We go into every industry event with high hopes of connecting, learning and getting inspired. At our Core editorial round table yesterday, it was clear by the length and enthusiasm of our meeting that we accomplished all three at the recent United Fresh 2012 in Dallas, TX.
This blog post would have to be presented on an IMAX screen for us to detail our entire United experience, but we did realize three overarching (even if unofficial) themes during the event.
Passion – A couple of our unofficial themes were inspired by former First Lady Laura Bush’s general session speech. Mrs. Bush spoke repeatedly and passionately about her belief that education and the ability to read is empowering. And even after just an hour, we left believing it, too. Passion is infectious and, we feel, necessary for success. Mrs. Bush’s may not be fresh produce or salad bars or marketing, but as she presented, we realized that we spoke the same language and that her personal passion fed ours. And there’s no doubt that it was plenty of passion that made the 100 salad bar donations to Texas schools possible and will be the driving force as we secure the next 500!
Cooperation – This theme was also eloquently delivered by our former First Lady. The news media leads us to believe that Capitol Hill is a hotbed of bickering and dirty looks between the aisles. But Mrs. Bush provided insights that contradicted the media’s portrayal. Anecdotes about the late Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy and current Secretary of State Hillary Clinton prove that, even with differing opinions, most politicians are working together for our country.
That same sense of cooperation can and should be more evident in the food industries. FRESH working with FRESH and cross-promotions between FRESH and CPG’s will be key in increasing awareness and consumption of BOTH foods. It’s already happening (the co-location of United Fresh with FMI and AMI was a terrific show of “togetherness”), but can be elevated with strategic partnerships, creative merchandising and cooperative brainstorming. Heck, if the Democrats and Republicans can do it, so can we!
Opportunities Abound – Going hand in hand with cooperation, are the multitude of opportunities we saw for business development and elevation at United Fresh. Case in point: We learned from big chain retailers during the Supermarket Chef Showdown (a recipe and cooking contest with four categories and uber-talented culinary competitors presented by FMI) that the items providing the biggest boost to their prepared food sales are salads and other FRESH options. During the Healthy Alternatives portion of the Showdown, however, FRESH products were never featured front and center. So, while this may seem a miss by the Showdown, it’s a huge opportunity for us as an industry. Whether this is a potential future sponsorship or a chance for us to simply provide products, these retailers have identified FRESH as a solution, we just need to paint a very clear picture of how willing we are to help them.
Wow, in the blink of an eye, this post became looooong, yet barely scratched the surface of last week’s event. However, we’ll continue to use the lessons, connections and inspirations provided by the United Fresh show in future Core posts, so stay tuned! What unofficial themes and trends did you and your teams identify? Share them with us in a comment below or on Facebook or Twitter!
