Favorite NRA Show 2017 Booths and Sessions

We had a blast at the NRA Show this year. It was great to see several of our customers and partners, as well as meet new friends. The food was great and the educational sessions provided us with thought-provoking insight. It was difficult to narrow down our favorite booths and sessions but here is a few we thought deserved a mention.

NRA Booths

Squirrel Systems – We enjoyed being neighbors to the sleek-looking Squirrel Systems’ booth at the NRA show! At the show, Squirrel had their solutions available for visitors to demo. Squirrel Systems offers POS software and hardware, payment and data security, above-store reporting, table management, and more. It’s important to note that they are a strategic partner of ours, too! Hippea – How could you not love Hippea’s booth? You couldn’t miss the vibrant yellow picnic bench and boxes, as well as the adorable retro Volkswagen bus backdrop. If you didn’t get to try their delicious samples, you missed out! Hippea is a USDA organic chickpea puff brand that comes in a variety of flavors from Sriracha sunshine to vegan white cheddar. Yum! FuturePOS – We love to see companies giving back. FuturePOS was taking donations at the show for the Inside RSPA scholarship fund. In addition, visitors had the opportunity to check out their POS system that includes award-winning features such as multi-column modifiers, surveillance, kitchen display, driver’s license verification, and more.  PAR Tech – Another strategic partner of ours  – PAR Tech. Their booth had so much to offer attendees. Visitors that stopped by had the opportunity to demo both the POS and food safety solutions. Not only did PAR Tech have a great booth but also a great TechTalk at the show. Chief Strategy Officer, Paul Rubin, gave an excellent presentation on cloud-based POS that drew in quite a crowd. Toast – You could see Toast’s bright orange booth from a mile away! Did you get to try their new Food Cost Calculator at the show? For each new user, Toast donated 50 breakfasts to a hungry child via No Kid Hungry, a campaign created by the non-profit ‘Share Our Strength’. This organization helps provides healthy food to families and nutritious meal cooking instructions.

NRA Sessions

Supersession: Defying the Curse

Tom Ricketts – Cubs Chairman

“You demoralize your staff if you jump in and try to make their decisions for them. Once you decide you need someone and give them the job you need to get done, you have to let them do it.” The SuperSession with Tom Ricketts was well-attended for a reason. Ricketts experienced some low years with the Cubs before helping lead them to a World Series Championship 108 years in the making. Ricketts, who has a background in foodservice, took the lessons he got from those company cultures and applied those philosophies to his team—forsaking short-term goals for long-term, and creating a winning season despite all odds.

Restaurant Industry 2020

Shane O’Flaherty – National Director of Hospitality and Travel Microsoft

Long story short: want to make your diners happy? You need to focus on their experience and create a one-stop shop for what they’re requesting. Consumer demand is changing every industry, and the restaurant industry is no different.

Hey Siri: Tell Us About The Future Of Digital (Tech Talks)

Dahlia Gazzar – Tech Evangelist + Idea Igniteur, DAHLIA+ Agency

Today’s consumer is tech savvy and brands have to keep on top of the changing landscape. AI (artificial intelligence) can be a game changer for the customer service experience. In this session, we learned all about how technology such as voice searches, chatbots, and conversational user interfaces will impact restaurants marketing efforts. That concludes our roundup of our favorite booths and sessions at NRA 2017. What were your favorites? We’d love to read your comments in the box below. Subscribe to the blog for more interesting restaurant content!

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About the Author

Emily Wimpsett was a Content & Social Media Specialist at QSR Automations. Emily was born and raised in Louisville, but considers herself a die-hard University of Kentucky fan. For college, Emily attended Indiana University Southeast and obtained a degree in Communications with a track in Advertising. In her free time, Emily enjoys just about every water related activity, but she is partial to kayaking and whitewater rafting.