By Mike Hughlett, TRIBUNE REPORTER—Chicago Tribune, Chicagoland Final Edition

The restaurant industry unveiled a big push to go green Monday, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Or a worse time, depending on your perspective.

At its annual convention in Chicago, the National Restaurant Association launched an initiative to lessen the industry’s environmental impact—cutting energy use, reducing waste and so on. While clad in feel-good green, such an initiative could also have long-term economic benefits for restaurants.

A National Restaurant Association survey of 1,000 chefs voted bite-size plates (such as Duo’s shrimp and gouda risotto fritters) the hottest ‘08 trend. Mini-items crowding Denver menus include Kobe beef sliders and mini lobster tacos (both from Nine75 and pictured below and on the cover), pint-size ham and cheese (Fado), meatball sliders (Osteria Marco), mini- cheeseburgers (Ted’s Montana Grill), open-face mini-paninis (Alba), Bambino burgers (Good Times) and, for dessert, Sonic’s cheesecake bites. Even wine gets itty-bitty with half-glasses and multi- wine sampling flights.

NEW YORK – Foodservice distributors that send their delegations to the 2008 NRA Show in Chicago will more than likely benefit from the wide range of educational sessions that are designed to enhance supply-chain cooperation among the attendees. 

NEW YORK – U.S. demand for food safety products will increase 6.5% per year to $3.2 billion in 2012, according to researcher The Freedonia Group, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.

The increase should be significant to foodservice distributors not only because they stock perishable food products and must maintain their integrity but also because they daily interface with the nation’s commercial and non-commercial eating establishments who demand on them for the latest information and technology.

Dining facility renovations represents a leading factor in the healthcare foodservice market, according to a membership survey conducted by the National Society for Healthcare Foodservice Management (HFM). The survey also found that the popularity of room service remains on the rise in the segment.

NEW YORK – Since not all periods of economic stress have resulted in traffic declines for operators, concluded a recent study by The NPD Group, contemporary growth in the industry, including for foodservice distributors, will be predicated on seizing market share from competitors, according to one of the researcher’s officials.

Denny’s, Bennigan’s, IHOP, Chili’s, Ruby Tuesday. These are just a handful of chains that have, in the last couple years, introduced new prototypes with dramatically smaller kitchens and even smaller dining area spaces. Essentially, there seems to have been a domino effect, with one chain after the next revealing more efficient design models that justify a generally smaller footprint.

Current events and statistics that impact foodservice and consumer attitudes about wellness that distributor executives, managers and DSRs should know about and discuss with their operator-customers.

Occasionally, demonstrating new products and marketing material to the sales force can be a tough assignment. Perhaps due to their years of experience and on-the-ground knowledge, sales reps may have become set in their ways and cynical. Nonetheless, sales managers need to overcome the “Who cares,” “So what,” and “No more features” attitude of the sales force.