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`PATENT OWNER
`EXHIBIT 2082
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`EXHIBIT 2082
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`https://www.qsrmagazine.com/exclusives/recapping-nra-show
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`Recapping the NRA Show
`New food, equipment innovations point to future of restaurant industry.
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`Terry Douglass and Eric Ribarits puts skewers of bread in the Marinara Tower at the NRA Show.
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`BAR NEY W OLF
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`Back of House, Barney Wolf, In the Store
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`As the lights went out on the National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant, Hotel-Motel
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`Show (NRA Show) in Chicago on Tuesday, there was plenty to consider about the future of
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`the industry.
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`The show featured no shortage of technological advancements, not just in computing
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`hardware and software, but also in equipment and food-safety solutions.
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`Refrigeration units, ovens, grills, and lighting are increasingly more energy efficient and
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`green. Thermometers are smaller, lighter, and more accurate. Juicers are more productive.
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`Chefs may even see some of their beloved knives being replaced with lasers and other
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`precise and effective cutting tools.
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`Meanwhile, the food and beverages on display at the NRA Show keep expanding. For
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`instance, long-time show veteran and favorite Vienna Beef, which serves traditional Chicago
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`hot dogs and other goodies to hordes at its large booth, taste-tested a new sweet and spicy
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`pickle.
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`At the same time, the grub and drinks are largely getting more nutritious. More companies
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`are offering organic, allergen-free, lower-fat, and lower-calorie items.
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`“There are so many new, exciting things,” says Derrek Hull, the show’s communications
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`manager. The event “continues to be on trend, and it gives a sneak peak into the future of
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`what the industry will be.”
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`The NRA is saying that the show had more than 2,000 exhibitors, up about 5 percent from
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`2012, while attendance was at or slightly above last year’s 60,000 figure.
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`It’s health care, stupid
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`Despite the optimism on the exhibit floor, one big issue lurked over this year’s show: how
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`restaurants are going to deal with health care and the Affordable Care Act, also known as
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`“Obamacare.”
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`The NRA took the unusual step of twice offering a two-part health care–focused educational
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`session—sort of Health-Care Legislation 101 and 201 (tailored to an operator’s size)—during
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`the show.
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`“The NRA Show continues to be on trend, and it gives a
`sneak peak into the future of what the industry will be.”
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`“This is all quite complex,” said Michelle Neblett, the NRA’s director of labor and workforce
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`policy, to more than 150 people attending one session. She discussed issues ranging from
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`calculating the number of full-time employees to dealing with insurance exchanges.
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`Hull says he could not remember an educational session being repeated during the same
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`NRA Show, but the intent was to give all attendees a chance to get the information. “There is
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`a lot of uncertainty” among restaurant operators, he says.
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`The NRA also created a Health Care Knowledge Center at the show that gave restaurant
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`owners and executives the chance to talk one-on-one with one of several restaurant health-
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`care consultants.
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`About 200 operators took advantage of the center, with the meetings lasting anywhere from
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`a few minutes for simple questions to 90 minutes for more complex ones.
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`Chefs galore
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`The show tends to be a busy event for folks wearing chef’s coats.
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`In addition to 18 celebrity chefs—Rick Bayless and Lorena Garcia among them—showing
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`their techniques at the show’s World Culinary Showcase, or those taking part in educational
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`sessions—as Stephanie Izard and Anne Burrell did for Food News Media’s “Women in
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`Foodservice” panel—hundreds more were cooking and slicing at exhibitor booths.
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`Three World Culinary Showcase chefs—Cat Cora, Marcus Samuelsson, and Aaron Sanchez—
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`spent time at the MOZO Shoes booth talking about their footwear collaboration with the
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`shoe company. Meanwhile, Izard and Brian Malarkey talked shoes at the Dansko booth. And
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`at the booth for fusionchef by Julabo, which provides precision fluid temperature control
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`equipment for sous vide cooking, James Beard Award winner Jason Wilson held infused
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`cocktail demonstrations.
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`Eye toward innovation
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`Several new ideas were on display at the NRA Show. Among those was Perfect Clime from
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`German-based Burda Worldwide, an electric misting heater that combines a radiant heater
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`and a mister to provide relief in hot or cold weather. There was also Vollrath Products’
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`Mirage induction soup rethermalizer, which is a quick and efficient induction heater used to
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`rethermalize soups or sauces from 40 to 165 F in less than an hour. It was one of the
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`winners of the NRA Kitchen Innovations Awards.
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`Ecolab’s booth featured an antimicrobial fruit and vegetable treatment that eliminates E.
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`coli, listeria, and salmonella from the surface of fresh-cut produce and in wash water.
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`Taste of the unusual
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`The Marinara Tower turned some heads at the NRA Show. Developed over the past year by
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`a small company in Steamwood, Illinois, the Tower is an Italian interpretation of the
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`chocolate fountain that spews marinara sauce instead of chocolate. It can be used with
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`bread, meatballs, sausage, and other foods on a fondue-like stick.
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`“We’ve received quite a bit of interest from all kinds of people” at the show, said Robert
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`DeHaven, who helped develop the tower with founder Samantha De Maria Ribaritis. “It
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`would be great for all kinds of events and even buffets.”