Serious Eats just posted a neat article about the 2009 National Restaurant Association (NRA) Show, which was held in Chicago last-last weekend (May 16-19).
The article takes a close look at some of the new products, equipment and gadgets that were on display at the show, and references the challenging economic environment the U.S. foodservice industry is facing. To give you just one taste of how different things are on different sides of the border, this year’s CRFA Show saw a slight boost in attendance while the NRA Show saw attendance slide 24%. But as the writer notes:
Despite the obvious impact of the economy, I was still blown away by the NRA Show. The variety of products was staggering. Sure, some of them are unnecessary and easy to mock, but if even a fraction of them help restaurants improve the quality of their food, then we all get to reap the benefits.
I do have to say that it was pretty cool to read that the writer’s favourite new product was the Pig Out Spit Roaster — a Canadian invention that made its debut at our show back in March.
Now if we could just land ourselves that seventh NHL team …
