Chicagology 101: #36 - May 24, 2007. The National Restaurant Association’s Yearly Convention in Chicago left no Pan, Plate or Platter unturned.
Part I: No longer the ABC’s, the PDT’s have arrived.
There are three different ways FOOD can be prepared. Those are either Hot, Cold or somewhere in between. After that point, depending on one’s particular tastes, it can be rated. The same holds true of Conventions. Preparation, Degrees and Tastes are what it is all about. Add (the) Pop Culture Element(s) and some High Technology Flash and the Floor will be blasted through the Ceiling with spectacular Innovations before obsolescence sets in near the finale of the Show.
This proved to be the case at the 2007 NRA: National Restaurant Association’s 88TH year Convention held in Chicago, the City of Big Shoulders and Bigger Stomachs.
Officials mulled through their entries and found that 73,000 people from all aspects and walks of the ‘Food Service Industry’ attended the 4-day Show arriving from all locales around the world. After all, every Body has to eat or should. Like the words that come out of a person’s mouth, Foods are that varietous.
With 73,000 more ‘New Best Friends in Town,’ can you believe the amount of revenue alone that this Event brought in to the City of Chicago? Records were undoubtedly set. Even if 3,000 people were skimmed off the top as being ‘Locals’ who go home to sleep-in and eat (without sleeping and eating out), an additional 70,000 people in town for (at least) 4 days would really make the cash registers ring, non-stop.
On behalf of the Mayor himself, a big heart-felt “Thank You!” to those of you who traveled thousands of miles with tens of thousands of pounds of Product to again (and a Gain) put Chicago on the map as a leading Convention Center as well as world-class Host with the Most. Rhymes with Toast. A Toast is most certainly due. Precision Party Planning made the Show a success.
There are also two different ways of dividing People up. Those that Eat and those that don’t, can’t or are picky eaters for a wild selection of reasons. 2,182 exhibitors set up booths that displayed the latest, hottest and best foods and equipment for Food and all it entails. The Range was from soup to nuts (we could say) as well as including all the Middlemen, Women and Children that make the FOOD Industry all that it has become.
PICK YOUR GOAL: If you could possibly pull yourself away from the logistics of how such a gargantuan set-up was erected, you could then spend your Day(s) sampling and taste-testing. No actual Taste-Testing Booths were set up. This is an archaic or colloquial connotation meaning: You would give yourself the privilege of tasting something to see if you like it. After all, it’s all in the Marketing. But that’s another full Blog’s worth.
PAST THE VARIETY LEVEL:
People of all ages and weights strolled up and down the aisles, shifting from left-to-right. Chefs prepared exquisitely deluxe plates and platters. Products that were invariably ‘far removed’ from cooking also presented themselves. Menu Manufacturers were there. After all, you need to know how to read to decipher (or read) a menu, a menu that will relate to the kind of food you (and/or your party) wish to devour. This, of course, does not even take into consideration the Graphic Designers who create these lavish, luscious Menus nor the Photographers or Interior Designers who glamorize the Facility.
FEET FIRST: How to be a Step ahead
A foot healing company showed up again…for the 25TH Time. After all, you have those waitresses and waiters who are Veterans. Some have worked the same job for decades delivering your meal(s) and beverage(s) to you, hot or cold from the Kitchen. Waitress Robots running on Duracell Batteries have not yet replaced them. Do they have planter’s warts, corns and bunions on their feet due to Food? They sure do. Taking care of your feet is important even if you don’t deliver food (whether it’s to a client’s home or to the table for your family or self).
“Feet have to get you through Life, one step at a time.”
Quote of: ASK
Thursday, May 24, 2007 – 5:01 PM
You can quote/unquote me on that one. It’s a subject that gets far little press coverage. Preventative Medicine and a well-balanced Diet are sure-fire ways of staying healthy.
Selecting the awesome booths from the not-so-awesome was strictly a personal choice. Indeed, the overall Hot Topic for 2007 and beyond is the amount of electronic surveillance and computer wizardry that is being placed into restaurants, hotels and motels in order to CUT THE CRIME before it happens. As John Walsh from America’s Most Wanted can attest:
“You can’t get away with murder anymore…”
Not only will you leave a DNA Trail but an Electronic Trail that will have your mug shot all over the screen – the screen your boss ‘hides’ on you – in case you have plans on ‘giving the bank away’ as the old phrase goes. I personally found this to be the most intriguing aspect of the NRA Convention and one I often do not think about when I’m dining out. Big Brother may have been on the fringes and hiding in the bushes in 1984, but today, he rules the roost. ‘You’re on candid camera’ now for life. Tread lightly. Brush your Teeth and smile a lot. The Camera has the last say.
If I were a restaurant owner (a/k/a: restaurateur), I definitely would install these units since many employees are not too hip on taking a lie-detector test. Seeing is believing. Just take a look around. The WOW! Factor (as found in the aisles of High Technology at the NRA) could fill an entire High Technology Pavilion and indeed it did. Is an Encyclopedia far behind? Probably not. By the time you read this copy, those Machines will be obsolete, newer and better models will be available.
When you attend a convention and walk up and down the aisles, you’re prone to get tired. Not many seats were available to the weary ‘traveler’ or conventioneer. If chairs or benches were to be found, they were at the far end and not scattered (well enough) throughout the floor plans. Sitting on the floor with legs crossed caught on Big Time during the convention. However, what was incredibly interesting was the marketing of the Hotel/Motel/Restaurant Angles designated for this Show, deemed the largest Food Conclave in the Northern Hemisphere. After all,
Men (Women and Children) have to eat.
