Hospitality Tech360 will launch at ExCeL London from 30 March to 1 April as part of Food, Drink & Hospitality Week, bringing together operators, technologists and industry leaders to examine how digital tools, people and culture intersect to shape long-term performance in the hospitality sector.
The new event is structured around two stages, the Tech Talks Theatre and the Hospitality Leaders Forum, with sessions led by operators from restaurant, pub and hospitality groups, alongside technology, data and marketing specialists working closely with the sector. Across the programme, the emphasis is on practical decision-making, focusing on what delivers value in day-to-day operations and what can create friction when technology is poorly aligned with reality.
The Hospitality Leaders Forum is designed for senior decision-makers and will convene CEOs, CFOs and directors to discuss how technology intersects with leadership, commercial performance and sustainable growth. Speakers include Gavin Smith, CEO of Pizza Pilgrims; Sarah Pope, CIO and IT Director at Big Table Group; Shereen Ritchie, CEO of Kuvi; Tim Doubleday, CFO at Burger King UK; and Tom James, Managing Director at Bill’s Restaurants.
Sessions will span topics such as leadership under pressure, building resilient systems, sustainable growth models and the role of women shaping the future of hospitality technology. The Forum will also host a keynote from award-winning AI content and prompt engineering strategist Georgia Lewis Anderson, who will share practical principles for designing AI interactions that feel natural, useful and aligned with brand identity.
Rather than positioning technology as an end in itself, Hospitality Tech360 frames digital tools as part of a broader operational ecosystem. Across both stages, sessions are built around questions facing hospitality leaders today: where technology genuinely improves performance, where it introduces complexity, and how economic, environmental and social considerations can be embedded into operations from the outset.
This approach is reflected in the Hospitality Leaders Forum session ‘AI forecasting: Promise vs. Reality’, which focuses on cutting through the noise surrounding artificial intelligence in hospitality. The session examines how AI forecasting tools perform once they meet the realities of legacy systems, data quality and operational constraints.
Tommy Giraux, Head of Restaurant Systems at Honest Burgers, says the appeal of Hospitality Tech360 lies in its focus on lived operational experience rather than abstract technology discussions. “It’s one of the few events where the conversation stays grounded in real hospitality operations, not just tech hype,” he says. “AI forecasting is everywhere right now, but most teams are still working out what actually delivers value, what’s noise, and what ‘good’ looks like at scale.”
For leaders under pressure to protect margins while reducing waste, Giraux notes that the session will address where AI tools can make a measurable difference and where they often fall short. Areas such as poor data foundations and disconnected systems are expected to feature prominently in the discussion.
Energy use and decarbonisation form another core strand of the programme, reflecting growing cost pressures and regulatory expectations facing hospitality operators. The session ‘The low-energy kitchen: electrification, monitoring tech, and total cost-in-use’ will examine how kitchens can reduce energy demand while maintaining performance.
Mark Chapman, CEO and Founder of Zero Carbon Forum, will discuss the opportunity to cut both carbon and costs by tackling energy waste at source. Victoria Page, Founder of VP Comms, will argue that energy can no longer be treated as a purely technical issue. “Hospitality is at a real inflection point,” she says. “Energy now affects margins, resilience, reputation and long-term viability.” The session positions electrification as a commercial and risk management decision, rather than a compliance exercise.
Alongside environmental considerations, Hospitality Tech360 places strong emphasis on people, culture and leadership. In ‘Humans as luxury: Redefining value in an automated hospitality future’, Simone Puorto of Hospitality Net will explore how automation is reshaping the meaning of value itself. As robotics and AI become more embedded in operations, Puorto argues that human labour is becoming “scarcer, more expensive, and increasingly strategic”, prompting operators to rethink service design and brand positioning.
This people-centred perspective continues in the session ‘Scaling from 5 Sites to 300’, where Gina Knight, Head of People at Flat Iron, will discuss how technology can support consistency and insight without eroding culture. Joined by career and culture strategist Rebekah Galligan, the session will focus on how leadership behaviours and organisational values shape sustainable growth alongside systems and data.
Marketing and guest engagement also feature across the programme, with a focus on practical outcomes rather than novelty. ‘Hairdressers, hospitality and the human touch’ will see QVO Hospitality’s Harry Jones discuss how people-first marketing can be supported by technology, while ‘How to market to algorithms’ examines how AI-driven search is reshaping hotel discovery and visibility.
In the Tech Talks Theatre, the emphasis shifts to implementation and adoption. Sessions range from Levy UK + Ireland’s exploration of frictionless technology to Monotree’s ‘dictating, start listening’, with a consistent focus on usability and outcomes for teams on the ground. As Gregers Knudsen of Monotree puts it, “Expensive tech is useless if your team hates using it.”
Across its programme, Hospitality Tech360 positions sustainable performance as the result of informed, human-centred decision-making rather than the pursuit of the latest tools. By bringing together operators, technologists and leaders, the event aims to offer clarity on how digital systems, people and culture can be aligned to support resilience and long-term commercial performance in hospitality.
Hospitality Tech360 takes place at ExCeL London from 30 March to 1 April as part of Food, Drink & Hospitality Week. More information about the event and full programme details are available at hospitalitytech360.co.uk.
