Ideas

Innovators get a spotlight during the NRA Show

Five restaurateurs were recognized during the National Restaurant Association’s annual convention for brainstorming innovations that broke new ground in the business.

One winner of the NRA’s Operator Innovation Award had developed an allergy alert system, while another created a cloud-based customized menu tool. A third retrofitted a fast-casual technology system into an operation better known for its entertainment value.

There were a lot of clues at the National Restaurant Association Show: The crowds waiting to get into the healthcare reform education sessions. The full schedule the advisors at the NRA healthcare reform knowledge center faced every day. And the looks of frustration and bewilderment on operators’ faces—after they learned more.

The restaurant industry has a bad case of Obamacare, and not everybody knows what to do about it.

My taste of the NRA Show

According to an old maxim, you shouldn’t shop for groceries when you’re hungry. That may or may not be true, but this can be said with complete certainty: Don’t walk the floor at the National Restaurant Show on a full stomach.

I learned that irrefutable truth when I set out Saturday on the show floor to find gluten-free products, not because of food allergies or sensitivities, but because gluten-free is on everyone’s top-trends list. At the same time, I was on a hunt for vegan fare that would tempt me, a practicing carnivore.

Fazoli’s is stratifying the Italian fast-casual market with the spin-off of a new concept positioned upmarket from its sister.

Still unnamed, the upstart brand will aim for a higher average ticket, a reflection of its more sophisticated ambience and culinary flare, according to Fazoli’s CEO and president Carl Howard.

The serving line is Chipotle-like. Customers choose one of three carriers (a sandwich called a piada; a salad bowl; or a salad bowl), then a protein, a sauce, any of 23 add-ins, and, finally, a hand-grated, shredded or crumbled cheese topping.