The National Restaurant Association (NRA) is now accepting applications for the 2016 Kitchen Innovations Awards. Now in its 12th year, the KI Awards program recognizes and celebrates meaningful advancements in foodservice equipment and technology. Recipients of the 2016 KI Awards will be featured in the popular Kitchen Innovations Pavilion at NRA Show 2016, to be held May 21–24 at Chicago’s McCormick Place.
“The KI Award has helped IceZone to be the success that we knew it would become, and it has helped us reach that level much faster than we ever imagined,” says Adam Anthony, COO for BioZone Scientific International Inc. and manufacturer of IceZone, which received a Kitchen Innovations Award. "At the NRA Show … our team met with dozens of interested contacts from the largest restaurant chains in the world, many of whom we had unsuccessfully reached out to previously. IceZone sales have more than quadrupled since IceZone received the KI Award during the NRA Show.”
Suppliers can apply for a KI Award at Restaurant.org/Show/KI. KI Award recipients enjoy exclusive benefits including publicity though the NRA’s media relations efforts, listings in NRA Show marketing and promotional materials, placement on the NRA Show website, and featured placement on the NRA Show floor in the Kitchen Innovations Pavilion where thousands of operators, dealers, consultants, and media professionals can demo the products over the course of four days.
The deadline to apply for a 2016 KI Award is December 4, 2015. To be considered, equipment and technology products must be introduced or have been introduced to the marketplace between May 2014 and May 2016. These products must demonstrate considerable benefits to foodservice operators as determined by our independent panel of industry experts, including Dan Bendall, FCSI (Principal, FoodStrategy, Inc.), Martin Cowley (Senior Manager, Design and Standards, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts), William Eaton, FFCSI (Chairman of the Board, Cini-Little International), Foster F. Frable, Jr., FCSI, Associate AIA (Founding Partner, Clevenger Frable LaVallee), Jim Krueger, Jr., CMCE, NRAMF (Chief, Air Force Food & Beverage Business Development & Strategic Initiatives Air Force Services Activity (AFSVA)), Aaron Lamotte (Director, Sodexo Performance Interiors), Robert Marshall (Vice President, U.S. Operations, McDonald’s Corporation: Retired), Steve Otto (Director, Capital Equipment Purchasing, Darden), Kathleen H. Seelye, FFCSI, LEED (Managing Partner, Ricca Design Studios).
The National Restaurant Association Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show is the largest annual gathering of restaurant, foodservice, and lodging professionals in the world. NRA Show 2016 will be held May 21-24 at McCormick Place in Chicago, and the 2016 BAR Event, held in conjunction with NRA Show, will take place May 22–23. The events attract 66,000-plus attendees and visitors from all 50 states and 100-plus countries, and showcase the latest products, services, innovative ideas, up-to-the-minute information about trends and issues, and growth opportunities.
