Agenda

FMI Midwinter presents a rare opportunity for food retail independent operators to meet with hundreds of key suppliers, expand existing partnerships and share ideas with other industry leaders.

In this invite-only session, independent operators will identify optimal digital solutions, capitalize on trends like online shopping, in-store experiences and explore strategies to maintain sustainable growth and exceed customer expectations.

Crystal Ballroom

The SEE program offers you a venue to meet face-to-face with top food retail and wholesale company C-level peers in the supplier and manufacturing communities, through pre-arranged, one-on-one appointments. 

Questions? Reach Marc Thomas at mthomas@fmi.org or 202.220.0804

Spa Suites & Bobby Jones

Mingle with many first-timers and FMI staff to make the most of your investment! A few veteran attendees will be onsite to answer any of your questions and provide tips about how to most effectively use your time at Midwinter.

A little bit country, a little bit rock ’n roll — a whole lot of party! Join PepsiCo on opening night for the rock barbecue event of the year! Enjoy southern cuisine, craft cocktails and conversation on the patio followed by a rockin’ performance by American Idol finalist and Grammy Award Nominee, Daughtry in the Grand Ballroom.

We know that personalization works. For marketers whose customers purchase primarily in offline retail environments, however, data and technology limitations have prevented the implementation of advanced digital marketing tactics used by other businesses that rely on online conversion. This gap leaves the goal of true personalization unrealized.

All this is changing.  With the advent of new technologies and new data sources, marketers can now use deterministic offline behavior at scale in almost real time.  Strategies involving frequent targeting optimization, tactic optimization, machine learning and augmented decision making are finally available to an industry that is demanding greater effectiveness from its marketing spend. Join this session to learn how retailers and manufacturers that embrace these capabilities and embed these disciplines within their operations and execution can finally reach the personalization capabilities that their consumers have been demanding. It’s about time.

Presenter: Nishat Mehta, President, IRI Media Center of Excellence

The frozen foods aisle is in the midst of a strong comeback. For several years, the food retailing industry has touted the strength of the perimeter, but the focus has been on the fresh departments (produce, meat, deli, prepared foods, etc.).   Developing an understanding of the drivers for growth in frozen foods will help manufacturers and retailers further align innovation, products, merchandising, marketing and branding with how shoppers live, shop and cook. Sales numbers can tell part of the story.  But understanding consumer behaviors and attitudes about frozen foods, as well as the usage of frozen foods in the home, tells a much more complete story to drive continued growth in this category.

Speaker: Alison Bodor, American Frozen Food Institute

The SEE program offers you a venue to meet face-to-face with top food retail and wholesale company C-level peers in the supplier and manufacturing communities, through pre-arranged, one-on-one appointments. 

Questions? Reach Marc Thomas at mthomas@fmi.org or 202.220.0804

The fresh sector has evolved over the past few years and we have seen shifts in what consumers are buying and where they are buying. Some perimeter products and solutions are winning more than others, but why? During this session, IRI will delve into why trends work in some areas but not others by uncovering insights on the multifaceted U.S. consumers’ purchase and consumption habits of Fresh. This session will look at consumer trends from a multicultural, generational and socioeconomic status perspective, examining segmental attitudes towards fresh and actual behavior. IRI’s investigation will share new and actionable insights that retailers and manufacturers can use for driving innovation and creating in-store programs that will drive retail traffic.

Speakers:

Sally Lyons Wyatt, Executive Vice President and Practice Leader, IRI
Jonna Parker, Principal, IRI Fresh Center of Excellence

AI seems to be the next big “thing” in business. But what is it and what does it do? What business outcome/benefit should you expect if you engage and invest in it? And how can your organization transform from a “wait and see”, slow technology adopter, to a company that embraces technology and allows innovation to drive business. As the industry considers digital transformation as the new mantra, AI, and its closely related cousin Machine Learning, can help facilitate that process. Implementing technology that can intelligently learn and solve business problems, and better yet IMPLEMENT solutions resulting from that self-analysis, are cornerstones to leading digital transformation. Whether you approach this technology innovation in your supply chain, store operation, category management or customer marketing areas, it is already proving to provide deep insights and compelling business value to those that adopt it. Hear from industry experts on how AI can get you headed down the path to that elusive digital transformation.

