Where and when is the MenuMasters Event?
The MenuMasters event is held at the Drake Hotel in Chicago each spring, visit our Event Information page for more information.

Who is eligible to receive a MenuMasters Award?
Those individuals and companies that achieve the most innovative and successful new menu items in the past year, as judged by the MenuMasters Advisory Board and NRN Editorial Staff. Visit our Award Nominations Page for additional details.

How are recipients nominated?
Nominations come from the foodservice operator community, Nation's Restaurant News' editorial committee and the MenuMasters advisory board - comprised of the previous winners.

What is the Crystal Flame Award?
Each MenuMasters award winner receives the Flame Of Innovation Award during the ceremony. Ventura Foods chose the flame shape to represent the strong, intense desire that burns in the hearts and minds of the creative individuals who are honored as MenuMasters.

Who can attend the MenuMasters Awards Ceremony?
The MenuMasters event is by invitation only and you must be a foodservice operator to attend. A foodservice operator is defined by NRN as a person who is directly employed by a chain restaurant and/or corporate chef/menu development executive.

I am a foodservice operator or menu development executive. How can I be invited?
Submit your name, title, company, address, phone, fax and e-mail information to NRN. Admittance to this event is subject to written confirmation to you by Nation's Restaurant News. Click here to submit your name.

Who should I contact for more information about the MenuMasters Awards nominations process?
Please contact Monique Monaco, Event Program Manager, Nation's Restaurant News at mmonaco@nrn.com or 813-627-6988. To submit a nomination online, please click here.

What are the roles of Nation's Restaurant News and Ventura Foods?
Nation's Restaurant News is the newsweekly foodservice publication that produces and manages the MenuMasters Awards program. Ventura Foods has a growing commitment to supporting and recognizing the efforts of foodservice research & development executives through their sponsorship of the MenuMasters Awards program. Together, Nation's Restaurant News and Ventura Foods have worked to develop the value of MenuMasters to the foodservice operator community through the annual MenuMasters Awards ceremony as well as other MenuMasters activities and promotions throughout the year.

Who is Guy Buffet?
Guy Buffet is a world-renowned artist and culinarian whose specialty is restaurant/chef scenes. Each year the sponsor of MenuMasters, Ventura Foods, commissions Guy Buffet to create a piece of original, limited edition artwork for the sole purpose of the MenuMasters event. This artwork is reproduced in a limited quantity and given to event attendees as a gift during the MenuMasters event.