Annual Meat Conference to Feature Comprehensive Education Program
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Washington,
DC — A full slate of education sessions and
workshops has
been announced for the Annual Meat Conference
(AMC), to be held February 24-26,
2013, at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and
Convention Center in Nashville,
Tennessee. Attendees will become better
prepared to tackle the most pertinent
issues facing the meat industry today through
sessions that focus on hot
topics, including maximizing current consumer
trends to increase sales and
understanding the global market to remain
competitive into the future.
“The
Annual Meat Conference is the premier
opportunity for meat and poultry
professionals from the packer, processor and
retail communities to come
together to share best practices,” said
American Meat Institute President and
CEO J. Patrick Boyle. “The planned education
sessions will provide a wide range
of information that attendees can apply to
their day to day business.”
Pat
and Gina Neely, restaurateurs and
co-hosts of two popular Food Network
television programs, Down Home
with the Neelys and
Road Tasted with the Neelys, will share their Recipe for
Success in the opening
general session. From their latest success, New
York City’s Neelys Barbeque
Parlor, to the original Neelys Bar-B-Que
locations in Memphis, cookbooks, merchandise
and endorsement relationships with companies
like Kraft and Sam’s Club, the
Neelys know how to build a business from the
bottom up and will share their
secrets on how they grew an empire, turning
their family restaurant into one of
the most successful food brands in the
South.
The Meat
Conference also features nine concurrent
workshops designed to provide in-depth
information on hot-topics facing the industry.
From food safety to crisis
management to the meat department’s role in
total store health, the series of
workshops will be taught by a variety of
industry experts. Topics can be found
at http://www.meatconference.com/
“We recognize that
consumers are more value-seeking than ever and
willing to live with less due to
the current economic conditions, and now that
we’re also faced with a drought,
extended price burdens will undoubtedly create
new opportunities for
collaboration with suppliers,” Pat Walsh,
senior vice president of industry
relations, education and research for FMI,
said. “The Meat Conference will help
our industries anticipate the needs of our
customers in this uncertain
marketplace.”
Co-sponsored
by the American Meat Institute Foundation
(AMIF) and the Food Marketing
Institute (FMI), the conference attracts 800
members of the retail food and
meat industries each year. It
is considered the leading educational event
focusing on meat and poultry
marketing innovations, merchandising issues and
consumer purchasing trends.
Associate
sponsors include the American Lamb Board, Beef
Checkoff, National Chicken
Council, National Pork Board and National
Turkey Federation.
To
exhibit or to register for AMC, go to www.MeatConference.com.
###
AMI represents the
interests of packers and
processors of beef, pork, lamb, veal and turkey
products and their suppliers
throughout North America. Together, AMI’s
members produce 95 percent of the
beef, pork, lamb and veal products and 70
percent of the turkey products in the
United States. Headquartered in Washington,
D.C., the Institute provides
legislative, regulatory, public relations,
technical, scientific and educational
services to the meat and poultry packing and
processing industry.
The
American Meat Institute Foundation is a
non-profit research, education and
information foundation established by the
American Meat Institute to study ways
the meat and poultry industry can produce
better, safer products and operate
more efficiently.
Food
Marketing Institute (FMI) conducts programs in
public affairs, food safety,
research, education and industry relations on
behalf of its 1,500 member
companies — food retailers and wholesalers
— in the United States and around
the world. FMI’s U.S. members operate
approximately 26,000 retail food stores
and 14,000 pharmacies. Their combined annual
sales volume of $680 billion
represents three-quarters of all retail food
store sales in the United States.
FMI’s retail membership is composed of large
multi-store chains, regional firms
and independent supermarkets. Its international
membership includes 200
companies from more than 50 countries. FMI’s
associate members include the
supplier partners of its retail and wholesale
members.

