Floored! NRA Show 2008 News

Upscale tea experiences and other refined sips

We can’t call a beverage that’s been around for thousands of years a new trend, but we've noticed several novel and unique tea products at the NRA show.

Revolution Tea lured us in with the 50/50, an upscale Arnold Palmer. The pre-mixed drink is a blend of premium black tea and all-natural, not-too-sweet lemonade that is deliciously shippable. We almost felt like we were celebrating a hole-in-one at an idyllic golf course as we sipped. Check out the 50/50 and other chilled and warm tea products at Booth 1443.

Ineeka Teas caught our eye with its innovative diffuser tea bags. The tea bags have clever built-in tabs that expand to straddle the rim of the cup or mug, which provides a complete and unrestricted infusion and allows the whole leaves to completely unfurl. The company has won design awards for the bags, and the teas are as stunning as the packaging. See it for yourself at Booth 7382.

Finally, we were intrigued by Tai Chi Tea’s edible green tea at Booth 9135. Not only can you brew yourself a great cup of green tea, you can also graze on the leaves themselves, for those times when you just can find boiling water.

There’s plenty more tea, tea equipment and new tea products out on the floor. Check it out!

Floor talk: International attendee impressed by product selection

Ronald Droguett, CDR Aramark, Santiago, Chile:

Aramark in Chile runs facilities in mines; I’m looking for cook and chill containers. I’ve seen a lot of products that would work.

Floor talk: "If you can't find it here, it doesn't exist."

Brent Poulton, St. Louis Bar and Grill, Ontario, Canada:

I run a chain of 22 restaurants in Southern Ontario. This show is great for anybody in the industry: there’s such a variety of exhibitors and products. If you can’t find it here, it doesn’t exist.

Something we’ve been searching for for a year and a half is an inventory management system that interfaces with a POS system. We're hoping to have better luck here finding one here.

I’m attracted to all the Louisiana food here — it’s very distinctive, with great flavor. We’d think about adding that to our menu.

Gelato wars on the NRA Show floor

Take cover! The Gelato Wars are sweeping the floor of the NRA Show. We counted listings for 26 gelato specialists, and we saw bunkers of gelato makers, gelato equipment manufacturers, gelato display cases. The smooth, creamy Italian ice cream seems to be making a concerted effort to expand its position in the U.S. market.

The gelato warriors are united when it comes to touting the cold, creamy treat’s benefits over ice cream — it’s lower in fat, made with natural ingredients, denser, smoother and contains much less air than ice cream. Gelato suppliers will be more than happy to explain the difference to you.

The consumer experience is different as well, say café equipment distributors and design experts. Gelaterias tend to be designed as places where customers can relax and linger, a bit of laid-back Italian culture in US markets. Take a look at the design elements for yourself.

While the Gelato Warriors are united in their goal to invade ice cream’s turf, there is some friendly fire. Then folks are Palazzolo’s Artisan Gelato and Sorbetto lobbed a verbal grenade at a nearby competitor when they compared their all-natural, “uncompromised” ingredients to a nearby competitor’s powder and gel formulations. Aroma d'Italia fired back with talk of convenience for café operators.

Make your own decision: Visit   at Booth 5228 then hop over to Aromi d’Italia at Booth 5237. And check out the rest of the gelato providers and equipment makers across the show floor.

Bugging out

"Hey would you like to feed the bedbugs?"

A grinning man man excitedly offered us a white box about the size of a deck of cards as if it were a new iPod instead of a tiny cage full of live insects that feed on the blood of humans.

"See?" he said, rolling up his sleeve and putting the box on his bare forearm, "the warmth of my blood wakes them up."

We're thinking... who let this guy loose on the NRA Show floor?

The mad scientist turned out to be Robert Klein of APTIV whose line of eco-friendly insect control products had people buzzing around there booth like...

"Flies," Klein said. "Fruit flies. They get into your liquor, your salad, annoy your customers."

APTIV's products use no active ingredients (that's poisons, to you and me), and are made of the same materials used to package medicine. They're not bad too look at and completely safe to have around the food.

Sales are taking off for these green products, but it hasn't always been that way.

"Fifteen years ago we developed these products and we were laughed out of the stores," Klein insists, his bedbugs now napping on the table and safely away from our arms. "They said there was no need."

The time definitely seems to be right now. "We're having a hell of a show. It's been really, really good for us."

If you get tired of nibbling and feel like getting nibbled on for a change, or if you want to find out more about controlling pests and insects, head to APTIV's booth or one of the other pest control exhibitors at the NRA show.

Floor talk: Attendee seeks food fit for an admiral

Brian Wheeler, assistant food service officer, U.S. Navy: Every flag officer in the Navy gets his own personal chef; the admiral who is chairman of the joint chiefs of staff right now gets four chefs.

I’m here looking for new ideas, different food concepts. I’m also looking at a lot of the organic options. And because all of our chefs are also sailors, I’m looking at prepackaged food too.

Floor talk: Finding farm-to-table options

Brenda Franks Hale, Peggy Franks and Erin Battaglia, Boxwood Bistro, Franklin, Tenn: We’re opening our restaurant, a contemporary American, farm-to-table spot, in August. This is out first time at the show, and we weren’t expecting so much! This is the most professionally run show we’ve seen.

We’ve been looking at the coffee machines from Switzerland, the New Zealand sparkling water and organic carry-out containers. We’re also looking at a lot of the chinaware exhibits: We’ve been going through catalogs, but it’s so much better to feel and touch things instead of just looking at it.