Foodservice Institute Of America Hosts Symposium With Focus On The Future

Experts brought together to cultivate the next generation of foodservice industry leaders

Pleasantville, NJ (January 14, 2008) - Over 50 foodservice industry leaders participated in "Foodservice Professionals ... the Next Generation," an interactive symposium hosted recently by FIA, the Foodservice Institute of America. Conceived to address the growing challenge of identifying tomorrow's leaders and attracting and sustaining talent, the symposium was held December 5, 2007 at the University of Houston, Texas.

The highly successful program was given an excellent rating by the attendees, whose roles within the industry cover a broad spectrum, including fabricators, educators, operators, consultants, manufacturers, and sales personnel.

The panel included industry experts Steve Bergman, President of CEC Culinary Consulting; Dr. John Bowen, Dean of the Conrad Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management; Joleen Flory, CEO of Elliot Leadership Institute; and John Nackley, Jr, Marketing Manager, MLB Advertising.

Ken Wasco of Gordon Food Service moderated an interactive discussion addressing key challenges to attracting new people into the foodservice industry, best practices to attract those entering the job market, and areas to improve hiring and recruiting outcomes across the industry.

The panel discussion was followed by breakout sessions led by Rudy Miick of Miick & Associates, designed to generate an exchange of ideas with peers and to set strategies for FIA to advance throughout the industry.

Participants identified that the key issues for FIA to focus on include cross-generation recruiting, internships, and drawing talent from multiple disciplines. Participants formed three action teams dedicated to these goals and a white paper is being developed.

Participants saw both professional and personal value in the symposium content, indicated clearly in unanimously positive post-event comments, including:

"... a great opportunity to pull together people from different background and disciplines to share ideas and look for solutions. This meeting went so fast and people were so passionate."

"This was a can do meeting with lots of interactive and practical takeaways."

"FIA will serve as the model for the foodservice industry through which every company and individual can access resources to operate more efficiently, more cohesively, better connected and more prepared to embrace the future."

The symposium was designed to further FIA's mission of fostering collaboration and education between the many interests within foodservice - developing horizontal communication in an industry that is traditionally vertically defined by profession.