New York, NY The Eastern Produce Council and PRODUCE BUSINESS magazine
announced today their collaboration to launch The New York Produce Show And
Conference.
The first annual iteration of The New York Produce Show And Conference will be
held in The City of New York, November 9 11, 2010, and will co-locate with a
Perishable Pundit Thought Leaders Panel and The Fresh Fruit and Vegetable
Media Day. The event will also include networking events, workshops and tours of
the regional industry, including the Hunts Point Market, the new Philadelphia
Market and local retailers, restaurants and wholesale facilities.
New York City is the epicenter of the region that buys more fresh produce than
any location in the country, explains Dean Holmquist, director of produce and
floral for Foodtown, Inc., and president of the Eastern Produce Council. The
extraordinary diversity of the population in this region assures a dynamic
market for mainstream, ethnic and specialty produce, points out John McAleavey,
executive director of the Eastern Produce Council.
Paul Kneeland, vice president of produce/floral at Kings Super Markets and vice
president of the Eastern Produce Council, indicated that the sophisticated
clientele of the northeast region combines with a plethora of quality retailers,
restaurants, foodservice distributors and wholesalers to introduce product from
local growers, growers across North America and growers from around the world.
Jim Prevor, founder and editor-in-chief of PRODUCE BUSINESS magazine and the
online PerishablePundit.com, celebrated the establishment of such a high caliber
event in a region long lacking its own trade show and conference: My great
grandfather, Jacob Prevor, emigrated to America and established a wholesale
facility in the old Wallabout Produce Market in Brooklyn. My grandfather was a
wholesaler and auction buyer in the old Washington Street Produce Market in
Manhattan. My father, Michael Prevor, was an original tenant when The Hunts
Point Market opened in the Bronx. Over the decades we operated farms and had
supermarkets in the region and worked hard to make the ports and airports of the
region major hubs for the import and export of fresh produce.
It is an incredibly exciting moment that we should have the opportunity to join
together with our friends at the Eastern Produce Council, the preeminent
organization in the region, to bring a world-class event to the region, and it
is an honor that we can bring the industry together in a city known both as the
Capital of the World and the Big Apple.
Jim Prevor has built a reputation for industry thought-leadership that is
recognized around the world, and PRODUCE BUSINESS magazine was launched on the
Hunts Point Market, said Robert Goldstein, owner/president of Genpro Inc., and
secretary of the Eastern Produce Council, so the board of directors of the
Eastern Produce Council voted unanimously to join hands with Jim and his team at
PRODUCE BUSINESS and the online Perishable Pundit to better serve this region
with a high-end trade show and conference.
The Eastern Produce Council represents the most important players in the
region, said Ken Whitacre, vice president of publishing at PRODUCE BUSINESS and
PerishablePundit.com. Their engagement with the event ensures that exhibitors
will encounter a cross section of the movers and shakers that make the industry
a vibrant and robust contributor to the national and international industry. We
are honored to work together with such an important association and with such an
instrumental membership.
Both PRODUCE BUSINESS and the Eastern Produce Council are committed to enhancing
the industry by providing the region with a world-class venue for marketing,
education and media exposure. That venue is The New York Produce Show And
Conference.
The Eastern Produce Council is a trade association whose membership consists of
more than 400 fresh produce retailers, wholesalers, and transporters within the
metropolitan New York area. The non-profit organizations mission is to promote
good fellowship, cooperation and mutual interest among its members and to
instill in the membership a high sense of loyalty to each other.
PRODUCE BUSINESS is the longest established national magazine for the produce
industry and, along with Jim Prevors Perishable Pundit, is committed to
initiating industry improvement by providing the trades leadership with insight
and information that helps them better understand the industry of today and
better prepare for the world of tomorrow.
Source: PRODUCE BUSINESS