March 13, 2013, Toronto – Toronto’s annual Canadian Restaurant and
Foodservices Association (CRFA) show touched down at the Direct Energy
Centre with a heady buzz of spring and happening things.
March 13, 2013, Toronto – Toronto’s annual Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association (CRFA) show touched down at the Direct Energy Centre with a heady buzz of spring and happening things.
Held March 3-5, the event attracts about 13,000 people with more than 1,200 exhibitor booths. This year’s festivities saw a flair bartending stage, Breakfast of Champions panel, pop up bistro, and packed days of chef demos and educational seminars. Vikram Vij, Mark McEwan, Anna Olsen and David Adjey were amongst the celebrity chefs on hand.
Mexico had a prominent presence with a pavilion of vanilla, green beans, hot sauces, and of course tequila. The U.S. states of Georgia and Illinois and Pennsylvania had booth presence this year as well. Gourmet Syndicate, a “mobile food infrastructure services company,” signaled a nod to the continued food truck trend.
Here’s a roundup of cool new products and show newcomers:
• The Women’s Foodservice Forum has been around for 23 years, but this was their first appearance at CRFA. The association is a developmental resource for women in foodservice. Their next event will be held May 2 at the International Centre in Mississauga, Ont.
• Sautéed mushrooms from Ubbelea come frozen with a shelf life of one year, and are great for pizza, sandwiches or poutine. Ubbelea also offers fresh mushrooms that have a neutral base of oil, butter, salt and pepper, for a variety of applications.
• Emmet’s Elixir is a natural cleanser for wood cutting boards, prep tables and butcher’s blocks. The solution is designed to sanitize and protect through microbial essential oils.
• Mr. Donair was taste testing a fully cooked line of 100 per cent Canadian beef done pepperoni style for pizza, subs and sandwiches.
• Ontario’s The Carriage House Cooperage barrel aged red wine vinegar showed how the barrel aging brings the flavour of the wine back to the vinegar. The vinegar is made from local wines and aged in local barrels.
• Pure Chilean’s EVOO has a low acidity of 0.2 per cent. The company is the harvester, manufacturer and bottler. Pure Chilean was featuring two award-winning oils: La Martina Arbequina, a single varietal; and Las Martina Premium Selection made from a mix of olive varieties.
• The Shafer-Haggart display included new sliced black olive pouches that come in packs of 12.
• Cholula hot sauces, made with a blend of piquin and arbol pepper, featured three flavours: chili lime, chipotle and chili garlic.
• Armodilo, a first time exhibitor looking to expand in the Canadian market, offers a slick looking stand that turns tablets into interactive kiosks.
• Chef’s Fun Foods Gourmet Fries Seasoning are new in the Canadian market this year. The line comes in eight flavours, and the company says has an average cost per serving of 0.03 cents.
• Select Food Products has a new addition to their portion cup selection: Creamy Caesar. They were also showcasing a new sweet and spicy chunky relish made with peaches, tomato paste, raisins and mustard seed.
• FoodShootr is a new app that lets diners snap photos of their food at restaurants or at home and instantly share them with the world.
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| Mr. Donair's beef was on display at the CRFA show in Toronto. |
Canadian Pizza magazine will be hosting its own show on Oct. 29 at the International Centre. Visit www.canadianpizzamag.com/pizzabizforum for more details.
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