The National Restaurant Show returned to Chicago’s McCormick Place Convention Center from May 18 to 21, bringing the latest innovations and trends in food, drink, technology, sustainability and more.
When it came to food trends, options ran the gamut from a bevy of Korean foods to culinary mashups such as cheeseburger ravioli. Hot honey has been on the scene for a while, but other forms of savory honeys were on display at the show, such as a Za’taar- and garlic-spiked honey from Grlk Savory Honey. Cherry-flavored food items, such as cherry-aki ketchup from Kraft-Heinz and a cherry-rose coffee from Folgers, were also noticeably prevalent.
Some exhibitors also featured collaborations with pop culture brands. For example, the butter company Churn teamed up with the recent “Mean Girls” movie to produce a themed Hot Honey Butter alongside its other flavors such as miso butter. Additionally, plant-based beef has been on the market for a while now, but companies are increasingly offering up other animal protein alternatives.
