Well, it’s that time of year again. The restaurant industry is getting ready to descend on Chicago for the annual National Restaurant Association Show, the largest foodservice event in the Western Hemisphere.
This year’s edition marks 104 years of the show. It will host more than 2,200 exhibitors and an estimated 55,000 attendees from over 45 countries.
That includes the entire staff of Restaurant Business and sister brand FoodService Director. We’ll be there, taking in the trends, talking to people and pushing our daily step counts through the roof.
Here’s what we’ll be looking for at this year’s event, which runs May 17-20 at McCormick Place convention center in Chicago.
Will the plant-based meat trend finally die down?
For each of the past few years, the National Restaurant Show has been a showcase of the latest experiment in fake meat.
The problem: Consumers aren’t eating it.
Beyond Meat, which years ago had all kinds of deals with major fast-food chains, generated just $9.4 million in revenues from foodservice channels in the first quarter, for instance. The company cited “weak category demand.”
Plant-based meat may well have a future in the U.S. restaurant industry. But it isn’t happening today. The consumer isn’t ready for it.
So I’m looking forward to seeing whether the show this year will reflect actual consumer demand for fake meat.
-Jonathan Maze, editor-in-chief, Restaurant Business
Drinking …
The drinks side of the menu is such a hotbed of innovation, so I am eager to see what’s going on in the Beverage Room. The sessions from the stage touch on very topical trends, including profiting from the boom in non-alcoholic cocktails, reinvigorating slumping wine sales and Technomic’s take on what consumers are looking for at restaurant bars. Then, of course, it’s always fun to taste new products and get a sense of what beverage trends are percolating. I have a feeling that lower-alcohol spirits and wines are a category that’s growing.
I hope to see a lot of beverage action on the general show floor as well. It will be interesting to discover how coffee, tea and soft drink companies are tapping into trends like dirty sodas, energy drinks, hydration and color as selling points.
-Pat Cobe, senior editor, Restaurant Business
And more drinking …
I’m particularly interested right now in the growth of THC-infused beverages in restaurants, bars and in retail locations like convenience stores. So, I’ll be spending some quality time in the Beverage Room at Lakeside Center. I may try a sample or two (shhhh … don’t tell my boss) but I’ll also be looking at how the segment has grown from previous years at the show. I’ll also be sure to attend the educational session Saturday afternoon about the emerging category of THC beverages to learn more about regulations and trends in this fast-growing segment. Cheers!
-Heather Lalley, managing editor, Restaurant Business
The avocado show
The good folks from Avocados From Mexico (AFM) will be back with their Guac Heaven booth (12107) in the South Hall.
A strong lineup of chefs will be presenting, including Gene Kato of Momotaro; the West Indian chef Digby Stridiron; Alon Shaya of Pomegranate Hospitality; and Walter Rivas, who works with AFM.
Stephanie Bazan, the group’s senior vice president, commercial strategy and execution, will also be on hand offering restaurant operators a playbook for adding avocados to their menus, with ideas for sauces, smashes and spreads. And attendees can take a “guac personality” test, to find out what’s truly in their hearts when it comes to the versatile fruit.
No doubt, AFM will also be fielding questions about tariffs.
-Lisa Jennings, executive editor, Restaurant Business
Checking in on tech
I’ll be taking the temperature in the tech pavilion after a whirlwind couple of weeks.
The restaurant tech market is shifting. Olo could be sold, and DoorDash just bought SevenRooms. Toast is pushing for business with large chains. Wonder is emerging as a force to be reckoned with. Lawsuits are flying between rival tech companies. And artificial intelligence continues to loom over everything.
I want to find out how people feel about all this, and what it could mean for restaurants going forward.
-Joe Guszkowski, senior editor, Restaurant Business
Boosting our CQ
Cultural intelligence, or “CQ,” has emerged as something important to pay attention to in the workplace. We hear a lot about company culture and why it matters more than ever to foster workplace environments that enhance employee engagement and elevate customer satisfaction. I plan to cover this session, Creating Exceptional and Indispensable Experiences: How Cultural Intelligence Drives Retention and Growth, on Sunday morning from 10 to 10:45 a.m. in Room S502—South Building—5th Floor.
