Specialty Food Association President Bill Lynch discussed what to expect at the upcoming Winter Fancy Food Show, taking place February 6-8 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, during a recent Instagram Live with the SFA’s Adrianna Pirone, marketing manager, social media, and Jen Cohan of the SFA’s PR team. Following are excerpts from the interview:
Pirone: What are you most excited for at the Show?
Lynch: For me, it’s all about the community of people and it’s been a long two years since we’ve been together. I’ve heard from so many of our maker members and buyers in the industry that it’s pretty much what I’m feeling which is that it’s going to be great to get back together face-to-face and to do business and spend time with our community. There is really nothing like the magic of a not-for-profit community of people getting together to do great things, educate each other, share knowledge, and support one another. It’s a professional, friendly environment at a reasonable price and I’m grateful to be part of a an organization of staff and community of members that really put people first and maybe that’s not typical of what we find these days.
Pirone: The energy will be different coming out of COVID, what are some new connections that have been made in Las Vegas?
Lynch: So the Las Vegas community has been completely generous in their time and making connections and getting the foodservice community in Vegas really excited about the Fancy Food Show coming up in February and in addition to all the great buyers we’re opening up a great new audience of new connections, not only in Las Vegas but the surrounding areas including Southern California and it’s a much broader buying audience, a lot of foodservice and hospitality that we’re seeing and today as I was looking over the list I saw that we have the Wynn Las Vegas, Goop Kitchen, Casinos Consulting, and Dom Food Group, just to name a few. So it’s great. This is exactly what our members expected from us, to bring new buyers to the fold and that’s exactly happening.
Cohan: What kind of safety precautions will be in place?
The SFA takes safety very seriously, it’s a high priority and we’re grateful to be working with a city and convention center that’s leading the way in terms of safety across the United States and for our show we’re going to be requiring proof of vaccination or proof of a negative test within 72 hours of the event, and the state mandate in Nevada is for masks to be worn the entire time except of course when you’re sampling those great products. The team has been focused on this and they’ve spent a lot of time focusing on this and we’re going to ensure that everybody feels safe but also productive.
Related: SFA Webinar: How to Succeed at the Winter Fancy Food Show; Foodservice Bundle: Prep For the Winter Fancy Food Show.