Restaurant Show Unveils Inaugural Operator Innovations Awards

The National Restaurant Association is looking for the visionaries in the foodservice industry. The association plans to honor commercial and noncommercial operators with its first-ever 2012 Operator Innovations Awards, which will recognize leaders who “transform the industry with their extraordinary creativity and commitment.”

Nominations—welcomed from operators, manufacturers, dealers and distributors, and other foodservice industry professionals—will be accepted until Mar. 7.

The inaugural awards will celebrate the best innovation the industry has to offer in five distinct categories: Technology Applications, Sustainability, Menu Development, Food Safety, and Health & Nutrition. Winners in each category, as well as an innovator of the year, will be determined by a judging panel with representatives from all major industry segments. Honorees will be announced May 5, the first day of the annual association’s Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show, scheduled for May 5-8 at McCormick Place in Chicago.

In other NRA Show news, President Bill Clinton, 42nd President of the United States, will give the keynote address on May 6. Clinton will share insights into his presidency and his current work with the William J. Clinton Foundation. In the U.S., the foundation is working to combat the alarming rise in childhood obesity through the Alliance for a Healthier Generation.