How University of California Santa Barbara’s Jill Horst makes the most of the NRA Show

Between the food, equipment demos and educational sessions, tackling the National Restaurant Association’s annual show can feel like a tall order. Veteran attendee Jill Horst, director of residential dining at University of California Santa Barbara, has developed a game plan for spotting trends, networking and bringing ideas back to her campus. Below, she shares her tips for making the most of the show.

Do you come to the restaurant show every year?

It’s a must show for me. I’ve been coming for eight or nine years and it’s just always a wonderful opportunity to meet new people and see product innovations or network. One of the areas that I really like is the innovation area, so I always spend a lot of time in there to see the new equipment that’s coming out and how the manufacturers can help us in saving energy or water. That’s really important for our industry, especially in California.

When you go to a show, how do you prepare?

I take some time to sit down with folks to figure out what we need ,and we have this gigantic list that I kind of spread out throughout the day so that I can get stuff and bring it back to the team. I know what I’m looking for with education, what kind of themes. When there’s a few of us [from my staff], we try and spread out to make sure that there’s enough of us going to everything, because you can’t go to everything.

Do you look for trends to maybe bring back and apply at your facility?

I definitely do that when it comes to food demos or looking at some of the specialty products. That’s what I’m looking to bring back to my college campus. So I usually focus a lot of time—usually one whole day—on that kind of product. I will stop at some of the artisan bakeries or specialty niches as it relates to food. It’s the things that you don’t see every day at other food shows, so I take the time to really concentrate on food one day, another day equipment.

Do you use the show to confirm trends you’re starting to see emerge?

Smoking and barbecue--it’s everywhere.  Food is getting very expensive and you can use a different cut of meat that’s maybe a little less expensive and still have this great product that comes out in the end. So I think that’s a trend that I’ve been seeing and I’m seeing it more and more with people having different kinds of smokers and mobile smokers.

How do you like to divide and conquer at such a huge show?

[Before the show,] everybody sits at a table. “Who do you want to go see this year?” and “I’ll go see the other one.” We just share, so it’s not just one contact for each company. They get to know everybody because that’s really important. It’s about relationships and relationship building. It’s really about who wants to do what this time and we shift it and trade it off year to year.

Is there any advice that you would give to an operator who is coming to the show for the first time?

Pace yourself. Don’t eat everything at once.

Actually, it’s really to have a plan. If you don’t, it can get very overwhelming. Try not to do it all in one or two days. Take a break. Walk the show for a couple of hours, [then] stop and get some energy. The floor is great, but there is also education, so factor in time to do that.

In my first year, I didn’t have a plan and I ate everything and … it was a little too much. So really just have a plan.

What is your favorite part of the show?

The energy, the excitement in people’s eyes. There are so many people from different segments that we can always learn from, so I like that.