Hours before his death, Charlie Kirk spoke to Utah restaurant leaders. Here’s what he told them.

Kirk addressed a crowd of restaurant leaders in Salt Lake City with a message they said feels prophetic just hours before he was killed.

(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) A portrait of conservative activist Charlie Kirk is seen at a vigil in Orem on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025.

Hours before he was shot and killed, Charlie Kirk told a room of more than 500 business owners in Salt Lake City one of his favorite quotes: “This too shall pass.”

The phrase — famously echoed by Abraham Lincoln at the Wisconsin State Fair in 1859 as, “And this, too, shall pass away” — is often used to reflect the fleeting nature of both joy and hardship.

Several of the entrepreneurs who attended the annual Restaurantology summit Wednesday said the quote now carries a deeper meaning, as it was among the last messages Kirk shared publicly before his death.

Wade Allen, president of Costa Vida, wrote on LinkedIn that Kirk’s words “are still ringing in my ears.”

“You have to remember to enjoy the journey because life has ups and downs and these things in time will pass,” Allen wrote, adding that watching Kirk speak left a lasting impression on him.

Each year, the Savory Fund hosts the Restaurantology conference, where business owners and emerging restaurateurs from across the U.S. come together to discuss, network and share ideas in the food industry. Kirk was scheduled to speak at 10:35 a.m. as an entrepreneur — a far cry from the campus politics debates for which he is widely known.

Andrew Smith — co-founder and managing partner at Savory Fund, the Utah–based restaurant group that hosted the summit — said he spoke with Kirk for 35 minutes during their panel on the entrepreneurial mindset.

“Our discussions, rich with his vision of inspiring individuals to embrace entrepreneurship, were not just words,” Smith wrote on LinkedIn, “but a shared experience of unity among everyone present.”

(Savory Fund) Charlie Kirk speaks alongside Savory Fund co-founder Andrew Smith during a panel at the Restaurantology summit in Salt Lake City on Sept. 10, 2025.

Kirk posed for a photo with Smith after their on-stage discussion. Fifty-nine minutes later, Kirk was shot, Smith said.

“I am in shock,” Smith wrote. “The news of his passing has left me in disbelief, struggling to come to terms with the emotions that flood my being.”

Chris Connors, co-founder of Bonrue Bakery, which first opened in St. George in 2021, said he was speaking on a panel about avoiding legal pitfalls with trademarks when he learned of Kirk’s death.

Connors wrote on Facebook that Kirk spoke of “company values, the beauty of the younger generation, core beliefs and treating people well.”

While he agreed and disagreed at times with Kirk’s messages on his social media, “he respected what he had to say.”

“What made me incredibly sad is thinking what our society has come to,” Connors wrote. “No respect for people, for life, for thoughtful opinions. So much hate, anger and the inability to respectfully disagree.”

Michael DiNorscia, CEO of California-based company Grain & Grit Collective, shared on LinkedIn that he knew little about Kirk before the event but was struck by how he steered clear of politics.

“Instead,” DiNorscia wrote, “his focus was on business, mindset, faith and family.”

For DiNorscia, the most powerful part of Kirk’s message was a reminder that time is the one resource equally given to everyone — and “it’s up to each of us to manage it wisely.”

Reflecting on Kirk’s recent death, DiNorscia added, “What I didn’t realize at the time was that it would be the last interview he would ever give. That makes the experience all the more profound — and one I will never forget.”

After Kirk was shot while speaking at Utah Valley University in Orem on Wednesday, Gov. Spencer Cox urged Utahns and Americans to choose civil discourse over violence. The governor, who in recent years has adopted the mantra “Disagree Better,” cast the conservative commentator in the light of a peacekeeper rather than an antagonist.

Police arrested a 22-year-old Washington County man, Tyler James Robinson, in connection with the shooting after a 33-hour manhunt that ended some 250 miles away from where Kirk was killed.

Nate Thompson, who brought FreshFin Poké to Salt Lake City and Draper, wrote on LinkedIn that one of the last things he heard Charlie Kirk say was the famous phrase.

“And hopefully, with the tragic news today, ‘this too shall pass,’” Thompson wrote, quoting Kirk. “Whatever side you’re on, we must be a little better.”