Meet Up and Make Merry at the 2022 Meat Conference

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<p paraid="203763588" paraeid="{b98b9fa3-38be-4b47-b909-eb77958c5b3b}{4}">By:&nbsp;Farleigh Lichstein, Director, Education,&nbsp;FMI&nbsp;and Rick Stein,&nbsp;Vice President, Fresh Foods, FMI&nbsp;</p>
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<p paraid="871901823" paraeid="{038e4896-7bd5-4c4f-bc10-6aafead8e788}{169}"><img src="https://www.fmi.org/images/default-source/blog-images/amc2022.tmb-large-350-.png?sfvrsn=2b7b033f_1" data-displaymode="Thumbnail" alt="AMC2022" title="AMC2022" style="float: right; margin: 10px;" />Never&nbsp;has the road ahead of us looked less clear. Since&nbsp;last&nbsp;we gathered as the meat retail community,&nbsp;many facets of our lives have&nbsp;changed.&nbsp;We&nbsp;shopped differently, we&nbsp;ate&nbsp;differently&nbsp;and&nbsp;we&nbsp;worked differently.&nbsp;&nbsp;As a community, we&nbsp;came&nbsp;together to address these changes and&nbsp;conquer&nbsp;the&nbsp;challenges&nbsp;that&nbsp;resulted from them, such as supply chain woes, changing purchase influencers, and new channel voices.&nbsp;</p>
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<p paraid="1252647486" paraeid="{038e4896-7bd5-4c4f-bc10-6aafead8e788}{225}">The good news is that&nbsp;we have&nbsp;risen to the occasion&nbsp;to&nbsp;overcome&nbsp;these challenges.&nbsp;Meat retailers met&nbsp;adversity&nbsp;head-on with over $73.3 billion in sales year-to-date. The 2022 Power of Meat survey will highlight how the industry is adapting to&nbsp;advance progress and&nbsp;serve&nbsp;ever-evolving consumer demand.&nbsp;The 2022 Power of Meat will be released&nbsp;exclusively in-person&nbsp;on February&nbsp;7&nbsp;from&nbsp;4:00-5:15 p.m.&nbsp;EST.&nbsp;</p>
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<p paraid="244144017" paraeid="{038e4896-7bd5-4c4f-bc10-6aafead8e788}{251}">One thing we&nbsp;know&nbsp;for sure is that&nbsp;the road ahead of us is constantly changing. This means it is more important than ever to gather as a community to&nbsp;strategize for the future and&nbsp;learn from each other. The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.meatconference.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">2022 Annual Meat Conference</a>&nbsp;at the Gaylord National Harbor&nbsp;will give you an opportunity to listen, learn and ask questions of leadership and your peers.&nbsp;By partaking in&nbsp;a wide range of educational sessions and strolling the aisle of the Annual Meat Conference exhibit floor, you will be able to network&nbsp;with critical industry stakeholders&nbsp;and&nbsp;discover how to leverage&nbsp;consumer retail trends in 2022.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
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<p paraid="357626843" paraeid="{a330c63a-aa82-462d-b24f-e0779ea88e54}{10}">The&nbsp;pent-up&nbsp;demand for in-person gathering will&nbsp;finally has&nbsp;an outlet&nbsp;this coming February as leaders of the meat industry&nbsp;assemble&nbsp;to&nbsp;sharpen their knowledge of industry best practices. I enjoyed the virtual event last year, but to be honest,&nbsp;I&nbsp;can&rsquo;t&nbsp;wait to&nbsp;engage with&nbsp;my peers&nbsp;again&nbsp;as we chat in the hallways and coffee shops during the event. I learn more each time we&nbsp;get together&nbsp;from&nbsp;informal gatherings as I do from&nbsp;formal education sessions.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
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<p paraid="770989710" paraeid="{a330c63a-aa82-462d-b24f-e0779ea88e54}{18}">We can&rsquo;t wait to see you in person, we hope you will join us and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.meatconference.com/content/registration" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">register</a>&nbsp;soon!&nbsp;</p>
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