Ivy Hartman: Tens of thousands of industry professionals turn out for the National Restaurant Association Hotel, Motel Show each year looking for the current trends in the industry. This year the buzz is all about the environment.
Male 1: I mean I think what’s impressive about this show this year is its how much focus there is on sustainability and responsibility.
Denise Hunter: We’re actually here to see our vendors some of their new products and it’s exciting to see all the different opportunities they’re working towards trying to go towards tree.
Ivy Hartman: The green movement is permeating all facets of this year’s show from additional recycling bins placed around the conference to educational seminars. This year even features a pavilion of all things green.
Male 2: We’ll manufacture all those in the United States that makes wonderful and recycled.
Ivy Hartman: In addition to all of these the National Restaurant Association or NRA is launching Conserve, a new initiative to help business owners in the restaurant industry go green.
Matt McLauglin: The Conserve Council is basically a group of folks who have come together headed by it’s an NRA program and they have put it together, so that now there’s a video resource as well as a website resource where restaurant, tours and small business guys in the food service industry can go, and look at okay who are credible sources for me to check in. While they can look at what types of different implementations, they can have around the restaurant.
Ivy Hartman: Aside form the website the NRA is aiming to set a standard as sustainability and conservation within their own organization.
Dawn Sweeney: They’ve done quite a bit actually and there’s more to do. We started changing our light bulbs. We have more to do in that regard. We do taking it is so that we can economically take it on, but we’re very community creating a model within the National Restaurants Association as well so that we can be walk and talk in terms of the things that we believe in for restaurants tourist.
Ivy Hartman: This Hotel-Motel show isn’t complete without our few celebrities sightings and show favorite like the Culinary demonstration, ice carvings and of course the free samples.
Joseph Potter: All of the products the great food that you can sample. The information, the context, networking here would be amazing. I mean the people are so friendly at the booth. They’re very helpful. They’re very useful. I mean they give you lots of good ideas on how to do things. The seminars are fantastic a great value.
Adam Gottlieb: I graduated from the school 14 years ago from culinary school, but in even come in here, I learn things every time I come here. I learn something.
Ivy Hartman: Attendees took time out from all of the excitement and educational opportunities to listen to some noteworthy keynote speakers.
Jim Skinner: And despite our competitive nature I believe there’s far more that unites us that separate us. And that’s what I really want to talk about today. Whether the number of operations you run as two, 10 or 10,000. We are all restaurant torch. We all love the energy and the poetry of the busy kitchen. We are above in the excitement of a launch interaction.
Sen. John McCain: You are in the restaurant and hospitality industry. No a thing or two about competition and job creation. You and entrepreneurs like you have created 13 million of them. And then a strong economy your industry would like to create another two million jobs over the next decade, but many of those new plans and new jobs will depend on the choices we make in Washington.
Ivy Hartman: In all over 71 thousand people attended the 2008 event at McCormick place in Chicago and they have plenty to see and do as this was the third year in a row that the exhibit space has been entirely sold out. I’m Ivy Hartman reporting for SBTV.com, small business is our only business.
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