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  June 7, 2009

  Numbers, Not Energy, Down at NRA Show 2009

  Bruce Beggs, Editor , American Laundry News
  
  
  CHICAGO — Celebrating its 90th anniversary this year, the National Restaurant Association (NRA) Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show at McCormick Place provided a high-energy forum where tens of thousands restaurant and hospitality operators from around the world connected with exhibiting companies to boost business.
  
  “NRA Show 2009 was a great success, and in many ways an industry tipping point,” says Lorna Donatone, convention chair for NRA Show 2009 and the president of school services at Sodexo. “We have received incredibly positive feedback from both exhibiting companies and attendees from around the world.”

  NRA Show 2009, and the International Wine, Spirits & Beer Event that ran concurrently, drew 54,000 industry professionals, a much smaller attendance than for previous shows.
  
  
  MORE TO NRA THAN JUST FOOD
  
  While the vast majority of the exhibit floor featured booths focusing on dining and food preparation, there were exhibitors promoting their laundry equipment, bedding, napery, uniforms, facility services and more.
  
  Greg Grunberg, a star of the NBC TV series Heroes, attended the show to promote Yowza!!, a free application for iPhone and iPod touch that displays touch-screen promotional offers from retailers, service businesses and restaurants located in the user’s area.
  
  Companies that utilize Yowza!! have the ability to change offers “on the fly,” says Grunberg, who developed the mobile-couponing application with two other men.
  
  “They’re all looking for ways to reach people digitally,” he adds, saying the NRA Show gave him the opportunity to “meet all the right people” in advance of a full product rollout coming soon.

  Source: American Laundry News

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