February 29, 2016

National Restaurant Association Show announces new Foodservice at Retail Conference

(Chicago) The National Restaurant Association announces a new Foodservice at Retail (FS@R) Conference as part of the 2016 National Restaurant Association Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show®, taking place at Chicago’s McCormick Place from May 21-24. The all-day conference, held on Monday, May 23, specifically addresses the challenges of retail operators in adding or expanding foodservice offerings to existing C-store and supermarket operations. 

New culinary and retail collaborations continue to offer cutting-edge streams of revenue for foodservice and retail operators within the hospitality industry. In celebrating the “grocerant” movement, attendees will hear insights from experienced foodservice and retail leaders addressing critical topics such as: operational hurdles of food service within a retail establishment; building a culinary culture in a retail environment; food handling and safety challenges; recruiting foodservice and culinary professionals to work in a retail establishment; and more. The conference also includes an offsite tour and lunch at one of Chicago’s great foodservice at retail success stories, Mariano’s.

“As more and more restaurant and foodservice operations open within retail establishments, the knowledge and expertise of our NRA Show exhibitors and foodservice leaders becomes a welcomed resource for supermarket and c-store operators,” says Lisa Ingram, Convention Chair for NRA Show 2016 and President and CEO of White Castle System, Inc. “The FS@R Conference allows C-store and supermarket operators to share experiences, best practices and lessons learned from marketing to hiring practices required to run a successful food service operation within the retail industry.”

Registration is now open to attend the FS@R Conference for $259 (includes full access to NRA Show) at https://show.restaurant.org/Attend/Registration

The following details topics and speakers at the FS@R Conference: 

State of the Food Service @ Retail Industry

Wade Hanson, Technomic

Topics Explored: Overview of C-store and supermarket operations; Consumer acceptance and insights; Predictive modeling for consumer usage

The Food Service @ Retail Culture (panel discussion)

Ryan Sheetz, Sheetz; Joe Gozzi, Wakefern\ShopRite; Steven Petusevsky, CIA; Brain Dunn, Hanskissle; Nicolas Granucci, Ecolab; Phil Lempert, (moderator)