TORONTO — The foodservice and hospitality industry’s top performers received kudos last week, as Kostuch Media heralded another year of sales success at its annual Top 100/Top 50 breakfast, where the publishing company, which produces Foodservice and Hospitality and Hotelier magazines, also highlighted environmental successes.

Toronto’s Westin Prince played host to the event that saw Tim Hortons awarded for Top Performing Company on F&H’s annual Top 100 Report with sales of $6.05 billion; the coffee giant also won the greatest dollar increase with an $876-million jump year-over-year. Meanwhile, Vancouver’s Browns Socialhouse, a small growing chain, earned the accolade for greatest percentage increase, posting a 64.8-per-cent jump year-over-year. “I can’t wait to come back again and celebrate something else on the list,” said Scott Morison, founder of the chain, upon accepting the award.

On the hospitality side, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts earned the top spot on Hotelier’s Top 50 Report, with estimated sales of $4 billion; Marriott earned the award for greatest dollar increase, with a $35.9 million jump year-over-year; and O’Neill Hotels & Resorts earned accolades for greatest percentage increase with a 52-per-cent bump, year-over-year.

Before the numbers were announced, Darren Tristano, executive vice-president of Chicago’s Technomic, and partner on the Top 100 Report, presented an industry analysis, where it was noted that the fast-casual market, which realized a 9.5-per-cent jump year-over-year, is posed to be “a clear winner” in the industry, which is expected to experience a “mixed bag” of success this year. Similarly, Rosanna Caira, editor and publisher of Kostuch Media, recalled the past year in the hotel industry, which performed under expectations and should see moderate gains in 2012.

Additionally, the Local Food Champion award was handed out in partnership with the Broader Public Sector Investment Fund, with Anne Marie Males, VP of Patient Experience at Ontario’s Scarborough Hospital taking the honour. “It’s a little bit sad that the idea that someone wanted to offer fresh, local food in a hospital was so revolutionary,” she began, upon accepting the award. “I’ve got a lot of work to do, but thank you for your support.”

The second half of the celebratory event featured a Green Summit panel discussion, which acted as a follow-up to the Green Leadership Awards handed out earlier in the day to Delta Hotels and Resorts and Western Canada’s Rocky Mountain Flatbread Co.

The panel discussion, moderated by Caira, touched on a range of green topics, from innovation to the changing definition of greening to sustainability to the financial cost of running an environmentally conscious business, but the focus rested on the challenges in the field. “As hard as we try, we’re not big enough to affect change,” said Jay Gould, president and CEO of NYF and South St. Burger Co., in reference to the need to reduce waste through green packaging that the supply chain needs to create. “We need big players to step up to affect supply,” added Bruce McAdams, assistant professor at the University of Guelph. “Customer demand will pull everything through the chain.”

Whatever the future brings, environmental stewardship is taking on a bigger role in everyday business dealings. “As you start to get into this more and more you realize how big it is in terms of impacting all areas and quadrants of the business,” said Paul Gardian, executive director of Brand Operations for Delta Hotels and Resorts.

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