Convenience Store Decisions – Foodservice Webcast Series

Starting this week, I’ll be participating in CSD’s Online Foodservice Webcast Series, a three-part series dealing with the complexities of operating a foodservice program and focusing on helping marketers meet the needs of today’s convenience store consumers.  You can register for the series here.

June 26, 2008 2:00 PM EDT-
The Foodservice Webcast Series, Part 1

July 10, 2008 2:00 PM EDT-
The Foodservice Webcast Series, Part 2

July 24, 2008 2:00 PM PDT-
The Foodservice Webcast Series, Part 3

Speakers Include:
David Bishop,
President,
Balvor Inc.

Dr. Jack Cushman,
Vice President of Foodservice,
Nice N Easy Grocery Shoppes

Jon Bratta ,
Director of Proprietary Brands,
BP plc/ampm

Dean Dirks
President,
Dean Dirks Associates LLC

Mel Kleiman,
President,
Humetrics Inc.

John Lofstock
Editor-in-Chief, Editorial Director,
The Convenience Store Decisions Group

Jim Schutz,
Vice President of People Assets,
Open Pantry Food Marts of Wisconsin

For more information about this series click here.

Convenience Store Petroleum Food Service Conference, Chicago, Ill – August 11, 2008

I will be speaking at the Convenience Store Petroleum Food Service Conference in Chicago, Illinois - August 11, 2008
The topic I will be speaking on is FOOD SERVICE DUE DILIGENCE.

INFREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS – Interview I did for Convenience Store News

Q & A
What is your favorite place to visit?
Memphis — I love the blues, barbecue, soul food and the people in the South.

If you could eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?
I would eat Tex-Mex food.

Do you collect anything? When did you start, and how many do you have?
About 25 years ago, I started collecting cookbooks. I probably have 200. All are barbecue, Southern and soul food books.

What’s your biggest pet peeve?
Being late. I think it is very selfish and sends a message to the other person that you don’t think their time is valuable.

What would you most like to change (about you, the world, etc.)?
I would like to enjoy exercise rather than hate every minute of it. And I would change the world by eliminating anything that hurts kids — disease, famine or abuse. I work with St. Jude Children’s Hospital and my wife teaches in a rough part of Tacoma. I see and hear things from both sources that really bother me.

What actor would play you in a movie about your life and why?
My wife said Jeff Foxworthy because I came from Redneck America and still need some polish. That probably isn’t a bad choice. I think you should never forget where you came from and not take yourself too seriously.

Fill in the blank. Fast food is —
Horrible for your health, but when dieting or trying to eat healthy, you crave it.

What was the last thing to make you laugh out loud?
I was watching one of my good friends who looks like John Candy — who we say is a biscuit short of 350 [lbs.] — dancing the Macarena at a wedding.

What c-store product do you like the most?
I like SnackWells Cookies. It gives me the illusion that I am eating healthy.