Takeaways from 3 industry pros at the CREATE conference
CreateTED Talks offer emerging restaurant brands tips for success.
July 22, 2026
Three industry pros took the stage at Informa’s CREATE conference Tuesday to share insights and lessons learned. The lively presentations were in the style of TED Talks, presented to an audience of operators of emerging restaurant brands.
The session kicked off with chef and restaurant consultant Brian Duffy, founder of Duffified Experience Group, who challenged attendees with the question: What is the why behind everything you do?
Most operators want a restaurant that stands out and isn’t doing what everyone else is doing when it comes to food, drinks, vibe, etc. It’s also extremely important to share that mission with your staff, said Duffy.
“A five-minute pre-meal empowers your staff, educates, and excites them,” he said. “Daily food tastings and drink pairings empower your team to have knowledge that they can pass on to guests. Servers are not only selling the food, they’re selling the ‘why’ and engaging with guests.”
Duffy is also a fan of enlisting bartenders to sell food to tune them into the “why.” In one of his operations he calls a “dive bar,” the bartender pulls in $2,000 a week in food sales by delivering on the “why.” That “why” can go back to the ingredients your restaurant sources and how they stand out. “Charge for the why,” Duffy advised, charging for the ingredient that is premium, ethically sourced, or local — not the menu item.
Following Duffy was Matt Haller, president and CEO of the International Franchise Association. Haller has his finger on the pulse of the industry, pointing out that QSR and full-service restaurants are the two largest categories of the franchise community, making up about 40% of the overall sector.
“I think that's why we're starting to see a bit of full-service investment capital come back,” he said. “So you have over 180,000 franchise locations of 800,000 that are in systems that are supported or backed by private equity, and I think this trend is certainly only going to continue. Private equity loves franchising,” he told the audience.
The franchise sector has been adding jobs at nearly twice the rate of the U.S. economy, and that’s good news for restaurants, he continued. The IFA is putting some intentionality into telling this story, a strategy Haller advises franchisees to follow. “Franchising is very local, so tell the story of your brand and get it into the local media,” he said.
The IFA also launched a Research & Insights Center to educate about franchising and issued Principles for Successful Franchise Growth to protect franchisees and drive a healthy franchise community.
Last up in the CreaTED Talks was Peter Newlin, CEO & partner in Denver-based Gastamo Group, a multi-concept company that has opened 30-plus restaurants — some of which are no longer open today. His theme — Back to the Four Walls: Four Expensive Mistakes I Made So You Don't Have To — a topic that really resonated with the audience. He outlined four lessons learned in his years of developing and launching restaurant concepts.
“Know your neighborhood,” was first on his list. When he opened Park Burger in Denver’s RiNo Arts District, it was a sports bar lined with team jerseys for decor. “This was not a sports town, and residents said ‘get these bros out of here,’” said Newlin. In subsequent restaurants of his, murals on the walls told the story of the neighborhood they were in. “I was designing for myself rather than the neighborhood I was in,” he added.
Don’t focus on your own ego and approval; instead focus on the team’s success. “Acceptance for me mattered more than success for all,” Newlin said. The biggest cost of the ego-driven life is “I’m not going to have success until I achieve my goal, and you forget how to be present in your life.”
The third “mistake” was a misjudgement of growth and capital timing. “When you’re at your peak of confidence, you make stupid mistakes and it’s essential to build variables into your life,” he added.
And lastly, leadership and talent development is key to the success of any restaurant. Newlin cited a quote from author Marcus Buckingham to support this point: “People don’t leave bad companies, they leave bad managers.” He believes in accomplishing goals through your team’s dreams.
“If you build a business worth keeping, selling takes care of itself,” was one of Newlin’s final takeaways.
CREATE: The Event for Emerging Restaurateurs was held July 19-22 at the Terranea Resort in Rancho Palo Verdes, California outside Los Angeles.
About the Author
Patricia Cobe
Senior Editor, Restaurant Business
Pat came to Informa Connect from Hearst, where she was an executive editor. She is the co-author of the Mompreneurs series of books as well as two cookbooks. She graduated from Cornell University and earned a Masters in Journalism from Boston University. She is active in several professional organizations, including Les Dames d’Escoffier and the International Foodservice Editorial Council (IFEC), and serves as a judge for the James Beard Media Awards.
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