Media's Exclusive Look at Excitement Unfolding at RC Show 2025!

What’s always served as an exclusive preview for RC Show, this year, was reimagined and expanded into two separate fireside chats. Two restaurants, two themes and two special, panels of speakers.

Here’s your behind-the-scenes look into our RC Show 2025 Exclusive Media Preview Lunches.

Balancing Profit and Planet

For some industries, participation in sustainability initiatives may still feel like a choice, but for foodservice, it’s an imperative. The food sector is inherently tied to the natural world. Agricultural production is dependent on soil health, water availability, and climate stability—factors that are increasingly at risk. With this lunch theme’s focus on Conscious Kitchens, Borealis Grille & Bar in Kitchener, Ontario was the perfect place to host.

To speak to the value and importance of being environmentally sustainable within foodservice, we were privileged to have Court Desautels, President & CEO of Neighbourhood Group of Companies and Joe McMahon, VP Sustainability at Maple Leaf Foods, along with Restaurant Canada’s very own VP of Sustainability, Jillian Rodak, moderating.

From addressing food waste and circularity to shedding light on the importance of local sourcing, and how instilling these and more, can bring success to your operations, we couldn’t have asked for a better pairing of individuals to share their breadth of knowledge. While our speakers shared their wisdom, Borealis shared an exclusive meal. It was an afternoon full of connecting, sharing and eating – a true preview of what’s to come at our 80^th anniversary of RC Show.

For those interested in hearing more about why 80% of Canadian restaurant operators believe environmental sustainability is an important part of their success, we urge you to attend RC Show 2025 and attend insightful sessions that not only explore but expand on these key aspects.

To curate days with sessions that interest you, we invite you to view our schedule at rcshow.com.

Flavour Without Borders

For our second and final fireside preview event, we explored an equally important, but very different, theme. Canadian restaurants are evolving alongside shifting demographics and cultural influences, redefining the dining experience. As consumer demand diversifies, chefs and restaurateurs are embracing their roots to create hybrid culinary experiences—blending traditions, flavours, and communities in innovative ways. With Culture Blenders at the heart of our second Media Preview Event, there was no question in hosting it at the incredibly beautiful and of course, delicious, Arbequina.

To share their noteworthy perspectives on this highly relevant, core topic, we were delighted to have a vast panel of speakers: Vince Sgabellone, Industry Analyst, Foodservice at Circana, Chef Imrun Texeira, Wanderlust, Chef Moeen Abuzaid (Executive Chef & Owner, Arbequina) and of course, Chris Elliott, Chief Economist & Vice President, Research at Restaurants Canada.

Over the course of a few hours, our guests were invited to enjoy a specially curated menu along with a discussion surrounding the growing multicultural population, the rise in openness to global flavours, and consumer’s evolving dining preferences.

Both lunches provided a special look into what’s to come on April 7-9 at RC Show 2025. We couldn’t be more excited to share what is the culmination of hard work and passion for the hospitality and foodservice industry.

We want to call out a special thank you to those who played a vital role in contributing to our RC Show 2025 Exclusive Media Preview Lunches.

Our dedicated PR team, Touchwood PR, we couldn’t have done it without you!

And to those sponsors/exhibitors who provided special takeaway gifts for our guests – thank you!

We look forward to seeing you all at RC Show 2025 – if you haven’t already, register today and attend what’s sure to be a memorable 80^th celebration!

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