ChiEXPO2011

 

Good Food,

Good Opportunities,

Good Business

March 17-18, UIC Forum 

 

The Midwest's leading Good Food event is just around the corner and the opportunity to expand your business skills and/or sales is tremendous. On Thursday March 17, the Financing Farm to Fork conference offers a remarkable educational program to help build the skills of farms and food businesses to grow their business and even raise money from loans or private investors. In addition, the Trade Show and Food Policy Summit on Friday, March 18 is the leading gathering place for trade buyers, farmers and food manufacturers selling into wholesale markets, and more.

The school food educational track includes many of the leading school district foodservice operators interested in purchasing local food. In addition, the Green Chicago Restaurant Cooperative  

is having a major meeting with stakeholders to discuss the development of a local food purchasing system for restaurants and foodservice companies. The opening symposium speakers include:

 

Sheila Simon, Illinois Lt. Governor 
Warren Wribley, Director, Illinois Dept. of Economic Opportunity
Ann Wright, USDA Undersecretary 
Ken Kaplan, MIT Collaborative Initiatives
Toni Liquori, School Food FOCUS
Rochelle Davis, Healthy Schools Campaign
Bob Scaman, Goodness Greeness
Erika Allen, Growing Power 

Jim Slama, FamilyFarmed.org

 

And of course the exhibit floor includes many of the leading companies and farms selling into wholesale markets!  

Meet the Buyers Networking Reception  

March 18th, 6:00-7:00UIC Forum

 

Looking to secure valuable face time with wholesale buyers? Meet some of Chicagoland's largest buyers of local foods!  This event is meant to play matchmaker between farmers and food producers and a wide range of buyers from supermarkets, distributors, restaurants, and institutions.  It's a reverse trade show in which the buyers have a table and meet farmers and food producers.  

 

Buyers confirmed for this event include: 

 

Chipotle Mexican Grill 

Heidi J. Wederquist,

Director of Quality Assurance & Food Safety - Purchasing  

 Dill Pickle Food Co-op 

Vinnie Hernandez, General Manager 

Tommy Berbas, Produce Buyer  

Sharon Hoyer, Assistant General Manager 

 Whole Foods Market 

Jose Valadez, Midwest Produce Coordinator

David Spear, Midwest Local Food Forager  

Gabe Weldin, Grocery Team Buyer 

 Goodness Greeness 

Bob Scaman, President and CEO 

Ron Cropper, Vice President

 SugarToad Restaurant 

Geoff Rhyne, Chef 

Zandra Torrico, General Manager 

 Local Folks Foods 

Paul Skirvin, Product Quality Control and Development 

Steve Spencer, Buyer

 Door to Door Organics  

Chad Arnold, President

Bret Ebel, Chicago Location Director

 Lou Malnati's  

Jim Freeland, Purchasing Director 

Irv & Shelly's Fresh Picks 

Irv Cernauskas, Owner  

Chartwells-Thompson Hospitality  

(Chicago Public Schools)

Jean Saunders, Director of Marketing 

 Niman Ranch 

Paul Willis, Co-Founder 


Trying to Source Local Good Food?

Looking to Sell, Buy, and Connect with those in the Trade?

Check Out Our GROWING Exhibitor List for the  

FamilyFarmed Trade Show  

11:30-6:00, Friday, March 18, UIC Forum 

 

A la Card Chicago ~ Academy for Global Citizenship ~ American Grassfed Beef ~ Animal Welfare Approved ~  

Arthur Produce Auction, Inc ~ Associated Milk Producers, Inc. ~ Barbara's Bookstore ~ Bio Soil Enhancers, Inc. ~ Birky Family Farms Country Gourmet ~ Brian Severson Farms ~ Chicago Botanic Garden ~ Chicago Indoor Garden, Inc. ~ City Micro Farms, LLC ~ Co-op Image, Co-op Sauce LLC ~ Cook's Bison Ranch ~ Cristina Foods, Inc. ~ Crop to Cup Coffee Company ~ Dietzler Farms ~ Dill Pickle Food Coop ~

Door to Door Organics ~ Eden Farms Incorporated ~ Edible Chicago ~ Esther's Place ~ FamilyFarmed.org ~ Farm Business Development Center ~ Farmer Veteran Coalition ~ Food & Water Watch ~ Grass Point Farms ~ Grassfields 

