Jonathan, Josh, and Michelle from APT enjoyed attending this year’s RLC in Scottsdale.

Political punditry aside, the burgeoning marketplace for daily deal sites and social media continued to be a hot topic – as the novelty of these coupon channels wears off, we are seeing operators move past simple redemption stats to understand what impact these various offers have on actual profits. Additionally, we enjoyed insightful conversations about how restaurateurs are evaluating new pricing and menu strategies in a world with increased commodity costs and signs of a recovering consumer.

We enjoyed hearing from industry leaders ranging from Sally Smith at Buffalo Wild Wings to Robert Brozin, chief of the expanding Nando’s Chicken chain, building on recent interviews with Starbuck’s Howard Schultz and Panera’s Ron Shaich.

Also of note, we’ve been remiss in not mentioning it earlier, we’re thrilled to welcome Wendy’s into the family of companies driving value from Test & Learn^TM.

We’ll write more about detailed reflections from the RLC in future newsletters.