If you are deciding whether to bring cooking equipment to Orlando, the Florida Restaurant Show deserves a look. Its restaurant focus can put your demonstration in the right context. This guide explains the audience, the 2026 event and the conditions that could change what you can show.
The show behind the old name
The Florida Restaurant & Lodging Show is now the Florida Restaurant Show. Restaurant Events announced the rebrand in March 2024. Use the current name when discussing the event with your team, while keeping the old name in view when checking earlier records. Organizer’s rebranding announcement.
Restaurant Events, LLC runs the show, and the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association sponsors it. That distinction matters when you need a booth booking or an operational answer: start with the show’s team. Organizer identity, show sponsor.
The old reference to lodging should not lead your equipment presentation toward hotel guest rooms. The current event centers on restaurants and foodservice. A hotel kitchen may be relevant to you; a hotel bedroom purchasing brief is a different conversation.
Florida Restaurant Show dates and location
The next edition is scheduled for October 25–27, 2026, at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, alongside The Pizza Tomorrow Summit. These are future event dates, checked on September 7, 2026. Official event website.
The show information page identifies North Hall B, Level 1 of the North/South Complex. It lists opening hours of 10 a.m.–4 p.m. on Sunday and Monday, and 10 a.m.–2:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Those are show hours; obtain your equipment delivery and installation times separately. Show information.
The three days combine exhibits with operator education and culinary activity. The September 1 program announcement includes recipe costing and workforce topics, plus American Culinary Federation competitions in the Sunshine Plate Challenge Arena. Your equipment will therefore sit within a wider discussion about running a kitchen, rather than a hall devoted solely to machinery. 2026 program announcement.
For your demonstration, choose a cooking task an operator can recognize. A short sequence showing how a dish moves through the machine gives that visitor something concrete to question. A tasting alone leaves the equipment’s contribution harder to judge.
Does the audience match your equipment?
This is an industry-only event, closed to the general public. Food and beverage suppliers share the exhibition with equipment and technology businesses. For your team, that means a restaurant sourcing environment with several competing priorities for each visitor’s time. Event scope.
The organizer lists restaurant owners, managers and chefs among its audience, with equipment among the products they source. Its exhibitor material positions the event around the Southeast U.S. restaurant and foodservice market. This supports considering the show for equipment used in commercial kitchens; it does not establish demand for your particular model. Exhibitor information.
An operator may need to see whether the unit fits an existing kitchen before discussing a replacement. Give that conversation a place in your display: keep the machine’s dimensions accessible and be ready to explain installation needs. If a performance claim depends on a particular recipe or load, show those conditions beside the result.
The shared venue with The Pizza Tomorrow Summit is especially relevant when your equipment has a clear pizza-kitchen use. It is a reason to investigate the combined floor plan, not a reason to claim that every restaurant visitor wants pizza equipment. For a machine serving several cooking styles, select the demonstration that best matches the operators you want to meet.
A cooking demonstration needs its own approval
The culinary stages make this an appealing setting for working equipment, but their presence does not authorize cooking in your booth. OCCC’s cooking form requires advance Fire Marshal approval and calls for four feet of separation or a barrier between visitors and a cooking or heat-producing appliance. OCCC cooking form.
Work that separation into the proposed booth before choosing its size. Send the appliance details and intended cooking activity to the show’s operations team, and have them confirm the applicable submission process. A countertop unit can occupy little floor space while still needing room for the person operating it and visitors watching it.
Serving the cooked food introduces a separate question. OCCC requires advance arrangements with its food service partners for exhibitor food distribution. An equipment business should not assume it qualifies to hand out food simply because the food comes out of its machine. OCCC exhibitor conditions.
Ask about cooking and sampling separately. If approval or the necessary services cannot be secured, decide whether a static unit and recorded demonstration still explain the product convincingly. That is a reason to change the display or reconsider exhibiting, rather than promise a live demonstration you cannot deliver.
Price the display you intend to operate
The published booth offer excludes electricity and furniture, and warns that material handling charges may apply. Booth space alone is therefore not a usable demonstration budget. Booth booking information.
For the machine you intend to bring, request the cost and availability of the actual services it needs. Confirm any water connection or overnight power before building the demonstration around it. The show’s contact page separates sales from operations, so direct appliance and installation questions to the operational contact. Official contacts.
FAQ
Where can I check the exhibitor list and floor plan?
The show’s exhibitor page links to its 2026 floor plan. If that link fails, ask show sales for the current map and available spaces. Use the exhibitor list to see who is exhibiting; it is not a list of attending buyers. Exhibitor page and floor-plan access.
Does show admission include every workshop?
No. The current program distinguishes general show education from the Restaurant Management 201 and 301 workshops, which require separate registration. If a colleague will attend a workshop, account for that absence when staffing your equipment display. 2026 education program.
Will everyone at the show be a purchasing decision-maker?
No. The admission policy also accommodates accompanied children and supervised culinary students. Ask visitors about their role in choosing kitchen equipment before treating a demonstration as a sales opportunity. Admission policy.
Before you reserve space
Choose the equipment and the cooking task you would show, then ask operations whether that demonstration can run in the proposed space. A workable answer gives you a basis for the booth inquiry. If the machine’s main benefit cannot be shown under the permitted conditions, resolve that before committing to the exhibit.
