SPC conference smashes previous attendance figure
SPC conference smashes previous attendance figure
ORLANDO, FL -- More people than ever before attended the Southeast Produce Council's fifth annual conference and expo, smashing the previous mark by perhaps 200 or more, according to SPC Executive Director Terry Vorhees.
The exact numbers are not complete, but "at least 800 people" and perhaps as many as 900 attended the conference, dubbed Southern Exposure 2008, which took place Feb. 21-23, here, according to Mr. Vorhees.
"The attendance has certainly grown each year," he told The Produce News Wednesday, Feb. 27, "and it could go to 1,000 next year" for the sixth annual conference in Tampa, FL, when the council will also mark its 10th anniversary.
Southern Exposure 2008 kicked off Feb. 21 with the annual golf tournament, where the winning group consisted of Bill Vickers, Steve McCready, Ray Nunnally, Rick McCranie, Calvert Cullen and Joseph Restein.
The next day's activities began with field tours that visited Taylor Farms, Monterey Mushrooms and two different Publix Supermarkets stores. At the gala opening party that evening, a big crowd was treated to the sounds of The Lovin' Spoonful, which had recorded a number of top hits in the 1960s including "Do You Believe in Magic?"
Two workshops were held Saturday morning: "Risk & Prevention -- Safety of Produce Today," followed by "Merchandising & Marketing Produce to Kids."
The "Risk & Prevention - Safety of Produce Today" session featured presentations by Michelle Smith of the U.S. Food & Drug Administration and Marion Aller of the Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services' Food Safety Division, who spoke of the challenges and difficulties implementing a produce safety plan. Reggie Brown, manager of the Florida Tomato Committee, lamented the "audit fatigue" that the industry is facing, referring to the many food safety audit requirements being levied on producers by the buying community. He said that it is more important to work together as an industry to preserve public confidence, which will be further eroded unless a universal regulatory platform is put in place.
The second workshop, "Merchandising & Marketing to Kids," featured presentations by Heidi McIntyre, executive director of Produce for Kids; Dawn Ciccone, senior director of consumer products at PBS Ventures; Connie Evers, a registered dietician and author; and Glenn Reynolds, regional sales manager of Imagination Farms.
Ms. McIntyre presented results of a study conducted by The Perishables Group, which featured an on-line survey of 1,000 mothers to determine the produce-eating habits of their children and families.
Recommendations that came out of the study were that in order to increase produce consumption in children, it is imperative to make produce fun for kids; reach mothers at the store level to motivate them to buy more produce for their families; and for suppliers to come up with new products that allow produce to compete with other snack foods.
Ms. Ciccone detailed the ways that PBS reaches children through its award- winning programming, and told of its goal to help kids achieve "total health," which includes physical health, intellectual health, emotional health and spiritual health.
As the former director of produce for Lowes Foods in North Carolina and Seessels Supermarkets in Memphis, TN, Mr. Reynolds of Imagination Farms gave input as a supplier and retailer. One of the more effective ways to reach children is with high-graphic boxes at retail, like the "Disney Garden" brand Imagination Farms employs, and to have items at the eye level of children.
At Saturday's keynote luncheon, The Produce News presented Joe McGee, founder of the L&M Family of Companies, with the Southeast Produce Council's first-ever Lifetime Achievement Award.
Michael Deihl, executive chef of Eastlake Golf Club and president of the American Culinary Federation's Greater Atlanta chapter, spoke briefly about a new scholarship program for culinary students in the Southeast that the council is launching. Mr. Deihl is spearheading the program, dubbed RECIPE, for Recognizing Educational Creativity in Produce Excellence.
Author and television personality Pete Luckett of Pete's Frootique, a four- store chain of supermarkets in Canada, and who is known as Canada's favorite greengrocer, delivered the keynote address.
Among the many points he raised, Mr. Luckett stated that there are four keys to achieving success in any business: quality, presentation, value and service. These keys will provide customers of that business with a good experience, which will create extremely loyal customers who then become advocates for that business, he said.
The trade show, always one of the highlights of the event, took place Saturday afternoon, followed by the closing party.
Asked for his first impressions of Southern Exposure 2008, Mr. Vorhees replied, "I was extremely satisfied. I was very pleased with the hotel, the convention center. It was very convenient, everything is right there; you just walked out of the hotel and straight to the convention center."
He was also happy with the workshops, both of which were well attended. "We got really good feedback on the workshops," he said, noting that the presentations would be posted on the council's web site (www.seproducecouncil.com) by around March 5-7.
The keynote lunch was also successful. "I was really pleased with the attendance," he said. "I'd be willing to bet there were probably less than 10 seats remaining."
While attendance at the overall conference has skyrocketed, the council has tried to limit the trade show each year to about 150 exhibitors to give attendees ample time to visit all the booths and spend quality time with the exhibitors. This year saw 162 exhibitors.
"Will we go any higher than that?" Mr. Vorhees asked rhetorically. "No. That's the way we have to keep it because that's what our attendees - our retailers and foodservice buyers - and the exhibitors are telling us. This is about where it peaks."
