In less than one week, leaders from throughout New Jersey’s food retail and distribution industry will gather in Atlantic City to discuss the future of the food industry.
The 2016 Trade Relations Conference will be held on May 11, at Harrah’s Casino and Resort in Atlantic City, NJ, and will feature presentations from John Derderian, President of Allegiance Retail Services, on the “State of the Food Industry” and Tim O’Connor, Managing Partner of the Retail Performance Solutions on “Retail Transformation 2020.” The reception and program will be held from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Debbie Pregiato, Customer Team Leader for Advantage Solutions, will be honored with the New Jersey Food Council’s Max Stone Trade Relations Award. She will be the first woman to receive this prestigious recognition.
“Debbie’s role as a leader on our new member development campaign, business partnerships with NJFC members and her continuous dedication to the advancement of the Food Council’s mission made her an obvious choice,” said NJFC President Linda Doherty. “Debbie has forged long lasting food industry relationships and is a role model as a respected trade relations leader.” The Max Stone Award is named in honor of the longtime trade relations leader for Best Foods, CPC in recognition of his accomplished career in trade relations in New Jersey.
The Conference will also feature our inaugural “Chef Cook-off Challenge;” an opportunity for retail food industry chefs to showcase their culinary skills and compete for the award as NJFC Best Chef 2016. The contest will be held in the Viking Kitchen at Harrah’s which features four cooking stations. The chefs will be judged by members of the NJFC Leadership Development Class. The four chefs who have entered the contest represent Food Circus/Food Town, Kings Food Markets, Village ShopRite and Wegmans Food Markets.
In addition to the Max Stone Award, NJFC will be announcing the recipients for the 17 scholarships being awarded totaling $55,000 to promote future leaders and to support the workforce and families of the food industry. This year’s scholarships are records for both recipients and total amount awarded by the Food Council.
As is tradition, the event will conclude with a ‘curtain closer’ golf event at Galloway National Golf Club on May 12 at 9:00 A.M. in Galloway, NJ.
Contact NJFC at 609-392-8899 to register for the event or go to http://njfoodcouncil.com/register-today/.
The New Jersey Food Council is the Garden State’s preeminent trade association representing 1,200 retail food stores, wholesalers, manufacturing and service companies that collectively employ more than 200,000 associates in NJ.