ORLANDO, FLA., Feb. 24, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hundreds of procurement professionals participated in the 2016 Topco Indirect Spend Summit—the largest not-for-resale event in the retail and grocery industry—held recently at the Gaylord Palms Resort in Orlando, Florida. Topco Indirect Spend Solutions, a division of Topco Associates LLC and a leading sourcing company for retailers and wholesalers, provided a forum for its members, customers and preferred suppliers to build collaborative business relationships and enhance their business results. Over 650 professionals, representing more than 50 companies and over 150 suppliers, attended the fifth biennial Summit. Attendees represented grocery retailers and wholesalers, other retailers, restaurant cooperatives and more.
The robust agenda included strategic business and industry-specific meetings in the areas of construction, equipment, financial services, store operations, HR benefits, IT/telecommunications, marketing, logistics and distribution, packaging, office supplies and waste management. Each business area offered a specific track tailored to the attendee. The program also included a presentation and demonstration of Topco's e-Sourcing capabilities. In addition to the business meetings, the conference featured a trade show with pre-scheduled, face-to-face meetings between suppliers and decision makers. The 80,000-square-foot expo featured a myriad of booth displays, including the hottest trends in shelf lighting, a growler filling station and a balloon display using helium tanks from Airgas, the event's gold sponsor.
Attendees gave the 2016 Summit high marks, noting the strong networking opportunities, effective roundtable discussions, quality face-to-face meetings and good trade show layout. Ron Ferri, Executive Vice President of Operations, Tops Markets, LLC stated, "The summit was definitely value added. I have had several follow up emails already and will continue to explore some opportunities. The event was top notch and an outstanding job by the Topco Indirect team."
A first-time attending supplier had positive words to say about the two-and-a-half-day conference. "In my 40 years at my craft I have attended many, many conventions. Nothing has compared to this one. I can't wait to provide our Senior Management with the report out and the cost/benefits. The Topco team was customer focused and service driven," stated Charlie C. Williams, Manager, North East Regional Preferred Accounts from Johns Manville, A Berkshire Hathaway Company that provides commercial and industrial roofing products to supermarket, food retail and manufacturing building owners.
Topco members and customers had the opportunity to talk one-on-one with suppliers in pre-scheduled 20-minute meetings, a highlight of the Summit event. According to Jay Mitchell, Vice President of Retail Operations at Mitchell Grocery and longtime attendee of Topco's Summit events, "The Summit gives us a really good chance to meet with vendors we don't normally see and to meet a large number of vendors in a short amount of time. These private meetings are very productive for our team to sit down with national account reps and work out our programs for the coming year".
Topco's Indirect Spend will be hosting a 2018 Summit but location and exact dates have not been finalized. For more information about the 2016 Indirect Spend Summit, please contact Carol Mather, Sr. Communications Manager, CMP 781-926-6053 or cmather@topco.com.
About Topco Associates LLC
Topco Associates LLC is a $15 billion, privately held company that provides aggregation, innovation and knowledge management solutions for its leading food industry member-owners and customers, including grocery retailers, wholesalers and food service suppliers. Topco leverages the collective volume, knowledge and commitment of these companies to create a competitive advantage in the marketplace by reducing costs and offering winning business-building capabilities. For more information, please visit www.topco.com.