NRA Show Blog

Chefs across the country compete for Great American Seafood Cook-Off title

By Derrek J. Hull, Blogger-in-Chief

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has joined producers of the Ninth Annual Great American Seafood Cook-Off to pose the following challenge to each state across America: Send your best chef to New Orleans where the finest seafood chef in America will be crowned. Governor Jindal has sent letters to his 49 fellow governors asking them to appoint a chef to represent their state at the Great American Seafood Cook-Off, set to take place on Saturday, August 11, 2012 in New Orleans. 

“We are pleased to have Governor Jindal’s support as we assemble a field of accomplished chefs who will bring a taste of their region to our annual celebration of domestic seafood,” said Ewell Smith, executive director of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board and the creator of the Great American Seafood Cook-Off.  

Smith added, “Each year we welcome chefs from various states and I am excited to welcome an entirely new collection of culinary talent to this August’s competition.”

The Great American Seafood Cook-Off is the most prestigious seafood cooking competition in the country. The first Cook-Off took place in the summer of 2004 and the event has attracted celebrity chefs and up-and-coming culinary stars ever since. The competition celebrates domestic seafood and encourages the use of product from sustainable fisheries. 

Five food safety tips for memorable summer grilling

By Derrek J. Hull, Blogger-in-Chief

Summer grilling season is heating up. From backyard barbeques to picnic cookouts, people across America celebrate summer by grilling alfresco. Experts at the National Restaurant Association (NRA) offer five food safety tips to ensure safe and memorable summer grilling experiences. (Click on image to enlarge.)

A how-to video of Beachey, who is also a certified chef and culinary expert for the NRAEF’s ProStart program, showing proper execution of these food safety tips is available on the NRA’s YouTube channel. 

Kids LiveWell celebrates first anniversary with 29,000 restaurant locations

By Derrek J. Hull, Blogger-in-Chief

It's been an exciting first year for the National Restaurant Association's groundbreaking Kids LiveWell initiative, which has grown to include 104 restaurant brands with more than 29,000 locations nationwide.  

“Kids LiveWell continues to build momentum and expand into new venues in every state across the country,” said Dawn Sweeney, President and CEO of the National Restaurant Association. “The industry’s positive response to customer demand is exciting to watch, and we look forward to what the next year will bring.” 

The program recently welcomed added its first museum, the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis to its ranks, as well as Arby’s Restaurants and Qdoba Mexican Grill.
 
To qualify for Kids LiveWell, restaurants must offer and promote a selection of items that meet qualifying nutrition criteria based on leading health organization's scientific recommendations, including the 2010 USDA Dietary Guidelines.  

The NRA developed Kids LiveWell in collaboration with Healthy Dining, whose team of registered dietitians works with restaurants to identify and validate the qualifying menu choices, which focus on fruits and vegetables, lean protein, whole grains and low-fat dairy. Participating restaurants and their qualifying items can be found on HealthyDiningFinder.com. 

Live online event: menu trends with Nancy Kruse, July 31

By Derrek J. Hull, Blogger-in-Chief

The National Restaurant Association Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show is hosting a live online rebroadcast of Nancy Kruse's standing-room-only NRA Show 2012 education session "Menu Innovation 2012: Turning Trends into Money Makers." Join Nancy for this online event, as she answers your burning questions via live chat throughout the duration of the session rebroadcast.

New menu item introductions are at record high levels as operators ratchet up the creativity to lure recession-spooked patrons back to restaurants. While there are no one-size-fits-all approaches to developing a compelling menu, the good news is there are multiple strategies to convince consumers to put down their remotes, step away from their couches and return to restaurants. Learn all about what’s hot on the menu and how simple, innovative tweaks can turn trends into moneymakers during this special live online event. 

• Date: Tuesday, July 31, 2012 
• Time: 3 pm Eastern/2 pm Central/1 pm Mountain/12 pm Pacific
• Cost: Free

Whether you were at the NRA Show and missed Nancy's session, were at the session but didn't get to ask your question, or were unable to attend NRA Show 2012 at all, the NRA Show team and Nancy are giving you a second chance to learn from the best!

