TORONTO — , the celebrated culinary event spotlighting women in the food and beverage industry, will make its Ontario debut on Monday, March 9, 2026 at RC Show 2026, taking place at The International Centre in Mississauga. Presented by as part of uo;s Women in Hospitality programming, the evening will feature more than 15 tasting stations led by women chefs, restaurateurs, and their culinary mentees, alongside beverage pairings from women winemakers, brewers, bartenders, and more.

Yes Shef will arrive in Ontario’s Greater Toronto Area following five successful years in British Columbia, where the event has become a standout platform for elevating and advancing women in hospitality. This signature, one-night experience will bring together established culinary leaders and rising talent for an evening of exceptional food, meaningful networking, and community building - all in support of advancing women in Canada’s culinary sector.

“WORTH Association is thrilled to bring Yes Shef to the Greater Toronto Area in 2026. Toronto’s food and beverage scene is among the most dynamic in the country, and women are at the forefront of its growth and innovation,” says Joanna Jagger, Founder & Executive Director of WORTH Association, the organization behind Yes Shef. “We are honoured to partner with Restaurants Canada to advance equity and create meaningful change across the sector.”

At the heart of Yes Shef is mentorship. At the Mississauga debut event, 15 chefs will be paired with emerging women culinary students, creating hands-on opportunities to foster the next generation of talent. All event proceeds support women working in recreation, tourism & hospitality.

The Yes Shef 2026 roster will include:

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EVENT DETAILS:
RC Show 2026
Location: The International Centre, 6900 Airport Rd, Mississauga, ON L4V 1E8
Date: Monday, March 9th, 2026
Time: 5:00 p.m.

TICKETS:
Tickets available now at $220 and can be purchased online at
Registered RC Show attendees can access a preferred rate by adding Yes Shef to their existing show registration.

PARTNERSHIPS:
Opportunities are still available. Explore exclusive access and benefits online at .

According to an October 2025 Article by on Canada’s most diverse food cities and provinces, Vancouver leads the list, with the highest diversity share and per-capita access to international restaurants. The article examined Canada’s 30 most populous cities, focusing on how many restaurants serve international food, and how easy that food is to access.

• No.1 City: Vancouver leads the top 10, offering an impressive array of global cuisines which reflect the unique migratory history of the region.
• The article explores TripAdvisor data, focusing on 47 distinct international and regional cuisines.
• Some large cities, like Toronto and Calgary, rank lower than expected due to their vast total restaurant counts diluting diversity percentages.

To determine the diversity of these cities, the research evaluated restaurant listings on Tripadvisor. The total number of restaurants is compared to 47 distinct international and regional cuisines, calculating each city’s Diverse Share (percentage of total restaurants offering international cuisines) and Diverse Restaurants per 1,000 residents. Scaling and combining these factors produced the final diversity scores.

1. Vancouver

Number of Restaurants: 2,446

Diverse Restaurants: 1,161

Diverse Share: 47.47%

Final Score: 100/100

Vancouver, showing one of Canada’s highest restaurant densities per capita, offers an impressive array of global cuisines within its relatively small city boundaries. This makes the wide variety of international dining options readily accessible by foot or public transit. Living costs may also play a role. Higher incomes and areas catering to tourists may drive a broader range of global dining options.

2. Vaughan

Vaughan makes a surprising second-place appearance, showing that smaller cities can rival major metros in global dining variety. It is a smaller city, but Vaughan is celebrated for its multicultural population. More than 217 ethnic or cultural groups are represented in the city, and its food scene represents this diversity well, with 339 diverse restaurants.

3. Montreal

Montreal’s high food diversity score reflects both its layered immigrant history and its unique cultural positioning as a French-speaking city in North America. Long-established communities from Haiti, Lebanon, Vietnam, and North Africa are among those that have shaped the city’s culinary landscape over decades. As a result, Montreal scores high in both raw diversity (over 2K unique restaurants) and per-capita restaurant accessibility, with 36.1% diverse share.