Moderator: Gerarda von Kirk, Managing Director, Management Consulting Talent and Organization, Accenture
Panelist: Ron Bodkin, Technical Director, Applied Artificial Intelligence, Google
Panelist: Rick Wenger, Vice President, Industry Value Engineering, SAP
Panelist: David Moran, Co-Founder and Chairman, Eversight

The advancement and adoption at scale of artificial Intelligence and automation technologies introduces significant disruptions to the food retail industry, particularly in alleviating SG&A pressure and enhancing decision making. At the same time, this signifies meaningful adaptation needed in the workforce. This session will focus on why management teams need to get ahead of workforce planning to support their technology adoption roadmap, including but not limited to, role redesign, retraining, reskilling of existing and new workers, and handling displacement of existing workers to position the organization for success.

Speakers:

Sajal Kohli, Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company
Thomas Kilroy, Partner, McKinsey & Company

None of us wants to relive the public relations and government affairs nightmare spurred by the GMO labeling debate. So how do we avoid having the new biotech tool of gene editing trundle down the same treacherous path? Join a frank discussion of:

• The science behind gene editing that differentiates it from GMO technology,
• The regulatory landscape regarding this new bio-engineering tool
• The anticipated challenges in consumer acceptance of this technology
• Industry attitudes about this hot emerging issue

Moderator: David Fikes, Vice President, Communications and Consumer/Community Affairs, Food Marketing Institute
Panelist: Andy Harig, Senior Director, Sustainability, Tax & Trade, Food Marketing Institute
Panelist: Jane Andrews, Retail Nutrition Consultant
Panelist: Andrew Roberts, Ph.D., Deputy Executive Director, ILSI Research Foundation

This provocative panel will review macro dynamics and their impact on the food retail sector and discuss prioritizing investment spending required to compete and examine strategic implications across our rapidly-changing sector.

Panelists:

Scott Moses, Managing Director and Head – Food Retail & Restaurants Investment Banking, PJ Solomon
Justin Dye, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Ripkurrent
Mark Baum, Senior Vice President, Industry Relations & Chief Collaboration Officer, Food Marketing Institute

As the retail space evolves with changes in consumer behavior and technological innovation, high wages and turnover remain on the rise. No matter what role you play in the grocery space, shifts in the workforce have implications for everyone. Amid this rapidly evolving landscape, traditional strategies will not solve the new challenges facing our industry. Brad Oberwager will argue that the single most significant factor that will drive our success as an industry is labor. In this provocative talk, he will assert that the key to unlocking our impending labor crisis is an unorthodox shift in how we think about the future of work.

Speaker: Brad Oberwager,Chief Executive Officer, Jyve Corporation

FMI Midwinter keynotes and education sessions will explore how new disruptive competitors and increased expectations from customers are challenging tried and true industry practices and our customary way of operating in the food industry. We will examine how we choose to react to this disruption - either by letting others upset our apple carts on their terms or working with supplier partners to upend our own apple carts to see things in a new way and make the needed adjustments to become the more agile marketplace today’s shoppers want. Midwinter will provide content that can help executives in the food industry determine which of their carts need upending.

2018 recipients of FMI’s Executive Leadership Awards for statesmanship, innovation and trading partner relations share their insights on leadership in today’s fast-paced food retail industry. Celebrate and learn from the winners of the William H. Albers, Sidney R. Rabb and Robert B. Wegman awards.

Join your colleagues and friends for the 3rd Annual FMI Midwinter Sunrise Run/Walk! It’s a great way to kick off your conference day. Runners and walkers of all speeds are invited to participate. Registration is open to all FMI Midwinter conference attendees and guests. All participants will receive a race number and commemorative race t-shirt. Music and morning refreshments will be provided.

The SEE program offers you a venue to meet face-to-face with top food retail and wholesale company C-level peers in the supplier and manufacturing communities, through pre-arranged, one-on-one appointments. 

Questions? Reach Marc Thomas at mthomas@fmi.org or 202.220.0804

Seize this unique opportunity to spend quality time with senior-level retailers at the FMI Food Industry Golf Tournament, a premier networking event. The tournament will be held on the legendary Blue Monster Course at the National Doral Miami. A luncheon will begin at 11:00 a.m. with a shotgun start at 12:30 p.m. Thanks to our generous sponsors, FMI retailer and wholesaler members may join at no cost.

