Inside the Growth of America’s Top Restaurant Trade Shows with Paul Pedrow of Restaurant Events LLC

We're recording on-site at Ibis Images Studios , where food photography comes alive and I get to eat it . Email us to learn more info at thewalkintalkcom . Today's guest , a dear friend .

The journey of today's guest , paul Pedros , started with a pizza shop in Malvern , pennsylvania , winds through the NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles and takes off into the world of international expos and trade shows .

Whether he was delivering pizzas , working at the office for the Eagles , which I think is pretty cool , or running expos for Informa and Clarion , paul found one constant in all of it the power of food to bring people together . Now a key executive at Restaurant Events LLC , paul helps lead the New York , florida and California restaurant shows .

That's right , you just heard me say it . This is a big deal . As well as the Pizza Tomorrow Summit , his love for food and live experiences comes full circle , especially on Sundays , where you'll still find him cooking up ribs and brisket in D-Lot with his tailgate crew also a studio today .

And , by the way , just for giggles , everybody , we had barbecue , oh my God . Also in studio today , chef Kevin Raspberry has grilled up some summer fun on the barbecue , adding even more flavor to this conversation , and I promise it did . And the photos ? Oh yeah , you know what I'm talking about . The photos , john , I do . I hate giving you props , you know .

I know you're too long to want to , like you know , give you an attaboy , but , bro , every week you just simply murder the photography . You do it great this off . I want to do a quick shout out to our newest partner , the Burnt Chef Project .

As we continue amplifying mental health awareness in hospitality through media and storytelling , walk Talk is eager to amplify the Burnt Chef Project message . Man , these guys are great mental health awareness advocates . They have all sorts of resources and everything . Go inside the description . You'll find how to reach them .

Great folksris , tom colleen , all these , all these cats , chef , talk to me . The chef , kevin . I told john last week . I said dude , listen to me , be excited , be very excited . He's like what are you talking about , kevin ? And he looks at me . He's like what do you mean barbecue ? He's like oh , I get it , I get it , 100 , man he so we've been excited .

We were ready for this and you did , you brought it .

Tillman wins these barbecue competitions constantly . He goes all over Florida , sometimes out of state . He's got this . It's a rig . It's actually like a tour bus with the grill in tow behind it stupid . So what's going to happen ?

He's going to to wrap the uh , the rig , not the , not the you know the actual bus , but the rig , and it's going to be , you know , uh , blended walk and talk with Tillman's barbecue .

It's going to be so cool and uh , and we're going to be basically representing at all of the barbecue competitions and Tillman is going to be the uh , you will of Walk Talk at these shows . So I'm super stoked about that . With that said , you used one of his products in the dish today on both dishes , actually right On one of the dishes , on the ribs .

Yes , oh gosh , man , I am so excited this is really .

All of a sudden , the brands , the chefs , all these everybody kind of meets each other and works with each other and it's like this expanding pie of awesomeness and I'm just really I'm blessed , you know , to be around the group of folks that I'm around . You know everyone here , included .

You know Kevin , john , you know you know Paul's in the green room , him as well , I mean . So it's this expanding environment of making things happen and it's terrific . So , kevin , I want to thank you for all of your contributions that we do here and it's greatly appreciated , and you bring your A-game every time you show up in the studio .

I have people constantly asking me now , you know side messages and whatnot about , hey , what's , what's the story with the New York show and the Florida show ? What is that ? So I think it's .

You know , we're going to end up bringing some new ears and eyes to um , to this whole thing , and , and if we can create great content in the interim man , I think it's a blessing for all .

Your career has woven together sports , food and live events . What was the spark , if you will ? As much as it was a culmination .

You know , I started off the lowest level employee in high school at a pizza shop and saw the back end of their operation and it was probably you know , I'm probably not giving them enough credit it was an Italian restaurant as well , and just seeing all of the hard work that went into that early on as a young kid , and then experiencing different establishments ,

cultures and then eventually , separately , the sports and live events industry , but food never not being a part of that it kind of culminated into this moment .

I guess if you were to pinpoint the spark , it would be some of the first shows that we ran , or the first show that we ran as Restaurant Events LLC , where I got to see that come together for the first time I got to see the business of food kind of connect with my passion for food and my passion for putting on a great event .

