The huge National Restaurant Association Show 2023 in North America was the perfect opportunity to reach our foodservice market.
Mountain River Venison was back at the National Restaurant Association Show for 2023, being represented on four different stands. Held again at McCormick Place, Chicago, Illinois, the show operates on a vast scale.
It is the biggest exhibition for food service professionals in the Western Hemisphere, serving over 935,000 restaurants and food service outlets.
Angus Cleland, Anna-Marie Longo, and Shannon Campbell represented Mountain River Venison. Angus updates us below on the show's activities.
Chef Shannon flew in from Berlin to prepare our Mountain River Venison samples for the show. He was ably assisted by Chicago-based sous chef Erik. We featured two dishes, "Mountain River 'Rump," simply pan-seared with olive oil and salt, so people could appreciate the meat's natural tenderness and mild flavor. We also 'borrowed' Chef Graham Brown's world-famous “Berry Tea-Brined and Applewood-Smoked Venison Loin" dish to give the crowd something a little unusual and exceptionally tasty!
Our customer Force of Nature exhibited at the show and featured their Venison sausage and Ground bricks. It was a great opportunity to chat with key Force of Nature personnel about their business and exciting plans for the future.
Halperns Steak & Seafood has been a Mountain River client since 2005 and always has a large presence at the National restaurant show.
Mountain River cuts featured prominently in their display case and it was an excellent opportunity to chat with many of their sales team.
The display chiller was perfect for giving attendees a 'close up' look at several of our value-added cuts in the form in which they would receive them in their restaurants.
The stand was visually attractive, and the instantly recognisable blue and green of the Mountain River logo 'popped', which brought the curious closer!
We enjoyed manning the Mountain River section of the stand. There was a high level of interest as Angus and Anna Marie enjoyed sharing the Mountain River Venison message and stories with the volume of attendees. It's also the perfect opportunity to learn from the North American foodservice market.
Our long-standing customer D'Artagnan exhibited at the show with their parent company 'Fortune Fish & Gourmet.' It was great to spend time with their Category Director Audrey Brown talking about their plans for growth within the expanded Fortune Fish & Gourmet Group.
It was also an excellent opportunity to spend time with Rhys Griffiths and share some of our experience with venison marketing in the North American market.
Find out more:
National Restaurant Association Show: www.nationalrestaurantshow.com
National Restaurant Association Show:
Force of Nature: www.forceofnature.com
Halperns: www.halperns.com
D'Artagnan: www.dartagnan.com
Fortune Fish & Gourmet: www.fortunefishco.net