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Jordan Melnick/MEDILL
Exhibitors were setting up their booths Thursday for the annual National Restaurant Association Show starting Saturday.
Lower turnout expected for annual restaurant show this weekend
by Jordan Melnickand Katie Rogers
May 14, 2009
"Top Chef" winner talks about restaurant show, new restaurant
Stephanie Izard, 2008 winner of Bravo’s “Top Chef” reality program, will be conducting demonstrations at The National Restaurant Association Show 2009 Saturday at Chicago’s McCormick Place. With a penchant for good seafood and libations, Izard, 32, will open her newest restaurant, The Drunken Goat, with partners Rob Katz and Kevin Boehm of Boka Restaurant Group (think hotspots Landmark Grill, Boka and Perennial). The new restaurant will be located in the West Loop.
The native Chicagoan and current Bucktown resident recently talked about why the restaurant show and why the city will always be her home base.
What will you be doing at NRA 2009?
“I’ll be doing a number of demos throughout the day on Saturday. I’ll be mostly over at the Le Cordon Bleu [of the Scottsdale Institute] because that’s where I went to school. I wanted to do a recipe that has some sort of technique, so I’m actually doing a dish that has some preserved lemons in it … it’s a very simple thing to do, you can just do a huge batch and leave them out.”
What’s with this year’s theme, “Profitable Proteins?”
“Basically I think it’s being able to take cuts of meat that, you know, don’t cost quite as much. Not using beef tenderloin, not using rack of lamb, instead going for maybe a lamb shank or something that’s a little less expensive. I’m going to be making a skit steak. You just have to know how to treat that cut of meet to get the best texture and best flavor.”
How was Chicago contributed to your culinary career?
“For me, it’s been huge. I think what’s so great about here is there’s such a great community of chefs in Chicago, it’s almost like a little fraternity. There are so many great chefs and so many emerging restaurants, so I think it keeps growing and the chefs just keep getting stronger.”
What are the most current plans for the Drunken Goat?
“We just found a space in the West Loop and we should be announcing the actually address in the next couple of weeks. In the next week or so I’m going to announce some sort of secret Drunken Goat dinner parties I’m going to be having.”
Is this economic climate influencing your business philosophy?
“I think from the beginning I’ve envisioned it as a more casual restaurant with lower prices. It seems like we definitely made the right choice in that and we’re going to stick to it.”
How will this restaurant be different than your last, Scylla, which closed its doors in 2007?
“It’ll be more casual, not white tablecloths. We’re going to feature more than just seafood – but of course I love seafood so there’s still going to be quite a bit. There will be a great beer list, just a place to go hang out with your friends and have a good time.”
The 90th annual National Restaurant Association Show will kick off Saturday at McCormick Place with fewer exhibitors and lower attendance expected than in past years.
Though thousands of exhibitors are scheduled to attend the convention, the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau acknowledged that this year’s gathering will be smaller than in 2008.
“Like many of our conventions that are coming in, [exhibitors] are sending fewer exhibit personnel, and attendees may be attending for fewer days,” bureau spokeswoman Meghan Risch said.
Convention participants corroborated Risch’s assessment Thursday as preparations got under way for the four-day event.
Commercial food-equipment manufacturer Hobart LP, a perennial attendant, did not downsize its booth but did bring less equipment and fewer employees in response to economic pressures, said trade marketing manager Joyce Grooms, who has managed Hobart’s exhibit for eight years.
“I scaled back about 40 percent [on equipment] over last year” to minimize transportation costs, Grooms said.
Michael Cosentino, national account sales manager for Gruppo Cimbali SpA, an Italian coffee-machine maker, said he has scheduled fewer appointments with buyers than last year.
“Some of the people who aren’t coming normally do come,” said Cosentino, who has attended the last two restaurant conventions.
Cimbali did not downsize its booth, located in a prime high-traffic location, Cosentino said, because “if you lose your spot, you don’t get it back.”
The show is considered the top restaurant-industry event in the country, drawing exhibitors from around the world who are looking to get their products into commercial kitchens. Industry heavyweights, including celebrity chef Daniel Boulud, Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. founder Steve Ells and Rick Bayless, who owns Frontera Grill and Topolobampo on the Near North Side, are attending this year.
The International, Wine, Spirits & Beer Event, which runs from Sunday to Monday at McCormick Place, is part of the show.
The convention serves as a one-stop shop for aspiring restaurateurs, said Phillip Foss, executive chef for Lockwood Restaurant & Bar in downtown Chicago.
“The best reason to go is to be opening a restaurant,” Foss said. “You capture all the things you need to do in one place.”
Foss, who is doing a cooking clinic at the show, said the convention is ideal for local business because convention attendants typically flood restaurants.
“Reservations are much harder to come by,” said Foss, who estimated that business usually doubles during the convention.
The uptick may be smaller this year due to vendors scaling back. The restaurant association said Wednesday that it was too early to estimate attendance, however a slimmed-down event is widely expected.
“They used to have three levels. Now there’s only two large sections,” said Caroline O’Donnell, an exhibitor with MICROS Systems Inc., which makes point-of-sales software for restaurants.
O’Donnell, who works at the MICROS Chicago office, said the Maryland-based company sent fewer employees this year—about 20—than previous years, opting for “localized help” instead.
Some vendors see opportunity in their competition’s frugality.
“We’re taking advantage of some of the ones that have pulled out,” said Kirk Thomas, regional sales manager for FOH Inc., which designs tabletop items.
Thomas said FOH bought its “largest booth size ever” and is sending “every available” sales person to the convention.
“We’re really pulling out all the stops,” he said.
