for many brands. The key for restaurant operators, however, is to balance their ability to provide an elevated and efficient drive-thru customer experience while maintaining high food quality, continuing to serve dine-in and curbside guests, as well as keeping internal theft in check, given the constraints of today’s QSR labor shortages. This session will explore the variety of processes, platforms and technologies available to help restaurants speed up wait times, increase order accuracy, maximize sales volume, and ultimately delight customers at the drive-thru.

PANELISTS

Jon Aiello | Market President | Flynn Restaurant Group
Jon Aiello is a Restaurant Industry Veteran with a career spanning 30 years in family dining & QSR. Joining Flynn Restaurant Group in 2018 as Director of Operations for a Midwest Taco Bell Region. Jon led his market to Premier results including system best speed and guest metrics leading to record breaking Sales & Profits. Jon was Promoted to Market President in 2021. Prior to Joining Flynn, Jon was Chief Operating Officer over a privately held franchise group overseeing 140 locations across 11 brands including Subway, WingStop, Dunkin, Fazoli’s Corner Bakery Café, C-Stores, & Hotels where he led all departments.
Frances Allen | President & CEO | Checkers & Rally’s Drive-In Restaurants
Frances Allen joined Checkers Drive-In Restaurants, Inc. as President and CEO in February of 2020. Frances brought to Checkers & Rally’s a history of success in the restaurant industry and deep expertise across brand strategy, menu and marketing, franchising, restaurant technology and operations, among other disciplines. In her former role as CEO of Boston Market, she implemented a multi-faceted transformation plan setting up the brand for future growth. Prior to Boston Market, Frances served as President of Jack-in-the-Box from 2014 to 2018, generating superior results and upgrading the quality of the menu. Her prior leadership experience includes successful tenures as Chief Brand Officer and CMO at Denny’s Corporation, and as CMO of Dunkin’ Donuts USA.
Haris Khan | Senior Director of Restaurant Excellence | Chipotle Mexican Grill
As the Senior Director of Restaurant Excellence for Chipotle Mexican Grill, Haris Khan leads core functions within operations aimed at enabling consistency and growth across all Chipotle restaurants. Prior to joining Chipotle, Haris gained sound experience within the startup world having served as the Vice President of Operations for Thistle, where he oversaw all facets of operations ranging from culinary, fulfillment, delivery, procurement and quality assurance. Before Thistle, Haris was with Yum Brands (Taco Bell HQ) integrating and scaling digital initiatives, as well as launching new menu offerings. Prior to that he spent 6 years at Jack in the Box HQ, where he led teams to streamline the product and equipment lifecycle process, introduced innovative equipment and reduced operational complexity within the restaurants through simplification efforts.
John Ramsay | Vice President Franchise Sales | Noodles & Company
John Ramsay brings 30 years of experience in Franchising and development with large mature organizations and emerging growth concepts. John has developed over 900 restaurants, covering all fifty states and twelve countries. John is currently Vice President of Franchise Sales for Noodles & Company. Started in 1995, and with over 450 restaurants, Noodles & co. is a leader in Fast Casual restaurants. Noodles is positioned for growth with strengths in off-premise dining, a robust digital platform, and a unique menu. John holds a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Virginia Tech, and is a Certified Franchise Executive with the International Franchise Association.
MODERATOR

Matt Umscheid | CEO | Envysion
Matt Umscheid joined Envysion in 2019 as Chief Executive Officer to lead Envysion’s continued growth and expansion in the loss prevention and video surveillance market. Matt now leads this organization inside of Motorola Solutions Inc. Matt draws on more than 25 years of executive leadership experience in business development, corporate transformation, and strategic partnerships. Matt received an engineering degree from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.
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