Keynote speaker announced for Western Foodservice and Hospitality Expo 2015

A keynote speaker has been named for this year’s Western Foodservice and Hospitality Expo, taking place August 23-25 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The event, sponsored and hosted by the California Restaurant Association, has officially announced that it has found its key presenter in Rodney Eckerman, CEO and co-founder of popular "craft your own" pizza franchise PizzaRev.  

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As chief executive officer of PizzaRev and a member of the National Restaurant Association’s Fast Casual Industry Council, Eckerman has a lot to offer attendees of the expo and his keynote speech. PizzaRev was founded relatively recently in 2012, as Eckerman and his co-founder Irv Zuckerman left executive careers in the entertainment industry with Clear Channel to follow pizza franchise dreams. But the company has found rapid success—as the Western Foodservice and Hospitality Expo reports, PizzaRev has already been named one of the "10 Brands to Watch" by CNBC and placed #15 in FastCasual’s "Top 100 Movers and Shakers" list. In 2013, Buffalo Wild Wings made a substantial equity investment in the pizza franchise (bolstered by an increase in its stake a year later) to push its growth even further. In his keynote speech, Eckerman will be sharing with attendees all of the lessons that he has learned along the way.

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"We are thrilled to be working with PizzaRev and having Rodney Eckerman discuss his success as our keynote presenter and provide our attendees with real applicable business lessons," said Ron Mathews, Industry Vice President for the Western Foodservice Expo, in a press release from the event. "This special keynote will be part of our extensive Ferdinand Metz Foodservice Forum education program which offers three-days of leading educational content that is practical and relevant for today's foodservice professional."

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Fast casual is growing rapidly, and in many new and exciting ways. Eckerman’s keynote speech about finding success in this field could offer attendees some valuable insights on how to keep up in this crucial field of the restaurant industry. 

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