Texas Restaurant Show 2025

Attending the Texas Restaurant Show 2025 in Houston underscored why this is one of the most influential gatherings for bars and restaurants in the U.S.—a high-caliber marketplace for ideas, technology, and partnerships that will shape operations over the next 12–24 months.

The exhibitor floor proved the sector’s breadth and depth:

• Technology & data: POS integrations, inventory and purchasing systems, AI for demand forecasting, menu engineering, and waste reduction.

• High-performance equipment & automation: boosting productivity without losing the human touch.

• Ingredient and beverage suppliers: emphasizing quality, traceability, and sustainability.

• Delivery and off-premise solutions: protecting guest experience while optimizing margins and consistency.

A highlight was meeting Emily Knight, President of the Texas Restaurant Association (TRA)—and I even had the chance to take a photo with her. Emily’s leadership is widely recognized for advancing industry advocacy, workforce development (in partnership with the Texas Restaurant Foundation), and a forward-looking innovation agenda that brings independent and multi-unit operators closer to technology, skills, and best practices. Her vision connects competitiveness, employability, and sustainability—three pillars the industry needs to thrive.

For Chefs’n’Bytes, the show reinforced our mission: bring culinary art closer to the science of numbers, so kitchen teams master pricing, COGS, margins, and data-driven decisions without sacrificing creativity. In short: Making Chefs and Bytes Best Friends Forever—because when numbers and the kitchen work together, guest experience improves and businesses gain the resilience to grow.

Industry value: By spreading data literacy and practical digital tools among independent operators in Texas and across the U.S., we help strengthen margins, reduce waste, and enhance the sector’s overall competitiveness and innovation.