100th National Restaurant Association Show to Feature 1,000-Pound Cheesecake

According to an article by Nation’s Restaurant News, the National Restaurant Association (NRA) is gearing up to treat all 65,000 of this year’s NRA Show guests to a piece of a 1,000-pound cheesecake. This sweet treat isn’t a staple of the annual event—the massive dessert by Chicago-based Eli’s Cheesecake Co. will be ringing in the Show’s 100th anniversary.

The 2019 NRA Show will be held at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois, with the cheesecake cutting commencing at 2:30 p.m in the Grand Concourse. It will be cut by NRA president Mary Pat Heftman, who will be celebrating her 29th anniversary with the show, and CEO Dawn Sweeney, who announced her retirement this week.

Sunday’s main educational program entitled the “Future of Dining” will feature discussion with CEOs from restaurants and grocery stores and will be led by Sweeney. A Monday “SuperSession” will feature discussions on innovative restaurant technology.

“The energy of this industry is like no other,” said Heftman according to the article. “While the operators may be competing for share of stomach, they are great friends and they are great sharers of information, tools and techniques. They want the hospitality industry to be at its very best.”