In the food industry, if you don’t stay ahead of the trends, you get left behind. When our Culinary team began getting increasingly frustrated by the limited information provided by trend prognosticators, they decided the best way to really know what’s out there is to go and see for themselves. Management agreed, and a trip to New York was planned. After three days of everything from street carts to gourmet restaurants, the team came back to Illes with dozens of ideas and endless inspiration. Today, we call this a “DineAround,” but it’s more than an annual trip; it’s a year-round philosophy. The goal is to search out flavors and trends first-hand – whether around the block or around the world – then share that knowledge with our customers.