The 2017 Chicken Marketing Summit held at the Omni Grove Park Inn in Asheville, North Carolina concluded on Tuesday this week and was, according to stakeholder comments, a tremendous success with a significant increase in attendance over the 2016 marketing meeting. The Chicken Marketing Summit is produced by WATT Global Media in cooperation with the National Chicken Council.Those participating in the meeting included representatives from poultry processing companies, food service and retail grocery poultry buyers, as well as NCC allied companies that provide goods and services to the chicken industry.
The Chicken Marketing Summit program offered valuable and thought-provoking content with a strong lineup of speakers. Keynote speaker Bill Lovette, president and CEO of Pilgrim’s, discussed pursuing a sustainable food chain and closing the consumer perception-reality gap. Other speakers discussed strategies for increasing market share for chicken in food service; top trends affecting export, foodservice, and retail chicken markets; as well as broiler welfare, among other presentations.
The always popular Chicken Buyers Panel this year included representatives from Chick-fil-A, Harris Teeter, Church’s Chicken, Ingles, and Blue Apron.
The 2018 Chicken Marketing Summit is already scheduled July 22-24 at the Four Seasons Resort in Orlando, Florida. Be sure to mark your calendar.
As in the past, this year’s summit included a golf tournament that took place at the Omni Grove Park on the Donald Ross-Designed Championship Golf Course, surrounded by the Blue Ridge Mountains. Roger Austin, vice president, fresh foodservice at Pilgrim’s, once again served as the golf tournament chairman. The winning team, pictured below, will be the first winners to have their names engraved on the new Bill Roenigk Chicken Marketing Summit Golf Tournament Trophy unveiled at the meeting.
Left to Right: Golf Tournament Chairman Roger Austin, Vice President, Fresh Foodservice Pilgrims; Matt Arender, Sales Manager, Peco Foods; Scott Shultz, Director of Raw Procurement, Tip Top Poultry; and Jeff Lohser, Director of Sales & Marketing, Chicken Division, Maple Leaf Farms.
