Restaurateur Robert St. John sees AI surge at NRA show; hosts Mississippi supper in Chicago

Robert St. John told Magnolia Tribune that he watched the National Restaurant Association show in Chicago evolve from handwritten guest checks to a floor dominated by artificial intelligence this year.

“The restaurant show is what Disney World is to a 10-year-old,” St. John wrote, saying he has attended the show for nearly 40 years and about 30 visits. He described early point-of-sale computers as “big clunky things” and said the technology section of the show has grown to rival what the entire event once was.

St. John said vendors promoted AI across booths for ordering, scheduling and inventory, and even an automated phone agent. He wrote he was both worried and intrigued, adding, “a machine doesn’t know your people. It doesn’t know your town,” and suggesting some systems could run restaurants more efficiently than humans in certain tasks.

He also wrote that his son, Harrison, accompanied him to the show. Harrison is in what St. John described as an eight-year apprenticeship — college, culinary school and at least two years working away from his father — and is currently working in Chicago with the Boka Restaurant Group, which St. John noted was founded by Kevin Boehm and Rob Katz and now operates more than 40 restaurants.

St. John said the meal he will remember from the trip was a sold-out Sunday Southern supper at Dove’s Luncheonette, a One Off Hospitality concept in Chicago, where chef Thomas Hollenshead — who grew up in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, like St. John — joined him for the service. Magnolia Tribune published St. John’s account and included a recipe for pork ribs with polenta alongside his column.

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