David Stafford
Chairman, FEDA
President/CEO, Stafford-Smith
My favorite part of the FEDA Annual Executive Leadership Conference is having a chance to sit down with industry partners, look each other in the eye and talk about what’s happening. Everyone there is an executive or other leader at their company, so it’s much easier to cut through all the garbage, get to the heart of an issue and agree on a solution or steps for improvement. Whether it’s on the golf course, over cocktails or during the industry roundtables, there will be ample opportunity to share ideas in an open format.
This year’s conference lineup is sure to fortify those discussions. It starts with the all-new State of the Industry Reports during the conference’s opening general session. Boelter Companies President Eric Boelter and Alto-Shaam President Lucy McQuillan will walk us through the challenges facing dealers and manufacturers and key trends to keep in mind as we prepare our businesses for the coming years. It’s a great way to look at what’s going on in the market while providing a foundation for all the other topics that will be covered throughout the conference.
One of those factors is the unknowable state of the economy. Inflation has been tough on all businesses and the message at other industry events over the past few years has been to prepare for a downturn. Meanwhile, many dealers are seeing record results. It’s hard for business leaders to know what to make of that disconnect between economic projections and real-world results. Hopefully, economist Kevin Warsh will clear out some of that clutter in his special guest presentation about the impact of policy on economic growth. His insights into the market are worth a listen, especially as we approach an election that could see a shift in the government’s approach to business and economic policy.
Regardless of the economic and political projections, each dealer knows they need to look at what is going on in the world around them and evaluate their specific way forward. But one area many of us struggle to wrap our heads around is this next generation of technology. Breakthroughs like artificial intelligence have the potential to overhaul how we operate and reach customers, but nobody knows where the technology is going and there aren’t enough answers for how to convert these advancements into useable tools for businesses. The conference’s Tech Talks promise to provide a stronger basis for that understanding and show us where our industry can get started.
The larger foodservice industry is, at its core, an entertainment industry and our customers crave the same personalization and relationship building that they are so good at delivering. Making connections within our own industry is a great way to start, and there is no better place than the FEDA Annual Conference.