The National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant Innovation Summit is set to take place November 5-6 in Cleveland, Ohio. The event will teach attendees how to give guests what they want, sometimes before they even know they want it.

One approach to inspiration and innovation pushes businesses to let go of traditional problem-solving strategies and forces them to step back and truly see their operation through the eyes of the customer. In order to identify customer pain points and exceed their expectations, operators need empathy and creative ideation.

November’s Restaurant Innovation Summit will include a four-hour workshop aimed at applying design-thinking principles such as customer empathy, eliminating silos by welcoming fresh inputs from outside sources, challenging assumptions, getting an idea into action quickly, and getting a complete picture of customer needs and expectations through a combination of qualitative and quantitative data.

The Restaurant Innovation Summit provides deep and actionable insights for solving tomorrow's challenges today, courtesy of powerful keynote speakers, thoughtful panels, and immersive workshops.