Taste Events / Tong Talks / It’s Not Speed Dating | Ethan Kjesbo & Cass Burson

About this episode

Ethan Kjesbo and Cass Burson discuss their innovative approach to B2B food service events and the trends in the industry.

I've known Ethan and Cass for a while now, and every time I'm around them I walk away thinking the same thing — these guys just get it. Not just the event business, but the people side of this industry. That's what Taste Events is built on. They co-founded a curated B2B food service event company that takes everything broken about the trade show model and fixes it. We're talking 150–200 people, chain operators and suppliers who actually belong in the room together, and one-on-one meetings built around an intelligence dossier pulled from real conversations — not a generic booth pitch. The whole thing is designed so that when you sit down, it matters. We talked about how they built it, what made them realize "anti-trade show" was the wrong framing, and how they're keeping events fresh without losing what makes them special. We also got into NRA — what's trending on the floor (clean label is in, meat analogs are fading), how they work the show, and what actually gets done at Portillo's at midnight. Oh, and somewhere in there Ethan ate sardines on the show floor to start a conversation. Worked like a charm. He also runs a tin fish review account on TikTok called Tinnies with the…

People in this episode

Host: Jeff Fell

Guests: Ethan Kjesbo, Cass Burson

Topics covered

• event business
• food service
• trade shows
• B2B events
• industry trends

Keywords

• Taste Events
• food service
• trade show model
• B2B events
• industry trends
• NRA
• clean label
• meat analogs

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Taste Events, Portillo's, Tinnies with the Boys, NRA

Products: Nutter Butter

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