LOS ANGELES — The 2024 California Restaurant Show, held at the Los Angeles Convention Center Aug. 25-27, was the event’s first edition after being rebranded from the Western Foodservice & Hospitality Expo and reported a 51% increase in verified attendance.
Eighty-four percent of its attendees were verified, a 16% increase from last year, and 55% of the show’s verified attendees were new, according to the show’s organizer, Restaurant Events, LLC.
“The change to the California Restaurant Show shined a brighter light on [Calif.], which resonated with our audience,” Andrea Tencza, Vice President of Marketing at Restaurant Events, LLC, said, adding that the show’s growth was spurred by a Team Bundle program, facilitated with Convention Data Services, which delivered nearly 20% of its registrations.
“This program came about in response to customer feedback and the biggest draw is the convenience. Restaurant owners struggle with staffing and scheduling … especially four, six or eight weeks out from an event, and in the past had been unable to commit to registering their team,” Tencza explained. “The Team Bundle allows them to purchase the group package and … the team lead can add, delete and update team members right up to the show. We’ve provided a solution to their pain point and see this continuing to grow over time.”
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According to Tencza, the show’s team collaborates throughout the verification process.
“Our sales team takes a very consultative approach, allowing them to uncover a deep understanding of products on the show floor. That knowledge, coupled with the content and demonstration updates from our conference manager allowed us to run a multi-email campaign to keep pre-registrants updated and excited about the show,” Tencza said. “Restaurants were hit hard during the pandemic, many closing altogether … [and] many team members changing companies or leaving the industry. A focus for us has been to continue to grow our database and we’ve added forms to capture data from all touch points — website visitors, social media [and] digital ads. That helped us to add a few thousand records to our database — and with the show completed, we’ll be digging in to uncover conversions.”
The show included a new Pizza Tomorrow Summit Pavilion, a spinoff from the Orlando-based event, which featured cooking demonstrations, competitions and more.
“This Pavilion added a fresh component to the show, in a segment restaurant and foodservice operators are excited about,” Tencza shared.
The California Restaurant Show will return to Anaheim next year with a larger exhibit hall and focus on immersive, hands-on experiences.
“We’ve been on a growth path this year across all of our events and expect to see it continue into 2025 and beyond,” Tencza said.
Learn more about the California Restaurant Show here.