Can you , before we go further , can you kind of explain what you did over there ?

And for all the food people out there , every one of these sports organizations has a pretty incredible kitchen . So I will never forget the lunches at the Novocare Complex by the Philadelphia Eagles chefs Shout out to them .

But yeah , it started as a summer internship just doing season ticket sales and blossomed into a year-long internship throughout the season and we were not very good that year , but it was incredibly fun and I made some really great connections and that was sort of my first introduction to live events and I got to go to every game .

I've been going to every game since and part of the reason for that the food and the fun was part of it . I joke around . I don't think I could work in that industry anymore because I like enjoying it too much , so I had to leave eventually , but maybe the food drove me away and it's the way that it blended with sports . I don't know .

I want to talk about the players , because you got to meet these guys . You said , right , like you were like with them .

It was definitely an experience that and you know the staff the current staff for that team probably still enjoys . And you know it's funny when you look at the organizations in the NFL , whether you're a fan or not , when you evaluate the culture that the Philadelphia Eagles built in their building . There's no question that building of community is a focus .

Yes , what year were you over ?

It was interesting year that did not go the way they had hoped . Uh , andy reed was the coach at the time and you know not only did they all eat together in a cafeteria , but you know there were playground build projects and you know charity fundraisers and you know events outside of just the football games were a huge part of that too .

And food and you know , experiencing of food was interwoven throughout that . In the entire time I was there and I'm sure still is . Just from what I see in the tailgate lots , you know that's a whole nother version of that happening amongst the fans .

Time with the Eagles , I think is fascinating , and I have to believe that there is more than just small parallels between between what you did with them community service , charities , working with people you know , working with these superstars and it's all based on entertainment , food and bringing people together .

Between that and your experiences at Informa and Clarion that set the stage for you to be who you are at restaurant events right now .

Working in trade shows that weren't necessarily food industry focused gave me incredible experiences all over the world and enabled me to travel at a young age when I otherwise would have had zero chance of affording to be able to travel to certain places and experience certain things .

And I'm very grateful for both of those jobs and how they kind of set me up to sort of be able to jump at an opportunity that brought it all together .

A lot of people don't realize just how much goes into the organization of these events , especially at , you know , large , publicly run convention centers , and it really I'm going to draw another parallel .

Unfortunately I hate to do it to you guys again , but you know it really an events team functions much like a football team where you know the synergy and everybody doing their job is very necessary for team success . And one of the things that we have at restaurant events is I an unmatched synergy across departments .

You have people who are focused on getting the show marketed to chefs and restaurant owners and operators and to make sure that side of the industry comes . You have people who are focused on bringing the companies and the suppliers in . You have people who are focused on developing the content and creating the sessions , suppliers in .

You have people who are focused on developing the content and creating the sessions and you know one hand feeds the other in a more dramatic way than I think a lot of people realize and a lot of the focus that we put into our efforts at restaurant events is on communication .

You know internally and I've been around the block you know it's not the easiest thing to achieve . You can say it . You know until you're blue in the face that we want to be good communicators .

But you know , one of the big differences , I think , at restaurant events is that I can pick up the phone and have a conversation with any member of my team at any level , at any time , and you know we just tackle issues , you know , through that direct , quick communication and I think it sets us up to be really successful .

The last and final piece of that too , I think , is just veteran experience .

You know , in the industry we have four or five salespeople that work for me and every single one of them can answer 99% of the detailed , you know operational craziness that gets thrown at us , because we all know that one of the most fun parts of a trade show is what clients do in their booth and we .

So we get some crazy stuff and it can be a lot , a lot easier to make things happen when the person that you're dealing with directly has all the answers for you . So we try to make sure that our staff has that .

If you have three , four , 500 exhibitors at a trade show , there's a lot of work , a lot of backstory , a lot of things happening that nobody's aware of , what goes on behind the scenes that the average person wouldn't have any idea about , probably the easiest answer to that would be the operational cost factor , because everything's happening inside a public convention

venue .

You know the safety regulations , the health guidelines , all of the things that are put in place by that venue , and so it's very much . You know . I come from the school of tailgating , as we talked about , where you can roll in with your trailer and you can have an open fire , and you're doing it in the parking lot .

