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PIZZA EXPO WRAP-UP: So many exhibits, so many people, so little time

Were the International Pizza Expo not so much fun, it would be easy to see everything on the vast show floor.

May 21, 2003

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LAS VEGAS -- Were it not for the International Pizza Expo, you'd have a hard time getting me to go to Las Vegas.

Gambling bores me, so I share no affinity with the minions who flock here thinking they're going to win big. I'm amazed at their perpetual obliviousness to the garish, gaudy proof -- humongous hotels, sprawling casinos, Wayne Newton's tax bill -- that this desert oasis was paid for by people who instead lost big. (Viewed from space, the city's lights probably spell out "THANKS, CHUMPS!")

Steve Coomes, Editor

But come I did this year, all the way from Louisville to this land of lunacy and Liberace, to join nearly 10,000 of you at the Expo, a gathering show organizers say was the largest in recent years.

You didn't have to count heads at the door to believe they were telling the truth. Not since my first Vegas Expo in 1999 have the aisles been so tightly crowded. By late afternoon on the first day of the Expo, the exhibition hall's air conditioning system was losing the battle of the BTUs -- and nobody seemed to care. Vendor lead retrieval machines were smoking, and buyers were out in force. The upbeat mood made it easy to forget the war with Iraq, the stubborn recession and the long-lingering question: Will Americans ever eat as much pizza as they used to?

A tradeshow of a different breed

Anyone who's been to the National Restaurant Association's Restaurant Hotel-Motel Show knows that the International Pizza Expo is a different animal. I'm not talking about the obvious dissimilarities -- the NRA show's sheer size and broader industry focus -- I'm talking about the crowd each show draws. Yes, the Expo is for pizza people only, but the difference goes even deeper; it boils down to independent pizzeria operators.

Though they gain no commercial advantage by wearing shirts and hats bearing their business' logo, that's what so many independents wear to the show.

Why?

To demonstrate pride in their businesses, I suppose, or maybe just to state that in an industry dominated by me-too thinking, their businesses are unique. When you see so many of them together under one roof, it's an interesting show of unity.

I also can't think of another restaurant industry show where the educational seminars are so well attended by independents. Tim Huff, manager of bakery flour technical services at General Mills, told me once how independent pizzeria operators don't hesitate to ask him for help and guidance; a lot pros in other foodservice categories, he said, often won't admit they don't know everything. Independent-packed seminar rooms at this year's Expo prove his point.

Even the Pizza Expo organizers take the extra step to put on an independent-operator-focused gathering called Bull & Beer. On the first two nights of the Expo, several hundred of them gather in a room at the Hilton to share ideas and answer questions posed to the crowd by a moderator -- and, well, drink some free beer.

If you've never been to this, make it a point to go next year. Expect to hear some bull -- a natural byproduct of drinking free beer -- but expect also to learn a few things. At the very least, just putting that many strong-minded entrepreneurs in one room and asking their opinions is more entertaining than dropping $100 to see the arthritic antics of Siegfried and Roy.

But oh, that show floor

Let's face it: seminars and Sin City aside, people come to Pizza Expo for the show floor. Here attendees are treated to a swirl of sights, sounds and smells unparalleled in the foodservice trade. And, no, I'm not just talking about the La Nova booth.

Had I less shame (and perhaps my own cache of toothpicks), I'd pull a chair up at the Grande booth and gorge on fresh mozzarella. And had I more shame, I'd stay away from the pizza Michael Brockman cooks up in the Woodstone booth. It's not only some of the best I've ever eaten, it's hands down the best at the show.

Were I not so happy in my own job, I would have asked for a position in the Jon Donaire Desserts booth. There they served up colossally caloric chunks of a new Oreo Cookie mousse cake. Much to my belt's pleasure, I found these too late in the show to make a return visit before I departed.

But Pizza Expo isn't just about food, it's about everything from hardware to headwear to hotbags. From high-tech innovations such as interactive voice order products that deliver phone orders to a POS without human assistance, to low-tech conveniences allowing kitchen workers to slip on sanitary gloves without touching their exteriors, a cornucopia of products is available for perusal.

Problem is, it's awfully hard to take it all in. Not so much because there's too much to see, or too little time to see it -- even when you factor in multiple visits to the above-mentioned booths.

What makes it a challenge to cover that vast expanse in the allotted time are the fun people who stopped me (or whom I stopped) to talk: friends who wanted to catch up; operators who pitched their chain as worthy of a feature story; or vendors who knew I'd be interested in their latest product.

Were it not for great people like them, covering the show in total would be a breeze -- but it wouldn't be any fun.