Arlington, VA — March 15, 2007 — The Food Marketing Institute (FMI) is launching a new Annual Business Conference (ABC) to bring together retailers and wholesalers with manufacturers of products, equipment, and services needed by stores and warehouses. This event will debut October 17-19 at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, NV.
     
"The conference will resemble the very successful model of our ABC for consumer products," said FMI Senior Vice President Brian Tully. "It will provide top executives highly focused, one-on-one meetings needed to achieve optimum efficiency from the myriad systems needed to operate a supermarket or distribution center. Senior procurement executives will find participation in this to be a very rewarding and efficient."

The ABC provides a forum for trading partners to focus on the industry’s most important strategic issues. It combines well-planned and disciplined meetings to examine industry and company issues within an informal environment to foster innovative solutions. The event enables manufacturers to address design, environmental and maintenance features in the fixturing category.
     
This meeting will offer two components:

Business Conference Suites — 45-minute meetings between trading partners to discuss strategic, long-term goals. These will be scheduled in advance with the agendas jointly developed by the participants.

The Hospitality Suite — networking lounge/meeting place for informal conversation.
Executives will have additional opportunities to interact at receptions and meals throughout the event.
     
This annual conference will be held in the fall, while the ABC for consumer products will remain a spring event.
     
The number of people who can attend will be limited by time and space. This limited capacity will serve to enhance intimacy and minimize distractions. Registrations will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information, visit www.fmi.org/events/.