Track: The Shift

The hospitality sector is experiencing a hybridization shift, where traditional restaurants, retail, automation, and vending coexist. This session focuses on understanding this new landscape and its real implications for business.

WHEN HORECA, RETAIL AND AUTOMATION COME TOGETHER

The borders have fallen.

In this Focus Session, you will discover how restaurants, retail, and new hybrid formats are creating real growth opportunities.

Cases, partnerships, and models that work.

A session to open your mind, identify new channels, and understand how to play on multiple boards without losing identity.

INDUSTRY LEADER: Pablo de la Rica

How retail and hospitality are redefining the stomach share to capture new consumption occasions, breaking the traditional boundaries between purchase and experience. We will analyze how new habits, format hybridization, and technology integration are creating unprecedented moments of consumption.

The boundaries between HORECA and Retail are blurring, giving way to new strategic alliances that open opportunities for growth, visibility, and diversification. In this roundtable, we explore how restaurateurs and retail operators are learning to work together: how these collaborations are built, how they are negotiated, which models work best, and the challenges they pose in terms of brand, operations, and control. A key conversation to understand how these alliances are redefining customer access and expanding the playing field for both sectors.

From survival to selective growth

We are experiencing an economic and global shift that directly impacts margins, costs, and daily business decisions in the HORECA sector. This session provides context, criteria, and clarity to understand what is changing and why.

THE FACTORS REDRAWING GLOBAL HORECA

In this Focus Session, The Shift opens the discussion to understand which economic, political, and social forces are reshaping tourism, hospitality, and consumption.

You will gain the insight to anticipate trends, read the context, and make smarter decisions in an uncertain environment.

A session designed to move from reacting to playing with an advantage.

INDUSTRY LEADER: Inma de Benito

In this talk, we explore how an iconic product can become the foundation of a solid and scalable multichannel business model. From retail to foodservice and major transit hubs such as airports, the conversation reveals how opportunities are identified, formats are adapted, and multiple channels are managed without losing brand coherence. A talk to understand how to think about distribution, business models, and expansion when the product is the starting point, but vision is what makes the difference.

Inflation, product costs and labor costs today form the Holy Trinity that determines the survival of restaurants and hotels. In this roundtable, we will address, through an economic and strategic perspective, how these three factors are reshaping margins, forcing changes in operational models, and requiring difficult but necessary decisions. A conversation to understand what is really happening, which impacts are coming from outside the sector, and which levers remain in the hands of business owners to protect their business, their teams, and their medium-term viability.

This keynote will map the global trends and benchmarks redefining hybrid business models and outline the strategic implications for operators in 2026 and beyond.

As a synthesis, the key elements of the new hybrid environment are outlined, identifying risks and opportunities, and drawing practical conclusions to adapt business models, diversify revenue streams, and compete more effectively in a transforming market.

The shift in the relationship with suppliers is key: purchasing priorities, customer demands, and decision-making processes are changing. This session provides context for this new logic in supply.

THE NEW STRATEGIC POWER OF SMART PURCHASING

Purchasing is no longer operational, it is pure strategy.

You will learn how to optimize costs without sacrificing quality, negotiate better, standardize processes, and build resilience.

A Focus Session to understand how supply decisions directly impact margin, brand, and competitiveness, especially in independent restaurants.

INDUSTRY LEADER: TBC

Procurement is no longer just an operational function, but a strategic decision. This roundtable analyzes how restaurateurs build an intelligent purchasing mix by combining purchasing groups, distributors, strategic suppliers, and local products. A hybrid model that makes it possible to maximize competitiveness in price and terms, gain efficiency, and at the same time preserve value-driven relationships with key suppliers while generating differentiation through local sourcing aligned with brand identity, storytelling, and positioning.

The procurement function now operates in a radically different environment, marked by geopolitical instability, persistent inflation, and constant cost pressure. This new landscape redefines the rules of negotiation, strategic priorities, and risk management within the supply chain. In this roundtable, we analyze how decision-making criteria are evolving, how supplier relationship models are changing, and which purchasing strategies are required to ensure competitiveness, resilience, and adaptability in HORECA businesses.

The supplier relationship is undergoing a profound shift. In this session, expert voices analyse how purchasing priorities are changing, what today’s end customer demands, and how to align product, service, and costs. A conversation to understand how to make better supply decisions in a more complex and demanding environment.

