FSMA Top2Top and The CRFA SHOW

March is an exciting month for those of us in the foodservice industry with plenty of trade shows to keep us busy. While we are still in the first half of the month, CHD Expert has been raking up the air miles with separate trips to Orlando, Florida and Toronto, Canada. In a quick 24hours we had to say good to our flip flops and hello to our snow boots!

The FSMA Top2Top conference is put on by the Foodservice Sales & Marketing Association. This national trade association works with food & equipment manufactures, vendors and sales agencies to help grow their businesses.  This year’s show was a little down in attendance, but there was still a lot of good information shared during the sessions and a lot of solid networking.

The CRFA Show or the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservice Association Show is Canada’s Foodservice Event of the Year.  The show is held at the Direct Energy Centre in Toronto and if you have not been in Toronto, it is worth a trip. The growth in the city is quite impressive, and down town Toronto skyline is full of cranes and promise for the future of the city.

Relationship building is critical in business, especially the foodservice industry. Food & Equipment Manufacturers use our data in a lot of different ways and we are always eager to introduce our products to businesses in different regions.  Below are some photos that we took at the two events. Check them out and consider joining us next year.

Lots of good exhibitors in attendance

Great Party In Toronto

10 Must-Attend Foodservice Industry Trade Shows for 2014

2014 is finally here and for foodservice industry professionals, that means another year full of foodservice trade shows. Every year there are a number of foodservice industry trade shows that we like to attend, but the hard part is determining which ones.

After much consideration, we’ve selected our 10 Must-Attend Foodservice Industry Trade Shows for 2014, which we’ve listed in chronologic order. Take a look:

1. Technomic Trends & Directions Conference
Newport Beach, CA (Jan 22 – 23)
Our partners’ at Technomic invite restaurant industry leaders to come together at their annual conference in Newport Beach California. Attendees will examine consumer foodservice attitude and usage—as well as demographic dynamics and marketing and social media trends, in order to position themselves for success today and into the future. Technomic executives will present proprietary consumer, menu and industry research, while consumer insight analysts and innovative operators will lend their knowledge and experience.

2. FSMA’s 20th Annual Top2Top Conference 2014
Orlando, FL (Feb 24 – 27)
The Foodservice Sales and Marketing Associations’ 20th Annual Top2Top Conference is the premier event for foodservice sales & marketing executives.

3. CRFA Show
Toronto, On (March 2 – 4)
The Canadian Restaurant and Foodservice Association Show is the leading foodservice and hospitality event in Canada. A comprehensive forum of industry products, the CRFA Show, attracts 12,000 industry professionals and puts them face to face with exhibitors showcasing all their latest products.

4. Midwest Foodservice Expo 2014
Milwaukee, WI (March 10-12)
Produced by the Wisconsin Restaurant Association, the Midwest Foodservice Expo (MFE) is the leading regional food, beverage and hospitality industry event in the Midwest. Since we are not too far away, this is one of the shows we enjoy bringing several members of the team to.

5. 30th Annual International Pizza Expo 2014
Las Vegas, NV (March 25 – 27)
The Pizza Expo is the world’s largest pizza-only trade show, and it’s now in its 30th year. This is one of our favorite shows to attend because of the passion and energy we see on the trade show floor. We also enjoy the competitions, the food and innovations This show is attended by pizzeria or pizza-concept restaurant owners, operators and managers, as well as distributors and food brokers to name a few.

6. SIAL The North American Food Marketplace
Montreal, QB (April 2 – 4)
SIAL Canada is an international trade show dedicated to North American food industry professionals. Every year, over 700 agrifood exhibitors and 14,500 professionals come together for this uniting event.

7. NRA Show 2014
Chicago, IL (May 17-20)
One of the biggest trade shows of the year is the National Restaurant Association’s show in Chicago (NRA). Every year, over the course of four days, more than 1,800 suppliers and tens of thousands of buyers come together to make lasting connections that drive business profitability and shape the future of the restaurant, foodservice and hospitality industry. This show is perfect for any business looking for new products, trends, and ideas that will make a difference in their business’ future. Let’s just say, May is one of our favorite months of the year!

8. AHF Healthcare Foodservice
Orlando, FL (June 3-6)
The Association for Healthcare Foodservice conference is the only conference of its kind, uniquely tailored to the needs of the healthcare foodservice self-operator and the business partners that support them. If you are interested in the healthcare foodservice industry, this is the show for you!

9. Western Foodservice & Hospitality Expo
Anaheim, CA (Aug 7-8)
At the Western Foodservice & Hospitality Expo, you’ll find everything needed to profit in the industry, from the latest trends to how to charm your guests, to ways to reduce cost and inspire your team. Plus it’s located in sunny California!

