What's On Operators' Minds Heading Into 2027?

What’s Hot Right Now: Takeaways From the Floor at Pizza Expo Columbus

Megumi represented Belle at Pizza Expo Columbus last month to hear what’s on operators’ minds heading into 2027. Three things stood out:

Live demos pulled the biggest crowds of the show, at individual booths and in the demo kitchens alike. Operators wanted to watch the equipment run, taste the product and picture it in their own kitchen. That kind of hands-on proof has become a real part of the B2B sales process.
AI turned up in every system: equipment, POS, ordering, marketing tools. With staffing still the industry’s hardest problem, operators are looking for tools and partners that help a smaller crew get more done.
Flavors are getting bolder. Pepperoni still wins, but sample after sample paired familiar bases with global flavors, layered heat and premium proteins. Our favorite bite of the show was kimchi and brisket.

Did you go to the show? Tell us what stood out to you on LinkedIn

Industry News: The Right Earned Media Mix to Support AI Visibility

Our Citation Economy report, released last month, made the case for earned media in your 2027 budget planning. As a PR firm, we’ll always recommend putting trusted relationships with journalists first and taking newsworthy information straight to the reporters whose beat, outlet and audience it fits. This is where you’ll get the most lift from LLMs. But what about press releases?

Newswire sites can overstate their impact on AI visibility, but press releases still have a place in your earned media mix, both on your brand’s website and on the wires. Here’s what we learned:

Start with original content on your own site. When your announcement, your point of view or your first-party data lives on your domain first, you own the source that search engines and language models cite back to. LLMs prioritize original content, and every syndicated copy reads as a duplicate. Distribution alone doesn’t build authority.
Use the major wires (GlobeNewswire, PR Newswire and Business Wire) for company news that genuinely travels: acquisitions, funding, leadership changes and launches with broad relevance. Press releases are a small slice of what AI cites overall, but a release that gets picked up by established outlets carries domain authority that supports both Google and AI search.
Save smaller wires and niche distribution for announcements the big outlets won’t cover, but a specific audience is still searching for. A real example: we asked an LLM about an upcoming conference and were repeatedly pointed toward one speaker on the agenda. It turned out, the speaker had put a release on a smaller wire describing their session, while the official event page listed just a name and a title. The wire carried no particular authority, but it held the only in-depth detail available, so the LLM prioritized it.

That’s the sweet spot for a press release: it puts something on the record that isn’t there yet. If it restates what multiple credible outlets already covered, the added distribution is wasted dollars.

Reach out to chat about Earned Media support for 2027

News We’re Noting:

KFC U.S. is moving its beverage business to Coca-Cola after roughly four decades with PepsiCo, while Taco Bell extended its partnership. KFC’s president described the new partnership as being about more than what’s in the cup, pointing to beverage innovation and new dayparts as part of the brand’s decision. What kept the Taco Bell relationship intact was a supplier operating like a growth partner, bringing research, shaping menu development and showing up with ideas before anyone asked for them. For suppliers, manufacturers and equipment brands heading into 2027 renewals, that’s the bar. Your buyer is deciding whether you’re the partner who makes their business better.
AI is citing creators’ videos more than brands’ videos. Sundogs and Jellyfish analyzed more than 3,900 videos across automotive, CPG, tech and retail and found 60% to 70% of AI-cited video came from creators and 20% to 30% from subject-matter experts. Brands accounted for under 10%. View count, recency, source authority and production quality did not predict whether a video got cited. That makes creator partnerships an even stronger discoverability channel.