A conversation about the new tourism landscape, addressing the evolution of destinations, connectivity, emerging consumption habits, and the role of the different actors in the value chain within a context of global transformation. In a country approaching 100 million visitors, understanding who comes and how they consume is key to designing more profitable, coherent, and sustainable HORECA models in each destination.

In conclusion, key insights on procurement, suppliers, and strategic priorities are synthesised, providing clear criteria to make better decisions, optimise costs, and align offering, customer, and profitability.

As an executive summary of this session, we bring together the key economic factors, cost pressures, immediate trends, and the impact of source markets, drawing practical conclusions to adjust business models and make better decisions today.

We are facing an operational and environmental shift that forces us to rethink how products are delivered, how we manage waste, and how we operate efficiently in an increasingly regulated and demanding urban environment.

CITIES, LOGISTICS, AND THE NEW URBAN FOOD PACT

How can the cities of the future be fed better?

You will learn about urban models, smart logistics, applied sustainability, and public-private collaboration.

An inspiring Focus Session to understand how food service fits into the new urban design and what opportunities are opening for agile and conscious operators.

INDUSTRY LEADER: TBC

We are experiencing a competitive shift: the rules of the game have changed. This session provides context on how business models are evolving and what new factors determine success in the hospitality sector today.

WHEN THE BEST RESTAURANT NO LONGER WINS, THE BEST MODEL DOES

Discover why some businesses grow, scale, and attract investment while others, despite being brilliant, fall behind.

In this Focus Session, we will analyze models, efficiency, structure, and business mindset.

You will take away practical insights to rethink your business, make it more profitable, and design it with a future vision without losing its soul.

INDUSTRY LEADER: Joan Jover

A strategic and inspirational session on how Food & Beverage is evolving to respond to new consumer demands and an increasingly complex business environment. From independent concepts to hospitality, cruises, retail, and corporate spaces, we will explore how F&B is used as a key activation point to create experiences, differentiation, and brand value, and how it is becoming a decisive lever in strategic decision-making.

The Spanish hospitality sector is entering a new phase of transformation drawing a new landscape where concepts are refined territories are reconfigured and value no longer depends on expanding the offer but on building proposals with a clear identity.

Based on the analysis of sector data this presentation will explore

• What trends are shaping the new map of hospitality in Spain

• What type of establishment is showing the greatest capacity for growth by adapting its proposals to an increasingly demanding consumer who seeks experiences that are more meaningful than functional

• And that areas under development grow where social energy cultural movement and the capacity to generate community converge.

Restaurant management does not end in the kitchen or the dining room. Procurement, food distribution, urban logistics, and waste management are all part of an external ecosystem that is becoming increasingly regulated, demanding, and complex, both in urban and tourist environments. This roundtable explores the major challenges that take place beyond the restaurant walls and how they directly impact costs, operations, sustainability, and overall business viability. A key conversation to understand why managing the invisible has become a true competitive advantage.

Hospitality no longer competes solely on cuisine, service, or location. It competes on model, structure, and adaptability. In this roundtable, key perspectives from the sector —independent restaurateurs, restaurant groups, and branded dining— come together to examine how the way of competing has radically changed. Costs, talent, scale, brand, experience, efficiency, and resilience all come into play from very different realities. An honest conversation to understand which factors are redefining competitiveness today, which models withstand current pressures best, and which strategic decisions will determine the survival and growth of the hospitality business in the coming years.

Cities are redefining how the urban food system is organised to address challenges related to mobility, sustainability, coexistence and efficiency. In this roundtable, different municipalities share how they are designing new models for sourcing, distribution and waste management that create a real balance between restaurateurs, distributors, customers and residents. A win-win approach that demonstrates how public-private collaboration is key to building smarter, more viable foodservice ecosystems aligned with new regulatory and social demands.

This conversation will explore what investors are currently looking for in the hospitality sector and which models generate trust in international markets. We will analyze the mistakes most penalized by capital and the factors that truly determine scalability and investment potential. An expert perspective, from strategic consultancy, to understand how to build solid businesses that are attractive to investors and prepared to compete in an increasingly demanding global environment.

