FROM THE FIELD
December 2006
Big World, Big Innovations

Tough duty, Paris. The Eiffel Tower. The Louvre. Good food. And, of course, the biennial Equip’Hotel Show and its APRIA Awards program for innovation.

We’ll be heading off to cover the show momentarily, one of the very finest foodservice equipment and supplies exhibitions in the world. Manufacturers from all over the planet put their wares on display there, and the cross-pollinating of new ideas and new points of view is a sight to behold.

International shows are truly <i>show<i> business. The booths are more than booths. They are works of art, with dramatic design; great, soaring signage and sophisticated lighting. It’s common for an exhibitor to include a seating area, like a mini bistro, where suppliers and buyers sit with espressos or wine to discuss solutions. Presentation is a big deal.

And the products. Different cuisines, from different parts of the world, drive categories of equipment we seldom see in America. And the applications, the preparation techniques, create new sets of priorities, totally different kinds of solutions. It’s all a great eye-opener, a way to clear your head and let you approach your own needs with a whole new, blank sheet of paper. Why do we do things the way we do? Maybe there are better ways.

Very often, these shows offer the first glimpses of products eventually headed to America. Shows like Equip’Hotel have been the launching pads for such great innovations as combination ovens, blast chillers, self-cleaning technologies, true humidity control. The current wave of water- and energy-conserving warewashers, for example, originated in Europe.

To give you an idea, look at some of the APRIA Award winners from the 2004 Equip’Hotel Show:

"International shows have been the launching pads for great equipment innovations."

Frima S.A., a Rational AG company, took home top prize for its SelfCooking Center, a combi oven-steamer that automatically controls cooking times, humidity and other parameters according to type of product, weight and desired level of doneness. (This one, of course, has also hit the U.S. market.)

Bonnet Grande Cuisine won for a remote pick probe that uses wireless technology instead of a conventional cable. HMI Thirode was honored for its Emeraude 3 ovens, which brought to market programmable heated cooking shelves—and not only were the shelves innovative, but the ovens also boasted remote control via computer.

Platex was honored for its Profil tray, an innovative cafeteria-type tray with an ergonomically superior lower lip and an extremely tough construction guaranteed against breakage for 10 years. Better living through chemistry—and design.

Dito Sama, part of Electrolux, won for its T5E and T8E vegetable peeler, a unique design with a removable peeling chamber that’s handy, space efficient and very easy to clean. And Demarle S.A., innovator of flexible silicone baking tools, won for its Silform baking mats.

There’s plenty new out there. And we’ll report this year’s APRIA winners soon.

Brian Ward
Chief Editor