10. Florida Restaurant & Lodging Show
Orlando, FL (Sept 7 -9)
The Florida Restaurant & Lodging Show is the only all-encompassing event in the Southeastern United States for the restaurant and foodservice industry, making it THE one-stop source for everything you need to succeed in today’s restaurant market. We can’t wait to see what trends, innovations and other technology are launched at this show.

Each year, CHD Expert attends several trade shows. Trade shows give us the opportunity to meet other foodservice professionals, listen to new ideas, network and share our solutions with other professionals in the foodservice industry. Today, so much business is done over the phone or via the Internet, so it’s really a pleasure when we have the opportunity to talk face-to-face with clients, partners, and influencers in the business.

If you don’t typically attend trade shows, or haven’t in the past few years, consider attending one or two of the shows from the list above. Remember, this isn’t our entire list of trade shows we will be attending in 2014, but these are a few of our favorites. Throughout the year, as we confirm our attendance to other shows, we will keep you updated.

Happy New Year and we hope to see you at the next show!

Foodservice Trade Shows: Our Must Attend List for 2013

By Nicolas Watson

Every year there are a ton of foodservice trade shows and it becomes challenging to determine which ones to attend. However, there are a few shows that we know we are going to no matter what. We haven’t completed our entire, Must Attend Trade Show List for 2013, but we’ve selected a few great shows that we’ll be attending over the next two months!

One of the first shows that’s on our list is Technomic’s Foodservice Planning Program. This conference takes place on January 15th through the 16th in Newport Beach California. Not only is CHD Expert North America in partnership with Technomic, but, we believe that Foodservice Planning is an integral part of what we do and how we provide customized foodservice solutions to our clients.

During this conference, you get to learn many things about the foodservice industry. There are great sessions like The State of the Economy and Foodservice Industry, Best Practices Workshops, and Outlooks On How To Address Trade Spending In A Challenging Environment. Overall, this is one of our favorite conferences because as foodservice industry professionals, we get to come together and learn about our industry right at the start of the new year!

Another shows we are going to attend is the NAFEM Show. Here are the reasons why we are such advocates of this show:

• It has a wide range of foodservice equipment and supplies solutions with over 500 exhibitors.
• It allows foodservice professions to learn about the products and meet the manufacturers.
• This year’s show has one of our favorite special guests: Jimmy Buffet! (Come on now, we all can’t get enough of Margaritaville!)

So, we’ll be there from February 7th through the 9th in Orlando, Florida.  Are you attending? Click here to learn more about the 2013 NAFEM Show.

Another big event that we’ll be attending is the 19th Annual FSMA Top2Top Conference on February 11th through the 14th in Palm Springs, California.

This is a great conference for foodservice sales and marketing executives.  One of the main reasons why we love this show is it brings together all of the key foodservice industry players to teach everyone how to “sell better together” as the Foodservice Sales Marketing Association puts it. And we agree! We are all in the same industry together, so it’s important that we learn from one another to better one another in this growing industry.

As soon as we’ve confirmed our attendance to other trade shows or conferences, we’ll let you know. We hope you’ve enjoyed learning about what shows are most important for us and why! Feel free to connect with us at any time. Or, email me, Nico Watson, at nwatson@chd-expert.com.

2012 International Hotel, Motel and Restaurant Show #IHMRS

With the holiday season quickly approaching, people have begun booking hotel and motel rooms for their winter travel plans.  As for the CHD Expert team, we just booked a few nights for a different hotel experience, and one that is not to be missed.

In one month from now, we will be spending 3 days in New York City attending the International Hotel, Motel & Restaurant Show (IHMRS), at the Jacob Javits Center.  The IHMRS is one of our favorite annual tradeshows, and is attended by about 25,000 industry professionals.

Every major player in the hospitality and foodservice industry will be in attendance, and we are happy to be among them.  Other sub segments that will be represented include decor, technology, foodservice equipment, flavors, linens, amenities, tableware, and many more. All together there are expected to be over 1,000 suppliers in attendance, and according to the website, they will be “organized by product category for your convenience!”

We will be walking the floor, and already have some meetings scheduled. If you too will be there, and would like to meet up and talk about hospitality and foodservice marketing, shoot us an email, and we can talk. bbloom@chd-expert.com. And if not, make sure to follow our twitter updates @CHD_Expert_US #IHRMS for updates from the show.

