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By Jimmy Waymire, Vice President of Culinary and Innovation, Portfolio Group
Every May, the National Restaurant Association Show brings the food service industry's most forward-looking ideas into one enormous space in Chicago. For most attendees, it's an industry scan. For us, it's something more specific: a working session with our clients.
This year, we brought directors, operations managers, and global account leaders directly onto the show floor, not for a general tour, but for guided, customized experiences built around what each client is actually trying to solve. The routes were different for every group. A client working through a major back-of-house equipment overhaul walked a different floor than a client exploring beverage experience upgrades. Both came away with something immediately actionable.
That's the frame I'd put around everything that follows. The trends are real and worth knowing. But the more important takeaway is what happens when you put the right clients in front of the right solutions at the right moment in their planning cycle.
The return to real food
The clearest theme across this year's show was a decisive move back toward whole ingredients, real proteins, and functional nutrition. Less processed. Less prefab. More beans, legumes, whole proteins, and natural products.
A few years ago, plant-based alternatives dominated the conversation. The vendor presence was enormous. This year, plant-based still had a significant floor presence, but the energy had shifted. Clients were not looking for plant-forward substitutes. They were looking for authentic ingredients, transparent sourcing, and food that performs nutritionally without sacrificing culinary quality.
One of the most-talked-about stops on our culinary tours wasn't a technology showcase or a flagship brand activation. It was a company that had reimagined how beans get packaged for foodservice. Rather than the traditional #10 can, they moved to cryovac bulk packaging, less transport weight, less waste, no excess liquid, fresher product. Simple. Operationally sensible. It solved a real problem, and everyone walked away talking about it.
That's what a real trend looks like. Not a vendor category or a menu format, but a solution that makes a meaningful operational difference with no compromise to the finished product.
On the beverage side, the same logic applies. Clients are raising their standards for coffee and café experiences. They want fresh milk, fresh creamers, and ingredients that feel intentional rather than industrial. The broader functional beverage category is growing, and clients are paying attention to what's next: beverages that serve a wellness or performance purpose and feel genuinely elevated compared to what most programs currently offer.
Space is the constraint. Equipment is the answer.
If there was a second organizing theme at the show this year, it was the increasingly creative use of square footage. Clients are not getting more space. In many cases they're getting less. The question is what they can do with what they have.
Ventless equipment is a significant part of that answer. Eliminating hood systems removes a major infrastructure requirement and, with it, a major cost. When clients see that operating without hoods is no longer a quality compromise, it changes the math on what's possible in a given space.
Multifunctional equipment is the other side of that equation. A single machine that handles multiple cooking methods simultaneously, at different temperatures, with different timing cycles replaces several pieces of equipment and the footprint that comes with them. The operational efficiency is real. So is the reduction in labor required to run the station.
What's made all of this possible is the level of intelligence now built into cooking equipment. Machines now pause and recalibrate when the oven door opens, resume correctly, and account for environmental variables like humidity, altitude, and ambient temperature. The result is more consistent outcomes across locations than manual operation ever could produce. We are at a point where AI-assisted equipment is not a novelty. It's infrastructure.
For clients with major equipment reaching end of life, this represents a genuine upgrade cycle opportunity. The gap between aging back-of-house operations and what current equipment can deliver is significant. Our job is to help clients see that gap clearly and then close it deliberately.
Mobility as hospitality strategy
One emerging area that's worth naming separately: portable, ventless, battery-powered cooking units.
The use case is obvious once you see it. A mobile cooking unit inside a café or pantry space creates the possibility of a rotating experience: a chef table, a pop-up station, a seasonal activation without any permanent infrastructure. It brings culinary presence to spaces that previously couldn't support it.
For clients investing in hospitality as culture, this is another tool. The ability to bring a live culinary moment to a space, then move it, then bring it back differently, is a meaningful addition to the hospitality toolkit. It's flexible by design.
What the National Restaurant Association Show actually demonstrates
There's a version of the National Restaurant Association Show that's useful as a trend scan. You walk the floor, you note what's new, you come home with impressions.
That's not what we built this year.
The clients who came to Chicago this year spent dedicated time with culinary experts, equipment specialists, and IT teams focused entirely on their programs. Many of them had not previously worked directly with those parts of our organization. By the end of their tours, they had. They understood what support exists beyond their day-to-day account team. They saw equipment that was already on their capital plan performing in real life. They left with more confidence and a shorter path to decisions.
What we brought back isn't a trend report. It's a set of specific opportunities, organized by client, already moving toward action. Recap packets go out within ten days. Projects in queue are accelerating. That's the model.
I said at the end of the show this year that I thought it was one of our strongest yet. I meant it. The combination of curated routes, matched expertise, and real projects to anchor the conversations made it something different from a trade show. We're already thinking about how to make next year stronger.
Key takeaways
The National Restaurant Association Show is most valuable as a working session, not a trend scan. Clients who came to Chicago this year left with specific action items, equipment decisions accelerated, and a clearer view of what their programs can do next.
The food industry is moving back toward real ingredients. Whole proteins, beans, legumes, and minimally processed products are gaining ground as clients move away from prefab plant-based alternatives in favor of authentic ingredients and transparent sourcing.
Ventless and multifunctional equipment is changing the space equation. Clients no longer have to choose between capability and square footage. Eliminating hood systems and consolidating cooking functions into fewer machines unlocks meaningful cost and operational savings.
AI is already inside commercial cooking equipment. Recipe-driven, environmentally adaptive machines are producing more consistent outcomes across locations than manual operation can. For programs with aging back-of-house infrastructure, the upgrade opportunity is significant.
Mobile cooking units open new hospitality possibilities. Portable, battery-powered, ventless equipment allows clients to bring live culinary experiences into café and pantry spaces without permanent infrastructure, creating rotating activations that elevate the employee experience.
If you want to dig into what we saw in the context of your specific program, that's the conversation to have next.
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Jimmy Waymire is Vice President of Culinary and Innovation at Portfolio Group.
Aramark Portfolio Group is part of the Workplace Experience Group division of Aramark, partnering with clients to deliver tailored, end-to-end hospitality and facilities solutions across diverse workplace environments. Through a unified service approach led by a single point of leadership and a dedicated team, Portfolio Group ensures seamless execution, elevated experiences, and strategic alignment with each client’s unique goals. Our integrated model is designed to simplify operations, enhance workplace culture, and drive long-term value.
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