4. Richmond Hill

Chinese dim sum, Persian kebabs, South Asian curries, and Mediterranean mezze make Richmond Hill a culinary destination in the Greater Toronto Area (which itself is one of the most multicultural cities in the world). Richmond Hill proves that some of Canada’s most diverse culinary hubs are in suburban communities, with 178 diverse restaurants, making up 40.2% of all local food scene.

5. Markham

Known for its large Chinese and South Asian communities, Markham’s food scene is rich in authentic, specialized offerings, from hand-pulled noodles to regional Indian thalis. Similar to Richmond, Markham is a suburban community that offers a diverse culinary scene.

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The visions that emerged at Host 2025 align with global trends that are reshaping professional hospitality. A path in which Host Milano once again confirms its role as an innovation hub.

The vibrancy of exchanges and the quality of content at Host 2025, which concluded at Fiera Milano on 21 October, speak of a sector in transformation. Technologies, creativity and education converged within a platform rich in connections, moving toward innovative materials and increasingly smart uses of digital technologies, combined with experiential formats and an emotional, almost vintage, design approach.

This high rate of innovation also enhanced the exhibition’s increasingly international dimension, with operators and exhibitors from all over the world. Among the most represented countries in terms of companies were Germany, Spain, France, the United States, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, while strong participation from around 75 countries brought significant attendance from the Americas (35%), the Middle East and Africa (28%), Asia and Oceania (14%), and Europe and CIS countries (24%). Great attention was also drawn to the bakery world, highlighted by the renewed MIPPP focus.

Global Data and Market Signals: A Strengthening Dialogue

The trends observed at Host 2025 reflect broader market movements, confirming Host Milano as the platform that outlines the future of the sector in advance. It is a global context in expansion, resilient despite economic fluctuations. According to Future Market Insights (FMI), the food equipment market today is worth around USD 46 billion and could reach USD 73 billion by 2035, with a CAGR of 6.2%. This trajectory is supported by digitalization, IoT integration and a growing need to reduce consumption.

The bakery world is also on a positive trajectory: FMI estimates that equipment for baking and pastry will reach approximately USD 12.9 billion in 2025, with a forecasted growth to USD 23.1 billion by 2035, driven by demand for productivity and automation. In the coffee segment, the same analyst values the food-service coffee market at USD 468.9 million in 2025, with an anticipated annual growth rate of 4% until 2035, sustained by the expansion of cafés and coffee shops and the evolution of the espresso experience.

Towards Host 2027: Hospitality Accelerates with Global Scenarios and New Routes

The insights that emerged from the latest edition mark the beginning of the path toward Host 2027. At a time when innovation, sustainability and new consumption models are redefining professional hospitality, the journey expands on a global scale. The next appointment is Host Arabia, in Riyadh from 15 to 17 December, which will bring the Host Milano ecosystem into a rapidly growing market. In the medium term, the horizon points to North America through cooperation with NAFEM – North American Association of Food Equipment Manufacturers, which starting in 2027 will connect Host Milano with The NAFEM Show, creating a joint pathway between Europe and the United States to highlight corporate innovation and generate new opportunities for meetings with qualified buyers.

These trajectories consolidate Host Milano’s role as a hub where skills, technologies and visions intersect to anticipate the languages of hospitality. The next edition will take place at Fiera Milano from 22 to 26 October 2027.

[LOUISVILLE, KY.––December 30, 2025]––Agentic Hospitality, the AI-native platform built to help hotels thrive as travel discovery shifts to natural language and autonomous agents, announced today that David Wiley has been named Vice President of Sales. Wiley will lead early-stage customer engagement and growth, helping hoteliers understand why AI infrastructure has become essential and how Agentic Hospitality is purpose-built to restore hotel independence in the next era of distribution.