Foodservice directors absolutely take responsibility for the culture of their workplace, and at this session, they should come away able to know what cultural intelligence means and why it matters. And since putting this into practice can sometimes be a bit of a quandary, even with the best intentions, the focus is on practical strategies to put cultural intelligence into practice to keep good employees and good customers alike.
Presenter Erika Cospy Carr, VP at The Multicultural Foodservice & Hospitality Alliance (MFHA), will help the audience explore methods within their own world to balance CQ initiatives with operational priorities.
The world of grab-and-go is the onsite foodservice industry’s bread and butter. But customers want much more than simple bread and butter, of course! Grab, Go, Gourmet: Revolutionizing Quick Eats is a session at The Show on Sunday morning from 11 am to 11:45 am at room S403 in the South Building’s 4th floor. Presenters are Abe Ng, CEO at Sushi Maki; Luke Saunders, CEO and founder at Farmer’s Fridge and Cathy Strange, ambassador of food culture at Whole Foods Market.
Foodservice directors and chefs will be interested to discover the secrets for selecting ingredients, sourcing eye-catching packaging and preserving food in ways that customers are going to grab and come back for more!
-Tara Fitzpatrick, senior executive editor, FoodService Director
Catching up with Zoomers
Keeping up with the latest Gen Z and Gen Alpha food trends is a never-ending task for the editorial team at FoodService Director.
On Saturday afternoon at the show, I’ll be attending the session entitled From Alpha to Zoomer: Navigating Generational Consumer Preferences to hear from industry leaders, including Director of Culinary Innovation at Papa Johns Tony Smith and Director of Culinary Innovation at Sodexo Campus Jennifer DiFrancesco, on what menu trends they’re tapping into to attract young eaters.
Along with unpacking the latest food trends, the panel will also discuss what marketing trends are resonating with Gen Z and Gen Alpha and how operators can implement those trends while also staying true to their own brand values.
I’m interested in hearing what DiFrancesco has to say since she’s one of the few onsite operators speaking at the show. Sodexo Campus is the foodservice provider for approximately 425 campuses nationwide, so she should have a good, broad picture take on college students’ food preferences and more.
The session will take place Saturday, May 17, from 1 to 1:45 p.m. in room S404.
-Benita Gingerella, senior editor, FoodService Director
GLP-1s and the future of culinary
About 6% of Americans are currently taking GLP-1 medications, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, to combat obesity or treat diabetes. GLP-1s work by slowing the movement of food through the digestive tract and affecting the brain’s reward centers related to food. Users have reported changes in their taste buds—they may crave vegetables when they once wanted candy. This is already having an impact on how Americans eat, and foodservice companies of all kinds are changing how they approach menus as a result.
At the National Restaurant Association Show, Rachel Royster, the director of strategic planning and innovation at CSSI/Connections, will give a presentation called The GLP-1 Effect: Shrinking Portions, Growing Trends. She will cover how operators and manufacturers can cater to the large and growing segment of Americans utilizing GLP-1s as they look for specific ingredients and portion sizes to fit their shrinking diets.
Learning objectives include understanding how these consumers pick their foods, what they purchase, tips on catering to this demographic without adding too many new SKUs, and learning how to innovate in the space. It will take place on Sunday, May 18, at 10 a.m. Central time in the South Building.
One thing foodservice operators are always eager to see and explore at the National Restaurant Association Show is food and beverage trends. It’s not surprising as the menu is at the heart of the business. One of the many culinary sessions I’m looking forward to at the Show this year is Shaping the Future of Food: Culinary Trends for 2025 and Beyond with Christopher Tanner, the executive director at American Culinary Federation. It’s one thing to talk about current trends and another altogether to dive into ones that are upcoming.
Not only will Tanner address culinary trends like vegetable-forward dishes, international spices, and ceviche, but he will explore kitchen trends as well, such as electrification and new technology including AI-powered tools.
The goal of the session is to empower chefs and business leaders to stay relevant in the foodservice space, be able to lead teams through changes in technology and sustainable practices, and understand how global culinary trends are shaping the market.
The session will take place on Saturday, May 17, in the South Building.
-Leigh Anne Zinsmeister, managing editor, FoodService Director
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