Leading Minds in Restaurant Business to Assemble at Restaurant Hospitality's New Directions Conference

CLEVELAND, May 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Taking place October 24-26, 2010 at the Trump International Hotel & Tower® in Chicago, New Directions will present nearly two-dozen speakers who boldly took their restaurants in new directions in the last year. They'll discuss what moves they made and how it repositioned their companies for further success.

"In any economy, particularly a bad one, you can't afford to sit on your hands and do nothing," says Restaurant Hospitality Editor-in-Chief Michael Sanson. "These are scary times, and the bold and the brave are the ones who will drive success."

The magazine has assembled some of the best minds in the business, and they will not only discuss the new directions they took, they will explain how others in the business can do the same. Some of those scheduled to speak include:

• Rich Melman, the genius behind Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises
• Rick Bayless, the chef/owner of the legendary Frontera Grill in Chicago and the soon to open Red O in L.A. Bayless is last year's winner of Top Chef Masters
• Drew Nieporent, the head of New York City's Myriad Restaurant Group
• Lane Cardwell, a 30-year restaurant industry veteran called in to turn Boston Market around
• Robert DelGrande, the chef/owner of Houston's famed Cafe Annie, which he closed and reopened as three different restaurant concepts
• Paul Bartolotta, one of America's greatest Italian chefs, who built a small restaurant empire in Milwaukee and now runs the acclaimed Bartolotta Ristorante Di Mare at Wynn Las Vegas
• Phil Costner, the top dog at Le Madeleine, whose recent changes at the 60-unit bakery concept have shown impressive results
• Paul Kahan, the culinary genius and James Beard Award winner behind the higher-end Blackbird, Avec and Publican in Chicago. His newest, is the more casual taqueria, Big Star
• Jose Garces, the newest Iron Chef and the man behind a growing empire of restaurants in Philadelphia

Also scheduled at New Directions is the Richard Melman Award ceremony. This year's recipient is Jose Andres, the chef who is credited with putting Spanish-style tapas on America's culinary map.

For more details, please contact conference director, Lauren Carroll at 216-931-9714 / [email protected] or visit www.newdirectionsconference.com.

SOURCE Penton Media, Inc.