Speaker Spotlight: Chris Demery, CTO of Blaze Pizza
Chris Demery, CTO of Blaze Pizza, shares a look at his career, his achievements and industry trends ahead of his appearance at the Restaurant Franchising & Innovation Summit 2026.
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How Onigilly scaled from founder-led concept to a 20-unit franchise pipeline
by Cherryh Cansler — Editor, FastCasual.com
Founder and CEO Koji Kanematsu said the brand's corporate locations are expected to generate approximately $2 million in revenue this year.
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Aloha, Innovation: Why L&L’s Eddie Flores Jr is a must-see at RFIS 2026
by Cherryh Cansler — Editor, FastCasual.com
Anyone who knows Eddie knows he brings a witty, frank and refreshingly honest perspective to the table. He's going to talk about the "unconventional" strategies — the ones they don't always teach you in B-school — that led L&L to eight consecutive #1 Asian food franchise rankings.
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Fast Casual Nation reveals top 2026 restaurant trends
Join Paul Barron and Cherryh Cansler as they sit down with industry expert Suzy Badaracco from Culinary Tides to forecast the biggest restaurant trends for 2026.
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Labor Forecasting 2.0: Predicting Future Demand and Staffing for Efficient Growth with AI
Labor is your most significant controllable cost—but leveraging labor as a growth driver is more complex than ever. Enter labor forecasting 2.0: an AI-driven approach that helps multi-location units match staffing to real-world demand, while optimizing schedules for labor compliance, operations efficiency, and sales.
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Unlock New Customers: Leverage Delivery Aggregators for Restaurant Growth
A food delivery aggregator solution can provide significant return on investment because it’s an online platform that simplifies delivery operations for restaurants. Best of all, the solution aggregates all delivery orders from multiple sources, including such popular apps as DoorDash, Grubhub, Uber Eats and more.
2025 Fast Casual Top 100 Movers & Shakers
This year, the exceptional caliber of leadership across the industry led to a slight adjustment in our numbers—we were compelled to recognize 100 brands and 25 executives instead of our usual 75- 25 split. We also added an extra executive, a testament to the fierce competition and outstanding contributions within the fast-casual arena.