And , by the way , chef , kevin , carl , that rig that you guys are working on , you ever want to bring that up to an Eagles game ? I'll get the tickets , so you just let me know , but unfortunately that's a little bit harder to pull off inside a convention center , right ?

So what a lot of people probably don't realize is just that there's so much that goes into it in the way of documentation , safety , approvals and collaboration amongst different vendors and contractors .

Don't say that you just got your promotion . Just say that , hey , I'm kind of overseeing multiple units . I've never been to a trade show . What good is it for me to go Like ? What is it for a guy like me , you know , with my position to to go to a show Like what is , what's the benefit ?

There's going to be a lot of people just like you walking around this event and attending various sessions , you walking around this event and attending various sessions .

There's a lot of folks who are starting new , but also a ton of folks who have been doing this even longer than that , and those people are up on stages talking about their businesses and where they've had success , where they've had failures . There's also any chef .

I would say probably the coolest part is just seeing the chef competitions and the demos from the other chefs , which we always get some big names to the show to come do something , and you can always , you know , take something away for your own repertoire , and that's a big part of it . You know the education and the networking .

And then , obviously , the supplier . You know interfacing , right ? I think one of the beautiful things about the restaurant industry and food is that we're always innovating . You know , I used to think for a while that that was , you know , purely consumer driven , right . You know thinking about it from too much of a business sense , but you know .

Correct me if I'm wrong , but I feel like every chef actually just has that as an innate desire . You know within them to make new , cool stuff Right , absolutely . So . This is where you find all the supplies to do it .

Man , you can talk to them face to face , learn a little bit more about you , know how things are used , and most of these suppliers , now you know , have have in-house chefs who are real experts on it , and I think one of the biggest advantages is if they're looking for a new ingredient , a piece of equipment , even a piece of technology or anything to help run

an establishment . It's always nice to talk face-to-face with an expert and to see , touch , feel , taste what it is that you might be looking at incorporating into your repertoire . Chef Kevin , we've got to get you down to the Florida restaurant show . We've got , we've got a stage there for you .

We may , we may need to see a demo of this deliciousness that you're cooking up down there .

You know there's some magic that's going to happen . I don't know if it's going to be barbecue or not , but you know it's going to be something delicious , kevin . It's going to be at the Orange County Convention Center and you're definitely going to be there . You got to get the time off or whatever , and let's make this happen .

So what we do is we try to really really know and understand who we are and our events from a size standpoint . You know we aren't the . We're not as big as some shows . We're very regionally focused , but we're large within the region .

It's the perfect balance for suppliers and end users to come together , because food ultimately is a regional business for the most part , just in the nature of freshness , right , um , and when you are able to to get the majority of the of the players you know within a space together under one roof from a supplier standpoint , that's what is going to bring new and

exciting innovations in the industry . For us , it's really about staying true to who we are from a size and scope perspective , while also continuing to innovate . So we're regional events , but we're large regional events , so we're really good .

For example , florida Restaurant Show getting the whole Southeast market together under one roof from both a supplier side and a owner operator , chef side of things . And the innovation piece is we're really lucky that we have so many great people and partners really to lean on .

When it comes to the innovation piece , I think what we're doing together with Walk Talk is a great example , you know , of one of those things right , and when I say we're lucky , the other piece of that is that you know folks like Chef Kevin and some of your other guests that you've had on the show .

I know a few who actually may be a few others who might be speaking at the event . They're always , you know , doing new and interesting things to stay fresh , and we're just so lucky in this industry that we've got the passion . And the business side Like this is fun . You know there's a huge part of this that is just fun .

And when you're able to innovate , fun and also educate from a business perspective , it creates every reason in the world for people to come back every year .

Is that the hardest part of this , or is there something else ? Carl ?

That's just a little bit too out there and it's not feasible within the context of a trade show floor , especially as a tailgate guy . Right , I got all sorts of visions of flames and things , fireworks going off and stuff like that , and if I could do it , I would .

I would , but there's a there's a lot to navigate when it comes to , you know , the business side of it and the venues themselves and all that . So that that's probably the biggest challenge is making all that work and still producing stuff that's just new and cool and , you know , makes people's jaw drop a little bit , paul spaceships .

It was probably the biggest challenge of my career and I would just be completely remiss if I didn't say that I just have a lot of people to thank for helping us rebuild and get out of there and get to the point that we're at now .

