Photo: Mario Cywinski
Over 220 industry professionals attended the Food and Beverage Ontario (FBO) Annual Conference at Locomotive Hall at Steam Whistle in Toronto. Attendees heard from experts and networked with colleagues.
“On Thursday, May 25 over 225 representatives of Ontario’s food and beverage processing community as well as government officials, post-secondary institutions and related industry groups attended FBO’s annual conference in downtown Toronto,” said Chris Conway, CEO, FBO.
Photo: Mario Cywinski
Michael Burrows CEO of Maple Lodge Farms, and chair of the FBO, opened the afternoon by welcoming all guests. Shay Marville, SVP talent, Performance Art Agency was the first speaker, and she spoke about the importance of the human side of the industry and how food is engrained in every aspect of human life.
Photo: Mario Cywinski
Benjamin Tal, deputy chief economist CIBC World Markets was up next, and he spoke about many topics, including US inflation expectations, past inflation underestimations, how people get their information about the economy, commodity pricing, global supply chain pressure index, retail gross margins, debt service ratio, relationship between job vacancies and employment, and the labour market.
Photo: Mario Cywinski
Next up, Darrell Bricker, CEO of Ipsos public affairs, and expert on national/international trends spoke about topics covered in his book Next. This was followed by the last formal presentation of the afternoon by Chantal Hébert, national affairs writer for the Toronto Star and a guest columnist for L’actualité. She spoke about what to expect from the next federal election in Canada.
Photo: Mario Cywinski
“The formal portion of the event concluded with remarks from Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Minister Lisa Thompson,” said Conway. “Our members continue their hard work to ensure a thriving food and beverage manufacturing sector for Canadians.”
Photo: Mario Cywinski
As you would expect food and beverage was front and centre, with a catered lunch opening the conference, and a networking reception closing the event.
The 2024 Annual Conference will take place on May 30, 2024, at Steam Whistle.
