By: Pat Walsh, Chief Business Development Officer, and Vice President of Supply Chain, Food Marketing Institute

One of the most impactful FMI events, the Annual Business Conference (ABC), has brought suppliers and retail partners together for face-to-face joint business planning meetings for years. The event works because it is simple, effective and focuses on creating collaboration throughout the industry. But, in this fast-paced, changing business environment that doesn’t mean things should stay the same. This year we’re adding to the event and creating ABC + Discovery, an expansion of the event’s mission that takes into account the rapidly changing face of the food retail industry.

The “ABC” portion of the event remains the same—the opportunity for one-on-one meetings with potential new business partners or substantive discussions with existing partners.

What’s new is Discovery. The event will kick off with an insightful talk combined with a social event. The talk will be given by Peri Edelstein, partner and managing director at the Boston Consulting Group and Krishnakumar (KK) Davey, president of strategic analytics at IRI. Their talk will provide retailers and wholesalers with insights into what and who are driving growth across the retail and CPG landscape to include growth categories, new product trends and future forecasts.

In addition, each day of meetings during ABC + Discovery will wrap up with a briefing by industry experts who give attendees a deep dive into the categories their shoppers are looking for, the consumer trends that are shifting the focus of the industry, and the new players in the marketplace that can help them grow their bottom line.

The ABC + Discovery experience will provide you with partnerships that begin with a handshake between suppliers, retailers and wholesalers. But just as importantly, you’ll also get valuable information attendees have told FMI they want and need, including:

• Product category innovations;
• Trends shaping the industry your business can benefit from;
• Insights into today’s shopper;
• Latest brands; and
• New in-store formats.

Learn more about ABC + Discovery, September 17 – 20 in Chicago, IL.