Summer Fancy Food Show 2017
As we have for the past three years, next week Food Sol will bring a cohort of Babson MBAs to the Summer Fancy Food Show in New York, the largest specialty food industry trade show in North America.
Through our relationships at Specialty Food Association (organizers and hosts of the Show), we are able to offer complimentary passes to select Babson MBAs. This year, we’re taking our biggest group yet: 12 MBAs, the majority of them incoming One and Two Years. Given that it’s June, that means the Show with Food Sol will be among their first Babson experiences.
Photo Credit: Embajada del Ecuador en USA.
Each student has different goals for attending. Some are looking to loosely pitch their products and find partners; others are job searching; while others are exploring opportunity spaces in the industry. I will be on hand to offer tailored guidance to each.
My steady aim through Food Sol is to place food-focused Babson MBAs in rich environments where they can quickly, cheaply and effectively expand their networks and industry insights. Attending this Show is a quintessential example of that aim: Be in the right place to meet (lots of) the right people and receive personalized mentoring from a Babson alumna and leader who understands the industry big-picture.
Guidance is paramount because this Show is not a conference. It’s more like a video game, which each student will navigate uniquely. (Everyone attends this Show: retailers, brokers, suppliers, distributors, consultants, investors, deal-makers, inventors—you name it. So different people and products will be important to different students.)
In true Babson fashion, the spirit of helping is front and center. The cohort has already established a WhatsApp group so that they can point one another to promising resources. We will work together to ensure that every one of us has a great Show.
As a cohort, we will attend a special industry overview session specifically geared toward students and meet with natural products consultant and Senior Fellow at Food Sol Bob Burke (Babson M’87) who will have his own tips on how to best navigate and leverage the Show.
For Babson alumni and friends in and around New York, there is still time to get your pass to attend. The Show runs Sunday, June 25 through Tuesday, June 27. Day passes are available as are Premium passes, which include access SFA’s excellent Educational Programming. The Show website lists Pass types and prices.
Follow the action at #SFFS17 – and we hope to see you there!