The gala remains the industry’s version of the Academy Awards, with the top foodservice operators in eight categories saluted as their sector’s best (see below for the list of this year’s winners.) One of the eight will be named the best of the best: The winner of the 2025 Gold Plate Award, an honor synonymous with Operator of the Year.
It’s a recognition that’s been bestowed on the industry’s equivalents of Brando, Hepburn, Poitier, Clooney, and Streep—luminaries like Wolfgang Puck, Charlie Trotter, Rich Melman, Ruth Fertel, Danny Meyer, and Herman Cain.
The list doesn’t end there. Other winners include such luminaries as Joe Lee, who rose from GM of the first Red Lobster to become CEO of its parent company, Darden Restaurants, and John Miller, who as CEO repositioned Denny’s as America’s diner.
Ron Shaich, founder of both Panera Bread Co. and Au Bon Pain, is on the list, as is Phil Hickey, the former CEO of LongHorn Steakhouse and The Capital Grille parent Rare Hospitality and current chairman of Miller’s Ale House.
The Gold and Silver Plate Awards ceremony remains the poshest of the many festivities that are held during the industry’s biggest get-together, the National Restaurant Association Show, held every May in Chicago. Hosted in the stately Great Hall of Chicago’s Union Station, an architectural landmark, the awards ceremony is not a gathering to attend in sneakers and jeans.
But don’t expect the usual stuffy awards banquet. The event has been reinvented to remain top drawer, but in modern terms.
The menu is crafted to be as cutting edge as what attendees might find on exhibit in McCormick Place during the convention. Plus, the presentation is customized to facilitate interaction at the tables, affording another opportunity for operators and manufacturers to network in the sort of relaxed setting that fosters relationships.
The whole event is engineered with attendees’ time pressures in mind. Service isn’t rushed, but the pacing averts the need for attendees to anxiously sneak peeks at their watches. The first glasses of Champagne are poured precisely at the 5:30 kick-off of the cocktail party, and dinner is paced to conclude the sit-down meal and awards presentations by 9 p.m.
Guests who’d like to stay longer and personally congratulate the award winners are invited to participate in a post-ceremony dessert and cordials wrap-up.
The focal point of the event remains the recognition of the eight superstar operators named as this year’s Silver Plate winners and the announcement of who was chosen via secret ballot as winner of this year’s Gold Plate winner.
The winners are not the only industry celebrities participating in this year’s gathering. Each of the eight honorees will be accompanied to the dais by their mentors—often past Plate winners, like Mike Hislop, the former Il Fornaio CEO and Chevys chief, who’ll introduce WingStop’s Michael Skipworth, and Roz Mallet, the Buffalo Wild Wings franchisee who’ll highlight the career of Richard Schneider, Chief Development Officer of travel-center concessionaire Areas USA.
Dave Goebel, chairman of Jack in the Box and a past CEO of Applebee’s, will introduce Kevin Hochman, CEO of Chili’s parent Brinker International.
The mentors explain why their proteges are deserving of a Silver Plate, without the reserve that modesty often foists on the winners themselves. They’ve also been known to share anecdotes about the winners that even their families or closest friends might not know.
The Gold Plate winner is revealed with all the suspense of the Best Picture announcement at the Academy Awards. The news typically becomes the talk of the weekend.
This year’s awards ceremony will provide attendees with another brush with greatness: The presentation of the Legends Award, the National Restaurant Association’s recognition of an industry icon. This year’s winner is Ted Fowler, who took the reins of Golden Corral from co-founder James Maynard and built it into one of the greatest restaurant successes ever.
Fowler, who won the Gold Plate in 2003, is one of only three executives ever to serve as CEO of Golden Corral. Maynard was the first. He won a Silver Plate in 1987.
The third CEO, who’s currently in the job, is Lance Trenary, the 2022 Gold Plate winner and the host of this year’s awards event.
For more information on about attending the gala, click here.
As Managing Editor for IFMA The Food Away from Home Association, Romeo is responsible for generating the group's news and feature content. He brings more than 40 years of experience in covering restaurants to the position.