Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - 24

* * * ESSENTIAL F&B: CATERING TRENDS
RFP Wish List
F&B worth bragging about
BY GARY DIEDRICHS
Y
ou are an influencer. As a meeting prof,
you're constantly helping to steer the
future of businesses, organizations,
even-if I may be so bold-our world, by creating
settings in which minds can be at their best. But
there's also another, often unconsidered way you
wield enormous influence.
Your RFPs.
By requesting specific advances in, say, F&B,
you help create a demand that eventually topples
the dominoes toward purchasing upgrades. Put
another way, if the hotel's sales and marketing
team hears similar asks often enough, they will
work to get them put on the property's purchasing
docket.
That's why it's worth taking a look at some
of the latest on the food and beverage scene
from the National Restaurant Association Show
in Chicago, which revived this year for the first
time since 2019 and attracted 51,000 registrants.
These included restaurant owners, foodservice
professionals, food and ingredient suppliers and
equipment manufacturers from 110 countries and
all 50 states.
" Your catering RFPs
wield enormous
influence. "
Paper or Plastic?
*
Paper straws are so much better than
plastic for the environment, but they can
be a mushy mess in a cocktail or iced
soft drink. The company Enviro Sip Straw
featured its BOSS straws. They resist collapsing,
shredding or becoming soggy
for more than 24 hours, are made of 100
percent recyclable paper and have foodgrade,
biodegradable bindings.
*
Picnic, grab-n-go and to-go packaging is
rife with new options that are compostable
and earth-friendly. This category was
especially well represented by non-plastic,
non-polystyrene, biodegradable food packaging
options. Better Earth calls its products
" field to food to field " because they are
made from readily compostable materials
ranging from bamboo to sugarcane to agricultural
fibers.
*
How the catering kitchen cooks and serves
can be just as important as what it cooks.
Alabama-based Smart Buffet Ware came
to Chicago to show off its serving induction
systems that are cheaper to use and more
energy-efficient than buffets warmed with
canned fuel or electric heaters.
*
A Kitchen Innovations Showroom-largest in
the event's history, which dates back more than
a century-highlighted promising solutions in
automation, efficiency, safety improvements, sustainability
and waste solutions.
Zero-proof beverages, dairy-free and plantbased
foods, and a heightened focus on global
flavors were prominent across the show floor.
In all, more than 1,700 companies filled nearly
600,000 sq. ft. of space at McCormick Place, in
categories ranging from foods and beverages to
technology and entertainment. A tip of the toque
to Glen Hasek of Green Lodging News for curating
much of what follows.
24
OCTOBER 2022 * smartmeetings . com
Bottled water (in plastic) will surely draw
complaints from eco-conscious attendees.
Filtered water stations are one workaround,
but the Atmospheric Water Generator
by Altitude Water of Port Lucie, Florida,
extracts humidity for drinking from the very
air we breathe. Altitude Water's motto: " We
make water licensed from Mother Nature. "
*
Conventional coffee plants are among the
most heavily doused with chemicals in the
world. We're talking synthetic fertilizers,
pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and
insecticides. Fair trade-certified coffee is
less harmful to the environment and pays
fair prices to coffee farmers. Distant Lands
Coffee, a pioneer in sustainable coffee
production exhibited at the food show. It
began growing coffee at the owner's family
farm in Costa Rica in 1968 and specializes
in private-labeled roasts for foodservice and
grocery retailers.
Ask and You May Receive
On your next hotel RFP that includes catering,
ask for more than a low attrition rate on
the sleeping room block, a hosted reception or
reduced parking fees-ask for a better world. You
might just get it-in the form, at least, of organic
or sustainably produced coffee, compostables
and no plastic bottles or straws.
Then weave these F&B wins into your event's
story when marketing for registrations. Especially
in today's travel-wary world, everyone wants
more than an inspiring keynote to feel good
about gathering.

Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue

October Cover
Table of Contents 1
Table of Contents 2
Online Exclusives
Bright Perspective
Founder/CEO's Letter
Dash of Smart
Dash of Smart
Essential List
Smart Buzz
Smart Recap
New & Renovated
Essential F&B
Smart Moves
Smart Chat
Meetings MBA
Work Smart
Healthy World
Smart Tech
Smart Style
Feature: Airline Outrage
Feature: Incentive Hyperdrive
Feature: Oh the Destinations You Will Go
Destination: Tennessee
Destination: New England
Destination: California's Central Coast
Site Inspection: Louisville, Kentucky
Site Inspection: Birmingham, Alabama
Site Inspection: Reno, Nevada
Smart Space
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - October Cover
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - Cover2
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - 1
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - 2
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - 3
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - Table of Contents 1
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - 5
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - Table of Contents 2
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - 7
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - Online Exclusives
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - 9
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - Founder/CEO's Letter
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - 11
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - Dash of Smart
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - 13
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - Dash of Smart
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - 15
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - Essential List
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - 17
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - Smart Buzz
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - 19
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - Smart Recap
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - 21
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - New & Renovated
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - 23
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - Essential F&B
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - 25
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - Smart Moves
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - 27
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - Smart Chat
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - 29
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - Meetings MBA
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - 31
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - Work Smart
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - 33
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - Healthy World
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - 35
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - Smart Tech
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - 37
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - Smart Style
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - 39
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - Feature: Airline Outrage
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - 41
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - 42
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - 43
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - Feature: Incentive Hyperdrive
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - 45
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - 46
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - 47
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - 48
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - 49
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - Feature: Oh the Destinations You Will Go
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - 51
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - 52
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - 53
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - 54
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - 55
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - 56
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - 57
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - Destination: Tennessee
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - 59
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - 60
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - 61
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - 62
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - Destination: New England
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - 64
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - 65
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - 66
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - 67
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - Destination: California's Central Coast
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - 69
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - 70
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - 71
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - Site Inspection: Louisville, Kentucky
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - Site Inspection: Birmingham, Alabama
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - Site Inspection: Reno, Nevada
Smart Meetings October 2022 Digital Issue - Smart Space
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com