Kate Eastwood is sales and marketing director at Revolution Bars Group. She’ll be at the show on Thursday 28 February, taking part in an exclusive live recording of the WE ARE Spectacular podcast – a must-listen for any discerning marketer in the food and drink industry.
She’ll be joined by marketing directors from wagamama, Las Iguanas and Bill’s Restaurants, plus Thom Elliot, co-founder of Pizza Pilgrims, and WE ARE Spectacular’s CEO Mark McCulloch.
What restaurant & pub operators do you particularly admire and why?
wagamama, for delivering casual dining consistently in a way you want to keep coming back for more – and that sale price! Caravan – just love their food and the authenticity of the brand.
What do you feel is the key for operators to successfully compete against their competitors in 2019 and beyond?
Consistency in delivery, agility in understanding what customers want and ability to inspire the team to act on it.
What do you see as key trends in the coming year?Â
Desire for more experiential, bit less booze, more vegan/veggie food, social media ever evolving.
What’s your bestselling dish / drink at the moment?
Cheese Burger & Porn Star Martini.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of your job?
The energy that you get from the team when everything is going well.
And the most challenging?
The hours in the day.
How important is the Casual Dining show to the casual dining sector?
Feels odd that it is a relative youngster, feels like it has been around forever!
Describe the Casual Dining trade show in 3 words:Â
Chance to think.
Who or what inspires you to be even better?
Young people coming into the industry with open minds.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?
Never ever, ever give up.
Tell us a fun fact about yourself that most people don’t know.Â
I actually wanted to be a doctor!
See Kate at Casual Dining 2019
The Casual Dining Marketing Panel – A WE ARE Spectacular Podcast Live: 1.45pm in Keynote Theatre 1 on Thursday 28 February.  The session will feature –Â
- Andre Johnstone, UK marketing director at wagamama
- Thom Elliot, co-founder of Pizza Pilgrims
- Lucy Harwood, brand & marketing director at Las Iguanas
- Kate Eastwood, sales & marketing director at Revolution Bars Group
- Lesley McIlroy, head of marketing at Bill’s Restaurants
- Mark McCulloch, founder & CEO of WE ARE Spectacular (session host)
