There were plenty of tasty reasons that the Bay Area was a celebrated food destination last week. In the course of three days, ezCater drew first the restaurant community, and then foodies, to San Jose with two back-to-back culinary events.The celebrations kicked off in grand style, with a live event called ezChats San Jose, part of ezCater’s new series of panel discussions for the restaurant community. San Jose restaurant owners got backstage passes to see high-profile restaurant executives who shared ideas about how restauranteurs can grow their businesses beyond brick walls. The culinary heavy-hitters included Jerome Dees (Le Boulanger), Rich Garcia (SliderBar), John Pol (Mikayla’s Cafe, House of Eggroll), and Jim Rand (formerly of P.F. Chang’s), who offered blueprints for success.
After the hour-long talk and Q&A segments, the ezChats San Jose attendees were served martinis and appetizers while they swapped business cards and mingled.
Hours later the festivities continued with ezFoodFest San Jose delivering a palate-pleasing experience to foodies. A globally diverse food festival, ezFoodFest is meant to recall the world’s most gluttonous events like the South Beach Wine and Food Festival. The ezCater event drew a hungry crowd. The ezFoodFest San Jose visitors were offered spice-warmed Cambodian plates, theatrical sandwiches, tender raviolis, and oven-blistered pizzas, crisp at the edges, cheese stretching out (and plenty more!).
Mixed drinks like the boozy ezCater concoction, “ezMule,” were poured generously at the ezFoodFest San Jose—an ideal antidote to all the eating. Festivalgoers also enjoyed Hunger Games-themed trivia.
The mission of the ezChats series is to organize and educate restaurant owners across the nation, who are often too busy with kitchen orders and micromanaging staff to share stories, insights, and business strategies with members of their community. The ezChats series is pitch-perfect with the times. In today’s digital, delivery-friendly landscape, restaurant owners are trying to keep pace with changes to the businesses. Both Eater and the Chicago Tribune report that while restaurant traffic has slowed down, diners are increasingly eating outside of the traditional confines of the restaurant. Restaurant owners are hoping to capture some of that revenue.
This year the ezChats tour is scheduled to pop up in big cities across the nation including New York.
If you missed out on ezChats San Jose, you can watch the video here.