Magazines Archives - 2010 July

NRA Show 2010 sees renewed growth as recession wanes
Story 2 - Special Review

HELD from May 22-25 this year at McCormickPlace in Chicago, Illinois, USA, the NRA show buzzed with activity as over 42,000 trade visitors from 120 countries trawled the 482,000sqf exhibition space, looking for some of the newest products in the industry, as well as meeting suppliers and business associates.

At the IWSB event, which ran on May 23 and 24, 3,500 registrants turned up this year, a 17% jump from last year, to source for some of the newest brands and labels in the wine, spirits and beer industry. The event also had a range of educational sessions that looked at industry trends and challenges.

Backed by industry forecasts released by the NRA, which stated that this year could be a record year for the restaurant industry in the US with sales increasing 2.5% to US$580 billion, the total number of registrants surged to almost 58,000 over the four-day event.

“No other industry event [in the western hemisphere] offers more variety and range of products, services and learning opportunities for the restaurant and food-service industry in the US,” said Derrek Hull, marketing and communications manager of NRA.

Beyond statistics, the show has continued to evolve, with great new features being incorporated, bringing “something different” to the show, so that visitors will keep returning, Hull continued. And to get the ball rolling was renowned journalist and interviewer, Charlie Rose, who delivered a riveting presentation in his keynote address at the show, which was on how businesses can learn to navigate through their challenges by asking the right kind of questions.

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