9.00am-10.00am: Registration

10.00am-10.30am: Karen Turton, founder of Purple Story, sets out the four fundamentals of operational excellence – people, profitability, performance and productivity.  

10.30am–11.00am: Maintaining operational excellence across multiple sites: Claire Robertson, operations director of Premium Pubs and Bars within Marston’s, talks about getting the best out of multiple teams. 

11.00am-11.30am: Philip Eeles, founder of Honest Burgers, Breadstall Pizza & Pineapple, the latter collecting and benchmarking people metrics from 75 business on a quarterly basis, reflects on starting a new restaurant in the current market; the need for a balance between taste, operational efficiency and GP; and how people metrics underpin overall performance. 

11.30am-12.00pm: Steve Haslam, who founded pub and restaurant operator AIM, talks about improving operating standards to revitalise performance in uniquely challenging times. 

12.00pm-1.00pm: Lunch 

1.00pm-1.30pm: Keith Bird, former chief executive of Marugame Udon and chief operating officer of Gourmet Burger Kitchen, reflects on the operations constants that apply within every kind of operation.

1.30pm-2.00pm: Phil Thorley, managing director of Thorley Taverns, talks about what he has learnt about optimising operations over the decades and how you keep yourself and your staff motivated as the years pass and the challenges mount.

2.00pm-2.30pm: Shereen Ritchie, former chief executive of Buns from Home and Leon managing director, talks about how operations need to be aligned to create superior performance. 

2.30pm-3.00pm: Coffee

3.00pm-3.30pm: Building a great operations team that protects the brand and creates consistency for the guest: Karen Turton, founder of Purple Story talks to Barrie Robinson, operations director, Parkdean Resorts, Tom McManus, strategy director of McManus pubs, Lisa Buckley, former chief retail officer BrewDog, and Matt Townley, groups operations director of Dakota Hotels.

3.30pm-4.00pm: Matthew Kirby, who oversaw the sale of quick service business Chozen Noodle to Chopstix and who operates US foodservice businesses, talks about the pros and cons of operations in the UK and the US.

4.00pm-4.30pm: Alasdair Murdoch, chief executive of Burger King, talks about how operational standards are improved and maintained in a company that runs directly managed sites and franchised sites. He will talk about leading, coaching and developing a high performance team. 

4.30pm-5.00pm: Ed Devenport, who entered the sector in 2016 and has turned Incipio into one of the UK’s most innovative and varied pub, restaurant and event space operators, talks about the ten key operations lessons he has learned.

5.00pm-5.40pm: Investing in great operators: Propel group editor Mark Wingett talks to leading sector investors, including Robin Rowland, operating partner at Trispan, investor in Mowgli, Rosa’s Thai, Thunderbird Kitchen and Pho;  Lizzie Ryan, partner at Imbiba, investor in Pizza Pilgrims, Farmer J and Clays; and Chris Miller of White Rabbit Fund, investor in Lina Stores and Kricket, about the operating standards and metrics that they look for in an investment – and how these have changed over the last few years.