SFM Announces Annual Conference Keynote Addresses

July 28—The Society for Foodservice Management (SFM) has announced the topics and speakers for the keynote addresses at this year’s annual conference, which will be held Sept. 29 through Oct. 2 in San Francisco.The opening keynote address, “The New Era of Foodservice: Implications for your Business,” will be given by Kim Rothstein, principal at The Marlin Network. Rothstein will examine the importance of looking from the “outside in” to translate consumer habits and demand patterns into successful strategies for operations and look at which strategies work the best.

The “State of the Industry: What Does the Future Hold?” session will feature Ira Cohn, president of Aramark B&I Group; Michael Norris, chief operating officer and market president of Sodexo Corporate Services; and Rick Postiglione, president and CEO of Contracted Foodservice for Compass Group North America. The speakers will discuss surviving and thriving during this difficult economic climate.
 
The closing keynote, “Making Connections: Building Our Business Using Today’s Technology,” will feature Michael Atkinson, president and CEO of FOHBOH; Allen Blue, vice president of product strategy and co-founder of LinkedIn; and Scott Shaw, founder and CEO of Fishbowl Marketing. This session will focus on the emergence of social media platforms and how operators can use these tools to improve communication with customers and employees.
 
“This year’s conference theme, ‘Building Bridges: Competitive Strategies for Today and Tomorrow,’ reflects the task our industry has before us,” Owen Moore, SFM president and director of dining services at NYU, said in a press release. “I can’t recall a bigger need to gather new information, which will help develop and redefine our business plans for now and the years ahead. This conference will offer participants that opportunity.”