High competitiveness is not improvised: it is designed. In this talk, two major high-volume operators —one from organized dining and the other from on-the-go/rest stop dining— share the lessons that can only be learned when managing thousands of services a day. Suppliers, people, processes, technology, and customer relationships are viewed through the lens of total effectiveness. The goal is not to copy industrial models, but to translate their learnings into the context of independent restaurants. A session to understand which decisions make a difference today, how to gain efficiency without losing identity, and which practices have become essential to compete successfully in an environment radically different from just a few years ago.

Logistics, urban distribution, waste, and sustainability are part of a key operational shift. This roundtable addresses these challenges from an expert and cross-functional perspective, analyzing how to better manage the invisible complexity of the hospitality business to reduce friction, hidden costs, and increase efficiency.

In a highly competitive environment, the difference between surviving or growing lies in the design of the business model. This talk explores the role of the consultant as a strategic figure to create, evolve, or scale HORECA concepts more quickly and with greater guarantees of success. Methodology, structure, tools, and experience help shorten the entrepreneur’s learning curve, identify critical competitiveness factors, and make better decisions. A key reflection on how external vision and professional methods strengthen the Business Power of businesses.

As an executive summary, this session integrates learnings on logistics, urban distribution, sustainability, and waste management, extracting practical conclusions to reduce friction, hidden costs, and improve the daily operations of the business.

The executive summary integrates lessons from various operational models, identifying which factors drive competitiveness today and which strategic decisions a business should prioritize to remain profitable and relevant.

The hotel sector is experiencing a technological and operational shift driven by AI, automation, and sustainability. This session provides context on these changes and their direct impact on costs and competitiveness.

By 2026, up to 50% of searches will be conducted through AI engines such as ChatGPT or Google AI Overviews. Travelers will no longer browse through links: they will request direct answers, recommendations, and immediate bookings. For hotels, the message is clear: traditional SEO is no longer enough. AI visibility, personalization, and a seamless digital experience will be key to staying competitive.

WHEN DATA, EXPERIENCE, AND PROFITABILITY MEET

The hotel experience is no longer improvised: it is designed using data, sound judgment, and strategic vision.

This Focus Session reveals how intelligence, distribution, automation, and customer experience come together to drive efficiency and profitability without losing soul.

You will leave with practical insights to make better decisions, optimise operations, and build coherent experiences in an increasingly demanding market.

INDUSTRY LEADER: Álvaro Carrillo de Albornoz

Artificial intelligence has emerged as a new key player in hotel distribution, transforming the way customers search, compare, gather information, and book. Conversational chatbots, new recommendation dynamics, and shifts in the decision-making process are redefining the balance between the customer, OTAs, and hotels. This roundtable examines how this landscape is changing, the implications for each stakeholder, and how to adapt sales and distribution strategies so that technology becomes a win-win opportunity rather than a threat to profitability and customer relationships.

Hospitality is, by definition, a deeply human industry. Yet in a context of cost pressure, talent shortages, and rising guest expectations, automation and robotics are emerging as key levers of the new operating model. This roundtable explores how technology can free up time, reduce friction, and improve economic efficiency without dehumanizing the guest experience. On the contrary, when applied effectively, it allows teams to focus on what truly adds value, enhance service quality, improve working conditions, and build hotels that are more profitable, sustainable, and ready for the immediate future.

Sustainability has ceased to be just a narrative and has become an operational imperative in the hotel industry. Energy, water, waste, products, talent, and the guest experience converge in high-impact, highly complex establishments. This roundtable addresses sustainability from a comprehensive and realistic perspective: how to design sustainable models from the outset, how to transform existing operations, and how to balance efficiency, profitability, and responsibility. A key conversation to understand which decisions truly matter, how to avoid greenwashing, and how to turn sustainability into a solid, measurable competitive advantage for the hotel business.

Digitalisation is no longer an operational tool: it is the nervous system of the F&B department. From procurement to recipe costing, from waste management to profitability by point of sale, this session explores how technology enables data-driven decision-making, reduces operational friction, and transforms control into a competitive advantage.

The closing section summarizes the main conclusions on distribution, operational efficiency, and sustainability, integrating key lessons to help hotels make smarter decisions in a highly competitive environment.

The experience is undergoing a central shift: it is no longer a complement, but the differentiating value. This session focuses on experience as a strategic business tool.

EXPERIENCE IS NO LONGER EATEN, IT IS FELT

Customers no longer remember what they ate, they remember how they felt.

