Foodservice Team Wows at National Restaurant Association Show
Over the weekend at McCormick Place, the massive Hormel Foods booth was once again in a class all its own. As evidence, show guests flocked to see what our global branded food company has in store for 2024.
And they weren’t disappointed. Hormel Foods put innovation front and center at NRA, featuring a trio of new products among the company’s seven sampling stations, not to mention a full-service restaurant run by our team of expert chefs, also known as the Culinary Collective. Making it more exciting, it was executed in the middle of a giant showroom.
“The evolution of our booth over the years has been tremendous,” said Jeri Miller, national chain account sales manager for Hormel Foods Foodservice. “It’s such a fun place for guests of the show to visit and experience. The fact that we’re here to support the industry and support the National Restaurant Association, I think it means a lot not only to the association itself, but to everybody in the industry, because we’re here providing solutions for them.”
Flash 180™ battered sous vide chicken breast was among the solutions presented at the show; guests were able to see a perfectly cooked fried chicken product prepared in just three minutes. Hormel® ribbon pepperoni was featured at an innovation station as the signature ingredient in a delicious pasta salad, which demonstrated the product’s potential in non-pizza applications. Foodservice team members also offered street tacos in the booth, featuring Café H® pork al pastor with white onions, cilantro and roasted pineapple in a flour tortilla.
And that’s not all, folks. The full-service restaurant in the booth offered an appetizing 11-part menu, with each entrée specially designed by a Culinary Collective chef.
“The Culinary Collective hit a home run this year,” Miller said. “The menu that they put together and the work that they put into this show has been fantastic. And we’ve gotten such a great response from some of the leading chains in the industry that have been really impressed with what we can do with our premium prepared proteins. Their minds were blown, and it’s just amazing what our team has been able to accomplish.”