Ecolab "Bites & Beats" Sunday Night Spotlight

Challenge
Ecolab wanted to create a signature customer experience during the National Restaurant Association Show that would differentiate the brand while authentically expressing its long-term commitment to education and community — not just corporate hospitality.
ProStart® is a 501(c)3 charitable organization led by the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation that offers a two-year, industry-backed culinary arts and restaurant management program for high school students and reaches more than 220,000 students across 2,200 schools.
Insight
Purpose resonates more when people can participate in it. Turning Ecolab’s ProStart® partnership into a live, hands-on experience would make its impact real, emotional, and memorable.
Idea
Turn a charitable education program into a live, immersive food-and-music experience where students become the headline act.
Execution
Storylink Creative worked with Ecolab and Hartman to design Bites & Beats as a fusion of food, music, and storytelling:
• High school ProStart® teams nationwide pitched original food truck concepts.
• Two winning teams were flown to Chicago and worked with professional designers to build full-scale, branded food trucks.
• At The Salt Shed, guests tasted the students’ food directly from the trucks and voted using guitar picks placed inside two custom guitar cases.
• The environment featured themed culinary stations and concluded with a live performance by Shaboozey and a student meet-and-greet.
Results
The event transformed Ecolab’s educational investment into a living brand story — giving students national exposure, industry access, and real-world entrepreneurial experience. For attendees, it created an emotional connection between Ecolab’s purpose and its presence at the show. Bites & Beats wasn’t just entertainment — it was proof that Ecolab actively shapes the future of the restaurant industry by investing in the next generation.