Escoffier On Line

NRA Show 2010 Report

This years NRA show in Chicago was a great event. According to the NRA- “The NRA Show attracted more than 58,000 registrants – a six percent increase over 2009 – from 120 countries, up from 107 countries in 2009. Approximately 1,700 exhibitors, covering more than 480,000-square-feet, showcased the most innovative new products and services on the market today.”  The educational seminars were numerous and very informative.  There were many new and exciting products and great cooking demos.I attended several of the seminars including- Show Me the Money! Which discussed the realities of getting financing for your restaurant start up or expansion, Plant a Garden and Harvest Profits a very informative discussion on the costs, issues and benefits of  adding an organic roof top garden to your restaurant and  Mobile Restaurants - Restaurants Get Rolling: Chefs Take It to the Streets, an overview of  one of the hottest trends- Mobile “Gourmet” Food Trucks.  Over the next few weeks will be recounting them here in my blog. 

The biggest problem with the seminars was that there were so many excellent ones, and unlike the the Javits IHMRS last November there was no repetition, so I had to make hard choices on which to attend. 

One big change in products lines was the amount and variety of different types of induction cooking equipment being offered.  At the Javits Show in November I was only able to find a couple of vendors offering anything at all, and when I asked the big boys about stove tops etc they looked at me like I had two heads, and then if they had anything  it was on the back shelf.  At this show you couldn’t swing a dead  cat (no I would never do that) without hitting some new type of  equipment with induction as it’s heat source.  From large stock pots to pizza delivery bags, from gigantic woks to 5 star buffet counters the variety was incredible, more on this later.

Possibly my favorite new innovation- Vegawatt, an innovative new cogeneration system for restaurants and food service facilities, that uses  waste cooking oil as the fuel to generate on-site electricity and hot water.

Well that’s it for now.  Have a healthy safe and profitable Memorial Day Weekend. If you see a Service Member or a Veteran be sure to thank then for their service, that is what this weekend is really about!

Cheers,

G