There is nothing like watching a plan come together. Whether it’s completing a winning restaurant design, creating an innovative new menu, pulling off a successful event or finishing an ambitious team project, there is no greater sense of accomplishment than that of seeing an idea through to completion.
This is especially true when the effort requires a group of people to work cooperatively on a shared vision.
And that is why I would like to take a moment to thank and congratulate our great team at Zoomba Group on this magazine, restaurant development + design, being recognized as a finalist for Magazine of the Year in the 2017 Azbee Awards from the American Society of Business Publication Editors (ASBPE). Editor in Chief Rebecca Kilbreath and Art Director Anne LoCascio will head to Florida later this month to attend education sessions and learn our fate regarding the top prize, but I have to tell you that we feel like winners already. rd+d was the first new restaurant magazine to launch in over a decade when we started in 2012, and now, in just our fifth year, we are thrilled to be recognized by ASBPE with the other finalists in our category.
We’re also thrilled to share our own event with you. On June 12 in Chicago, we will be hosting our second annual Tour the Design Trends, offering a behind-the-scenes look at some of the city’s cutting-edge food venues. Learn more about this fun and informative event at tourthedesigntrends.com. The response has been terrific both from the consultants, designers and architects wanting to attend and from the operators willing to graciously host us in their trending concepts. We look forward to a wonderful gathering with friends both old and new. A handful of the folks attending were with us last year, but we gave preferential consideration to those who are joining us for the first time. So, we expect many new faces among the crowd. Naturally, all of the locations will be new to us this year.
For those who can’t attend, we will cover the event on social media, at rddmag.com and in the pages of rd+d to make you feel as if you were there.