Southeast Produce Council’s Southern Exposure is an important winter gathering for Maurice A. Auerbach and the company is once again planning an active and engaged presence at the event.

The company plans to attend and exhibit, bringing a sizable team to ensure strong coverage both at the booth and across the show floor. 

Bruce Klein, director of marketing for the company, noted several members of the Auerbach team will be in attendance, allowing the company to balance booth responsibilities with time spent meeting customers, suppliers and long-standing industry partners.

“With a lot of people going, it gives us the ability to man the booth and still walk around,” Klein said. “We’ll be able to see the customers we buy from, our vendors and hopefully a lot of our customers who are coming down to get away from the cold.”

At the booth, Auerbach will be showcasing the core products it handles day in and day out. 

The company will also be featuring its newer booth design, which Klein noted helps the display stand out visually on a busy show floor.

“We’ve got a new booth design, and it’s a lit booth, so it’s a little more attractive,” he said. “We first used it at the New York show, and now we’re bringing it down to Florida.”

While the exhibit floor is a major focus, Klein noted that Southern Exposure offers value well beyond booth hours. From pre-show events to informal conversations at the host hotel, the show creates opportunities for organic networking and relationship building.

“The party before the show is always a great networking opportunity,” Klein said, “and just being at the hotel, talking to buyers and people we deal with on a regular basis, is a great way to reconnect.”

As for the topics likely to dominate conversations, Klein expects logistics challenges to be front- and-center. With global supply chains continuing to face pressure, moving product efficiently remains one of the industry’s biggest hurdles.

“A lot of the discussions are going to be about logistics,” he said. “That’s becoming tougher and tougher. Procuring the product customers want, when they want it, is the biggest part of our job, and it’s a monumental task right now.”

Of course, many of these challenges remain outside the control of produce companies, particularly those that rely on imported product.

“You can’t run customs, you can’t control when boats come in,” Klein said. “We import product from many different countries, some by boat and some by air and logistics is really the toughest part of the job. Then you still have to get the product out to customers on time.”

Despite those challenges, Southern Exposure consistently delivers value. For Maurice A. Auerbach, a successful show is measured less by volume and more by the quality of conversations and outcomes.