Foodservice innovation rarely happens in a vacuum. It happens when manufacturers, operators, buyers, culinary teams, technology companies and suppliers get into the same room and start talking about what the industry actually needs next.
That's exactly what Food & Beverage Magazine will be doing when ECRM brings together multiple foodservice-focused sessions in Dallas, September 27–30, 2026. Our calendar is packed by design: 43 scheduled meetings across Tuesday, September 29, and Wednesday, September 30, plus ECRM's Foodservice Roundtables.
The Dallas lineup spans ECRM's Next-Gen Campus Dining Session, Meat & Seafood Fall Session, Foodservice & Menu Innovation Session, and Foodservice Technology, Equipment & Supplies Session. For us, that means far more than walking a trade-show floor — it's a concentrated read on where the foodservice industry is headed.
A Snapshot of Where Foodservice Is Going
What makes the Dallas schedule so interesting is its range. Our meetings span products as diverse as proteins, seafood, eggs, desserts, sauces, snacks, pasta, syrups, prepared foods, pecans, dairy and pulse-based ingredients. On the other side of the equation, we'll also sit down with companies focused on operational technology, maintenance, barcoding and takeout.
In other words, this isn't simply a product showcase. It's a snapshot of an increasingly interconnected foodservice business — one where operators are being asked to build more interesting menus, improve consistency, manage labor, control food costs, accommodate changing dietary preferences and deliver a better guest experience, all at once. Suppliers that can solve several of those challenges simultaneously are becoming indispensable.
The Companies on Our Calendar
Tuesday begins with Mortal Munchies and continues through a remarkably diverse group, including Multi X, Distinctive Foods, Tender Loving Cravings, Kreher's Family Farms, Eshbal Food, Cheesecake Royale, Maple Leaf Farms, Bindi North America, Eating to Live, Vilore Foods Company and Top Churn.
The afternoon continues with MTA Products / Sam & Sam's Products, Kansas City Hickory Provisions, Vaserco / Enature, South Beach Syrup, SimplyFresco / Cocina Fresca, Pastificio Bolognese USA, Sales USA / Pompeii USA, 3X3 Gluten-Free Kitchen Provisions and DEFI Snacks before the day's Foodservice Roundtables.
Multi X represents the seafood side of the equation. The Chilean producer specializes in salmon and operates across the production chain, from breeding through processing and distribution, with a U.S. presence in Miami.
Mid-States Specialty Eggs puts another major protein category on the table, producing cage-free, free-range, pasture-raised, organic and non-GMO eggs.
Plant-Based Ingredients and Global Flavor
AGT Foods reflects the continued development of plant-based proteins and pulse ingredients, with a portfolio that includes pulse flours, proteins, texturized proteins and pasta built around crops like peas and lentils.
San-J International brings Japanese flavor traditions into the modern kitchen with Tamari, Asian cooking sauces and other products designed to deliver distinctive profiles with practical commercial applications.
Aconcagua Foods adds another international dimension. The Chilean company produces and markets fruits, vegetables, legumes, sauces and other food products across more than 40 international markets.
Labor-Saving Foodservice Solutions
Perhaps the biggest issue facing today's operators is doing more with less complexity — and several companies on our calendar are built squarely around that.
Elevation Foods develops prepared-food solutions including sous vide potatoes, quiches, pot pies, deli salads, dips and spreads, emphasizing labor savings, consistency and the ability to scale recipes across operations.
Surlean Foods approaches the same challenge through custom food manufacturing for restaurant chains, with capabilities across proteins, sauces, soups and sides designed to improve consistency and reduce back-of-house complexity.
Creative Fine Foods operates across prepared foods, bakery, grab-and-go, dips, hummus, sides and private-label development, serving both retail and foodservice channels.
Foodservice Technology Goes Beyond the Kitchen
The evolution of foodservice isn't limited to what's on the plate. Conversations with MaintainIQ, Southern Barcode and ProTakeOut show how restaurant infrastructure is expanding into operational software, identification and tracking systems, and increasingly sophisticated takeout and packaging.
