<p>The Food Marketing Institute (FMI) and United Fresh Produce Association (United Fresh) have announced a three-year agreement to co-locate the organizations’ respective trade shows: United Fresh 2014 and FMI Connect, the Global Food Retail Experience. Registration opens today for the June 10-13, 2014 events in Chicago.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"> “United Fresh and FMI’s seasoned collaboration strengthens our ability to provide event-goers with solutions to growing basket size; increasing customer trips; improving margins; and increasing market share,” said Leslie G. Sarasin, FMI’s President and CEO.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"> United Fresh President and CEO Tom Stenzel asserted that United Fresh 2014 will be a must-attend forum for retailers large and small who want to seize the produce opportunity for growth.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"> Fred Morganthall, Harris Teeter Supermarkets, Inc. President and Chief Operating Officer and FMI Chairman, echoed the food industry’s goals for the Chicago trade show, saying, “The organizations’ 2014 signature events team-up to offer workable solutions whose range touches every aisle in the local store, reverberates throughout the industry and reaches internationally into every corner of the food retail globe.”<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"> Forty-one percent of FMI’S <I>2013 U.S. Grocery Retail Trends</i> consumer respondents ranked better quality and variety of fresh foods, inclusive of produce, as the third-most influential factor behind price and selection for choosing a primary store, a supermarket that may not be the closest in proximity to the shopper’s home, according to a press release. </p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href="http://www.fmi.org/news-room/news-archive/view/2013/10/01/grocery-and-fresh-produce-groups-forge-three-year-commitment-for-chicago-trade-events" target="_new"> The Food Marketing Institute </a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href="http://www.fmiconnect.net/registration-housing/media" target="_new"> Registration for FMI Connect</a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href="http://www.unitedfresh.org" target="_new"> United Fresh Produce Association </a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
