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NRA SHOW PREVIEW

Military culinary training, for the
third consecutive year, comprises two Celebrity chefs, like
days of training sessions at Kendall Vivian Howard (left)
College in Chicago, plus a third day and Anne Burrell, will
when the attendees visit the NRA show be on hand to provide
exhibit floor, meeting selected vendors culinary presentations.
and attending educational sessions.
The first day of the training program
is devoted to concept development on
healthy eating, marketing a business,
staffing and designing a new dining
facility, and developing a menu. Stu-
dents work in small groups to develop
a plan for a new dining concept.
On Saturday, May 20, the attendees
visit the NRA exhibit floor from 9:30
a.m. to 5 p.m. and attend a choice of
educational sessions being presented
as part of the show.
Each of the small groups, or teams,
returns to Kendall College on Sunday, May 21, to complete After some initial research, Red Robin found adults still
their business plans and then present them to a panel of in- wanted to dine there. “They wanted to enjoy our burgers,
dustry professionals for critique and guidance. brews and fries, but didn’t want to be seated next to kids. We
needed to morph the design of our restaurants to accommodate
SIGNATURE ’17 different kinds of customers.”
For the second consecutive year, NRA Show features Sig- Nearly all of the chain’s 530 stores have been revitalized
nature ’17. Instead of the traditional single-speaker keynote based on this research, Post said. But she suggests that res-
address, NRA President and CEO Dawn Sweeney hosts a taurants need to remain vigilant or risk falling behind again.
panel discussion about the direction food service is moving “Millennials have different needs and we’re going to need to
and best practices to stay on course. stay on top of that.”
Last year, Signature ’16 featured three restaurant industry When Sweeney asked Post where she sees her brand in
executives in a 90-minute panel discussion of how the busi- the next five years, she said the focus would be on delivery.
ness of hospitality is evolving and continues catering to a “We’ve got to figure this piece out. There’s always going to
multitude of customers and age groups through revitalization, be a place for coming out for a great dining experience, but
technology and sourcing. the winners will be the ones who figure out how to package
Sweeney asked Kimball Musk, co-founder of Boulder, the whole thing up and take it home.”
Colo., -based The Kitchen restaurants, about the impact of UberEATS conveniently connects diners and restaurants,
local sourcing; talked to Red Robin President Denny Marie which requires understanding two different customer bases.
Post about how the Red Robin concept is changing to stay UberEATS is one in a series of same-day services that comple-
relevant in a sea of competition; and examined the future of ments Uber’s robust logistics delivery services platform.
restaurant delivery with Jason Droege, head of technology “[We] have to understand the details on the ground if [we’re]
company Uber Everything, which developed the UberEATS investing in a restaurant,” Droege said. “[We] work [closely]
food-delivery service. with restaurants to figure out how far their food should be
Musk talked about the future of local food. A local-sourcing delivered to maintain their food quality.”
pioneer, Musk started his company after a stint in the tech At nearly six years old, Uber now operates in almost 400
industry. Today he runs two restaurant concepts: The Kitchen, cities around the world. UberEATS, which operates in 14
a farm-to-table operation, and the casual Next Door by the cities, works in partnership with restaurants to deliver from
Kitchen. a limited selection of menu items. The company is working
“People want to dine local,” he said. “They appreciate the with restaurants to ensure food safety and product integrity, as
flavor and connection. I’m really excited about the future of well as to determine how far and long the food should travel
local food.” and how it’s packaged.
The Kitchen is a growing family of restaurants that sources
directly from local farmers. WHAT’S HOT
Red Robin has redefined itself over the last five years Understanding customer trends is a key to staying on course
by evolving the guest experience. The company started as a with the direction that food service is heading. NRA surveyed
tavern in the 1960s, but morphed over the years into a family- nearly 1,300 professional chefs, who are American Culinary
centric brand. Yet Post notes that families were the first to stop Federation (ACF) members, and used the results to create its
frequenting the chain during the recent recession. “We were annual “What’s Hot” list of food, beverage and culinary trends
uniquely vulnerable because we were so skewed to families, that will be on restaurant menus in 2017.
but the reality is they weren’t the only guests we were serving,” “Menu trends today are beginning to shift from ingredient-
Post said. “We needed to morph our restaurants in a way that based items to concept-based ideas, mirroring how consumers
allowed us to serve different kinds of customers.” tend to adapt their activities to their overall lifestyle philoso-

20 MILITARY CLUB & HOSPITALITY | APRIL 2017