He continued, "I got the chance to meet some new exhibitors. That was nice. And as I was walking the expo floor, you could tell that it was hustle-bustle, but you could tell that the retail and foodservice attendees were taking their time and spending it with the exhibitors. And that's what the whole thing is about."
The exact numbers are not complete, but "at least 800 people" and perhaps as many as 900 attended the conference, dubbed Southern Exposure 2008, which took place Feb. 21-23, here, according to Mr. Vorhees.
"The attendance has certainly grown each year," he told The Produce News Wednesday, Feb. 27, "and it could go to 1,000 next year" for the sixth annual conference in Tampa, FL, when the council will also mark its 10th anniversary.
Southern Exposure 2008 kicked off Feb. 21 with the annual golf tournament, where the winning group consisted of Bill Vickers, Steve McCready, Ray Nunnally, Rick McCranie, Calvert Cullen and Joseph Restein.
The next day's activities began with field tours that visited Taylor Farms, Monterey Mushrooms and two different Publix Supermarkets stores. At the gala opening party that evening, a big crowd was treated to the sounds of The Lovin' Spoonful, which had recorded a number of top hits in the 1960s including "Do You Believe in Magic?"
Two workshops were held Saturday morning: "Risk & Prevention -- Safety of Produce Today," followed by "Merchandising & Marketing Produce to Kids."
The "Risk & Prevention - Safety of Produce Today" session featured presentations by Michelle Smith of the U.S. Food & Drug Administration and Marion Aller of the Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services' Food Safety Division, who spoke of the challenges and difficulties implementing a produce safety plan. Reggie Brown, manager of the Florida Tomato Committee, lamented the "audit fatigue" that the industry is facing, referring to the many food safety audit requirements being levied on producers by the buying community. He said that it is more important to work together as an industry to preserve public confidence, which will be further eroded unless a universal regulatory platform is put in place.
The second workshop, "Merchandising & Marketing to Kids," featured presentations by Heidi McIntyre, executive director of Produce for Kids; Dawn Ciccone, senior director of consumer products at PBS Ventures; Connie Evers, a registered dietician and author; and Glenn Reynolds, regional sales manager of Imagination Farms.
Ms. McIntyre presented results of a study conducted by The Perishables Group, which featured an on-line survey of 1,000 mothers to determine the produce-eating habits of their children and families.
Recommendations that came out of the study were that in order to increase produce consumption in children, it is imperative to make produce fun for kids; reach mothers at the store level to motivate them to buy more produce for their families; and for suppliers to come up with new products that allow produce to compete with other snack foods.
Ms. Ciccone detailed the ways that PBS reaches children through its award- winning programming, and told of its goal to help kids achieve "total health," which includes physical health, intellectual health, emotional health and spiritual health.
As the former director of produce for Lowes Foods in North Carolina and Seessels Supermarkets in Memphis, TN, Mr. Reynolds of Imagination Farms gave input as a supplier and retailer. One of the more effective ways to reach children is with high-graphic boxes at retail, like the "Disney Garden" brand Imagination Farms employs, and to have items at the eye level of children.
At Saturday's keynote luncheon, The Produce News presented Joe McGee, founder of the L&M Family of Companies, with the Southeast Produce Council's first-ever Lifetime Achievement Award.
Michael Deihl, executive chef of Eastlake Golf Club and president of the American Culinary Federation's Greater Atlanta chapter, spoke briefly about a new scholarship program for culinary students in the Southeast that the council is launching. Mr. Deihl is spearheading the program, dubbed RECIPE, for Recognizing Educational Creativity in Produce Excellence.
Author and television personality Pete Luckett of Pete's Frootique, a four- store chain of supermarkets in Canada, and who is known as Canada's favorite greengrocer, delivered the keynote address.
Among the many points he raised, Mr. Luckett stated that there are four keys to achieving success in any business: quality, presentation, value and service. These keys will provide customers of that business with a good experience, which will create extremely loyal customers who then become advocates for that business, he said.
The trade show, always one of the highlights of the event, took place Saturday afternoon, followed by the closing party.
Asked for his first impressions of Southern Exposure 2008, Mr. Vorhees replied, "I was extremely satisfied. I was very pleased with the hotel, the convention center. It was very convenient, everything is right there; you just walked out of the hotel and straight to the convention center."
He was also happy with the workshops, both of which were well attended. "We got really good feedback on the workshops," he said, noting that the presentations would be posted on the council's web site (www.seproducecouncil.com) by around March 5-7.
The keynote lunch was also successful. "I was really pleased with the attendance," he said. "I'd be willing to bet there were probably less than 10 seats remaining."
While attendance at the overall conference has skyrocketed, the council has tried to limit the trade show each year to about 150 exhibitors to give attendees ample time to visit all the booths and spend quality time with the exhibitors. This year saw 162 exhibitors.
"Will we go any higher than that?" Mr. Vorhees asked rhetorically. "No. That's the way we have to keep it because that's what our attendees - our retailers and foodservice buyers - and the exhibitors are telling us. This is about where it peaks."
He continued, "I got the chance to meet some new exhibitors. That was nice. And as I was walking the expo floor, you could tell that it was hustle-bustle, but you could tell that the retail and foodservice attendees were taking their time and spending it with the exhibitors. And that's what the whole thing is about."
