Innovation, waste reduction on tap at National Restaurant Association show

Exhibitors at the National Restaurant Association's annual show, which ended Tuesday at McCormick Place, figured they had the answers.

For ketchup giant Heinz, it's in the packaging. The company debuted its single-serve Dip & Squeeze packet, ideal for eating on the go. Peel back the top layer to dip, or tear off the top and squeeze.

"It squeezes out cleaner" than the traditional ketchup packet, said brand manager Erin Catalina, doing a side-by-side squeeze comparison. And it holds 27 grams of ketchup - three times that of the messy little packets, and exactly the amount most consumers use, according to Heinz research.

A few aisles away, Stephan Lerman, along with his cousin Ray Karam and wife Myra Levine, were ladling out samples of their condiment creations, which included four flavored ketchups, three flavored mustards and something called MustarKraut.

It is as it sounds - a mixture of mustard, sauerkraut and relish, designed for hot dogs and, Lerman hopes, attractive to stadiums, arenas, amusement parks and the like.

"You go to the ballpark, you get your hot dog, but by the time you get back to your seat, it's a mess," said Lerman, whose company is based in Livingston, N.J.

Lerman was fully aware that Chicago-style dogs have specific criteria, and sauerkraut isn't one of them. "It's a huge country," he shrugged.

Innovation recognized

At the trade show, new food and beverage products are only part of the equation. There is a dizzying amount of kitchen machinery and table and glassware. Companies hawk sanitation devices, Web-based products to help restaurants run more smoothly and chic clothing and shoes for cooks and servers.

For the first time this year, the National Restaurant Association gave out innovation awards recognizing "breakthroughs in consumable products." The Heinz packet was one such winner; Magic Milk Straws were another.

The straws, which are marketed under the got milk? brand, are filled with flavored sugar beads, said marketing VP Paul Henson. Slurp with the straw, and the milk picks up the flavors of strawberry, cookies and cream, chocolate or vanilla.

"It makes kids want to drink milk," Henson said. The straws work just as well with soy or other non-dairy milk. "For the lactose-intolerant, it's really caught on," he said.

The straws are in stores like Target, but Henson hopes restaurants might pick them up as extras for kids' menus.

Waste not

The straws, like many of the products at the show, are recyclable. Waste is a major issue in the food business, and the reduction of it a focal point at the show.

One area that's booming is wine "preservation." No one, least of all restaurants, wants to waste wine. Still, restaurants end up pouring out between 5 and 15 percent of their wine, said Aaron Snyder of Wine Shield.

While other companies displayed sleek, temperature-controlled wine preservation and dispensing machines, which can cost as much as $20,000, Snyder, of Las Vegas, presented a lower-tech and, he said, more effective option. The flexible Wine Shield, made of a food-grade material, acts as a floating lid inside the open bottle, preventing oxidation and keeping wine tasting fresh for five days - and even longer for refrigerated white wines. The shields are sold online (buywineshield.com) in packs of 10 for $9.95.

Carlos Hart, meanwhile, wanted to convince showgoers that wine in a can tastes good - really good.

Elkan is the first Chilean wine in a can; there are some Spanish wines and sparkling wines, including Francis Ford Coppola's Sofia wine, already on the market.

Elkan comes in six varietals, and is sold in packs of four, six and 24. One can costs about $4 and contains a half-bottle of wine.

"A can is the best vehicle for any beverage. Aluminum is the only packaged material that's infinitely recyclable," Hart said. Besides that, the canned wine is a natural fit for outdoor venues and other places where glass isn't practical, he said.

"Fine wine in a can?," blurted out Virginia Mampre, a food industry consultant, when she stopped at the booth.

Hart poured her a (plastic) glass of Cabernet.

"It tastes like it's already been decanted," she gushed. "It blooms in your mouth."

Pieces of Alinea

The show, with its aromas of greasy pizza and fried everything, was an unlikely launching pad for a collection of serviceware heretofore seen only at Alinea, the accolade-laden Chicago restaurant owned by Grant Achatz and Nick Kokonas.

The six porcelain serving pieces were designed for specific dishes at Alinea by Martin Kastner, with whom Achatz and Kokonas collaborated when opening their newest restaurant and bar, Next and Aviary.

Kastner, who works out of his Crucial Detail studio on the Near West Side, has partnered with Steelite, a Pennsylvania company that will manufacture the pieces on a much larger scale - but for restaurants, not for home use.

Several stainless steel pieces will be released in the fall, followed by glassware currently being used at Aviary - up to 25 or 30 pieces by the end of the year, Kokonas said.

"The quality of these is the same as what Martin was doing," said Kokonas.

What will most certainly be different is how other restaurants use the sculpturally striking pieces. Kokonas says a hotel in Las Vegas ordered 500 of the pronged cork presenters, and is using them as taco holders.

Recently, Kokonas saw a photo in a newspaper article of the same contraption being used by a chef - to hold his cigarette.