We’re at the beginning of a new food revolution. Covid-19 and the events of 2020 have shone a light on the vulnerabilities across our food system and created an imperative to reimagine what is possible. In the face of the pandemic, eaters have begun demanding greater diversity, transparency, health, safety, convenience and accessibility in our food supply. This new reality is changing the relationship between retailers, brands and eaters, while also accelerating innovation and the adoption of technology across every part of the value chain.

Food+Tech Connect and S2G Ventures are hosting a 4-part interactive conversation series to understand how this moment will shape food retail over the next five years. Using S2G’s recently released Future of Retail Report as a framework, this series will examine how innovations in content, commerce and community might transform the industry.

Speakers will be announced shortly.

How to Participate

We're creating a platform for discussion and collaboration, a place for people from diverse backgrounds from farm to fork to come together to explore how we might create a more resilient, equitable, diverse, delicious, healthful and climate-smart future.

You can attend individual sessions or purchase an all access pass, both of which gives you access to our dedicated community Slack channel where you will be able to connect with others to discuss how to navigate the evolving grocery retail world.

All of our conversations are highly interactive and include 45 minutes of live Q&A with our speakers via Zoom.

Future of Food Retail With Walter Robb & S2G Venture's Audre Kapacinskas [FREE INTRO CONVERSATION]

December 10, 2020 | 12:00-1:30p ET

A conversation with Walter Robb, former co-CEO of Whole Foods Market, Audre Kapacinskas, VP of S2G, and Danielle Gould, founder of Food+Tech Connect, about how retailers might leverage cutting edge technologies and stakeholder-focused business models to build a 21st century food system.

View the full video from the discussion here.

Content: Reimagining Discovery

January 21, 2021 | 12:00-1:30p ET

In response to the panic buying of March 2020, retailers began to rethink what they put on their shelves. They prioritized the essentials and larger, established brands over smaller, emerging ones. In a pandemic era grocery shopping environment, demos and other tried and true in store marketing techniques no longer work, which has further hurt emerging brands. Today, brands are being forced to rethink how they find and attract customers. This conversation will explore the new approaches retailers and emerging brands are taking for customer acquisition and discovery.

Speakers:

• Vanessa Pham, Co-Founder at Omsom
• Jeremiah McElwee, Chief Merchandising Officer at Thrive Market
• Katie Marston, Chief Marketing Officer at Once Upon a Farm
• Kelsey Formost, Director of Content Strategy at Tagger Media
• Tonya Bakritzes, SVP of Marketing at S2G Ventures

Community: Reimagining Grocery To Better Serve All Stakeholders

February 4, 2021 | 12:00-1:30p ET

The US’s top 20 grocery stores represent over 70% of the retail market. They are gatekeepers of our food supply chain and have had profound impacts on what food is produced and by whom, as well as the health and wellbeing of their staff and communities. This discussion will explore how retailers might better support all of their stakeholders (ie their customers / neighborhood, employees, brands, farmers, etc.) needs around transparency, equity, diversity, health and sustainability. We’ll also look at the ways digitization and digital storytelling are changing retailers’ responsibility to and their relationship with their stakeholders.

Confirmed Speakers:

• Errol Schweizer, Host of The Checkout Podcast, Co-Founder, Board Member For Natural Products Retail and CPG, Writer at Forbes.com and Former Whole Foods VP of Grocery
• Sam Polk, CEO at Everytable
• Gerardo Reyes Chavez, Key Leader at Coalition of Immokalee Workers
• Greg Asbed, Co-Founder at Coalition of Immokalee Workers
• Jessica Murphy, Business Development Manager at S2G Ventures

Commerce: Reimagining Grocery For Resilience

February 18, 2021 | 12:00-1:30p ET

The pandemic has expanded how and where we shop. Conventional grocery retail initially struggled to meet the demand shock caused by pantry loading. Consequently, many consumers turned to online grocers, meal-kits, farm e-commerce sites and other delivery services that were once seen as niche. In this discussion, we will examine how some of these food retailers have pivoted business models or adapted supply chains to enable them to be more resilient and better serve their customers' needs around convenience. We will also examine what may have staying power as conventional retailers invest in omni-channel and smart fulfillment strategies to solve the last mile.

Confirmed Speakers:

• Jody Kalmbach, Group Vice President of Product Experience at The Kroger Co.
• Bentley Hall, CEO of Good Eggs
• Rob Twyman, Executive Vice President of Operations at Whole Foods Market
• Moderated by Walter Robb, EIR at S2G Ventures

*** We are committed to making our events accessible to all that want to participate. If you are not able to afford the full price due to Covid-19 or any other circumstances, please contact us at info@foodtechconnect.com for a discount code ***