Last month food decision-makers from the manufacturing, marketing, and R&D sectors converged at the Amelia Island Resort in Jacksonville, Florida, to tackle a challenging topic: the future of food.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
The marcus evans event, appropriately named the Future Food Summit, took place from 10-12 February and covered a variety of topics, including marketing science-based nutrition, innovative product development, genetically modified foods and bioterrorism. Delegate attendees were senior decision makers-from leading food and beverage organisations.
Peter Van Stolk, founder and CEO of Jones Soda, led the event as opening keynote, and delivered a stimulating message on building a brand for today’s youth. Sergio Zyman, former chief marketing officer of Coca-Cola company and founder and chairman of Zyman Marketing Group, spoke on the rise of a new marketing paradigm: stressing how imperative it is for companies to approach marketing differently then in the past, and update their marketing practices to reflect the new consumer reality.
Other sessions of note included Cathy Kapica’s discussion on “Marketing science-based nutrition: Don’t consider functional foods without it”. Director of nutrition education from Quaker Oats, Kapica focused on the gap between the knowledge and behaviour of the consumer. Though the level of knowledge has steadily increased over the years, behaviour has not adjusted accordingly. “While nine in ten choose foods for health reasons at least sometimes, and two in three say diet is very important, only 15% are very satisfied with their eating habits,” Kapica pointed out. Effective nutrition marketing is essential for a successful functional food.
Food safety was another big issue. Matthew Botos, director of the Illinois Center for Food Safety and Technology, led a workshop on bioterrorism entitled, “Security and Risk Management in the Food Industry.” The session advised organisations on how to develop an overall threat assessment (identifying chemical, biological, physical, and radiological agents) that would enable them to better identify viable threats.
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalDataCatherine Reynolds, head of communications for the UK Institute of Food Research took an overall look at where the industry was going through a panel discussion. Examples were discussed of how the food and beverage manufacturers are coping with consolidation, shifts in distribution channels, biotechnology, e-Commerce, crisis management and food safety, global competition and ever-changing consumer demand.
For the future, the Summit will be divided into two separate events: Future Food Fall (10-12 November at the Doral Resort in Miami) will cover the R&D and marketing streams, while a separate Food Manufacturing Summit will take place in February 2003.
The Future Food Summit featured a three-track executive programme, with a manufacturing, R&D and business/marketing tracks.
