5 Big Takeaways from the Greatest Food Show on Earth
The National Restaurant Association’s annual NRA Show completed its run in Chicago last week. Exhilarating and exhausting in equal measure, the 2014 edition played host to more than 2,000 brands spread over a daunting 10 miles’ worth of exhibit space at McCormick Place. As always, the confab left show goers with plenty to chew on.
1. Digital restaurant reviews yield both hits and misses. In addition to the massive exhibit floors, the Show plays host to a comprehensive series of education sessions, one of which was conducted by my colleague Bret Thorn, Senior Food Editor at Nation’s Restaurant News, and I. Called He Said/She Said, the combination debate and town-hall meeting was a takeoff on our popular monthly NRN column. Among the hot-button topics we tackled: on-line reviews and their impact. In a terrifically smart response to the phenomenon, one restaurateur told how she runs weekly “hits-and-misses” meetings in which she and her staff sift through digital reviews and commentary from 15 sites in order to keep abreast of real-life diner feedback. And she reaches out to the reviewers when contact info is provided—an altogether savvy use of social media.
2. Foodservice operators are mostly meh about GMOs. In the same session, we asked how many of the the roughly 150 operators in attendance were concerned with genetically modified foodstuffs and their possible impact on menus. Not a single attendee raised his or her hand, an astonishing state of affairs given the controversy raging in the consumer-packaged-goods world. Legislation has been signed into law in one state and is pending in more than two dozen others that would require on-label disclosure of the presence of GMO ingredients, and anti-GMO activists forced General Mills to reformulate its flagship Original Cheerios to rid the cereal of GM ingredients earlier this year. Given the rising level of noise and emotion around this issue, it’s likely only a matter of time before it makes its presence felt in foodservice, with menu labeling a potential target for protestors.
3. Word of mouth remains just that. It can be an operator’s best friend, and it has so far been surprisingly resistant to social media. In an eye-opening presentation to the NRA’s Marketing Executives Group Spring Conference held just prior to the NRA Show, Jonah Berger, associate professor at the Wharton School of Business and author of Contagious: Why Things Catch On, disclosed groundbreaking research which shows that, despite all the hoopla around digital communications, patron word of mouth still spreads the old-fashioned way, primarily via face-to-face conversation. That’s the case a whopping 86% of the time. In the aggregate, social media comes into play only 7% of the time. Berger suggested that restaurant marketers should think carefully about where they direct their promotional dollars, choosing vehicles on the basis of customer connection, not mere trendiness.
4. The global kitchen is cooking on all cylinders. Of course, the hallmark of the NRA Show and its main attraction for many is its staggering number of food and beverage products. The recent past has seen a steadily rising presence of ethnic foods of all stripes, and this year’s program didn’t disappoint. One Korean company offered a Magic Snow machine that creates very sophisticated frozen desserts, while several aisles away, another Korean company touted crunchy seaweed as a nutritious snack alternative. Gluten concerns notwithstanding, beautiful breads were breaking out all over. There were Bavarian, Venetian and Lithuanian breads, not to mention flatbreads galore. The Peruvian government was back again with a major exhibit promoting that country’s gastronomic bounty, including a wide range of export-ready produce like asparagus, peppers and mangoes. Habana Coffee poured bracing Cuban-Style coffee, while Nduja Artisans proffered its namesake ‘nduja, spreadable and spicy Calabrian salami. There were some intriguing ethnic fusions, like ChimiButter, a tasty, convenient combo of chimichurri herbs, butter and wine used in sauces and spreads. Coming from a little closer to home, Fish Breeders of Idaho displayed totally toothsome domestic caviar made from Idaho white sturgeon.
5. It’s getting bigger. In years past, the restaurant industry in general and the NRA Show as its surrogate were viewed as leading economic indicators, reliable gauges of the overall health of the economy. While that correlation seemed to run afoul of the intractable recession, it may be worth reconsidering. In a welcome piece of good news, NRA Show management has announced the expansion of exhibit space next year to include a fourth exhibit hall. This optimistic move dovetails with data just released from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showing that consumer spending on food away from home has officially rebounded to pre-recession levels. Both are harbingers of better times to come and a signal to show goers to gird their loins and get busy training for NRA Show 2015.
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