With The New York Produce Show and Conference fast approaching, there is, of course, a hubbub of activity. Chefs are being retained, academics and editors flown in from the far corners of the globe, buyers are making lists of priorities, exhibitors are shipping and students are preparing for the experience of their lives.
In the midst of it all, the industry should really pause and give a hat tip to the Eastern Produce Council. It is a small but passionate group, and this year, when the association could have sat on its laurels as offering its membership an extraordinarily successful trade show — indeed, by far, the fastest growing event in the produce industry — the EPC board, executives and membership of EPC decided to push on and make an excellent event truly extraordinary.
The result is two side events, one dedicated to excellence in Global Trade and one an Ideation Forum for Foodservice to help move sales and consumption of fresh toward the “half-a-plate” goal of the USDA.
Everyone should read the program schedule for these two events. They are simply extraordinary. We travel all over the world and attend all kinds of events. There is nothing remotely like these two programs in the entire world. Click on the links and see for yourself:
IDEATION FRESH Foodservice forum
These types of programs take countless hours and an enormous investment to put together. As a gift to its membership, EPC has made the programs available absolutely free to EPC members and very inexpensively to the whole trade.
These events speak so well of EPC. They wanted world-class — and these programs can be put up against anything in the world. They understood that the first year the audiences would be intimate, that it takes time to grow these programs as reputation spreads. Yet they didn’t shirk from the task at hand. Continuous improvement is the watchword. They wanted The New York Produce Show and Conference to be more valuable and more enriching for exhibitors and attendees alike. They were committed to giving their members a kind of gift, an opportunity for each member to think and engage and realize his or her own potential. It is really something exceptional.
It shows a kind of foresight and engagement rare today. Those of us at PRODUCE BUSINESS marvel at our blessing in finding the right team to join hands with to present The New York Produce Show and Conference.
If you would like to take advantage of either of these exceptional programs, please let us know here for the Global Trade Symposium and here for the Ideation Fresh Foodservice Forum here.