Us rebuild and get out of there and get to the point that we're at now , and I think it's the relationships , cultivating those relationships and showing people sometimes that you have the passion for this industry and that your goal , first and foremost , is to put together a show that people can come to and get a lot out of and enjoy and have fun and want to

come back . And at first , when you're new to it new to a lot of other people , you're new to a lot of . You know suppliers that have been doing this a long time . You know there's you sort of have to have to show them . You know that , that this is something you're taking seriously and that you're in it for the good of the industry .

And I think one of the things that restaurant events , from the ownership the whole way down , has been able to do is put our money where our mouth is sometimes when it comes to that sort of thing , and not only that , but just , you know , put our time where our mouth is right , like , go the extra mile for people .

I can't tell you how many stories we have from suppliers where you know it's . I'm not going to name names , but let's just say , like you know , my entire booth got stolen from my car . You know a real story we had somebody's whole booth get hijacked from their vehicle .

Uh , and you know , we , we were able to say you know what we're gonna , we're gonna comp this one for you . You know , this year .

We understand , you know that sort of thing and , um , you know that's probably one of the more extreme examples , but those are the types of things that this company does , you know , for our vendors , and you know our vendors are you know what .

What come first when it comes to building a great event , right , no , you know , no , no chef wants to go walk around a trade show that doesn't have any booths at it , and so , um , you know , working with those guys and really helping them create exhibits that are great and you know , navigate the landscape .

That is a public convention venue , you know , a show contractor , an electrical union , whatever it is . Material handling all of that stuff , you know , is something that we take a lot of pride in and you know , hopefully some of our tips and tricks , you know , over the years have even helped those suppliers at other events that they do that we don't even run .

So taking that approach is how we overcame that challenge and I would say the greatest thing about that is it proved to us that face-to-face interaction is always going to be an important part of this business , more than more than most .

With that said , if you were to give advice to somebody you know who attends shows and they feel that energy and they're like , man , I want to get into this business what advice would you give to that person ?

in love with it and I thought , hey , sports is live events , this is live events too . Let's see how it goes . I almost feel unqualified to answer the question , but I think what I would say is is to follow your passion and align your career with that and continue to do so and it will find you .

If cooking is what you're really , really into , you know go go places and cook and you know you will . You will find that if you just continue pursuing what you love , it doesn't feel like work and things tend to fall into the right places .

So we were in town for the awards . It was a great time and Trade Show executives and their staff did an incredible job with the event . You know , putting on an event for a bunch of events , people I'm sure is not easy , but it was really good .

You know , from Glenn to Jerry , down to the sales team . You guys are winning , you guys are doing the right work and you're doing it with the right personalities and you're doing it with the right attitude . So , number one , thank you . Number two how do you see the relationship blossoming as we go into these events this year ?

They're out there doing interviews and audio commercials for some of our suppliers and telling the story of the event commercials for some of our suppliers and telling the story of the event . I mean doing what Walk Talk does best and helping us get the story out there .

And I think that what you guys bring to the trade show is just a critical element that we absolutely have to have where we're capturing the energy we talked about . You mentioned the energy on the trade show floor is one of the things that's most important , and I think you're 100% right .

And I think that when we're able to sort of recreate that digitally and tell people that story of what took place over the course of those three days , of what took place over the course of those three days , there's certainly , you know , a there's certainly not a better group to do it justice than you guys . And B . It's just something that you know .

We almost owe it to the industry right To have some of that be captured and be put out there and share some of the stories and the connections that we make while we're down there .

So for me it's you know , it's really just about having this great platform in the form of the partnership with you guys to tell our story , just like you have for so many of these chefs .

Yeah , there's other trade shows and they have podcasts , but they're their own podcasts and they're inherently run differently . This is a show , we have a show .

It's independent and we connected and we're going to do big things because of that , because we bring a different audience to the trade show Not necessarily a different audience , but we bring it to them in a different vehicle , and I think that's what makes the , that's what makes this special .

And I also want to say that you know , if it weren't for Jerry , jerry Gwynn put us together in front of you and Andrea and the gang and you know she deserves a shout out for that you guys are just a special bunch of people and we appreciate it . Man Sincerely .