John Mackey To Present Keynote At Winter Fancy Food Show

John Mackey, co-founder and co-CEO of Whole Foods Market, will be the keynote speaker at the Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco.

Mackey will talk about his new book, Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business, in a session presented by the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade, Inc. (NASFT), the owner and operator of the Winter Fancy Food Show, and the Social Venture Network.

Now in its 38th year, the Winter Fancy Food Show is the largest marketplace devoted exclusively to specialty foods and beverages on the West Coast. It will take place Jan. 20 - 22, 2013, at Moscone Center.

Mackey's address will cap off a full menu of education sessions focused on how to succeed in the $75 billion specialty food industry. The keynote event is free to show attendees, and a free copy of Conscious Capitalism, to be released in January 2013, will be available for the first 200 attendees. The session is Tuesday, January 22 at 8:30 a.m.

"Mackey has helped change the face of natural and organic as well as specialty food retailing," says NASFT President Ann Daw. "With unprecedented interest among food entrepreneurs and consumers in socially conscious enterprises, he is sure to provide insight into what it means to make a difference through business."

Mackey co-founded Whole Foods Market in 1980 as a single store with 19 Team Members in Austin, Texas, and helped build it into a publicly-held chain of more than 335 natural and organic food stores with more than 70,000 Team Members and $10 billion in sales last year. In 1981, Austin's worst flood in history almost bankrupted the original store, and community efforts to save it shaped Mackey's leadership philosophy to "do right by your stakeholders and they'll do right by you."

The Winter Fancy Food Show is expected to draw more than 18,000 attendees from the top names in specialty food retailing and restaurants. The exhibit halls will be filled with 80,000 foods and beverages from 1,300 exhibitors from across the U.S. and around the globe. The 2012 show broke records in attendance and exhibit space amid strong demand for specialty food.

About the NASFT

The NASFT is celebrating its 60th anniversary. It is a not-for-profit trade association established in 1952 to foster commerce and interest in the specialty food industry. Today there are more than 2,900 members in the U.S. and abroad. The NASFT's website for consumers, foodspring.com, provides an insider's look at specialty foods and the companies, food entrepreneurs and artisans behind them. For more information on the NASFT and its Fancy Food Shows, go to specialtyfood.com.

The History of Specialty Food

To mark its 60th Anniversary, the NASFT presents "A Visual Feast," a detailed history of specialty food, major culinary milestones and the innovators behind them. See it at www.specialtyfood.com/avisualfeast.

Fancy Food Show Press Registration

The Fancy Food Show is a trade-only event. The NASFT provides complimentary press badges to qualified media. Learn more and register.