Contact Julie Schrei at jschrei@fmi.org to learn about sponsorship opportunities.

In this dynamic and unscripted roundtable session, we’ll explore the multi-billion dollar growth opportunities in GM and HBC by flipping the script and giving you the microphone. In past roundtable sessions, we’ve shared trends, shopper insights and best practices from winning retailers. Now it’s your turn. Both manufacturer and operator executives will have the opportunity to share with their peers their perceptions, intentions, challenges and progress related to growing GM and HBC development in grocery stores. The results of a pre-event survey will serve as the foundation for a lively discussion and live polling technology during the session will provide an instantaneous finger on the pulse of additional follow up questions.

Speaker:

John A. Clevenger, Managing Director, Senior Vice President, Acosta Strategic Advisors

The food industry is experiencing a tsunami of change, and the pace of that change is faster than ever. Change is hard, it takes time, and it often fails. Why? People! The executive teams can only pave the way, while your people leaders on the front lines of your business are the ones who actually lead the organization through change. What if your people leaders knew what you know about the changing marketplace and how to lead through change? This interactive session will explore:

• The big picture of the changing food industry marketplace  
• The secrets to leading change
• How to engage everyone in your business in the why, what, and how of change

Speakers:
Dave Croci, Director of Leadership Development, Root, Inc.
Gary Magenta, Chief Change Architect, Root, Inc.

In his report on all things FMI, Board Chairman Joe Sheridan will provide one review, one current view and one preview. The review will be a quick video recap of FMI accomplishments in 2018 that shows, in real time, the benefits of FMI membership. The current view will provide a glimpse of FMI Board leadership including the 2019 slate of officers. And Sheridan will offer a high profile of FMI’s new strategic plan, designed to ensure FMI can be responsive to the rapidly evolving needs of its members and that puts FMI on the trajectory to be the gold standard of association service and advocacy for its constituents.

Speaker:

Joe Sheridan, Chairman and CEO Wakefern and Chairman, FMI Board of Directors

The first two decades of the new millennium have released unprecedented changes on the food and consumer products world. Every facet has been touched by technology, transforming the traditional food chain with its distinct links and responsibilities into a high-speed, fiber-optic strand with each aspect – from seed and manufacturing facility to sales - interwoven with all others. The rapidity of all this change has left many spinning and in search of recognizable landmarks from which they can get their bearings. Data from the most recent editions of FMI’s premier research, U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends and the Food Retail Industry Speaks, point to directional stability for the industry and paint a picture of hope and new horizons. Join Leslie Sarasin as she presents a state of the industry that provides evidence of food retailers’ deliberately innovating, creatively collaborating and imaginatively serving the new consumer – giving rise to a new day and the dawning of a new golden age for food retail.

Speaker:

Leslie G. Sarasin, President and Chief Executive Officer, Food Marketing Institute

2018 recipients of FMI’s Executive Leadership Awards for humanitarian service, consumer affairs and public policy discuss corporate social responsibility and community in a consumer-value driven marketplace. Celebrate and learn from the winners of the Herbert Hoover, Esther Peterson and Glen P. Woodard awards.

Moderator: Leslie G. Sarasin, President and CEO, Food Marketing Institute

Almost one in four American working adults has a job that pays less than a living wage. Conventional wisdom says that this is the only way that companies can keep costs down and prices low. If companies were to offer better jobs, customers would have to pay more, or companies would have to make less.

However, in this revealing session, Zeynep Ton, a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, will make the compelling case that even in low-cost settings, leaving employees behind—with bad jobs—is a choice, not a necessity. Drawing on more than a decade of research, Ton will demonstrate how operational excellence enables retailers to offer the lowest prices to customers while ensuring good jobs for their employees and superior results for their investors.

Keynote Speaker: Zeynep Ton, Adjunct Associate Professor of Operations Management, MIT Sloan School of Management.

The SEE program offers you a venue to meet face-to-face with top food retail and wholesale company C-level peers in the supplier and manufacturing communities, through pre-arranged, one-on-one appointments. 

Questions? Reach Marc Thomas at mthomas@fmi.org or 202.220.0804

Spa Suites & Bobby Jones