National Restaurant Association Show® Opens Call for FABI Awards
Annual awards recognize most exciting breakthroughs in taste, marketability, creativity and profit potential in foodservice operations
The National Restaurant Association Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show ®, the premier event to learn about unique ingredients and emerging trends in the restaurant industry, is calling on the year’s top food and beverage innovators to submit applications for the 2023 Food and Beverage (FABI) Awards. As a prestigious award program, FABI Awards honor products that revolutionize food and beverage with their creative flavors, ingredients and tastes. FABI Awardees will be prominently featured at the 2023 National Restaurant Association Show, which runs May 20-23, 2023, at McCormick Place in Chicago.
FABI Awardees receive industry-wide exposure before, during and after the Show. Further, awarded products will be acknowledged throughout the Show floor with prominent signage, and priority placement in on-site media opportunities with broadcast media.
Specific exposure opportunities include:
• Recognition in a wire-distributed press release announcement to national and trade media resulting in significant traditional and social media coverage.
• Promotion to event attendees through the Show’s website, marketing emails and social channels.
• Feature on The Show To Go, the Show’s digital marketplace where the operators connect directly with the suppliers to learn more about each product.
• Extensive coverage via Show public relations efforts, which includes pre-show pitches, daily Show media alerts, on-site press events and priority placement in on-site media opportunities with broadcast media.
• Crystal award and portable standing banner promoting the innovation
Each FABI Award submission will be evaluated by an independent panel of judges from across the foodservice industry who represent some of the most well-known brands and organizations. Recipients are selected for their exciting new tastes, uniqueness in the market, appeal to the operator community, creative approach to operator challenges, or introduction of new opportunities and profit potential. New this year, FABI Judges encourage all applicants to bring a personal touch to the application by submitting a 30-second video describing the “wow factor” of their product.
The 2023 FABI Award judges are:
• Zia Ahmed (Senior Director, The Ohio State University)
• Katie Belflower (Associate Editor, Technomic)
• Pat Cobe (Senior Editor, Restaurant Business & Foodservice Director)
• Becky Davis (Director of Culinary Innovation, The Wendy’s Company)
• Marion Gibson (Culinary Development Director, Aramark)
• Farley Kaiser (Director of Culinary and Innovation, GetGo Café+Market)
• Ana Maria Rodriguez (Chief Food Innovation & Quality Officer, Pizza Hut International)
• Robin Rosenberg (Vice President, Chef de Cuisine, Levy Restaurants)
• Bret Thorn (Senior Food & Beverage Editor, Informa Food & Restaurant Group)
The deadline to apply is Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2023. To qualify, all FABI submissions must have been introduced within 24 months prior to the 2023 Show.
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