Ron Lukenbaugh, general manager of the All Kitchens USA distributorship, believes this move made the food show in the Chisholm Trail Expo Center Coliseum more beneficial to its customers.
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"We introduced temporary personnel agencies this year, and plan to include cell companies, utility companies, newspaper, and other media agencies. This will bring service providers to one place for our customers to discuss other areas of their businesses on the same day," Lukenbaugh told ID Access.
However, food is the natural magnet for operators at a distributorship's show and Mid-America, which is marking its golden anniversary this year, provided its accounts a variety of solutions that will improve their businesses.
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"The goal of our food show is to expose our customers to new products and new ideas to help them compete in the marketplace. Reaching out to about 600 of our customers in one day is worth all of the effort to bring our show together," Lukenbaugh said.
In a story about the show in a local newspaper, Mark Dick, president and owner of the broadliner, observed that suppliers are offering more partially prepared food that is dubbed "par fried."
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"With the personnel shortages in all kinds of kitchens, anyone can finish off the product," said Dick, adding that foods that are par-fried do not lack any of the nutritional value or taste that regularly prepared foods have.
"We try to make an event out of it. The show is a big part of our business. This is a good way for customers to hook up with manufacturers," Dick said.
Speaking with ID Access, Lukenbaugh said, "We did have a record number of dollar sales this year, but our true success will be with our customers benefiting from working with the brokers and manufacturing representatives."
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