In this Focus Session, you will discover how the space becomes a strategic tool: lighting, sound, tableware, rhythm, and atmosphere working together to influence perception, dwell time, and repeat visits.

Designing experience is no longer just aesthetics, it is a business decision.

INDUSTRY LEADER: Paqui Cánovas

An immersive workshop for restaurant professionals that explores how to design gastronomic experiences that connect with diners on a sensory, emotional, and cultural level.

Experience doesn’t start on the plate nor end in the glass. Temperature, sound, tableware, lighting, textures, and rhythm create invisible decisions that impact perceived value, comfort, and memory. A talk to understand how to design atmospheres that work for your business, foster loyalty without words, and turn spaces into memorable experiences.

We analyze a key and often undervalued element: the support. Tableware doesn’t just present food; it defines the concept, expresses identity, interacts with the gastronomic proposal, and shapes the perception of price and value. A conversation about how plates, textures, and materials build a story, differentiate the restaurant, and elevate the customer experience from the very first visual impact.

In summary, key learnings on experience design, comfort, and emotion are integrated, drawing clear conclusions on how atmosphere impacts perceived value, customer loyalty, and profitability.

Digitalization is undergoing a decisive shift: data is moving from being optional to strategic. This session provides context on how technology is changing the way hospitality is managed and decisions are made.

FROM CHAOTIC TECHNOLOGY TO THE DECISION-MAKING ECOSYSTEM

This Focus Session isn’t about technology, it’s about taking control of your business.

It brings digitalization down to earth and shows how to connect data, operations, and customers to gain control, margin, and focus. Less hype, more judgment.

You will leave with clarity on which technology you need, which you don’t, and how to turn data into actionable decisions.

INDUSTRY LEADER: Emilio Gallego

Based on data from the ConectadHOS study promoted by Hostelería de España, this talk analyzes the sector's true moment of digital transformation. Beyond the adoption of tools, the focus is on the strategic shift: from digitizing processes to redesigning business models, experience, and competitiveness. Investment, training, actual use of technology, and the emerging role of AI paint a clear picture: the sector is aware of the change but needs to accelerate to avoid falling behind.

In today’s restaurant industry, the difference between a full restaurant and one with empty tables is often not the kitchen, but the data. In this practical workshop, we will analyze the complete customer journey, from the moment someone discovers a restaurant to when they become a loyal customer, to understand what information is generated at each stage and how it can be used to make better decisions. Through live questions, real examples and industry data, participants will identify which metrics they should track in their business and how digitalization makes it possible to turn information into profitability. A clear and practical approach to move from “gut feeling” management to data-driven decision making.

This roundtable brings together companies that develop and distribute these technologies to compare vision, reality and practical application. The discussion will address which solutions are truly mature, where they deliver value today, what the barriers to adoption are, and how to scale their implementation according to business size. A conversation aimed at distinguishing trend from real impact and understanding how to turn technological innovation into tangible competitive advantage.

In major international chains, F&B is no longer managed by intuition: it is driven by data. This session brings together three corporate directors to analyse how technological intelligence, smart standardisation, and sustainability are redefining guest experience, operational efficiency, and global positioning.

Digitalization is entering a new phase: the shift toward data-driven decision making. In this roundtable, industry experts explore how technological tools, their integration, and the intelligent use of information are transforming the daily and strategic management of restaurants.

For years, technology in the restaurant industry has been perceived as a necessary cost. This talk proposes a radical shift in perspective: understanding it as a strategic investment with economic, operational and competitive returns. We will analyse the mechanisms that make it possible to move from expense to investment, how to assess the real ROI of technological solutions, and what financial, fiscal and management advantages a restaurant can unlock. A key session for making technology decisions with a business mindset and for stopping seeing innovation as a burden and starting to see it as a growth lever.

This roundtable brings together companies that develop and distribute these technologies to contrast vision, reality, and practical application. It will address which solutions are truly mature, where they are delivering value today, what the barriers to adoption are, and how to scale implementation according to business size. A conversation aimed at separating trends from real impact and understanding how to turn technological innovation into a tangible competitive advantage.

The executive summary brings together the key insights on digital tools, interconnectivity, and data usage, drawing practical conclusions to improve control, efficiency, and tactical and strategic decision-making.

