It’s Party With A Purpose At The NAFEM Show

By the time you read this, many of you will be on your way to or already in Orlando for The NAFEM Show. We are. I needn’t tell you that NAFEM is the most important gathering of our industry in North America every two years. The North American Association of Food Equipment  Manufacturers used to call it the “Industry Meeting Place.” It still is. And the tag line used to be “If it’s new, it’s at NAFEM.” That’s still true, too.

We’re looking forward to seeing many of you on the show floor, during the many parties and events surrounding the show, and at at our own Industry Awards Gala, Friday night at the Hyatt Regency Orlando. More than 400 of you have signed up to come and we have room for more. Everyone can come to our awards event. If you haven’t registered, please email Chris Palmer at cpalmer@fermag.com  and show up with your credit card and in business dress at the Regency Ballroom Friday evening. Cocktails begin at 6:30 p.m.

Beth and I have been working on the script for our presentation of Management Excellence, Industry Service and Young Lion awards to 17 individuals and organizations. Our pledge, since we began this program in 2013, is “No Speeches!” and that includes us. But squeezing an introduction on the likes of Clark Associates or Arby’s Restaurant Group, or the dining operations at the University of Iowa into less than a minute is no small challenge. And it’s easy to wax rhapsodic about the contributions to the industry of  Yum!’s Dave Harpring, or Wasserstrom’s Brad Wasserstrom, or our friend Joe Ferri from Pecinka Ferri Associates. And the drive and innovation of our Young Lions are impressive. But we’ll pull it off. We did it in just under an hour and half two years ago.

But the another reason we go to NAFEM is to see what’s new. We’ve already heard about a number of ground-breaking new equipment technologies and are looking forward to learning how they work. We like to see what new gadgets the smallwares folks are introducing, and look at the new tabletop and servingware designs. Seeing what’s new and interacting with all the manufacturers, end-user buyers, and channel players is what The NAFEM show is really about.

So here’s to our industry-wide party, but let’s all remember it is a party with a purpose. See you there. 

Cheers,

Robin Ashton

Publisher