The Southeast's premier restaurant industry event returns to Orlando this October, and we're bringing waterproof, rip-proof menus built for the demands of Florida's high-volume, tourism-driven hospitality market. The Florida Restaurant Show brings together thousands of restaurant and foodservice professionals for three days of education, culinary demonstrations, and discovery. Stop by Booth 738 to see how TerraSlate delivers menus engineered to reduce replacement costs and perform in Florida's challenging environments — from coastal humidity to hurricane preparedness to million-visitor theme park operations.
Florida's Flagship Restaurant Industry Gathering
The Florida Restaurant Show takes place October 25-27, 2026 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando. Organized by Restaurant Events LLC in partnership with the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association, this three-day trade show is where Florida operators have access to the hottest menu trends, state-of-the-art design and decor, world-class business education, and hundreds of leading vendors and purveyors dedicated to serving the restaurant and foodservice community.
This is an industry-only event, not open to the general public. All attendees are qualified professionals — restaurant owners, executive chefs, general managers, foodservice directors, and hospitality operators from across Florida and the Southeast actively seeking solutions to grow and strengthen their operations. With an estimated 450-580 exhibitors showcasing innovations across food and beverage products, equipment, services, technology, and design, the show floor delivers unprecedented access to the full scope of hospitality-based products and solutions.
The education program features industry-leading content that is practical and relevant for today's foodservice professionals. Sessions cover effective business lessons, the latest information on trends, best practices in the current market, and perspectives on what drives success in Florida's competitive restaurant landscape. The Culinary Innovation Theater brings educational and entertaining presentations to life, featuring culinary demonstrations by renowned chefs from Disney properties and high-profile restaurants, exciting competitions including ACF-sanctioned events, and the co-located Pizza Tomorrow Summit celebrating the pizza market with dedicated programming.
Florida is home to approximately $107.3 billion in annual restaurant sales — third in the nation — with 48,354 eating and drinking establishments employing 1.1 million people. The state welcomed a record 143 million visitors in 2024, with Orlando ranking as the number one U.S. travel destination. But Florida operators face mounting challenges: food costs are up 6-15% or more for most operators, labor expenses continue climbing with minimum wage reaching $15 per hour in 2026, overall operating expenses are up roughly 30% since 2019, and hurricanes Helene and Milton caused over $100 billion in combined damages in 2024 alone. The Florida Restaurant Show exists to connect operators with solutions that actually work in Florida's demanding economic and environmental conditions.
Why TerraSlate Belongs in Every Florida Restaurant
That brings us to why we'll be at Booth 738. We understand the unique demands facing Florida restaurant operations — coastal restaurants dealing with salt air, humidity, and hurricane season, high-volume theme park district operations serving thousands daily, outdoor dining venues that operate year-round in Florida's heat and afternoon storms, and quick-service concepts operating on razor-thin margins where every cost matters.
Paper menus don't survive Florida's climate and high-volume operations. Laminated menus look good for a week, then they cloud, peel, bubble, and delaminate. In a state where operators are already managing 30% higher costs than five years ago and labor expenses continue climbing, constant menu replacement adds insult to injury. TerraSlate eliminates that cycle entirely.
Our menus are 100% waterproof and rip-proof — not coated, not laminated, but made from military grade polymers that embed durability directly into the material itself. There are no layers to separate, no seams to fail. Spill craft cocktails, Florida citrus-based cuisine, coastal seafood, or anything else on them, wipe them down with soap and water, and they look brand new. They can even be submerged without damage. For Florida restaurants dealing with coastal humidity, outdoor dining year-round, constant handling, and the relentless demands of high-volume tourist service, that durability isn't a luxury — it's a cost-saving necessity that delivers immediate ROI.
Here's what sets us apart from traditional lamination: our menus can be folded. Laminated menus cannot. That means bi-folds, tri-folds, and gate folds are all possible — giving you the menu format your operation needs, with protection that lasts years instead of weeks. No cracking, no peeling, no clouding from cleaning chemicals, and no fading under Florida's intense sun.
Every printed menu we produce ships with our proprietary TerraShield antimicrobial coating at no extra charge. This silver-based technology helps keep menus cleaner between uses — critical for high-touch items passed between hundreds or thousands of guests each day in busy Florida operations.
We also offer rigid menu boards — approximately a quarter-inch thick, self-supporting, and engineered for wind, rain, and direct sunlight. They're ideal for poolside dining, rooftop venues, beachfront patios, outdoor bars, and theme park district restaurants that define Florida dining culture. When hurricane season arrives, these boards stand up to weather that would destroy traditional materials.
With industry-leading turnaround times and free overnight shipping, updating your menu is fast and painless — whether you're a single location making seasonal changes or a multi-unit operator managing menus across Florida. Our products are fully recyclable via standard curbside bins, and our facility runs entirely on wind and solar energy — sustainability built into the product, not just the marketing.
Find Us at Booth 738
Whether you're running a coastal restaurant, a theme park district dining destination, an outdoor venue, a fast-casual concept, or a multi-unit operation across Florida, TerraSlate menus are built for the realities of operating in the Sunshine State — and built to help you reduce costs when every dollar counts.
Visit us at Booth 738 at the Florida Restaurant Show on October 25-27 to see and feel the difference for yourself. Grab a free sample, talk to our team, and find out why restaurants across Florida and 51 other regions worldwide have made the switch.
We'll see you in Orlando.
