Date/Time
Date(s) - March 15, 2023
9:00 am - 3:00 pm

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The annual summit returns with thought provoking and informative keynotes, interactive breakout sessions, great food and of course networking with leaders in the food space.

Early bird pricing is available through Feb. 15.

Register

Speakers

Suzy Badaracco, president, Culinary Tides, Inc.

Topic: How to Use Foresights to Navigate Food & Beverage Trends For 2023 & Beyond: A Future Prepared

Food industry players must understand the issues influencing health, food and beverage trends to successfully navigate them, and uncover white space. Influences including health and consumer forces will be discussed as they pertain to the shaping of marketplace trends and how they impact the creation of new products. Influences including health, consumer, and flavor drivers will be discussed to demonstrate how to use them in the creation of new products. Equally important is the ability to recognize and adapt to upcoming changes in trend direction and to differentiate between long- and short-lived trends.

Suzy Badaracco is the president of Culinary Tides, Inc. and holds a bachelor’s degree in criminalistics, an associate degree in culinary arts, and master’s degree in human nutrition. Suzy has been trained in military intelligence, chaos theory, and predictive analysis techniques and has been practicing trends intelligence and predictive forecasting for more than 18 years. Using these techniques, she has been able to successfully predict and profile government, technology, adversary and ally, food, flavor, consumer, industry, and health trends. Culinary Tides, Inc. helps food industry partners navigate trends by revealing relevant patterns so they can create products that connect with customers. They specialize in foretelling a trend’s birth and forecasting its trajectory, personality and longevity. The forecast results are used to create entrance, navigation, and exit strategies.

Sridevi Narayan-Sarathy – Technical Director of Sustainable Packaging and Senior Research Fellow at PepsiCo.

Topic: The current and future state of sustainable packaging for food

In 2023 finding solutions for sustainable packaging is more important than ever. Clients and vendors are demanding it and finding answers isn’t always easy. In this presentation the discussion will center on what’s happening now and what future possibilities are coming to create and maintain a sustainable future.

Sri received her M.Sc. in Chemistry and M.Tech. in Polymer Science & Technology from Indian Institutes of Chennai and Delhi respectively. She earned her Ph.D. in Polymer Science & Engineering from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Prior to joining PepsiCo in 2010, Sri was Technology Manager/Principal Scientist at Ashland Performance Materials. Sri’s research interests are in the areas of Materials Science and Chemistry. At PepsiCo, she is leveraging  her extensive experience with different polymer chemistries to identify and develop bio-based materials for sustainable flexible packaging with good end of life. She has several patents and publications to her credit. Sri also has an adjunct faculty appointment in the Department of Grain Sciences at Kansas State University and sits on the board of Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI).

Marc Lobliner – Chief Marketing Officer of TigerFitness.com, Owner/CEO of MTS Nutrition and creator of The Outright Bar and Outright Foods

Topic: The Importance of PIVOTING in Modern Business

The last few years have demonstrated that a marketplace can change almost overnight. For businesses to survive and thrive, they need to be able to transition models and products quickly. In this presentation the ability to pivot quickly by creating an innovative culture will be discussed.

Marc is currently Chief Marketing Officer of TigerFitness.com, a 2012-2018 INC. 500/5000 company as well as Owner/CEO of the supplement company, MTS Nutrition, No. 116 on the 2017 INC. 500, and creator of The Outright Bar and Outright Foods. Marc is partner in Ambrosia Collective, O15 Nutrition, Per Vitam, PumpChasers Supplements, Iron Addicts Gym, Owner of Machine Training Solutions Body and Life Coaching Services and owner of Legacy at Carbon, a youth performance facility in Franklin, TN. Alongside this, Marc is an IFBB Professional Bodybuilder, Amateur Boxer, EXOS Phase 3 Trainer, Licensed 7v7 9v9 and 11v11 Soccer Coach, and is Crossfit L-1 Certified.

Kathy Wilhelm – Corporate Coach

Topic: THE 7 P’s…and few other letters

Culture and leadership are keys to attracting and maintaining a satisfied and productive workforce. This breakout will provide simple but important frameworks for organizations to build and maintain these outcomes.

Kathy Wilhelm is a wife, mother , and grandmother, who has run a successful, full time portrait studio with her sister, Cheryl, for over 35 years. Her contribution in this sister team has been to build dedicated teams who work and laugh together to create a customer experience based on relationship, dedicated customer care, and high quality products.

She now also coaches executives on how to bring these qualities to their own teams & not sacrifice life for career.

She will allow time for questions so bring your current challenges to the table for discussion as well.