College Foodservice Database & the NACUFS National Conference

The 2012 National Association of Campus and University Food Service (NACUFS) National Conference  is just around the corner (July 11th-14th) and it looks like its going to be a great show. This year’s attendees will hear speeches from some of the industries brightest minds including: Ming TsaI, Dr. John Francis and Robert Landolphi.  One of the other noteworthy pieces of this conference is the exhibit floor. This year, there are going to be more than 360 booths where you’ll find products, services, and ideas to take back to your operations. This is a great conference for foodservice industry professionals and we’d recommend attending.

Additionally, if you are looking for more information or data around university and college foodservice, we can help.  We have the world’s largest foodservice database. Via our foodservice solution framework, we help foodservice channel members connect with the right target audience, even if it’s as specific as university foodservice operators. Through our database, we provide businesses with the ability to visualize foodservice venues on campus and contact foodservice directors. Getting this granular level of foodservice operator data is our specialty.

What does this mean? This means that we have a university and campus foodservice database with detailed operator contact information. For example, if you want to contact the director of foodservice operations at a particular university because you want to introduce your new “to-go,” box that would be perfect for on campus dining facilities, we have the contact information for these decision makers. In addition, here are some of the other details our foodservice university database can provide you with:

 

• Contact Details
• Number of Schools in the District
• Operation Type (Managed / Self-op)
• # Free & Reduced Lunches
• Ownership Type (Public / Private)
• Enrollment
• Number of Meals per Day
  

Moreover, you can also segment the education database by:

 

• Operation type (self-operated, aramark, sodexo…)
• Enrollment (250 and less, 251 to 500…)
• Number of meals per day
  

If you’d like to receive more information about our foodservice education database, feel free to contact us. We’d be happy to give you a demo of our Database and a free 30-Day trial. Just click here to register for more info. Have a great day!

2012 Foodservice Trade Shows – Why are they valuable and which are CHD Expert attending?

The foodservice industry is very segmented – from suppliers, operators, distributers, manufacturers, etc. But one of the best ways that we can all come together is for a trade show! One of the main reasons why we like attending trade shows is because it provides a time and place for foodservice industry professionals to get together, share ideas, and do some business.

Here at CHD Expert, we are fortunate enough to work with all of the different segments of the foodservice industry because we deal with foodservice data.  We are a global foodservice database specializing in the away from home foodservice market. We offer data for all of the different foodservice segments, like commercial (FSR, QSR, Bars and Lodging, Education and Hospitality), non-commercial (prisons, community facilities, religious centers, etc.) and finally, unclassified foodservice data (convenience stores, gas stations, grocery stores, etc.).

We feel that trades hows allow you to talk with people. So much of business is done over the internet these days and as a result, it is important to make an effort to attend these events so that you get the chance to talk to people in your industry face-to-face. In addition, trade shows offers us the chance to not only talk to existing clients, but it also provides us with the opportunity to provide education to prospects, generate sales leads, establish a presence in the marketplace, and it allows us to personally meeting our customers, competitors and suppliers.

We are hoping to squeeze in a few more shows, but here is the list of trade shows and conferences that we’ll be attending in 2012. Check them out:

• North American Association of Food Equipment Manufacturers    San Antonio, TX    February 10-13    
• International Restaurant & Food Show    New York, NY    March 4-6    
• The Toronto CRFA Trade Show    Toronton, Ontario    March 4-6    
• The Wisconsin Trade Show    Milwaukee, WI    March 12-14    
• International Pizza Expo    Las Vegas, NV    March 13-15   
• Nightclub & Bar    Las Vegas, NV    March 13-14    
• National Restaurant Association  Chicago, IL    May 5-8    
• International Dairy/Deli/Bakery seminar & expo    New Orleans, LA    June 10-12    
• Summer Fancy Food Show    Washington, D.C.    June 17-19    
• Technomic Trends and Directions Conference    Rosemount, IL    20-Jun    
• The IFT Annual Meeting & Food Expo – to check    Las Vegas, NV    June 25-28    
• National Association of College & University FoodService    Boston, MA    July 11-14    
• IFDA Sales & Marketing Conference    San Fransisco, CA    July 22-24   
• Western Foodservice Show    San Diego, CA    August 12-14
• Florida Restaurant & Lodging Show    Orlando, FL    Sept 23-25    
• MUFSO- Multi-Unit Foodservice Operators Conference    Grapevine, TX    Sept 25-27
• The British Columbia Trade Show    Vancouver, BC    Nov 6-8    
• International Hotel Motel Restaurants Show    New York, NY    Nov 10-13

We hope to see you at one of the trade shows we’ll be attending- and if you know in advance that we’ll be at the same show, feel free to drop us a line and let us know. We can coordinate a time and place to meet. We’d love it!