- In my job as a culinary consultant for several of Canada’s, the worlds, biggest food companies I have the opportunity to travel to dozens of countries and have attended 100′s of trade shows. Some of the shows I am so busy I only see the exhibitors booths directly beside and in front of me, but normally I get to have a walk through by the last day of the show.
- Most 2 day shows should be one, and most 3 day shows should be 2…………………that being said working a trade show booth is one of the most exhausting things i do in my job. The lugging and setting up of gear and equipment. The logistics and planning how to cook “gourmet food” in a make shift kitchen are staggering. it never gets easy.
- Recently i had the opportunity to attend the Cater Source show in las Vegas, nevada, and was quite pleased with the level of innovation and booth set ups.
- there was a good mix of small and large companies and i found there was a lot of effort put into making the booths look nice. I was extremely busy there and served about 1500 bites of food. then again i was preparing Scallops, Lobster, Clams and Shrimp so not too hard to get busy.
- Having just returned from that show to Toronto in time to attend the CRFA show i must say i was let down. I have felt the CRFA show has struggled the past several years and had hoped that when it moved back downtown it would “pick-up”, sadly this year was its worst in a long time.
- Immediately upon entering you could see it was a smaller show then normal. Attendance wasnt helped by having major booths such as McCain Foods not attend with its gigantic 20 booth space presence. However what i found disappointing was the lack of innovation. There were lots of small companies which i always enjoy but the offerings were same old………………
- What was appealing in the last few shows i have been to was the new and exciting things i have seen.
- What is amazing is that the CRFA is Canada’s “biggest” and best food show!!!!!! have you been to the Food and Wine show or Gourmet Cheese and Wine show these past few years!? OMG….you can walk through in 20-30 minutes!
- The thing is our sister city Chicago has the NRA…which is the equivalent to the CRFA, and even though its size and grandeur has decreased these past 5 years and was especially noticeable two years ago in the economic recession, it is still so much more of a show then what we have here in Toronto. Toronto is the 5th biggest city in NA……..Mexico City, NY, LA, Chicago, Toronto……..so one would think that we should be able to host a decent size show……………..I am wondering if we simply have too many shows and dilute our market?
- At any rate, i did enjoy several stage presentations from Chefs Ray Bear, Anna Olson, and Mark McEwan. although the stages aren’t very attractive or well set up for demos! i also think its crazy there are 3 stages inside such a small show.
- Even more than the food, i enjoyed hearing Marks take on Food Trends and where the restaurant market is in Canada today…….he should know as he runs several successful restaurants in the GTA as well as a food store and a catering company. He definitely was focused on comfort foods or as he said foods with the “Yum” factor. He was saying he doesn’t want a beautifully presented plate where the food doesnt actual taste good! I can t agree more.
- The next generation of chefs coming into the industry are light years ahead in plate presentations then I was when I started out…….(they also have far more plates to choose from!), but in some cases the depth of flavor is lacking. I imagine this stems from the fact that the young culinarians for the most part do not have to spend several hundred hours on one task but move through the ranks quickly to satisfy the demand for “chefs” in our growing industry. But this is another topic for another day………….
- I am interested to see how the SIAl show will do here in Toronto this fall…………..after attending in Paris where I find it to be one of the worlds best food shows i hope i am pleasantly surprised.
- One of my favorite food finds of 2011 is the FOMZ pictured above and found at www.fomz.net
- bon appetite
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Curious, Stefan: do you think that the resurgence of interest in local ingredients impacts attendance at the shows?
Hey Catherine…….thats a very interesting comment and one i hadnt given as much thought to. I was thinking more in line with the Internet and how available it has made everything. I used to do a brisk business supplying other cooks and foodies with hard to find ingredients but now a days people just click Google! lol……………….im going to give your comment some more thought