In just a few weeks, industry leaders will gather in Cherry Hill, N.J. for a powerful new Coffee Service Education Summit sponsored by the National Automatic Merchandising Association (NAMA). The event will be held Feb. 12 and 13, 2008, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Cherry Hill, N.J., and is a not-to-be missed event for anyone serious about succeeding in the industry.
This educational event is designed to give coffee service providers the tools they need to take their business to the next level of growth and profitability.
Coffee service industry luminary and NAMA Allied Member of the Year David Gellman, program chairman, is overseeing the event, which is designed for operators involved in coffee service delivery. It features education tracks for senior, middle and sales manager levels delivered by successful coffee service operators, international and national speakers, as well as successful local suppliers.
A ‘Don’t Miss’ Event
This session is designed to help operators learn how to do things better. The industry’s most successful leaders are delivering a lifetime’s worth of priceless advice, and anyone serious about succeeding simply cannot afford to miss this event.
The 2-day event will feature coffee business building seminars and face-to-face meetings with the industry’s best known leaders. Key features of the event include:
- A coffee tasting room which will be open during registration. Hosted by Ellis Coffee, attendees can sample various coffee blends and watch a master roaster cup coffee.
- Opening session guest speaker Elliot Maras, editor of Automatic Merchandiser, will give a “State of the Coffee Service Industry” report followed by an open forum discussion with a panel of successful coffee service operators.
- Professor of Sports Marketing John Lord of St. Joseph University will be the lunch speaker.
- Rick Leffke, president of R.C. Leffke & Associates and NAMA Knowledge Source Partner, will lead a session on “The Coffee State of Mind.”
Comprehensive Education Program
The Coffee Education Summit also offers a comprehensive education program which is sponsored by Holiday House and Kool Tek. The program includes:
- Maximizing profitability and efficiencies with technology. Four software companies will each give a 10-minute presentation highlighting their product features. Afterwards, a question and answer session will be facilitated by the NAMA endowed professor specializing in technology, Dr. Michael Kasavana of Michigan State University.
- An in-depth look into the coffee market from the trading floor. Michael Vlahos of Lacas Coffee is a certified coffee grader for the New York Board of Trade.
- Jim Mosley, sales manager from Southern Refreshment Services in Tucker, Ga. will speak on maximizing customer sales and the break room of the future.
- David McCaffrey, Predictive Assets, a veteran of the coffee service industry, will address avoiding hiring mistakes.
- Eileen Cooke of workforce learning development at Van Houtte and Marie Claude, director brewing technologies at Van Houtte, will speak on partnering with customers for growth.
Rick Leffke will close the first day by highlighting some of the key points from each of the sessions.
Networking opportunities
A networking reception follows where operators will have time to meet with 25 to 30 industry suppliers.
The reception will be followed by a dinner and even more networking opportunities.
Operators can pre-register at www.namacoffeeservice.org for $199 which includes two people from the same company. Each additional person is $75. On-site registration is $225.
Hotel rooms are available for NAMA’s special rate of $99 plus applicable taxes. Cherry Hill is about a 20-minute drive from the Philadelphia airport or the 30th Street train station.
For additional information, visit www.namacoffeeservice.org and click on “Coffee Service Summit.”
