Tuesday, May 22

NRA Show Draws Nearly 74,000 Attendees, 2,140 Exhibitors

A cheer sounds as the overhead lights blink at McCormick Place in Chicago. Attendees and exhibitors at the National Restaurant Association 2007 Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show celebrate another successful convention.

The 88th NRA Show ended Tuesday, May 22, wrapping up four days of educational sessions, celebrity book signings, ice-carving and culinary competitions, product demonstrations and other events. This year's show attracted nearly 74,000 attendees from 110 countries and every state. With 2,140 exhibiting companies over 608,000 square feet, the exhibit space sold out for the second year in a row.

The American Culinary Classic, an international cooking competition produced by the National Restaurant Association in cooperation with the American Culinary Federation, celebrated its 20th anniversary at this year’s NRA Show. In the competition, 12 six-member teams prepared hot and cold food behind in four observation kitchens where onlookers snapped photos on digital cameras.

The Swiss team defeated Canada, Norway and the United States for the first-place trophy. The U.S. team won the gold in the last ACC competition in 2003. International judges sanctioned by the World Association of Cooks Societies evaluated creativity, flavor-blending, presentation, timing and technique.

"This 'world championship' of cooking competitions adds to the star-studded lineup of leading chefs and restaurateurs at this year’s Show this year and can’t be found anywhere else," said NRA board member William C. Anton, 2007 convention chairman and founder of Anton Airfood.

The Show’s ‘star power’ consisted of more than the allure of world-class cooking demonstrations. The main draw: new products, trends and innovations.

On the Show floor, Terry Riesterer, owner, Paragon Chef, Arlington Heights, Ill., searches for products to support her business – and for her to support. She navigates the aisles with her sons, Steven Riesterer and Ivan Diaz. Steven Riesterer markets his mother’s business and Diaz is a culinary student. “He’s following in my footsteps,” she says.

The personal chef and caterer is interested in small, start-up companies because that’s what she owns. After renting restaurant kitchens in the middle of the night for seven years, she’s opening her own store. With her own space, she plans to offer cooking classes.

"Once you show a product in a cooking class, people think it’s the best," she says. "I want to make sure I find the best."

David Feiner, owner of Technobake, a Jamesburg, N.J., importer, hopes his products appeal to caterers like Riesterer. He’s showing baking containers in 12 sizes made from poplar wood in France.

Lined with brown paper similar to a cupcake liner, the containers were designed for single use by bakeries. When customers pick up their cakes, they take the containers with them and can use them repeatedly at home, Feiner says. But restaurants, caterers and hotels have found multiple uses for the containers: as table displays, dishes and even to hold or display soap.

"We like to find items that are unique and bring them here," Feiner says. "We do really well here at the NRA Show."

Near the American Food Fair, where small companies introduce their items through their state agricultural agencies, Irene Macones is browsing exhibits with a friend. Macones, the owner of a Carvel franchise in West Paterson, N.J., says they’re on a "fact-finding mission." As president of the Carvel Franchise Advisory Council, Macones is looking for new topping ideas and non-ice cream products that would support Carvel’s ice cream products.

Attendees aren’t the only people on fact-finding missions at the Show.

Joanne Theodore, president of Greek Island Spice, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., leaves her booth in the International Cuisine Pavilion for an hour. She’s looking for exotic raw ingredients to inspire new high-end sauces and condiments for her clients and company.

At the Australian Trade Commission Pavilion, she discovers a gold mine: spices, salt and fruit from the Australian bush. Many of the companies in the booth sell fair-trade products made by indigenous Australians who use traditional skills and knowledge to prepare the bush food, or tucker, as it’s known in Australia.

Theodore samples finger limes; quandong, a tart stone fruit that resembles a cherry; and cranberry-sized desert limes and riberries. On the other side of the Pavilion, she’s intrigued by lake salt and asks about packaging and distribution. When she returns to her booth, she sends her executive chef to the pavilion for further research.

As the show winds down, attendees and exhibitors gather the business cards they’ve collected, as well as lists of leads and ideas. They head home, ready for follow-up in test kitchens and meetings.

-- by Linda Busche