ATLANTA -- The first full day of the NACS Show--Sunday--will include a wide variety of events and workshops, providing something for everyone. The day will begin with an Interfaith Prayer Meeting supported by NACS and through contributions at 7:30 a.m. The hour-long session will be held in Room B 308 of the Georgia World Congress Center. It will be led by speaker John McHugh, director of corporate communications and leadership at the Kwik Trip convenience store chain, La Crosse, Wis. McHugh is a former Catholic priest and brings perspective to faith in the convenience store industry.
The prayer meeting will include readings from the Torah, Koran and the New Testament. Those interested in attending are asked to RSVP to Tom Severson of Severson Oil at toms@seversonoil.com.
Meanwhile, Sunday’s “Future of Brands in Foodservice” session offers insights from Kat Cole, the president of Cinnabon Inc., who will share how successful brands make an effort to identify consumer needs, wants and trends, and what it takes to build one of the world’s greatest food brands.
Cole will also talk with attendees about how a prominent brand such as Cinnabon is finding growth by stepping out of its traditional business model to “be where the guest is.” Cinnabon’s ability to succeed--despite the ever-increasing consumer awareness of calorie counts--is a great example of strong differentiation, an organization’s belief in its products and its relevance to the consumer, as well as a brand’s expansion through non-traditional partnerships.
If technology is more your speed, Sunday’s “Big Data Is Huge” session will focus on how retailers can leverage huge pools of data to analyze and build their marketing and merchandising strategies, and use big data for pricing, capital expenditures and operation decisions. Speakers include experts/techies from The Pantry, Mid-Atlantic Convenience Stores and Applied Predictive Technologies.
Sunday is also the day 392,000-square-foot expo opens up its doors at 11:30 a.m. Wear comfortable shoes!
Once you’ve covered all the ground you can cover in a day, stick around for pre-dinner networking and fun at the NACS Show Tailgate Party in the Hall C Lobby, featuring themed décor and events around Sunday’s NFL games. Flat-screen televisions with the top games of the week--plus the NFL Network for fantasy sports enthusiasts--will be playing.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.