Mark your calendars now! Each location offers a unique set of training topics.
Individual location programming will be released soon!

RESTAURANT INSIGHTS SUMMIT

The most effective operators are those with the knowledge and resources to thrive.

Immerse yourself with like-minded, innovative and forward-thinking restaurant & hospitality industry peers for a unique half-day workshop experience.

The Restaurant Insights Summit—RIS—is a powerful series covering hot topics in restaurant marketing, leadership and trends in workplace culture leaving participants with fresh perspectives and practical skills that can be implemented immediately. 

$20 for WRA members
$25 for non-members
(Includes education, food and beverage)

Register Today!

September 23: Madison – Olbrich Gardens – 3330 Atwood Ave, Madison, WI 53704

October 14: Milwaukee – Boelter Superstore – 4200 N Port Washington Rd, Milwaukee, WI 53212

October 15: Green Bay – Hinterland – 1001 Lombardi Access Rd, Ashwaubenon, WI 54304

Registration is open to foodservice professionals that work for a restaurant, beverage or hospitality outlet. Industry product and service providers are welcome to attend as a sponsor.

RIS 2019 SPONSOR

Everything Speaks – Aligning Your Marketing Efforts to Unearth Your True Value

Presented by: Spencer X Smith, AmpliPhi Social Media Strategies 

Learning objectives:

• Identify better ways to communicate what you know – and how to align your marketing efforts with what your potential and current customers care most about.
• Learn the best way to stay top of mind with your customers to ensure repeat business.
• Examine marketing materials (web, brochures, social media) to ensure messaging aligns across all platforms.
• Effectively align your company image and brand both internally and externally via digital and social media.

Does your brand and virtual representation of your business align with what customers really care about?  Are your remarketing techniques solution-oriented and actionable?
In this interactive workshop, you will learn ways to create a single version of yourself that conveys not just what you do – but what you know – that ensures you earn a seat at the table at the right time, when customers are looking for you.

Quick Bite Session - Avoiding Common Employment Law Violations

Presented by: Carrie Douglas and Katie Reiser, Wisconsin Restaurant Association

As compliance becomes more complex, it’s imperative for employers to know about the most common labor law violations and how to take action to avoid fines and damage to your restaurant's reputation. In this quick 30-minute overview, WRA staff will help you to avoid these costly and stressful issues.

Employee Engagement = Retention

Presented by: Bonnie Boettcher, HR Sherpaz

Learning Objectives:

• The 360 engagement model and how it influences retention
• Connecting engagement efforts with business results
• Creating a climate of engagement resulting in long term gain

Employee engagement continues to be a challenge for restaurants in a multi-generational workforce looking for a more flexible work-life balance, greater purpose and authentic experiences. For organizations to succeed, employees must be empowered to succeed. In this presentation, we’ll get to the heart of employee engagement, its impact on retention and the connection to business results.

Advanced Facebook Advertising

Presented by: Brian Lee, Revelation PR, Advertising & Social Media

Facebook advertising can be a relatively inexpensive way to reach highly specific target audiences, but boosting your posts can only get you so far. In this presentation, Brian Lee will explain how to set up Business Manager, create lookalike audiences and create Instant Experience ads to better engage your prospective customers.

Developing your most important asset: The C3 approach to building and retaining a top-notch staff

Presented by: Sam McDaniel, Restaurant and Hospitality Consultant

In every type of business, human capital is the most important input. The demanding hours restaurants and hospitality businesses endure daily causes employee growing pains and headaches that never seem to go away.  What if we took a different approach to our staff?  What if we took the same care with our people as we do with our ingredients, our guests and our finances?  Restaurant and Hospitality consultant Sam McDaniel will guide us through his proven C3 approach to development and retention, using Compassion, Community and Consistency to create an atmosphere of collaboration and achievement that will transform your business!

Get Your Business Ready for the DNC in 2020

Presented by: Dave Larson and Megan Suardini

The Democratic National Convention is coming to Milwaukee in July 2020. Hear from the DNC Host Committee and VISIT Milwaukee on what to expect from the convention and how it may affect you and your business.

Learning Objectives:

• The facts about the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee from the experts working on the event.
• How to get your business involved with the 1,500 events and 50,000 guests coming to town.
• Timeline of events over the next 10 months including what to expect in the days leading up to and during the convention.

Quick Bite Session - Avoiding Common Employment Law Violations

Presented by: Ask WRA Team, Wisconsin Restaurant Association

As compliance becomes more complex, it’s imperative for employers to know about the most common labor law violations and how to take action to avoid fines and damage to your restaurant's reputation. In this quick 30-minute overview, WRA staff will help you to avoid these costly and stressful issues.

Employee Engagement = Retention

Presented by: Bonnie Boettcher, HR Sherpaz

Learning Objectives:

• The 360 engagement model and how it influences retention
• Connecting engagement efforts with business results
• Creating a climate of engagement resulting in long term gain

Employee engagement continues to be a challenge for restaurants in a multi-generational workforce looking for a more flexible work-life balance, greater purpose and authentic experiences. For organizations to succeed, employees must be empowered to succeed. In this presentation, we’ll get to the heart of employee engagement, its impact on retention and the connection to business results .

Breaking the Hierarchy: Building a Culture of Team & Collaboration

Presented by: Dan Ritter, Director of People Analytics at illumyx

With so much uncertainty in our world it’s important to focus on what you have control and influence over. For a business owner, developing a strong culture and team sets a strong foundation to maintain and your business. In the following session, we’ll teach you how to objectively look at your FOH and BOH teams by thinking like a behavioral scientist! We’ll walk you through practical examples of work behaviors so that you can see and hear how a wide range of teams function. Stop chasing the latest fads and create teams that are built for the work you do.

Takeaways include:

• Understand the benefits and pitfalls of hierarchy within a team.
• Learn to spot the behaviors that support for high performing teams.
• Examine the three most common types of work teams and assess how your teams stack up .

Quick Bite Session - Avoiding Common Employment Law Violations

Presented by: Ask WRA Team, Wisconsin Restaurant Association

As compliance becomes more complex, it’s imperative for employers to know about the most common labor law violations and how to take action to avoid fines and damage to your restaurant's reputation. In this quick 30-minute overview, WRA staff will help you to avoid these costly and stressful issue s.

How a Menu Makeover Will Increase Your Profitability

Presented by: Mark Laux, Hot Operator

People judge a restaurant by the menu - first impressions do matter. Learn how to create menus that produce a high return on investment and increase revenue through building powerful brands. We’ll walk through the entire process of doing secondary research, making a scatter graph and what it means. See systematically how positions, highlighting, mental anchoring & strategic pricing all come together for obtaining higher profits.

Learning Objectives:

• Menu Brand Development
• New Products and why they are important
• Paying attention to social media and what it means to your business
• Facebook - Instagram what you look for and what you look like
• Scatter Graphs and how to read one

Recruitment, Engagement, & Retention: Thinking Outside the Box

Presented by: Lorinda F. Lewis, PhD, DBA, President of Guided Problem Solving Training & Consulting LLC

There is a war going on in our communities as the available labor force is shrinking. Retaining staff in this environment is challenging as creative recruiting programs steal away your newly trained staff. The current tenure of a food service employee is just 56 days, driving up costs related to recruiting, onboarding, and training. In this session, we will explore creative and trending strategies to become the preferred employer in your market. We will explore best practices and emerging trends for your consideration.

Learning Objectives:

• Examine multi-generational workforce issues
• The importance of intrinsic motivation in retention
• Design engagement and retention strategies to become the employer of choice