Two years ago, I had the opportunity to hang out with my husband and get a glimpse of his world away from home. I joined my husband at the annual Restaurants Canada Show (RC Show) in Toronto. I was to help take photos and do some social media from the event to promote the presence of the company. Although his employer has been around for many years and is a prominent global brand, it was still fairly new to Canadian markets.
The RC Show is a 3-day event that would be visited by food service industry leaders, hospitality innovators and best of all, restaurant decision-makers. My husband’s company was showcasing high-end warewashing equipment from Germany. It was their first time at this trade show and he pointed out that there were several other competitors with bigger booths and lots of sales reps. With little brand recognition in the Canadian market, he had his work cut out for him.
As soon as I got there, even before I took off my coat, I found myself following (stalking, depends on who you ask) the Top Chef Canada Season 1 finalist, Dustin Gallagher. Starstruck, the fangirl in me couldn’t help it. I watch those reality cooking shows religiously. I am fascinated by the concept. How is it that they can whip up such amazing food out of surprise ingredients when I can barely figure out dinners most nights? Maybe if I watch enough shows, my brain will absorb some of their skills. Before I could stop myself, I asked him if I could take a photo . . . no, a selfie of the two of us. He smiled and graciously agreed (phew!). I was still new at selfies, my hand was shaking, so the photo turned out blurry, but I didn’t care. I instagrammed it right away and invited him to visit our booth when he has time. Of course, he’s here to participate of the Culinary Competition but it didn’t hurt to ask, right? He does own restaurants. I heard he made it to the Final 3 on the last day but I left before the winner was announced.
Best of all – the food samples were pretty good! Shrimp tacos, Pulled Salmon Sliders, cheesecakes, macarons, gelatos, need I say more?
The RC Show was educational with great speakers, demos, food tastings and competitions. It was a bit overwhelming because there was so much to see and do. I wandered around the various pavilions, sampling and pretending I was part of this culinary world. Best of all – the food samples were pretty awesome! Shrimp tacos, Pulled Salmon Sliders, cheesecakes, macarons, gelatos, need I say more? Then I realized there were opportunities for networking! I bonded over Callebaut chocolates with someone who turned out to be the Marketing Manager of a powerhouse celebrity Chef. When she told me about opening a bunch of restaurants next year, I had to grab more chocolates first (priorities!) and invite her to my husband’s booth. She happily followed me and my chocolates, promised to pass on his business card to the consultant designing the new restaurants.
After three days of the trade show, I was done. My feet throbbed and every night I went back to the hotel exhausted. Welcome to the world of sales. Okay, I wasn’t exactly selling, but being on my feet all day while scoping out food demos and rushing around to the different competitions hit me with a huge case of FOMO. I didn’t want to miss a thing! Someone saw Susur Lee. Where??? I couldn’t be everywhere at every stage. But it was fun. I loved seeing this side of my husband. I now understand how hard it is to man a booth at a trade show. You have to talk to people and answer their questions with a smile at all times. It was all worth it as we met some great people and he got some pretty good leads. Next year, I hope I get to go with him to Milan for HOST, the biggest food show in the world! Food shows are awesome!
Update: I did go to the HOST Show in October 2019 in Milan, Italy. It was exciting and so big with 14 buildings to go through! It takes place in Milan every two years but with Covid-19, it’s questionable if it’s still happening in 2021. The Restaurants Canada show just announced that they are taking it online. It won’t be the same sitting in front of my computer, sampling my own food! Stay safe.
