VIDEO: One-of-a-Kind Experiences at 2016 CSNews Foodservice Summit

NEW YORK — This year’s Convenience Store News Foodservice Summit provided convenience foodservice executives with a wide variety of learning experiences, from interacting with famous visionary chefs and restaurateurs, to a guided tour of innovative foodservice concepts throughout New York City.

The 2016 CSNews Foodservice Summit, held March 15-16 in partnership with Tyson Convenience, gave a group of leading convenience store retailers the opportunity to literally take a bite out of the Big Apple on a guided tour of unique food concepts throughout Manhattan.

Guided by Chef Mario Valdovinos, Tyson Foods’ director of culinary innovations and corporate executive chef, and trends expert Mikel Cirkus, global director of conceptual design for Firmenich’s flavors division, the Taste of Manhattan Tour featured stops on the Upper West Side (Shake Shack), downtown (Hudson Eats and Duane Reade), and Midtown (Grand Central Terminal food court and food halls).

The store visits were followed by an evening tour and dinner at Eataly, the world’s largest artisanal food and wine market, with Joe Bastianich, co-owner of Eataly with Chef Mario Batali.

But the highlight of the 2016 CSNews Foodservice Summit was a two-hour, interactive breakfast meeting with legendary New York City restaurateur Danny Meyer, owner of such upscale establishments as The Gramercy Tavern and fine-dining eateries like The Modern, as well as fast-casual chain Shake Shack.

“It was excellent,” Keith Boston, director of foodservice at Cumberland Farms Inc., said of the discussion with Meyer. “You can see why he’s so successful.”

Foodservice Summit participants included foodservice executives from Kum & Go LC, 7-Eleven Inc., Thorntons Inc., RaceTrac Petroleum Inc., Wawa Inc., Rutter’s Farm Stores, BP/ampm, Kwik Trip Inc., Holiday Stationstores Inc., Country Fair Inc. and QuickChek Corp.

Watch the video above for more retailer reflections from this one-of-a-kind event.