Rethinking Restaurants

The $800 billion dollar restaurant industry is evolving amidst shifting consumer preferences, labor costs and shortages. Technology is also changing the way we operate and experience restaurants.

Join us to hear how food innovators are rethinking restaurants at our November Food+Tech Meetup. Presenters will do a deep dive into their business strategies, technologies, challenges and lessons learned.

Come network with the community and get a taste from emerging F&B startups: Smallhold, Eleva Coffee, Komeeda, Emma’s Torch, Proud Pour, Farm.One, The Good Spoon, Fera Moringa, Woodward Extract Co., RISE x NYC Food Waste Microgrant Program!

SCHEDULE:
6:30 – 7:15pm: Networking
7:30 – 9:00pm: Presentations + Q&A
9:00 – 9:30pm: Networking

PRESENTERS:

Sam Polk, co-founder & CEO, Everytable
Through grab-and-go locations, we sell nutritious food, fast, for less than what you’re used to paying. We price our meals affordably, according to the neighborhoods we serve. So, while our prices differ from location to location, our food is always accessible to the local community. We’ve created a new standard to make healthy food a reality for all.

Ayr Muir, co-founder & CEO, Clover Food Lab
Our food philosophy is driven by simplicity. We don’t use “flavor enhancers,” artificial or natural flavors, additives, preservatives, or anything else you’d need a chemistry degree to understand. We rely on the farmer who grew our parsnip for flavor, the soil that produced our carrot, the chicken that laid our beautiful eggs. Everything we are today, every single recipe, everything we do, has been developed with help from our customers. We’re here to make food you love, the kind you talk about and look forward to eating. The Clover Food Lab is serving up a new type of fast food. This food is local, it’s just-cut, when we can it is organic. You can learn more about our origins, our food, our mistakes, and everything else about us at our website.

Kat Kinsman, writer & editor of Extra Crispy, “Hi, Anxiety” and Chefs with Issues
I’m a writer and editor based in New York City. I wrote a book called Hi, Anxiety: Life With a Bad Case of Nerves. I usually cover food (I’m senior food and drinks editor at Extra Crispy, former editor at large and editor-in-chief of Tasting Table, and former managing editor of CNN Eatocracy, but as I started writing more about my own experiences with mental health, people in the food world started talking to me about their own struggles. On my website, Chefs with Issues, I invite people involved in the industry (not just chefs) to share their stories and resources for dealing with the particular pressures of restaurant life, so that other people may feel less alone.

Lucas Denton, co-founder, Brownsville Community Culinary Center
The Brownsville Community Culinary Center is committed to offering healthy, accessible cuisine to neighborhood residents through our eatery. Our culinary training program educates and inspires participants to excel in the food-service industry. We offer services that support our program participants as they cultivate and work toward their dreams. The BCCC will serve as a forum through which the Brownsville neighborhood can address and organize around issues of food injustice. We strive to collaborate with resident-led initiatives.

Sarah Van Dell, founder and CEO, Plum Relish
Plum Relish is a hospitality-tech start-up powering lunchtime catering for better restaurant brands. Based in Washington, DC Plum Relish is partnered with Mike Isabella Concepts and Farmers Restaurant Group. Founder and CEO, Sarah Van Dell, spent thirteen years in finance, client services, and marketing across Beijing, New York, and Washington, DC. Most recently, sheserved as a Senior Director at The Advisory Board Company where she led the subscription business on nine technology programs. Sarah earned her MBA from New York University and her BA from Emory University.

HOST:
Kickstarter is a funding platform for creative projects. We are an independent, founder-controlled company of 132 people working together in an old pencil factory in New York City. Over 10 million people, from every continent on earth, have backed a Kickstarter project from films, games, and music to art, design, and technology. To date, tens of thousands of creative projects — big and small — have come to life with the support of the Kickstarter community.

SPONSOR:
Like our namesake borough, the Brooklyn Brewery is made up of a rich collection of characters from all over the world. In our Williamsburg home, these characters are dedicated to brewing and selling great beer and enriching the communities we serve. Together, these Brooklyners have assembled the skills needed to transform a home brewing hobby into an independent brewery with a brand that has become an international beacon for good beer.