Deborah Jones
Senior Client Success Manager | The Home of Mystery Shopping
In January, The Restaurant Marketer & Innovator European Summit 2026 brought together hundreds of hospitality leaders from across the sector for three days of learning about the latest marketing, innovation and development opportunities.
An Industry that Never Stands Still
Last year, I walked into the Restaurant Marketer & Innovator Summit on my own, not really knowing anyone. It turned out to be one of the most energising industry events I have ever attended. People were welcoming, open and honest about the realities and challenges of running hospitality businesses – not just the shiny bits.
Coming back this year with more of the Proinsight team, as a headline partner and with clients in the room, the sense of community felt even stronger. Hearing from so many industry icons, such as the charismatic Mark McCulloch – ( now freshly armed with his recent MBA!), and seeing the infectious enthusiasm behind our wonderful clients at Prezzo as they launched their new brand in 2025 (yes, we’re all still chanting “when I say Prezzo, you say Italian!”) really captured the spirit of hospitality at its best.
Innovation is Nothing Without Execution
On stage over 2 days, we heard so many stories of brands pushing into new categories, concepts and markets, from experience‑led venues and social entertainment spaces to ambitious roll‑outs across the UK and Europe.
There were so many standout moments that it’s impossible to name them all — but to highlight just a few, David Tester from Franco Manca explored simplicity-led product innovation, while Libby Andrews of Pho reflected on scaling the brand from a handful of sites to national presence. Evie Horsell from Big Mamma Group brought bold thinking on launch strategy and storytelling, and Keyana Mohammadi of Dave’s Hot Chicken shared how digital acceleration is fuelling rapid UK and European growth. Meanwhile, Romy Miller from Knoops unpacked what it really means to build and defend a new category, and Mark and his team at Cow & Sow delivered another standout session before going on to secure two awards — proof that creative campaigns and commercial results can go hand in hand.
We also heard from fabulous Kavi Thakrar, co-founder of Dishoom, who took part in a leadership conversation with Fleet Street Communications. The discussion explored the realities of scaling a values-led brand, staying culturally grounded while growing, and what authentic leadership looks like in modern hospitality.
What struck me most across all these conversations wasn’t the ambition. It was the shift in focus.
The smartest operators in the room weren’t asking, “What’s our next big launch?” They were asking, “How do we make this consistently brilliant in the real world?”
It’s a noticeable shift from treating innovation as a one‑off launch to seeing it as something you work on every day. It shows up in how teams behave, how decisions are made during service, and how quickly businesses are willing to adjust when something is not working for guests.
The Very Human Side of Hospitality
One of my own personal highlights was hosting a fireside chat with another of our fab clients, Michael Farquhar, COO of ETM Group, where we talked about his leadership story, learnings along the way and the very human side of building hospitality businesses. Twenty‑five minutes flew by, and we could have talked for hours about how leaders create brilliant team ethics, to ensure they deliver the very best in guest experiences – the results in the massive growth seen YOY.
A theme that ran through so many conversations was authenticity. Not as a buzzword, but in the way leaders actually show up for their teams, admit when they don’t have all the answers, and stay close to what guests are really experiencing. In a sector where margins are tight and change is quick, teams naturally follow the people at the top. When leaders treat feedback as something useful, ask honest questions about how it feels to be a guest, and invest in training off the back of that, it becomes much easier to build a culture where “we care about the guest” starts to feel real in the day‑to‑day, not just in the brand language.
What Hospitality Leaders Really Want from Guest Experience Insights
During panels, roundtables, and informal chats, a few other consistent themes came up about what businesses now need from guest experience insights:
- Leaders want less noise and more clarity. With so much data flying around – from booking platforms, review sites, loyalty programmes, social channels and in‑house systems – the question is no longer “Do we have enough data?” but “Which of these actually helps us make better decisions?” Businesses are asking for insights that pinpoint the moments that matter most for their specific concept and guest base.
- They want insights that connect marketing and operations. Guest experience isn’t just an operational metric; it’s the reality of whether you live up to what you have promised in your marketing campaigns. When you look at mystery shopping results, guest feedback and your day‑to‑day performance data side by side, it becomes much clearer whether the story you tell about your brand is actually being delivered in‑venue.
- They want insights that can be turned into actions quickly. The brands that really stand out are closing the gap between spotting a trend and taking action. That might mean tweaking a pre‑shift briefing, adjusting staffing during busy times, changing part of the guest journey, or updating training to reflect what guests are experiencing now, not what was happening last year.
Where Proinsight Fits into the Picture
For our team at Proinsight, the Restaurant Marketer & Innovator Summit was an excellent reminder that mystery shopping and guest experience insight aren’t about catching people out. They are about giving teams the kind of honest feedback you get when you see the experience through a guest’s eyes – and then making it easy to act on what you have learned.
We work with hospitality and restaurant businesses across the UK to design customer experience programmes that reflect the reality of their operations – from quick‑service and coffee bars to premium casual dining and multi‑site groups. They can include everything from first impressions at the door, speed of service, product knowledge and upselling, through to digital journeys, phone conversations, and how teams handle complaints or special occasions.
Crucially, we focus on turning mystery shopping results into something leaders and on‑site teams can actually use. Clear scorecards, written feedback and trend reporting mean your teams aren’t just looking at numbers, but seeing what they actually mean for every shift. This is what helps turn big ideas from events into the way service feels on a Tuesday afternoon.
From Inspiration to Making Real Change
If there was one thing I took away from the Restaurant Marketer & Innovator Summit this year, it’s that the gap between brands that ‘talk’ about great guest experience versus those who actively deliver it consistently is widening. The brands leading the way are the ones who:
- Keep the guest at the centre of every decision, not just the big strategic ones.
- Treat feedback – whether from mystery shopping or reviews – as an asset, not a threat.
- Use data to train and support, not to blame, so teams feel like part of the solution.
Events like this are incredible for sparking ideas, challenging assumptions and reminding us why hospitality is such a special industry to work in. However, the real magic happens in your venues, service after service, table after table, when your teams have the insight, confidence and tools to deliver the experience you have promised.
If you left the Restaurant Marketer & Innovator Summit 2026 feeling inspired to improve your guest experience – or if you’re simply ready to move from assumptions and gut feelings to real-world and actionable insights – we would love to talk to you.
Our experts at Proinsight can help you design a tailored mystery shopping programme that reflects your brand, supports your team, and provides the evidence you need to keep evolving. Get in touch with us to explore how we can turn what you want your guest experience to be into something you can see, measure, and improve every single day.
