What Now Media Group held an event on March 26 at The Hidden Crave on the Las Vegas Strip to bring together restaurateurs from across the Valley, including Vulgar Bulgar Brewing and Istanbul Mediterranean, as well as industry leaders like Dr Pepper and OpenTable, for an opportunity to connect and take their businesses to the next level.
The event is part of What Now Media Group’s Accelerate Program, a series of networking events that bring local restaurant owners and industry professionals together in a local venue to network, grow, and share more about their businesses.
What Now Media Group’s Las Vegas Accelerate Event was hosted by Marian Ebhamen and featured a variety of notable restaurateurs and business owners. With 50 restaurateurs and nine What Now partner RSVPs, the event garnered results for many involved.
“Just being in this small setting, you never know that you’re going to meet someone who has the same background as you,” Southern Cravings owner Celeste Younger said of the event.
“So that is something I can say is a happy place.”
That “happy place” drew out restaurateurs from across the Valley, including Addictions Bikini Baristas owner Kaytlin Thanheiser.
“I want to hone in on bringing community back to coffee. I want to offer women a place to come and kind of like, you know, how Stella got her groove back and motherhood, because some of us kind of fall off and lose ourselves in our kids,” Thanheiser said.
“The key is connection. And that is what this was providing. This was a mixture of all different walks of life and people that can provide whatever service you might need that you didn’t know you needed until you’re in the heat of the moment, you’re like, oh, I kind of need that person.”
Valley restaurant operators were able to connect with folks like Jessica Taylor of Auris, who spoke with them about payroll and HR solutions, Jen Guzman of Cox Business, and Ted McNab of Keurig Dr Pepper.
“A lot of people just assume Dr Pepper is just one item they don’t really understand. It’s 125 different items and solutions that can cater to a lot of different segments, whether it’s coffee or energy drinks that we talked about before. Different types of water, different types of soda, glass bottles, plastic bottles. Route to market. There are a lot of different solutions,” McNab said.
“I think it can be intimidating at times for an entrepreneur when they get into this particular space. My job is to remove those barriers and make it that much easier, and just have a candid conversation and a partnership. I mean, if they succeed, then we succeed, and that makes me happy. It’s making a difference in the local community.”
What Now Media Group‘s network of Preferred Partners and new restaurateurs each had the chance to share expert advice like this, operational highlights, and much more at the beginning of the event, led by Ebhamen. Those elevator pitches triggered deeper conversations among partners and owners.
“I’m super happy, and I love coming to these,” Taylor of Auris said.
“I love networking, no matter what I’m doing, and just meeting new faces, new restaurants, or business owners, and I think it’s great to put us all in the same room, so we can all network with each other. I have already made great connections and set up some appointments.”
“The restaurant business is hard. That’s why 85% of the restaurants do not really survive in their second year. The payroll is hard. The rent, the food quality, the economy. You have to keep working. They have to make their calculations right,” Zane Atlas Muslu of Istanbul Mediterranean said.
“So these kinds of networking events, you never know. You just meet someone, and then that person just becomes your vendor, landlord, realtor, or business partner. You never know. So networking is always good. That’s the exciting part about it.”
The Las Vegas What Now Accelerate event served as a valuable platform for both industry leaders and up-and-coming restaurateurs to collaborate and make new connections. The event could continue to be seen as a driving force in the Las Vegas food scene.
And What Now Media Group is not stopping there on the impact it’s making on the Valley’s and the country’s culinary space.
What Now Media Group continues to report restaurant opening news in 33 cities across North America. Captivating breaking news and timely updates on yet-to-open eateries, the platform shares news of thousands of openings across all 33 cities every year.
Curious about the next Accelerate event coming to your city?
Find out more details about What Now Media Group‘s 2026 Accelerate events on the Accelerate page and check out our complete list of partners here.
Interested in becoming a preferred partner? More details on how to sign can be found here.
See you at the next What Now Media Group Accelerate event!
