FMI discontinues FMI Connect

The Food Marketing Institute (FMI), in concert with the executive committee of its board of directors, said it will retire its FMI Connect show, originally scheduled to be held in Chicago in June 2017.

“After much deliberation and guidance from the FMI executive committee of our board of directors, we came to the decision to no longer host FMI Connect 2017,” said Leslie G. Sarasin, FMI's president and CEO. "As you can imagine, a decision of this magnitude was not reached easily.

“At FMI we continue to believe that events designed to bring together the entire food retail industry and their partners for meaningful conversation, education, exploration and networking are desired and needed," she added, "but we have concluded these gatherings should occur in a framework that differs from the current FMI Connect design. We also recognize that in recent years this event has fallen short of achieving the precise formula necessary for meeting today’s industry needs, particularly as the industry continues to change and evolve so quickly."

Sarasin also stated that FMI must create events more in tune with the "faster-paced rhythms of food retail."