FNA 211: Memphis, Kooky Canuck, and Southern Lodging Summit

A 7.5-pound burger with 12,387 calories should not be the most reasonable thing discussed on a hospitality show, but here we are.

This week on Friday Night Audit, Glenn Haussman, Craig Sullivan, and Dr. Producer Suzanne Bagnera welcomed Wayne Tabor, President of the Metropolitan Memphis Hotel & Lodging Association; Doug Brown, General Manager and Managing Director of The Peabody Memphis; Kevin Kane of Memphis Tourism; and Shawn Danko, owner of Kooky Canuck.

The Memphis crew brought plenty: downtown investment, Beale Street, airport upgrades, hospitality’s economic impact, Southern Lodging Summit, and enough food talk for one episode that watching hungry may count as poor planning.

🍔 Shawn broke down the Kooky Canuck burger eating challenge, a 7.5-pound, 12,387-calorie burger that fewer than 1% of challengers finish

🔥 Memphis food got its proper due: barbecue, fried chicken, catfish, meat-and-three, Montreal hot dogs, and poutine

🎸 Kevin talked tourism momentum, the National Civil Rights Museum expansion, the new Memphis art museum, Beale Street, and major downtown investment

🏨 Wayne previewed Southern Lodging Summit, coming August 18–19, with hospitality programming, AI, barbecue, and Friday Night Audit live from Memphis

✈️ The group also covered Memphis airport improvements and the role hospitality plays in Tennessee’s tax base

And near the end, the Hotel Pet Peeves Bracket made its required nuisance appearance: Water Pressure Roulette beat No Bathroom Fan with 78% of the vote, and Outlet Desert now faces TV Promo Channel.

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