Here’s What Last Night’s James Beard Awards Might Be Telling Us About Events
An observational walk-through of experience design, service, storytelling, and hospitality—through the eyes of a curious event mind
Last night at Chicago’s Lyric Opera, the James Beard Awards delivered more than medals—they offered a masterclass in cultural influence, emotional storytelling, and sensory design. While many of the elements highlighted here may not be the central focus of most conferences or trade shows, each one—when considered with care—can elevate the overall experience of a gathering.
Back when I was leading BizBash, I had the honor of helping my friend Capricia Marshall—then the U.S. Chief of Protocol—develop a bold collaboration between the U.S. State Department and the James Beard Foundation. Together, we launched the American Culinary Corps, a program that recruited America’s top chefs to serve as diplomatic ambassadors around the world.
The premise was simple and profound: chefs are not just culinary figures—they are collaboration artists, soft power operatives, and architects of experience.
And that same spirit was on display last night. Each James Beard Award winner offered more than food—they offered a philosophy of gathering. One we in the event industry should be paying attention to.
Here’s what we can—and must—learn from this year’s winners.
Hospitality as Multi-Sensory Theatre (Atomix, NYC – Outstanding Hospitality)
Atomix isn’t your traditional fine-dining room—it’s a choreographed performance. Every timing cue, gesture, and table sequence builds a narrative rhythm. They don’t just ask guests, “How is everything?”—they anticipate responses.
Event Insight: Rethink your flow charts as scripts. Host arrivals, transitions, and even coat-check should be rehearsed, intentional, and emotion-led. Hospitality isn’t reactive—it’s proactive storytelling.
Drinks That Speak (Birdie’s, Austin – Outstanding Beverage Professional)
Birdie's in Austin, led by Arjav Ezekiel, turned wine service into a storytelling platform. As Axios notes, they’re reshaping Austin from a "cocktail city" into a rising wine destination. Their counter-service format—minimal staff, communal energy, staff who know every guest—redefines intimacy and trust.
Event Insight: Turn your beverage program into a narrative arc. Host wine “curator chats” or bartender-led sessions where drinks have backstories—vintage relevance, regional lore, personal chef anecdotes. Make the bar as compelling as the stage.
Chef-Driven Cultural Immersion (Causa & Amazonia – Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic; Mawn – Emerging Chef)
Causa & Amazonia in D.C. by Carlos Delgado brings a counter-style tasting experience centered around Peruvian heritage. In Philly, Phila Lorn at Mawn showcases Cambodian roots with fierce authenticity.
Event Insight: Hire a chef to be more than a line cook—make them part of your presentation. Design tasting stations where the chef shares dish origins, sourcing stories, or demos. Think of it as cultural immersion instead of catering.
Plant-Based as Star Attraction (Joe Yonan – Mastering the Art of Plant-Based Cooking)
Joe Yonan won for his book celebrating vegetables with depth and elegance. This isn’t about dietary boxes—it’s about flavor-forward intention.
Event Insight: Give plant-based dishes primetime placement on your menu. Offer a "chef’s veggie tasting" as a highlight. Let them compete for attention—even bragging rights.
Venue as Character (Frasca, Boulder – Outstanding Restaurant; Bûcheron, Minneapolis – Best New Restaurant)
Frasca and Bûcheron didn’t win because of high design—they won because they made unexpected feel inevitable. In both cases, the venue wasn’t obvious: Frasca tucked away in Boulder; Bûcheron rising in a quieter corner of Minneapolis. Neither relied on flash. They relied on intention—from pacing to service choreography to space that invited conversation.
Event Insight: Don’t just book a venue that fits your theme. Book one that challenges it. Host your luxury gathering in a restored gas station. Stage your innovation summit inside a greenhouse. Serve your investor dinner on the mezzanine of a vintage boxing gym. Let contrast create curiosity. Let story shape the space—not the other way around.Purpose-Centered Menus (Café Momentum – Humanitarian of the Year; Rep. Angie Craig – Leadership Award; Chad Houser – Impact Award)
Café Momentum, under Chad Houser, trains justice-involved youth through fine dining. Rep. Angie Craig was honored for food equity leadership.
Event Insight: Use your F&B program to amplify your mission. Design menu items tied to causes—proceeds donated, local sourcing, youth training initiatives. Guests don’t just dine—they feel part of something bigger.
Media-Ready Moments Everywhere
Let’s be clear—these insights aren’t one-size-fits-all formulas. Not every event needs a wine-paired tasting or chef storytelling moment. But what these Beard Award winners do is offer creative provocations—invitations to rethink how we frame food, hospitality, and experience design.
The goal isn’t replication—it’s reflection. These are cues for your intellectual capital as an event thinker, not a how-to manual. The eventlandia is evolving, and the smartest operators are learning from every adjacent field they can. So let this be a menu of possibilities, not a checklist.
Winners created visuals worthy of press and social media—from dramatic plating to chef-led performance.
Event Insight: Design at least three “photo bait” moments per event—wow moments with visual contrast, action, or storytelling. Think a flambé station, a wine-art pairing, or a playful handwritten menu reveal.
Final Course
The Beard Awards offered more than recognition. They served a tasting menu of how to reimagine connection, curation, and cultural relevance. In a time when AI can automate nearly everything, taste and presence are becoming the ultimate differentiators.
Let the chefs lead the way. Then let us do what we do best: serve up unforgettable experiences.
Thanks, David, for starting this Substack with the premise of "curiosity." It has saddened me for years that curiosity is not a valued trait or skill.* Curiosity is the "tell me more" and "yes, and" improvisation experiences -- and too often, asking questions for clarification, application, and moving a conversation or idea beyond nodding-in-agreement and on to the next topic without questioning, is not appreciated. Evidently we who question "slow the process". (Yes, I can cite so many examples that by not asking questions at the start, mistakes are made and then it's necessary to start all over.)
Standardized testing, including for those in hospitality, the Certified Meeting Professional - CMP - when there is only one correct answer - leads to a lesser ability to consider the impact of on-the-spot change. Although I understand (because I never sat for the exam) that the CMP does allow challenges to the questions and that there is now an essay section, it does not help expand that trait into a skill.*
I think you and I had this conversation some years ago at an industry meeting, where we bemoaned the lack of curiosity and questioning. What do you think will now be able to help people in any profession and for those of us in hospitality question all that has been to become what can be?
*Google AI: "Curiosity is generally considered a personality trait rather than a skill, though it can be developed and enhanced through practice. While skills are learned abilities to perform specific tasks, traits are inherent characteristics or tendencies. Curiosity motivates the pursuit of knowledge and exploration, which can then be applied to develop skills. "