The Marketing Executives Group—aka The MEG—just wrapped in Chicago. It’s the unofficial kickoff to the National Restaurant Association Show, but this one’s marketers only. It’s tight-knit, tactic-driven, and completely pitch-free.
MEG describes itself as:
“A year-round community of restaurant marketing professionals who gather each May in Chicago ahead of the National Restaurant Association Show. Build your network with professionals from the C-Suite to Directors and Managers, focusing on key areas like brand, digital, consumer, and field marketing.”
Here’s what that really means: real conversations, actionable strategies, and a ton of nuggets. If you’re in restaurant marketing—or want to get sharper at it—MEG should be on your calendar.
Here are my top takeaways from MEG 2025:
BE A BRAND, NOT A PROMO
If all your marketing is built around promos, discounts, and limited-time offers… That’s your brand.
If your content is interesting, engaging, and speaks directly to your ICPs, then your brand becomes a reflection of your values—not your margins.
👉 The latter pays off way more than a BOGO.
Ask yourself: What can we make, inside our budget, that people would actually want to watch?
CREATORS DRIVE GROWTH
I just spent two days inside Meta’s NYC offices for a creators forum. Add in the MEG influencer marketing panel and my own experience making content—and here’s the verdict:
If you want growth, work with creators. Full stop. Big or small, doesn’t matter. Influencers bring trust, attention, and recommendations that outperform your ads. Every single panel on awareness at MEG backed this up.
Need a starting point? Here's my guide: 🔗 All Your Influencer Marketing Questions—Answered
AI ISN’T THE FUTURE. IT’S THE NOW.
What are you using AI for? If the answer is you're not, its time to start.
What’s AI helping with right now?
- Menu and LTO idea generation
- Predicting churn and triggering retention plays
- Review responses
- Persona creation
- Upsell recommendations
- Copywriting
- Creative ideation
- Segmentation
- Guest behavior analysis
This was the first conference Ive been to this year where really, really great use cases for AI were shared. By the way ... here is my AI write up from 2024 for comparison:
🔗BIGGEST TAKEAWAYS: The Marketing Executives Group (MEG) 2024
WHAT OPERATORS WANT FROM TECH VENDORS
If you're selling into restaurants, here's what gets attention: Insights. Playbooks. Perspective.
You have a bird’s-eye view of what's working across brands, markets, and models. Share it.
- What trends are working for your best clients?
- What marketing plays are performing?
- What would you stop doing if you were us?
Don’t wait for a QBR. Don’t wait to be asked. Don’t be lazy.
Drop the sales pitch. Lead with value. The sales will follow.
BACK TO BASICS
Marketers love shiny objects. Innovation is sexy. But if your fundamentals are leaking, nothing sticks.
If you want all the new stuff—AI, influencers, content, tech—to actually work, your foundation better be solid. That means:
- Local SEO
- Evergreen awareness ads
- Email newsletters
- Review management
- Guest data collection
- Website performance
Need a system? Steal mine: 🔗 Steal This Proven Marketing System
Were you at MEG? What stood out to you? Drop a comment—I’d love to hear it.
Need help building or fixing your restaurant marketing system? Email me: rev@brandedstrategic.net
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WHAT DOES REV DO?
✓ I help restaurants build guest marketing programs
✓ I help hospitality tech companies with lead generation and content marketing