~ Green Submarine Pickles ~ Irv & Shelly's Fresh Picks ~ JDY Gourmet ~ Kilgus Farmstead Inc. ~ La Mexicana Inc. ~ Lakeside Foods ~ Living Water Farms, Inc. ~ LocalFolks Foods ~ Manna Organics, LLC ~ Mindful Metropolis ~ Natural Direct LLC ~ Nature's Farm ~ Nature's Path Foods Inc. ~ New Trends Publishing ~ Niman Ranch ~ Nordic Creamery ~ Oregon Tilth ~ Organic Valley ~ Q7 Ranch ~ Renaissance Farm ~ Riveridge Produce / Local Michigan & Wisconsin Apples ~ Rockome Garden Foods ~ Square One Organics ~ The Blueberry Store / True Blue Farms ~ The Scrumptious Pantry ~ Truitt Bros., Inc. ~ Two Cookin Sisters Specialty Food Company ~ Urban Ponics LLC ~ Wertheimer Box Corp. ~ Weston A. Price Foundation & Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund  

 

Get your Trade Day tickets here and please  visit our exhibitor page online for the most up-to-date listings! 

 

FamilyFarmed.org would like to thank the following Sponsors for their support of the 2011 FamilyFarmed EXPO. 

 

Please be sure to support these companies with your business throughout the year!  

2011 Sponsor block

 

So You Want to be a Farmer?

Friday, March 18  

5:30-7:00 pm

FREE WORKSHOP!

(No Registration Necessary) 

 

Leading experts discuss opportunities available to people from all walks of life to become a farmer:
Sheri Doyel, Angelic Organics Learning Center
  Michael O'Gorman, Farmer-Veteran Coalition
  Larry O'Toole, Growing Home
  Mike Sands, Prairie Crossing Farm Incubator 
 
Moderator: Patsy Benveniste, Chicago Botanic Garden

Michael O'Gorman

Farmer-Veteran Coalition Director and Founder Michael O'Gorman will be speaking March 18th on the "So You Want to Be a Farmer" panel.  O'Gorman farmed for 40 years and has been Production Manager for several of the West Coast's largest organic vegetable companies, growing over $200 million in organic food in the past two decades..    

 

"I got involved helping young men and women coming back from war start to farm," he said recently in a New York Times article,  "because I see in them the temperament of someone who can get into farming and stick with it...The military is not for the faint of heart, and neither is farming".  

 

Check out this amazing workshop for FREE! And, get your ticket to Trade Day to enjoy all the other fantastic programming for the trade, OR get a ticket and stick around for the famous Localicious party after! Registration is required for other Friday programming and Localicious click here for ticket information. 

F2F Conf 2010

March 17, UIC Forum


The FamilyFarmed EXPO opens once again with the groundbreaking Financing Farm to Fork Conference. The day is filled with information and networking to help food businesses, farms, and people interested in investing in the good food movement to grow their businesses.

Financing Farm to Fork features keynotes by trailblazing speakers, an afternoon full of skill building workshops, and a Financing Fair showcasing 24 farms and food businesses who are seeking capital. Get your tickets today

Presenting Sponsor

 Chipotle
Mexican Grill
 

 

Major Sponsors

Goodness Greeness 

School Food Focus 

Whole Foods Market 

 

Official Sponsors

Applegate Farms

Barbara's Bookstore 

Big Bowl 

Chartwells Thompson- Hospitality Chicago 

Chicago Food Policy- Advisory Council 

Concious Living TV

Cristina Foods, Inc.  

City of Chicago 

City Provisions 

Crop to Cup Coffee- Company  

Consolidated Printing 

Edible Chicago 

Gourmet Gorilla 

Jane Addams Hull House 

Lady Moon Farms  

Manna Organics 

Mindful Metropolis 

Nature's Path Foods 

Organic Valley 

Viking 

WCPT AM & FM Chicago's Progressive Talk Radio  

Wertheimer Box 


REAL TIME UPDATES and SPECIAL OFFERS!

Follow me on Twitter 

 Find me on Facebook 

 View my profile on LinkedIn 

GET INVOLVED  

Become a Sponsor 

   Become an Exhibitor 

   Sign up to Volunteer!

 

BPTickets Get your tickets today! 

Join Our Mailing List


 FamilyFarmed EXPO     Schedule    Tickets    Trade Show