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2026 Agenda
With brand relevancy key to success in today’s fast-moving yet challenging consumer landscape, we ask how leaders are balancing commercial realities with bold innovation across food, tech and the customer experience. The panel will also explore growth strategies in a cost-constrained market and how to cut through the noise to identify true trends.
Stand-out hospitality operators need to offer more than just a place to eat or stay; the best are projecting an aspirational, distinctive lifestyle. From cultivating communities to staying creatively relevant as they scale, this session will unpack how brands maintain their edge, evolve with changing audiences, and create long-term engagement.
From low and no options to functional drinks, consumers are increasing looking for options outside the traditional alcoholic categories. In this panel we explore the trends and formats that are driving drinks sales, from experience-led venues to bottomless brunches, and ask how operators are adapting to the changing social behaviour of different generations.
Retail and FMCG remain powerful engines of innovation, with trends such as functional nutrition, snackification and globally inspired own-label ranges reshaping consumer expectations. In this quick session, Flora Zwolinski, insight lead and senior insight manager at Lumina Intelligence, will explore the innovations driving growth across retail categories and examine what foodservice operators can learn from them.
As more consumers look to recreate restaurant-quality experiences at home, specialist hospitality brands are finding new opportunities to grow beyond their four walls and into supermarket shelves. But how much does success in grocery demand an entirely different mindset? This panel will bring together operators who have crossed into the supermarket aisles to discuss what drives success and the commercial decisions behind translating a hospitality experience into a scalable retail proposition.
Our panel shares their process behind menu changes from insight, through to ideation and activation. Satiating customer demand for bold new dishes and flavours, and with margin in mind, they discuss lessons learned, key successes and the means to pain free execution.
From one site in 2021 to 15 today, with Paris next and a target of 20 London locations by 2027, The Salad Project has paired rapid expansion with a relentless focus on digital innovation.
In this case study with director of product Clem Haxby and Vita Mojo, hear how apps, unified loyalty, data insights and digital-first formats are helping one of hospitality's fastest-growing brands scale smarter and grow faster.
This session examines where AI is delivering real value today—and what’s coming next. Our panellists explore, citing real-world case studies, AI copilots for operations and head office, agentic AI & automation in restaurants, personalisation and customer data, labour optimisation and predictive forecasting and more.
Foodservice delivery is now embedded into consumer habits, powered by younger convenience-led, tech-savvy users - but where does the next wave of growth come from? This session explores how operators are evolving delivery through smarter tech, seamless integration and better customer journeys - from WhatsApp ordering and AI orchestration to menu optimisation, sustainable packaging, and balancing aggregator scale with direct relationships.
Amid evergrowing demand for matcha and ube and the premiumisation of classics such as hot chocolate, beverage-led concepts are redefining the future of hospitality, driving new formats, experiences and revenue opportunities. Join industry leaders as they explore the trends, innovations and strategies shaping the next generation of drinks-focused venues in the UK hospitality sector.
KFC’s strategy & innovation director Leo Sloley reveals how customer insight, rapid testing and bold category expansion transformed Kwench from a Manchester pilot into one of the brand’s fastest-ever rollouts. Discover the innovation framework behind a drinks range that doubled sales in trial stores, opened new growth occasions and helped reposition KFC for the next generation of consumers.