Restaurant Marketing Workshop

'Don't go viral without this system:' Keynote to reveal growth framework at Restaurant Marketing Workshop

The 2026 agenda is designed to cover every touchpoint of the modern guest journey. If a topic impacts your brand's bottom line, it is on the schedule.

March 31, 2026 by Cherryh Cansler — Editor, FastCasual.com

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The dream of every restaurant marketer is to "go viral," but without a foundation for growth, a million views is just a vanity metric. Understanding how to turn those explosive moments into sustained revenue is the focus of the opening keynote at the upcomingRestaurant Marketing Workshop, June 2-3 in Boston.

David "Rev" Ciancio, chief marketing officer of Salad House and Handcraft Burgers and Brew, will kick off the event with his presentation, "Don't Go Viral Without This System." Ciancio plans to pull back the curtain on how powerhouses like Dave's Hot Chicken and Chili's capture momentum to drive long-term acquisition and retention.

The session sets the tone for an event that has quickly become a cornerstone for the industry.

A playbook for marketers by marketers

Before the launch of this workshop, the industry lacked a dedicated space where restaurant marketers could skip the fluff and get straight to the tactics.

This is a "conference for marketers by marketers, sharing the exact playbook and tactics that are working right now to achieve your marketing goals," Ciancio said. "The feedback from our inaugural 2025 show confirmed that we hit a nerve. I watched colleagues flipping through notebooks filled with page after page of frameworks and local search strategies they were ready to implement the moment they returned to their offices."

What to expect in Boston

The 2026 agenda is designed to cover every touchpoint of the modern guest journey. If a topic impacts your brand's bottom line, it is on the schedule. Highlights include:

Mastering the digital stack: Deep dives into CRM, loyalty programs and third-party delivery optimization.
The AI frontier: Practical applications for artificial intelligence — moving past the hype to find what actually grows a business.
Omnichannel tactics: From the traditional power of direct mail to the nuances of local search and guest feedback loops.

Ciancio, who helped curate the onstage content for the second year in a row, has made it a personal mission to ensure the show "delivers the goods."

A few other perks

The workshop will also feature an awards parade honoring the winners of this year's "Top 30 Movers & Shakers: Marketing," as well as "Marketing Night at Fenway Park: Red Sox vs. Orioles." Forget the spreadsheets and the SEO keywords — it's time for some Market Research (aka eating overpriced hot dogs and screaming at the umpire). Game time is at 6:45 p.m.

Your ticket is included with your Workshop registration at no additional cost.

Marketing

About Cherryh Cansler

Cherryh Cansler is VP of Events for Networld Media Group and publisher of FastCasual.com. She has been covering the restaurant industry since 2012. Her byline has appeared in Forbes, The Kansas City Star and American Fitness magazine, among many others.

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