The Welcome Conference

We founded the Welcome Conference in 2014 to create a space where dining room professionals could share ideas, inspire one another, and connect to form a community. By our third year, seats were filled with people from every major industry, who believed that what they could learn from leaders in our industry could supercharge how they ran theirs.

In the ten years since, the Welcome Conference has evolved into America’s preeminent hospitality symposium. We’ve welcomed over 100 speakers, from Fortune 500 CEOs to FBI hostage negotiators, from musicians to magicians — and, of course, some of the most celebrated restauranteurs in the world.

Our attendees believe, as we do, that hospitality is a craft that can be honed, a muscle that can be strengthened — that how they serve their clients is as valuable as what they serve. They believe in caring as much for the people they work with and serve as they do about the products they make. They believe every one of us can choose to be in the hospitality industry, no matter what we do — and that you don’t have to be a luxury business to do it.

Once a year, we gather in New York for an immersive, engaging, and provocative day-long program. We exchange stories and challenges and ideas, and we leave with our gas tanks full.

We look forward to welcoming you!

• David Brooks – Author and New York Times Columnist
• Angus Collins – Endurance Athlete & Founder of Beyond Endurance
• Julio Garcia – Restaurateur, Ambriza Social Mexican Kitchen
• Jen Hidinger-Kendrick – Founder of Giving Kitchen
• Chayil Hyland – Food Education Fund Alum; Current Cornell Student
• Dr. Becky Kennedy – Clinical Psychologist and Founder of Good Inside
• Donald Miller – Author of Building a StoryBrand
• Steve Palmer – Founder and Chief Vision Officer of The Indigo Road Hospitality Group
• Jade Simmons – Classical Music’s #1 Maverick
• Zach Williams, Kanene Pipkin, and Brian Elmquist – The Lone Bellow

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

David Geffen Hall, 10 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, United States