MaintainIQ, for example, provides digital food-safety tools, checklists, preventive-maintenance capabilities and restaurant operating systems designed to replace paper-based processes. ProTakeOut works another increasingly important side of the business — off-premise packaging — with takeout containers, cups, utensils and eco-oriented options for restaurants, caterers and foodservice businesses.
And Top Churn shows how equipment innovation can become menu innovation, developing commercial gelato and frozen-dessert equipment for restaurants, hotels, bakeries, cafés and other operators.
Better-for-You Continues to Reshape the Menu
Several companies on our schedule reflect the ongoing collision of indulgence and wellness.
- Tender Loving Cravings offers high-protein pudding positioned around low sugar and GLP-1-friendly eating.
- DEFI Snacks is entering the space through high-protein chocolate snacks, while Mortal Munchies focuses on single-ingredient dried fruit with no added sugar or artificial flavors.
- 3X3 Gluten-Free Kitchen Provisions runs a dedicated gluten-free bakery producing breads, baked goods and more.
- Love Struck adds convenience with pre-portioned frozen smoothie, shake and soup products built to be quickly blended or prepared.
That better-for-you momentum mirrors what we're seeing across the category — from the surging demand for protein and fiber to the way GLP-1, protein and fiber are reshaping menus.
From Products to Solutions
There's another reason events like ECRM Dallas matter: the very definition of a foodservice supplier is changing. The industry's most interesting companies aren't just selling an ingredient, a finished product or a piece of technology. Increasingly, they're selling a solution to an operator's problem.
- Can this product reduce prep?
- Can it deliver consistency across hundreds of locations?
- Can it create menu differentiation without operational headaches?
- Can it meet changing consumer expectations?
- Can it increase speed of service?
- Can it help a university, restaurant group, hotel, convenience operator or retailer create something customers can't easily make themselves?
Those are the conversations we expect to have in Dallas — and the ones we'll keep bringing to our readers.
Why It Matters
For restaurant operators, foodservice executives, campus and institutional buyers and procurement directors, ECRM Dallas is a preview of the products and partners about to land in your category reviews. The through-line across these 43 meetings is clear: labor savings, consistency, better-for-you positioning, global flavor and operational technology are converging into single solutions rather than standalone SKUs.
The practical takeaway? When you evaluate a new supplier, stop asking "what does this product do?" and start asking "which of my operator problems does it solve at once?" The brands worth a slot on your menu or shelf are the ones that reduce prep, hold consistency at scale, meet shifting dietary demand and differentiate the guest experience — often all in the same line item. Use lineups like this one to benchmark what's coming next and to build a shortlist before your competitors do.
We'll be listening for the innovations that solve real operator problems, the products capable of scaling beyond a single market, the emerging brands ready for broader distribution and the companies bringing genuinely new thinking to foodservice.
43 Meetings. Two Days. One View of What's Next.
Beginning Tuesday morning and running through Wednesday afternoon, Food & Beverage Magazine will move from emerging brands to established manufacturers, ingredients to finished products, traditional foods to plant-based innovation, and menu development to restaurant technology. The meetings may only be 10 or 20 minutes each — but the ideas behind them could influence menus, retail shelves and foodservice operations for years.
Food & Beverage Magazine will be reporting from ECRM Dallas September 27–30, with additional coverage of the companies, products and innovations shaping what's next across foodservice. For more on the emerging brands earning attention right now, see how Whole Foods picked 10 brands for its 2026 LEAP early-growth cohort.
Which foodservice trend are you watching most closely heading into 2026 — labor-saving prepared foods, better-for-you menus or restaurant tech? Drop your take in the comments and tell us which brands you'd want us to meet in Dallas.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine’s “Top 40 Under 40” for founding American Wholesale Floral. Politz is also the founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
