Wednesday, April 1, 2015 • 10 am - 4 pm • Cross Insurance Arena* • Portland, Maine
Workshops
Expo workshops are free to any ticketed attendee of the trade show. We do not require or take reservations for the workshop sessions. Simply stop by the workshop venue (located at the far end of the Spring Street concourse - click here to see map) at the scheduled time of the session you'd like to attend.
11:00 am
Digital Advertising for Hotels and Restaurants
You've got a Facebook page. You're on Twitter. You're blogging, and maybe you're even on Instagram. So why aren’t you getting enough business?
With so many businesses and organizations on social media, it's becoming a crowded, noisy space. The answer for some is digital advertising. Targeted ads are delivered to the right people at the right time based on their interests and activity.
In this session, Rich Brooks of flyte new media will share best practices for Facebook advertising, the newest opportunities with Twitter ads, and how to retarget your ideal customers and guests across the web.
12:00 pm
Top Trends for 2015: Emerging flavors, concepts and consumer preferences that will permeate the restaurant industry this year
What drives America’s restaurant industry? Change.
Understanding how food and beverage trends, customer and labor demographics, economics, and technology combine to define consumer behavior is essential in positioning your business for success. The National Restaurant Association offers industry-leading research and strategic insights on this very topic. Join Hudson Riehle, senior vice president of research for the National Restaurant Association for a primer on the industry’s unique trends, challenges and opportunities for restaurateurs, chefs, and their suppliers.
1:00 pm
Service charges vs. tips: Get the straight scoop from the experts
The questions restaurateurs have to face on a day-to-day basis are many and complex. How do the distinctions between “tips” and “service charges” define an employer’s obligations under the law? When can a “tip credit” be taken? What if employees are performing both types of work on the same shift, tipped and service charged? If you pay out “service charges” to employees, how does that affect overtime calculations? Who gets taxed on the money from service charges? If there is a tip pool, how can you deal with its complications lawfully?
Compliance with State and Federal tax and wage and hour laws presents challenges unique to the restaurant industry. Join attorneys Robert Bower, Kelly Hoffman and David Herzer from the law firm of Norman Hanson DeTroy and Greg Dugal, president & CEO of the Maine Restaurant Association and Maine Innkeepers Association for a discussion on how best to answer these and similarly thorny questions.
2:00 pm
High Tech Theft: How to avoid losing your business to cyber crime
The past few years have illustrated that major retailers are vulnerable to cyber attacks which have exposed millions of customers’ personal and financial information. It doesn’t just happen to the big guys. Accepting credit card payments and processing them through a point-of-sale system is integral to most hospitality businesses. It is crucial that you employ diligent security measures to protect you and your business from crippling liabilities.
Join Matt Fasulo, senior special agent with the US Secret Service to learn about current trends in cyber crimes and how to harden your system from malicious intrusions. Agent Fasulo will be joined by representatives from Heartland Payment Systems and NCR Aloha who will field questions related to credit card processing and point-of-sale hardware and software.
This forum will also include a discussion of the credit card industry’s adoption of EMV/Chip & Pin technology and how this development will shift liability to the merchant for fraudulent transactions if they are not compliant with the new standard by October 1, 2015.
Attendee Registration Floorplan List of Exhibitors
Host Hotel Directions & Parking
For more information, contact show director:
Rebecca Dill
207-623-2178
Maine Restaurant & Lodging Expo is co-hosted by:
Show Logistics
Show Date & Time:
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
10 am - 4 pm
Exhibitor Set-Up:
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Assigned times from
10 am - 5 pm
Show Venue:
Cross Insurance Arena*
One Civic Center Square
Portland, Maine
Contact Us
Show Director:
Rebecca Dill [email protected]
207-623-2178
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About the Expo
The Maine Restaurant & Lodging Expo is the premier business-to-business trade show for Maine's premier industry - hospitality!
More than 120 exhibiting companies engage with hundreds of restaurant and lodging professionals in the most efficient and effective marketing event of the year.
Owners and employees of licensed foodservice and lodging establishments are invited to attend the Expo to find inspiration, education and resources for your every business need.
*The Expo will take place at the same venue as in previous years at the building formerly known as
the Cumberland County Civic Center which has recently been renamed the Cross Insurance Arena.
**Complimentary Expo passes are for members with a foodservice &/or lodging license,
not allied members (who are encouraged to participate in the show by exhibiting).