Vermont Specialty Foods Announces Fall Meeting
Montpelier, VT – November 6 is the date of the Vermont specialty food fall meeting at the Capitol Plaza Hotel & Conference Center in Montpelier, VT. Following up on another record gathering at the group’s annual meeting in June, the association has added its third annual fall meeting for members of the trade.
A number of important sessions are on tap including:
Social Media and Utilizing Blogging
Sandra Laflame has worked doing social media strategy and content creation for Pete and Gerry's Organic Eggs as well as writing the blog. Currently she writes a blog called Organic Runner Mom (www.organicrunnermom.com), a healthy living and endurance sports blog. Sandra will discuss how you can use a blog to reach your consumers. She will discuss the blogging platform Wordpress and tools such as picmonkey, lucidpress to create original content for blog. Sandra will also highlight how to use social media and your blog too highlight your brand/product
Kosher Certification
With Rabbi Moishe (Moe) Lebovits, KOF-K Kosher Supervision. The session will cover the benefits of going kosher and why this will increase your bottom line.
What Traits are Possessed by the Best Entrepreneurs?
With 38 years’ experience in the specialty food trade and the last 13 as a consultant and coach, Deb Mazzaferro has seen many different personalities succeed. In this conversation, she’ll rank the strengths and weaknesses of The Visionary, The Rainmaker, and The MBA. Which are you? And which make the most successful entrepreneur? Learn this and more.
Understanding Vermont’s GMO Labeling Law
With Kate Whelley McCabe and Todd Daloz, Vermont Assistant Attorney Generals. The draft rules for Vermont’s new labeling law will be shared and explained. Producers will have an opportunity to ask questions and offer comments on the new regulations. The rules will cover required record keeping requirements for both GMO and non-GMO foods; when is labeling required; existing inventories and more.
Merchandising Your Specialty Food: Getting the most out of your marketing dollars on the shelf.
With Deb Mazzaferro, Coaching & Consulting for the Specialty Food Trade. This will be an illustrative exploration of the various ways to get branding on the shelf. As producers you are told you need to “market your brand”, so you sign up for distributor or store programs. CoachMaz will show you what you should expect when you sign up for an endcap, stack display, new shelf placement, local product display and demo. You’ll come away with a better understanding of what you are getting when you say “yes” to a marketing commitment.
For more information on the meeting, contact the VSFA office at 802-839-1930 or visit www.vtspecialtyfoods.org.
The Vermont Specialty Food Association is a statewide organization representing 125 food producers and 35 suppliers to the industry. It is one of the nation’s premier statewide associations for the specialty food trade, celebrating 29 years of service to the industry. A complete list of members is available at www.vtspecialtyfoods.org.
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