Wiley brings 25 years of sales and leadership experience to the role, including more than two decades in hospitality where he built a reputation for strategic relationship development, consultative selling, and high-performance leadership. Wiley spent formative years at Disney, where he began in an entry level role in 2010 and by 2017, he served as Sales Director overseeing business development, marketing, and operational leadership in California. Most recently, Wiley served as an Account Executive at Microsoft, where he managed strategic travel and leisure accounts and deepened his expertise in enterprise-scale technology transformation.

“The hotel technology landscape is constantly shifting,” said Brad Brewer, founder and chief AI officer of Agentic Hospitality. “Therefore, we needed to build a team that positions the right people in front of the right conversations. Dave knows hospitality. He knows enterprise-level transformation, and he knows how to take the complex issues of visibility, distribution, and profitability and make them actionable for hotel leadership. That’s why he’s such an important addition to this team. More importantly, Dave understands hospitality from the inside and can translate what’s happening into clear, urgent action for owners, operators, and management teams.”

A Defining Shift for Hotel Distribution

In a recent HOTELS magazine cover feature, Brewer described an industry-wide turning point: “Booking is rapidly moving from traditional websites and apps to natural-language discovery where travelers ask AI assistants to recommend and book travel in one seamless flow.” The article warned that results in AI-driven discovery are not neutral; visibility increasingly comes from the data pipelines and partnerships of whoever integrated first, which historically has meant the biggest players with the deepest pockets.

Agentic Hospitality was created to change that outcome by delivering AI-native infrastructure that connects hotels directly to the natural language ecosystem without forcing them into the same dependency cycle that defined the OTA era.

“My job is to be the first impression for every hotelier who’s curious about Agentic Hotel Distribution and who are ready to learn what’s actually happening in the market,” Wiley said. “AI is changing how guests discover hotels, how bookings happen, and how loyalty is earned. If hotels don’t build the right infrastructure now, they’ll be invisible where decisions are being made. I dropped everything I was doing to join Agentic Hospitality because I believe this is the fight hoteliers have to win and I want to be in it with them.”

A Kissimmee, FL., native, Wiley brings a hospitality-first mindset shaped by decades in the industry and a personal belief that hoteliers are in an underdog moment that demands bold leadership.

“I’m a big fan of the underdog,” Wiley added. “That’s exactly where hoteliers are right now. The difference is we can flip the script for good. Agentic Hospitality is the partner you start with and grow with. You don’t have to stitch together multiple vendors, and you don’t have to switch platforms later. We have a full suite built to grow with your need.”

In this role, Wiley said he will lead first impression interactions with prospective partners, qualifying interest, identifying the decision-making team, and guiding stakeholders toward demonstrations with Agentic Hospitality’s leadership and product teams.

“My responsibility is to open our customers’ eyes to what’s changing and what they need to move on immediately,” Wiley said. “I bring executive relationship building, active listening, anticipation of needs, and the ability to tell a great story because this isn’t just a product conversation. It’s a survival conversation.”

The No. 1 AI Tech Investment Hoteliers Can Make in 2026

As AI becomes the dominant interface for travel discovery and purchase, the most critical investment for hotels is no longer a single tool or feature; it’s the infrastructure layer that makes hotels readable, recommendable, and bookable inside AI-driven experiences.

Agentic Hospitality is building the underlying infrastructure that connects hotel data and content to search engines and AI platforms. The company’s approach is designed to help hotels avoid being buried under intermediaries by enabling direct, structured, AI-ready discovery so hotels can be found, understood, and booked without surrendering control.

“The next decade of hotel distribution will be defined by who controls the pipelines of discovery,” Brewer said. “Hotels shouldn’t have to pay perpetual tolls just to be seen. Agentic Hospitality helps hotels embed directly into the natural language ecosystem with fair, direct, AI-native distribution so they can own the relationship, protect profitability, and build loyalty that lasts.”

“When I learned about Agentic Hospitality, I had to be a part of it,” Wiley said.  “AI infrastructure is the most critical investment today.  It always pays dividends—especially right now. The hotels that put together the right foundational pillars will be the ones that stay visible, competitive, and profitable.”