Restaurant Finance & Development Conference Takeaways

Restaurant Finance Monitor hosted their annual Restaurant Finance & Development Conference from November 11-13 at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas hotel. I attended RFDC the past two years, getting the lay of the land, meeting with software companies and building relationships. This was our first year having a FIXE booth, which makes a big difference.

RFDC is a very specific event. It’s not a giant trade event like the National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago, where the show floor is as big as 12 football fields and over 2,000 vendors are promoting every imaginable facet of the restaurant industry. RFDC is a more compact conference with a smaller number of presenters that centered on the Fontainebleau Las Vegas Royal Ballroom this year. Panel discussions and booths focus on restaurant franchises and financial services that drive that sector’s growth.

Most of the conference involves listening to panels and networking. Ultimately, RFDC is a great resource, not only for restaurants, but also for emerging brands to figure out financing and learn from leaders firsthand on how they’ve grown. It’s also a great resource for software and service vendors like ourselves to get access to restaurants and franchises looking to sell locations.

WHY RFDC WORKED FOR FIXE

• It was really helpful for us to get to speak to the Directors of Franchising for brands that have hundreds of locations. They’re trying to sell franchises themselves, but they’re also looking for ways to improve their franchise ecosystem.
• We got to foster our relationships with our software vendors like Ottimate and MarginEdge. We got to network with them, go to dinner with them, and figure out two key issues together. 1) What’s their roadmap? 2) How do we help each other grow? 
• There were a lot of things to do, a lot of people to see. We had a lot of 5-20 unit groups visit our booth with various levels of interest. We had four FIXE representatives there. I would not have done RFDC with fewer people. We needed that many people there to maximize our time. 
• All of the software vendors at RFDC are open to a partnership because everyone’s trying to figure out ways to help each other grow.

RFDC INSIDER TIPTime at the booth was very finite. RFDC only opened the floor for 3-4 hours a day. Once the show floor was live, it was busy, very crowded. I noticed a great opportunity. Before the show floor would open each day, before organizers allowed the general public to enter, walking the floor when it was empty gave us an opportunity to talk to other presenters when they had more available time. Better than trying to battle it out over other people at the show. I found talking to some of these franchise groups that were presenting there before the show opened to be a very good move on our behalf. That way we could get some face time before stuff got wild.

2025 RFDC will be at The Bellagio in Las Vegas from November 10-12, 2025. See you there.