CHICAGO — The National Restaurant Association Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show, the industry’s largest event focused on restaurant trends and innovations, felt like a celebration when it wrapped up in late May. Among the tens of thousands of attendees and exhibitors from the restaurant industry that has been so hard hit by the pandemic, the sense of joy at being back at a live event for the first time since May 2019 was palpable.
The National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant, Hotel and Motel Show, held May 21-24 at McCormick Place in Chicago, broke or broke several trade show records, with the largest kitchen innovation showroom in the event’s history, an increase in dealer and distributor registrations compared to the 2019 event, and an equal percentage of international trade show registrations compared to 2019.
The show attracted 51,000 restaurant owners and operators, retail professionals, food and ingredient suppliers and equipment manufacturers to McCormick Place for four days of education and a full show floor, with more than 1,800 exhibitors in three exhibit halls occupying nearly 600,000 square feet of space. Despite current travel restrictions for international attendees, show attendees represented all 50 states and more than 110 countries, equal to 2019 registrations. The trade show featured the largest showroom of kitchen innovations in the event’s 100-plus year history and an increased number of dealer and distributor registrations in 2022 compared to the last event, held in 2019.
On the training side, Alexis Ohanian, founder of Seven Seven Six and co-founder of Reddit, gave the keynote address and nearly 100 training sessions were held, in addition to paid workshops for deeper dives. During the main session, experts from restaurant research and consulting firm Technomic and restaurateurs answered questions about the industry’s most pressing issues, including inflation, supply chain management and labor shortages.
The show is owned and operated by Winsight LLC, in partnership with the National Restaurant Association. “The 2022 show was one of the most anticipated events of the year, and after three long years, we were eager to bring the restaurant community together again to celebrate the advancements that have moved the industry forward,” said Tom Cindric, President of Winsight.
Contact Tom Cindric at tcindric@winsightmedia.com
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