A pair of upcoming conferences will address a number of issues currently facing the foodservice industry, including the importance of widening adoption of GS1 standards to help producers, distributors and retailers improve the efficiency and visibility of their supply chains.
Shifting regulations and rapidly developing technology have put foodservice operations in a transitional period and it is important for industry leaders to stay abreast of labeling trends and other relevant developments that will affect their businesses.
The first event, the Produce Marketing Association's Foodservice Conference and Exposition, is scheduled for July 20-22 in Monterey, California. The overall focus will be on how businesses in the industry can improve their operational efficiency. More specifically, the conference will feature networking events, presentations on industry trends and exhibitions of different companies' products and services.
The second event is being put on by the International Foodservice Distributors Association (IFDA) from July 22-24 in San Francisco. Attendees will hear a number of presentations from industry professionals that focus on analyzing current trends and identifying opportunities for different actors in the industry – especially distributors and retailers – to benefit from greater collaboration.
Britt Wood, vice president of programs and services at IFDA, and Gene Carbonara, senior director of operations at US Foods, will host a session dedicated to analyzing the progress of the Foodservice GS1 US Standards Initiative, a voluntary collaboration between businesses and industry organizations that has set a goal of getting 75 percent of the foodservice industry to adopt GS1 standards by 2015. The initiative was launched in 2009 by GS1 US, in association with IFDA and the National Restaurant Association.
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