According to the National Restaurant Association, more than 61,000 restaurant-industry professionals came from all over the United States and more than 100 countries to the NRA Show in Chicago, which closed this past Tuesday. Attendance at the four-day convention and two-day International Wine, Spirits & Beer Event was up 6 percent from 2011.

Restaurant/foodservice attendance rose 8 percent from last year, while dealer/distributor attendance grew 6 percent. Retail attendance rose 21 percent, and media attendance grew 7 percent. As a result of greater attendance, the number of hotel-room nights sold increased 5 percent from last year.

More than 1,900 companies exhibited innovations in technology, franchising, equipment, food and beverages, décor and design, as human resources, marketing, payment processing and other services. Of them, 500 were new exhibitors. The number of IWSB exhibitors spiked 40 percent from 2011.

The NRA Show will return to McCormick Place May 18 through 21, 2013.

Quick Comments from Day #1:

Tuxton China booth was creative and attractive as expected; Tuxton China has a new look about it and the new location drives that point home;

RAK Porcelain was shown for the first time in the U.S. with the RAK name and an impressive display of its own adjoining the HLC Dinnerware booth; equally impressive were the RAK products, their well-thought out merchandising, and the amount of top-level executives on hand to meet RAK customers

Dudson China had a redesigned booth with Zieher line front and center; lots of customers flowing in and out; well merchandised and displayed reflecting a “new” feeling about Dudson; all the top Dudson personnel were from both U.S. and U.K.  were on hand;

Merchandise Connection International had great displays of Lucaris crystal and Studio William flatware, along with their DKE dinnerware, in a brand new booth; the end-aisle display was well-lit and receiving strong traffic from both operators and dealers alike; Studio William owner and chief designmaster William Welch was on hand and making incredibly strong points on flatware, design, and its importance to the overall branding; this will be a great brand for those that want to make points of difference in their guest’s dining experience;

Villeroy & Boch had their normal impressive stand, with top level execs form both U.S. and Europe on hand to meet with customers; this brand simply continues to be the standard bearer of quality and the booth and everything about relects that standard.

Deshouliers/Apilco had a smaller but well done display of both brands and when you see the beauty, design, and overall quality of this line, you have to wonder why there is not a higher level of awareness of what this long-time French producer can do to elevate dining in America’s restaurants.

Royal Doulton had a new look booth – with a cleaner layout of displays and more free-flowing – allowing customers better access to the displays; top execs were preparing customers for the just announced re-launch of the WWRD hospitality division, with the welcoming back of the Wedgwood brand into the portfolio;

A great Day # 1......on to Day # 2!