Top sights at CRFA

March 13, 2013, Toronto – Toronto’s annual Canadian Restaurant and
Foodservices Association (CRFA) show touched down at the Direct Energy
Centre with the heady buzz of spring and happening things.

March 13, 2013, Toronto – Toronto’s annual Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association (CRFA) show touched down at the Direct Energy Centre with the heady buzz of spring and happening things.

Held March 3-5, the event attracts about 13,000 people with more than 1,200 exhibitor booths. This year’s festivities saw a flair bartending stage, a Breakfast of Champions panel, pop up bistro, and packed days of chef demos and educational seminars. Vikram Vij, Mark McEwan, Anna Olsen and David Adjey were amongst the celebrity chefs on hand sharing their knowledge.

Mexico had a prominent presence with a pavilion of vanilla, green beans, hot sauces, and of course tequila. The U.S. states of Georgia and Illinois and Pennsylvania had booth presence this year as well. Gourmet Syndicate, a “mobile food infrastructure services company” signaled a nod to the continued food truck trend.

Bakers Journal found one birthday booth: Toronto based Carole’s Cheesecake Company was celebrating their 41st at the show.

Here’s a roundup of cool new products and show newcomers:

• The Women’s Foodservice Forum has been around for 23 years but this was their first appearance at CRFA. The association is a developmental resource for women in foodservice. Their next event will be held May 2 at the International Centre in Mississauga, Ont.
• Callebaut showcased their new line of ready made decorations, including oriental fans, snowflake shaped rounds, points, leaves and a variety of other ornaments. The line is brand new, and customers can contact Callebaut for availability of specific decorations in the coming two to three months.
• Lentia’s booth was featuring Wild Finger Lime Citrus Caviar fruit crystals from the Australian finger lime, available in different colours and intended for dessert/pastry garnish. They were also showcasing their new Valrhona Dulcey 32 per cent, a blonde chocolate, with a creamy texture and a dulce de leche like flavour.
• Armodilo, a first time exhibitor looking to make waves in the Canadian market, offers a slick looking stand that turns tablets into interactive kiosks.
• Fondarific, makers of a variety of flavoured and coloured fondants, was exhibiting in Canada for the first time.
• FoodShootr is a new app that lets diners snap photos of their food at restaurants or at home and instantly share them with the world.

Lime fruit crystals at the Lentia booth were a hot new product at this year's CRFA show.

Bakers Journal will be touching down in Vancouver from May 5-6 for Bakery Congress. We hope to see you there. Visit www.baking.ca/congress for more information.