We’re back from the Western Foodservice & Hospitality Expo, sponsored by the California Restaurant Association. This three day event took place at the Los Angeles Convention Center on August 27-29. It’s filled with educational seminars, food demos and food samples. The event is open to trade and business members only with an expected attendance of over 8,000 people. The theme this year was “Exceeding Culinary Expectations 
– Master the Emerging Trends.”
The tradeshow featured over 500 vendors. There were a lot of cheese and coffee samples. It seemed like there were more POS vendors than ever.
Last year we spotted many products made with coconut and we noticed new products made with coconut this year. Last year we saw the automated onigiri (rice ball maker). This year we were impressed by the “sushi robot” which does make sushi. The most anticipated event was the Thomas Keller appearance. Keller was presented with the Torch Award for his contributions to the profession.
Of course we were looking for frozen yogurt and froyo relevant trends. The vendors we
re mostly the same ones we saw last year.
Presidential Foodservice had a smoothie station, shaved snow, Honey Hill soft serve, toppings station, soft serve machines, spoons, cups and a giant light up color changing froyo cone. We were finally able to try Honey Hill’s new coconut milk soft serve and soft serve fruit. The coconut milk soft serve is nice; the coconut flavor is not that strong and the texture isn’t as creamy as yogurt but it’s refreshing and sweet. We think yogurt has much more flavor than coconut milk though. The Tango (mango and orange) soft serve fruit was pretty sweet though there was a little tang. It also seemed less flavorful than frozen yogurt (we’re biased of course).
Mami’s Gelato was a new exhibitor. Their new Froconut is a vegan coconut cream soft serve gelato. It’s available in five flavors: Vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, matcha and coffee. The product is a powder that is meant to be combined with water to make liquid mix. It’s dairy-free, lactose-free, soy-free and gluten-free. With 8% fat, it’s an indulgent treat. The matcha flavor had an intense matcha flavor and a hint of coconut.
Sweet Chills distributes Rainbow’s End and Miss Karen’s frozen yogurt. They now offer soft serve gelato. They were part of the California Milk area. Vollrath/Stoelting offered samples of Rainbow’s End soft serve gelato.
U-Best Packaging Solutions didn’t have any froyo cups on display but they do offer custom print cups and custom spoons. U-Best produced custom Hello Kitty coffee stirrers for the Hello Kitty Café. They can also print flyers, menus, stickers, promotional displays, and signage, and they do custom uniforms too.
