Reconnecting at the National Restaurant Association Show

Some quick thoughts on this year's National Restaurant Association Show, my first since 2018. And come say hello if you're attending! The Food News Media team will be at booth #5309.

Within a few months of being hired, I found myself at a table with three vaunted restaurant journalists. It was a fall Maine night and the host was taking coats. A fireplace glowed the entry. And then, I asked for a glass of rosé. Years later, our managing editor, Nicole Duncan, still tells this story to fresh employees. How at a restaurant that felt cozier than a Hallmark movie, I ordered pink wine. To be fair, for starters, I have no regrets. Rosé is never a bad choice. Yet truthfully, I just pointed to something that sounded “wine-y” and hoped for the best. I was a Brooklyn, New York, kid who had just spent a decade writing about high school football in Florida. My parents didn’t drink alcohol and the first meal I ever made for my wife was the beef stroganoff version of Hamburger Helper (she, too, often brings this up). I was trying to fit into a sphere I wasn’t even aware of.?

This story, as glib as it might be, came to mind recently when my colleague, Ben Coley, was booking his flight to Chicago for the National Restaurant Association Show. We hired Ben in January 2020. So, as the calendar portends, he wasn’t going on any work trips anytime soon. It made me realize what he’s missed—the kind of interactions you can’t punch a time card for.

In the grand scheme of COVID, not being able to travel for a trade show feels miniscule. And it is. Ben and I communicated via screen for roughly a year as the industry faced the crisis from the tip of the spear. By the time we met again, it felt like decades had passed. I’m sure you all can relate. I had gray hair and acted twice my age before. Now, it was (more or less) closer to reality. As the world recovers, however, so are events and the connective threads we seek out from face-to-face opportunities. We’re one step further on the road back to normal, or whatever that might be. And I’m happy Ben gets to see it; to meet with the people he’s been talking to on the phone/Zoom for two-plus years; to gather insights and feedback from the trenches; and yes, the moment to embarrass himself in front of grizzled vino vets if he gets the chance.

This recalibration is important for restaurants. Maybe more so than other industries. It’s been unnatural, and definitely out of character, for so many leaders I’ve spoken to in past months to huddle at home and try to flip the right switches. Hospitality is a universe where no matter what tech you invest in and how streamlined systems become, you simply can’t recreate the view from the front door. As Eggs Up Grill CEO Ricky Richardson once told me, “what you can’t ever defeat is what you see inside your restaurant.” The same is true of colleagues. So let the conversations flow at the industry’s biggest show, and come find us at our table to say hello if you’re attending. Just, whatever you do, don’t bring me the wine list.