Men (Women and Children) have to sit.
Men (Women and Children) have to vacation.
Men (Women and Children) have to have a makeshift home.
Enter: Food, Chairs/Tables and Hotels/Motels while away from ‘Home, Sweet Home.’ An entire Convention can and was put together around this overwhelming, all-encompassing topic. Now, a convention of this depth and breadth could not have happened 300 years ago due to our Lack of Sophistication. Chicago is only 170 years old (as of 2007). Inventions just were not as complicated or refined as they are today. Societies were mobile, but not into Mass Assembly Lines as We are today. Thinking of the Basics (alone) that a Hotel/Motel needs just to entice visitors and vacationers can be an extremely long list. On my List, I like Chocolate to top it off and large amounts of it. Taking Inventions to market to ‘market’ them calls for willpower, computer chips and more.
THE C-FACTOR + FLA Modes defined:
Men (Women and Children) have to party. Many adults like to liquor and schicker it up. Add in the Booze (no matter what (United) State of Recovery you’re in) and the Cha-Chings of the cash register continue to add to your tab. Little salty fishies and festive sodiyummed crackers add to the palate. After thoroughly satiated, it’s time to sober up and what’s better than a delicious cup of coffee. Today, Manufacturers are out-bluffing Starbucks, Cariboo, Dunkin Donuts and the other ‘Old Boys’ by inventing installable Gourmet Coffee Systems (into offices and homes both) that make a cup of coffee better than any tasted any time on the Planet for about 80% off a cup of joe bought from any Coffee House, Café, Breakfast Joint or Barista Bar.
Men (Women and Children) must have their Coffee and drink it, too. These Machines (part Robotron; part Percolator) add a whole new Factor, Light and Ambiance to the Coffee Clatch. Needless to say, they will soon become ‘The Dream Machine’ of any and all Advertising, Law Firms & Robb Report Columns that postulate their Concentration Levels on 7-8 cups of Coffee per Individual on a daily basis and who are dedicated to the Riches of living Life to its fullest (Cup of coffee).
As I strolled up and down the aisle looking at all the latest Inventions and Culinary Delights, I did think of the Starving Children around the World, who were starving 40 years ago when I was 14 and are still starving today while I’m 54. If the garbage heaps alone that were not eaten and the samples that were tossed away could have been packed up and sent to them – cast from the NRA garbage bins – these needy Folks would be fit as a fiddle in no time flat and would no longer be ‘needy.’ But that’s not how the Politics of Food is handled, just a comment from a Humanitarian-at-large.
THE OTHER C-FACTOR:
Men (Women and Children) have to go to Conventions. Both Convention Producers and Attendees’ Premises are educational and recreational in substance. The Bottom Line is the Almighty Dollar and advanced Exposure, which is the reason why Chicagology 101 is being written today.
Men (Women and Children) have to read Top Ten Lists. The following is a tabulated List of the most innovative companies that passed through the doors and/or stomachs of tens of thousands of people during the 88TH Annual National Restaurant Association’s Annual Convention. It’s 2007, Readers. Make room for Self-Improvement in your Dining and Kitchenary Habits.
The TEM Factor explored:
Since We at Chicagology 101 ® do not pass judgment, it’s up to you as a Man, Woman or Child to check out the(ir) website and decide if you are going to purchase their Food and/or wild Gadgetry for your Home or Office. Chances are – if you do – you may be the first one on the block to try something that can save you TEM: Time, Effort and Money. Now, that’s a win-win proposition that is bound to be worth its weight in gold. In non-alpha order, those NRA Dandies include:
Concordia Coffee Systems – www.concordiacoffee.com
Tribe Mediterranean Foods – www.tribehummus.com
Creatable Media, Inc. www.creatablemedia.com
Hurricone Cordless Floor Dryer – www.hurricone.com
Costume Specialists – www.costumespecialists.com
Amazing Mail – www.amazingmail.com
Sorbay ™ PalateCleansing Lozenge & Sorbay PetOralCare Mist ™ - www.bonmange.com
American Art Fine Art Mounts – americanartdisplay.com
TUUCI – The Ultimate Umbrella Company, Inc. – www.tuuci.com
Y Not Foods, Inc. – www.ynotfoods.com
QSR: How America Eats. www.qsrmagazine.com
Feel free to mention ASK’s Chicagology 101 ® when you contact them. Check out more of the Action on the NRA’s Websites at:
www.dineout.org or www.restaurant.org
http://www.restaurant.org/show/
With 40% of all Westerners eating out regularly, you can now join their Ranks and decide for yourself why Eating and the Food Industry (which is its core) is far beyond the World’s Favorite Pastime. And, all along some People thought it was shopping and Bowling For Dollars!
Stay tuned for more amply delicious Viewpoints on the Condition of Food and the Industries it spawns in Edition #37 of Chicagology 101.
Until then, may all your Days be energizing and nutritious.
Sincerely,
ASK: Adrienne Sioux Koopersmith
Koopersmith’s Global Communications
“People read what ASK writes about…”
Chicago, Illinois USA
askoopersmith@hotmail.com
©1979-2007. ADRIENNE SIOUX KOOPERSMITH
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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