On The Menu is back from exhibiting at the National Restaurant Association Show held in Chicago. We were surrounded by some of the best in the business and it was amazing to see the innovations in menus, equipment, and foods.

We were in a great “neighborhood” at the show and learned a lot from our fellow exhibitors. Right across from us, we were lucky to have some seasoned trade show exhibitors from Katz Americas. They sell coasters to restaurants worldwide, and their marketing director gave us some great ideas for marketing OTM at our next show. Also close by was the booth for PCM Technologies, who provide music and videos for restaurants. They had monitors set up showing music videos, so we checked out the latest videos to get up-to-speed. They always had a crowd at their booth – one of their booth staffers was a magician (www.chicagomagicman.com) with some tricks we’re still trying to figure out.

From a treat perspective, Julie found the best ice cream and soft-serve frozen yogurt at the show just a few booths away, at the Straus Family Creamery. Julie’s been hooked on their whole milk yogurt for awhile, which she buys at home in Colorado. Now she’s got another delicious reason to keep her calcium intake at optimum levels. We walked off the extra calories – Julie’s GPS tracked our walking over the four-day event and our total was about 30 miles.