Food & Beverage

CREATE 2026

CREATE, by Nation’s Restaurant News, is an annual event designed for emerging restaurateurs that aims to help brands scale smarter, grow faster, and lead boldly. Attendees connect with industry disruptors, forward-thinking investors, and other high-growth operators over three days of learning, networking, and hands-on experiences. The event features practica…

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31Speakers
47Sponsors
25Sessions
65Companies · in total

Speakers

Programmed at CREATE, in alphabetical order.

Adam Leff
Co-founder · Merchant Centric
Alicia Kelso
Executive Editor · Nation's Restaurant News
Andrew Cherng
Co-Founder, Co-Chair, Co-CEO · Panda Restaurant Group
Barry McGowan
CEO · Fogo de Chão
Bobby Beckmann
Chief Technology Officer and Founder · Revmo AI
Bret Thorn
Senior Food & Beverage Editor · Nation’s Restaurant News
Briana Valdez
Founder &CEO · HomeState
Brianna Keefe
Founder & CEO · Toastique
Chris Keating
EVP, Conferences · Informa Connect Foodservice
Dr Peggy Cherng
Co-Founder, Co-Chair, Co-CEO · Panda Restaurant Group
Erika London
CEO · SimpleVenue
Jack Biebel
Co-Founder · Ggiata
Joe Guszkowski
Senior Editor · Restaurant Business
John Iannucci
CEO · Agave and Stone Hospitality- Escalante's Fine Tex-Mex and Fat Rosie's Taco and Tequila Bar
Jonathan Crumly
CEO · All-In Licensing
Jonathan Maze
Editor-in-Chief · Restaurant Business
Juan George
Co-Founder · 858 Partners
Justin Pridon
Vice President of Consulting for North America · Revenue Management Solutions
Lisa Jennings
Executive Editor · Restaurant Business
Michael Touma
Owner · Mike's Red Tacos
Pat Cobe
Senior Editor · Restaurant Business
Phil Rosenthal
Creator and Host · Somebody Feed Phil

Sponsors

The companies behind the program. Tiers as disclosed.

7shifts, Inc
858 Partners
All-in Licensing
Avalara, Inc
C3 - Creative Consumer Concepts
Cali BBQ Media
California Milk Advisory Board
Coca-Cola North America
Decision Logic
Degrees@Work
Dinova
DIRECTV
Dreambox
Ecolab
Empowered Hospitality
Foodbuy
Genpak
Global Payments
Harrison Architecture & Design
Hostie AI, Inc.
Idahoan Foodservice
Incentivio
J&J Snack Foods
Juicer
Kea
Keurig Dr Pepper
McKay Advertising + Activation
Oregon Potato Company/NORPAC
Paperchase
Restaurant Technologies
Retail Data Systems
Revmo AI
Rewards Network
Rise Baking Company
Rosina Food Products
Savi
Slade Gorton Seafood
Spencer Fane Golenbock
SpotOn
Stevens Food Group

Agenda

Selected from 25 sessions.

  • 10:00am - 10:10am10 mins

    Welcome & Overview

  • 10:00am - 11:45am105 mins

    Investment Summit

  • 10:10am - 10:40am30 mins

    Industry Insights Opening Keynote

    Details coming soon...

  • 10:40am - 11:15am35 mins

    Industry Panel

    Details coming soon...

  • 11:15am - 11:30am15 mins

    Networking Break

  • 11:15am - 11:45am30 mins

    The Operator Spotlight

    Details coming soon...

  • 12:00pm - 12:30pm30 mins

    Innovation Forums (Choose 1 of 3)

  • 12:00pm - 12:30pm30 mins

    Option 1

  • 12:00pm - 12:30pm30 mins

    Option 2

Company intelligence

What does it mean when 65 companies show up, and 4 bet on three roles at once?

65 companies. four are betting more than once.

The numbers below are derived from the speakers, sponsors, and exhibitors on this page, cross-referenced into one ledger. They are the only thing here that 10times.com cannot tell you.

Who's in the room
4All threespeak · spons · exh
43Sponsoringsponsor only
18Speakingspeaker only

In all three roles

All-In Licensing·Sysco·858 Partners·Revmo AI

Speakers by seniority

74% of the speakers carry senior titles: C-suite, Founder, VP, or Director-level.

  • C-suite1342%
  • Founder / Owner516%
  • VP-level413%
  • Director / Head of13%
  • Other roles826%

Of 31 speakers · classified by free-text title

Most-represented companies
#CompanyRolesSpeakers
1All-In LicensingSponsor2
2SyscoSponsor2
3858 PartnersSponsor1
4Restaurant Business4
5Revmo AISponsor1
67shiftsSponsor-
7AvalaraSponsor-
8C3 - Creative Consumer ConceptsSponsor-
9Cali BBQ MediaSponsor-
10California Milk Advisory BoardSponsor-
11Coca-Cola North AmericaSponsor-
12Decision LogicSponsor-
13Degrees@WorkSponsor-
14DinovaSponsor-
Sponsors by tier
unspecified47
100% of 47
At peer events but not here

These companies sponsored two or more peer events recently, but aren't on this program. For an organizer, that's a list of warm prospects.

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