Restaurant job growth outpaces overall U.S. employment by two to one

Photo: Katy Raddatz/The Chronicle

By Derrek J. Hull, Blogger-in-Chief

A new report by the National Restaurant Association (NRA) shows that the restaurant industry continues to outpace overall U.S. employment growth. In the 12 months ending June 2012, eating and drinking place employment spiked 2.7 percent, more than double the 1.3 percent increase in total U.S. employment during the same period. 

Restaurants have added more than 575,000 jobs since the employment recovery began in March 2010, with current industry staffing levels standing 193,000 jobs above the pre-recession peak. Restaurant industry job growth slowed along with the rest of the economy during the second quarter of 2012, but remains a net contributor to the economic recovery. The restaurant industry is the nation’s second-largest private sector employer with a workforce of nearly 13 million – almost 10 percent of the U.S. workforce. 

“While restaurant industry job growth is not immune to the ups and downs of the overall economy, our industry has continually been at the forefront of job creation for the last two years,” said Dawn Sweeney, President and CEO of the National Restaurant Association.

ProStart champs visit nation’s capital

The winners of this year's National ProStart Invitational on their visit to Washington, D.C.

Shared by Derrek J. Hull, Blogger-in-Chief

The winners of this year's National ProStart Invitational experienced a whirlwind tour of Washington, D.C. recently, seeing the city's many historical sites, visiting with members of Congress and a popular celebrity chef, who calls the nation's capital home.

Members of the champion ProStart teams from Olathe Public Schools in Olathe, Kan., and Byron Nelson High School in Trophy Club, Texas, toured Washington, D.C., June 24-27 during the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation-sponsored trip.

Stops along the way included a visit with Mike Isabella, chef-owner of Graffiato and Bandolero restaurants and a finalist during season six of Bravo TV's Top Chef competition, meetings with Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan.; Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan.; Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas; and Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas at the U.S. Capitol building; and a private tour of various national monuments, including the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials, guided by members of the Department of the Interior.

The culinary students also got to taste the food at some of Washington's well-known restaurants: Old Ebbit Grill, Oyamel and fast-casual burger joint Good Stuff Eatery.

The trip was a memorable one for the two champion teams, but better than that, they said, was winning this year's ProStart Invitational event.

I have wanted this since the 7th grade," said Trenton Shenk, a junior at Byron Nelson High School, the winner of this year's ProStart restaurant management competition. "Doing this has really helped me to reach my goals of learning the industry and being a part of the food and beverage world."

Read more.  

National Restaurant Association, DigitalCoco join forces on social media solutions

By Derrek J. Hull, Blogger-in-Chief

The National Restaurant Association (NRA) has partnered with DigitalCoCo on social media analysis solutions that will help its member restaurants build marketing strategies and engage consumers. 

“Social media has become an important part of the marketing mix, and we are excited to partner with DigitalCoCo to offer our member restaurants unique insights into the social media universe specific to their brands,” said James Balda, chief marketing and communications officer for the National Restaurant Association. “Understanding how to leverage a social media audience can greatly enhance profitability, as well as consumers’ emotional connection to a restaurant. We believe these analytics solutions will help accomplish both.” 

“Food is social to begin with,” said DigitalCoCo founder Paul Barron. “This is big business for the restaurant industry, and our goal is to deliver not only a solution, but a solid ROI metric. Many executives and brand managers are beginning to understand both the promise and the enormous challenges of unprecedented access to social restaurant customer data. This is really the promise that can help the industry grow in the next decade.” 

National Restaurant Association Reveals Fresh, New Logo

 
By Derrek J. Hull, Blogger-in-Chief

The National Restaurant Association unveiled its new visual identity, which will be applied to all NRA programs, advocacy, services and products this year. The new visual identity will help build cohesiveness in the NRA’s brand structure, and is a step in its multi-year strategic plan to strengthen the connection and messaging to core constituents. The new brand visual is designed to reflect the richness and diversity of the $632 billion restaurant industry and its nearly 13 million employees. 

“Creating this new visual identity has been a wonderful experience, as we have taken the many beloved aspects of the industry and translated them into imagery,” said Dawn Sweeney, president and CEO of the National Restaurant Association.

Sweeney added, “We also incorporated our organization’s history into the new brand, bringing in elements from our logo from the 1920s, as well as elements from our well-established ProStart and ServSafe brands.”