MONTEREY, CA - More than 1,700 fresh produce and foodservice professionals connected at the PMA Foodservice Expo this year, beginning with the nearly 450 attendees who visited the Annual Opening Reception. Watch the highlight reel from this record-breaking event, hosted by PMA Public Relations Manager Ashley Boucher.
Key executives for PMA took the time to share some advice, information, and their favorite aspects of PMA Foodservice 2015.
“It’s a must-attend for us because the industry is here - all of the growers, all of the shippers, all of the customers that we do business with, competitive distributors that we compete against, but we’re all here as one family in the produce industry,” PMA Co-Chair Jeff DeBoer, Senior Director of Produce Sourcing for Sysco Corp.
As we previously reported, there were a number of events and highlights to the weekend, including a 5K run, the Women’s Fresh Perspectives Conference, and the Joe Nucci Memorial Golf Tournament.
“For me, the highlight's been the level of engagement, the energy that I’ve really felt throughout the weekend, and then of course the record numbers we had in a variety of different areas,” PMA CEO Bryan Silbermann stated.
While PMA President Cathy Burns agreed wholly on the communal and family-like feel of the show atmosphere, her favorite was the educational session that took place on Saturday.
“The content was so rich,” she said. “The amount of innovation that is coming from the chefs to technology, to research and development, incredibly inspiring. We need more people to hear more of those messages.”
Among the education presentations given, Celebrity Chef and Restaurateur Jet Tila appeared with must-see names to talk about trend forecasting. Tila took the time to discuss the veg-centric movement, but not in the usual way of saying that veggies need to take the center of the plate.
“We’re actually here to show people how to do it,” he said, lending his expertise to attendees on ways to bring produce to the spotlight.
And of course there were the awards. Watch below as Silbermann announces the winner of the PMA Luncheon, followed by Burns’ announcement of the Product Showcase winners.
Next year will be a bit of a change up. Due to remodeling at the usual venue, next PMA Foodservice 2016 will be held at the Hyatt Regency in Monterey, California. According to Silbermann, this will be a great opportunity to try some new things while still maintaining the same energy. See you there on the weekend of July 29th-31st, 2016!
