Itsu UK CEO Ganan Kanagathurai will discuss how the Asian-inspired restaurant group has been at the forefront of expanding into new sales channels, from mobile and kiosk ordering, to delivery, e-commerce and retail, with Itsu Grocery now being a £50m business.
He will talk about moving quickly on digital channels, bringing data together on Itsu's in-store and retail customers, and why he sees tech as the enabler rather the solution for an omnichannel strategy.
The brand-new conference, which combines the shared cross-market expertise of leading media titles BigHospitality, MCA, and The Grocer, is being held at the Pullman London St Pancras on 9 November.
Also at the event will be a panel discussion on how restaurants can meet the diversification challenge featuring Jim Attwood, MD at Coco di Mama; Satnam Leihal, CEO at Boparan Restaurant Group; Karan Gokani, creative director at Hoppers; and Patty & Bun founder Joe Grossman.
The panel will discuss their differebt omnichannel approaches, which include a virtual kitchen rollout, a direct-to-consumer e-commerce platform, and creating new restaurant concepts within supermarkets.
Last month Boparan opened its first Slim Chickens restaurant under a new partnership with Tesco Extra and the restaurant group also intends to open 30 restaurants within Sainsbury’s supermarkets as part of a major overhaul of the supermarket’s eat-in and takeaway food offer.
The conference, which has been created for restaurant and food to go operator leaders, grocery heads of foodservice brands, investors and tech suppliers, will also feature keynote presentations from other omnichannel pioneers, including Richard Hodgson, the CEO of YO! Sushi owner Snowfox; and Leon's joint managing directors Glenn Edwards and and Ashley Davis.
Pizza Pilgrims founders Thom and James Elliot will share the story of how they introduced a direct-to-consumer ‘pizza in the post’ concept during the pandemic and Lumina Intelligence insight director Blonnie Whist will share exclusive exclusive data on consumer perceptions and attitudes around branded restaurant products in grocery.
For more details on The Omnichannel Foodservice Conference and to attend, click here.