The kitchen is undergoing a structural shift: from an operational space to a production hub. This session provides context on how workflows, equipment, and the relationship with the business are changing.

FROM KITCHEN TO EFFICIENT PRODUCTION CENTER

Kitchens are changing radically. This Focus Session analyzes how they are evolving into more standardized, flexible, and profitable production centers.

Processes, technology, and design serving the business. A key session to gain efficiency while preserving identity and gastronomic quality.

INDUSTRY LEADER: Juan Umbert

Workshop presenting the new work systems the hospitality sector needs today, including a live demonstration of the speed and efficiency that can be achieved.

Equipment is not an expense: it is critical infrastructure. Energy, climate control, maintenance, laundry, tableware, and furniture not only support daily operations, but also directly influence profitability, customer experience, and business continuity.
This round table is built around the strategic value of knowing, choosing, and managing distributors and technical service providers effectively, opening a high-level conversation on how to build supplier–operator relationships that deliver reliability, efficiency, anticipation, and competitive advantage. A key discussion for operating better, making informed decisions, and reducing risk.

The professional kitchen is undergoing one of the most profound shifts in the industry: it has moved from being an operational space to becoming a strategic production center, shaped by new workflows, equipment, timing, sales channels, and demands for efficiency. This panel brings together expert perspectives to interpret how this transformation impacts profitability, relationships with suppliers, and the design of kitchens adapted to the new hospitality landscape. An editorial-style debate about the “backstage” that today determines the success of the business.

As a closing, the session summarizes learnings on productive efficiency, kitchen organization, and adaptation to multiple channels, drawing key conclusions to improve timing, costs, and profitability.

Talent is experiencing a deep cultural shift. This session provides context on the new labor landscape in hospitality, the generational change, and the real challenges of attracting, training, and retaining people.

THE PEOPLE WHO MAKE EVERYTHING WORK

Without talent, there is no business but the current model no longer works. 

This Focus Session addresses the gap between the traditional employer and a new generation with different priorities, and analyzes the strategies that, as a sector and as a country, we must activate to attract and retain talent.

The session concludes with The Shift highlighting the value of the entire value chain of an activity as extensive and deeply complex as HORECA.

The HORECA sector is facing a critical mismatch between what employers offer and what new generations of professionals are seeking. Working hours, career development, flexibility, purpose, and benefits are now interpreted through different lenses. This presentation addresses the real gap between employees and employers, analyzing why traditional models no longer work and what urgent changes are needed to become attractive again. Understanding this generational mismatch is not an option; it is an essential condition to ensure talent, continuity, and future competitiveness.

After identifying the mismatch between what the company offers and what talent seeks, this panel broadens the perspective by incorporating three key viewpoints: labor market, training, and society. From this intersection, new ways of attracting, developing, and engaging professionals in HORECA will be explored, understanding talent as a strategic challenge that requires redesigning the model from a more human, sustainable, and future-oriented vision.

Best Buffet Manager and Best Hotel Maître

Specialized HORECA Consultancy

The DECOD Awards recognize professionals who are driving a new way of understanding retail and food service, based on innovation, efficiency, and responsibility. In this context, the Leadership in Procurement Award distinguishes those who have successfully transformed the procurement and logistics function into a true strategic driver of the business, generating value beyond cost savings.

The award highlights careers and projects that impact the food-on-demand value chain, incorporating criteria of sustainability, resilience, and digitalization. It also recognizes the ability to lead with vision, foster innovation, and build strong and collaborative relationships with suppliers.

This is a recognition of those who are helping to redefine the role of procurement as a key, strategic function committed to the development of more responsible models for the sector, society, and the planet.

The Fedis Horeca Awards recognize and give value to all those initiatives carried out within the sector that strive for excellence by introducing innovative elements, while also generating a positive impact at the economic, social, and business levels. Special consideration will be given to actions that serve as a benchmark for the sector and that contribute to its improvement, particularly by raising the level of professionalism within the industry.

Sustainability is no longer a discourse, but an integral practice that spans people, product, planet, and community. This recognition focuses on professionals who lead businesses with a 360° sustainable vision, demonstrating that it is possible to be profitable, responsible, and consistent at the same time, and that well-understood sustainability is a real competitive advantage. We recognize professionals who are leaders in 360° sustainability. In collaboration with Fundación Restaurantes Sostenibles.