Nation's Restaurant News On the Go Newsletter #26

Hi. It’s Bret Thorn, Nation’s Restaurant News’ senior food & beverage editor, with some observations from the National Restaurant Association Show.

Each year for a while now, starting before the pandemic, manufacturers of plant-based substitutes for meat, dairy, eggs, and seafood that displayed their wares at the show have continuously been improving their products. Companies attempting meatless bacon that used to display strips that glued themselves to each other in the pan and then tasted like crackers with artificial smoke flavoring now offer items that at least resemble bacon and taste, well, not like bacon, but they’re okay.

Plant-based chicken substitutes (they don’t like it when I call them substitutes, but if they don’t want that then they should stop calling them chicken) have come up with items that if breaded, fried, and served on a bun with mayonnaise and pickles could pass for a fried chicken sandwich, if you haven’t had a good fried chicken sandwich in a while. The meatless burgers taste more like meaty burgers if you put enough condiments on them. Plants meant to resemble raw tuna and salmon do a passing job of it if you put them in a highly seasoned poke bowl. Nondairy “cheese” (maybe it’s rude to put that in quotes, but cheese by definition is made with dairy) melts okay and tastes fine.

We have reached a point where, if we still ate the processed food that we ate in the 1970s, we could get reasonable versions of them, still processed but made without animal products.

But if you stopped by the booths serving wagyu beef or jamón Iberico, or just mainstream meat from suppliers like Allen Brothers or 2 Rivers, or any of the cheese mongers from Wisconsin or California, or True World Foods’ sashimi, you probably realized how far we have come as a nation of eaters. We have really good animal products now.

The dichotomy is striking, and it will be interesting to see how all of this plays out at NRA shows in the years to come.

10 food trends at the National Restaurant Association Show

Five years ago at the National Restaurant Association show, if you were looking to alternatives to conventional food, you would have found a wide range of items that were free of gluten and other allergens, as well as a fair number of items that were vegan.

At this year’s show (and last year’s) what you would have found instead was a staggering array of plant-based items, mostly plant-based protein that were stand-ins for beef and chicken, and increasingly for seafood, as well as dairy-free alternatives for milk, eggless egg substitutes, and some items that were called plant-based for no particular reason other than that that’s a trendy thing to call food — plant-based dumpling wrappers were on display at the show, colored with beets and other vegetables, as though dumplings were normally wrapped in meat.

TAKE A LOOK AT THE TREND-FORWARD ITEMS WE FOUND AT THIS YEAR’S SHOW

A look at 8 beverage trends at the National Restaurant Association Show

Coca-Cola, which as usual had a massive booth at the National Restaurant Association Show this year, is highlighting a variety of trendy drinks, including its own Costa Coffee dispenser, offering a variety of hot and cold coffee beverages at a premium to traditional dispensers but at a lower price point compared to modern coffeehouses. It also showcased aguas frescas and craft lemonades, for which it sees great potential. Trend experts at the booth also see tropical flavors such as pineapple and mango continue to grow in popularity, as well as cream soda — so much so that it’s launching a new Barq’s red cream soda regionally.

But of course dozens of other large and small companies had their own trendy beverages on display. Here’s a look at eight of them that are looking to make waves in their beverage categories, from next-level coconut water options, to energy drinks, to “flavor enhanced water.”

8 BEVERAGE TRENDS AT THE NRA SHOW

4 Exciting technology trends from the NRA Show floor

The 2023 National Restaurant Association Show highlighted just how crucial technology has become to the industry — with the show tech pavilion teeming with new robots, automated equipment, and software.

Here are four technology trends we saw at the National Restaurant Association Show, from AI and automation to smart, cloud-based software.

VIEW THESE 4 EXCITING TECH TRENDS FROM THE NRA SHOW

Labor takes center stage at the National Restaurant Association Show

Several themes emerged at this year’s National Restaurant Association Show, many of which weren’t all that surprising – for example, robots, invisible technology and plant-based offerings. But the recurring theme that tied much of this together was labor. Most conversations with exhibitors and operators and general attendees came back to labor in some way, shape or form.

Perhaps that also shouldn’t be surprising. The industry has been through the ringer on labor throughout the past few years, experiencing an all-time-high quit rate, union organizing, recruitment challenges and then some. The environment has compromised operating hours and has left big chunks of money on the table for many establishments. The hospitality industry’s churn rate is double the national average at 5.4%, while 79% of operators are still struggling to hire. That said, mindsets seem to be changing.

READ MORE

‘The future of restaurants belongs to the innovators’ say NRA Show keynote speakers Pinky Cole and Danny Meyer

It’s 2023 and restaurant operators are starting to get tired of comparing everything to the pandemic-era. If restaurants want to survive and thrive in 2023, they have to do two things: innovate and stand out confidently. This is the mantra that National Restaurant Association Show keynoters Danny Meyer (award-wining restaurateur and founder of Union Square Hospitality Group) and Pinky Cole (founder of Atlanta-based plant-based burger chain, Slutty Vegan) have in common.

Although they might have very different portfolios (most of Danny Meyer’s restaurants are in fine dining), both found success in creating a unique burger concept — Slutty Vegan and Shake Shack, respectively — and in 2022, Meyer’s group Enlightened Hospitality Investments invested $25 million in Cole’s Slutty Vegan concept. In 2023, they shared the stage in Chicago to discuss how to stand out from the crowd and balance tech innovation with making sure you’re not just jumping on the bandwagon.

READ MORE

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