More than 500 customers and suppliers attending, over 3,000 products on display as National Trade Show marks return to in-person event
TEMPLE, Texas, Aug. 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — McLane Company, Inc., a leading supply chain services company providing grocery and foodservice supply chain solutions, kicks off its annual National Trade Show (NTS) today. This year’s trade show is the first McLane has held in-person since before the pandemic in 2019.
The McLane team is thrilled to be back in person for the first time in three years,” said Chris Smith, president of McLane Grocery. “We’ve been looking forward to bringing together our customers and suppliers to hear firsthand about their businesses and challenges, and to present our latest innovative products and services.”
“NTS will be two days filled with a technology summit, sessions hosted by industry leaders, and a trade show.”
Each year at NTS, McLane introduces retailers to the latest in new technology and foodservice for more efficient inventory and ordering. The industry’s leading manufacturers choose NTS as their national launching pad for new product lines and extensions. This year, the event will showcase more than 170 exhibitors and host 1,000 attendees. The keynote speaker, Nik Modi, managing director of RBC Capital Markets, will open Wednesday’s general session; Brad Lyons, McLane’s vice president of application development customer technology, will also present.
NTS attendees who visit the McLane booth can learn about updates to the company’s Mobile VTS trade show ordering app, which will feature a new look and feel with enhanced functionality. Customers will see an improved user experience with enhanced ordering capabilities making multi-store ordering easier than ever. Suppliers will find several new features including image variety functionality, engagement features such as the ability to add comments, notes and recipes, and improved search throughout the site. Finally, McLane partnered with one of its strategic supplier partners to create the ability to set up staggered bundles on VTS, which allows users the flexibility to place orders for multiple stores with varied ship dates at one time.
McLane will also highlight its enhanced Delivery Tracker app which now features multi-carrier SIM cards in devices to strengthen and broaden coverage and a new geolocation capability that, when merged with existing fleet management technology, provides more accurate tracking and delivery data to retailers.
Attendees will be able to experience McLane’s interactive booth highlighting its foodservice-at-retail solution, McLane Kitchen. Generating optimum sales and profits for retailers, McLane Kitchen offers easy-to-implement turnkey solutions as well as custom options. This year, McLane is focusing on two hot foods programs: Central Eats and Choice Chicken. Central Eats provides high-quality, pre-packaged breakfast, lunch, and dinner items available for sale as a refrigerated or heated and ready-to-eat offering. Central Eats products can be branded with the retailer’s custom label, or they can utilize the vibrant Central Eats brand developed specifically for this program. Choice Chicken features quality products from some of the top names in foodservice and retail, along with delicious sides.
At the McLane booth, attendees will also find JAVAPERKS baristas serving up artful lattes and other tasty coffee beverages. JAVAPERKS, McLane’s proprietary coffee and tea program, features coffee, cappuccino, tea, iced coffee, cold brew, and hot chocolate, and allows retailers to access custom graphics for their coffee bar, countertop units, or walls to promote the brand within the store.
“NTS will be two days filled with a technology summit, sessions hosted by industry leaders, and a trade show featuring the hottest new products, deals, and trends,” said Vito Maurici, senior vice president of sales. “It also gives our customers access to fellow customers, suppliers, brokers and McLane teammates for a best-in-class experience designed to help them buy better, sell smarter, and profit more.”
NTS runs from Wednesday, Aug. 17 to Thursday, Aug. 18 at the Rosen Shingle Creek in Orlando, Florida.
About McLaneMcLane Company, Inc. is one of the largest supply chain services leaders in the United States, providing grocery and foodservice solutions for convenience stores, mass merchants, drug stores, and chain restaurants. Through McLane Grocery and McLane Foodservice, McLane operates over 80 distribution centers and one of the nation’s largest private fleets. The company buys, sells, and delivers more than 50,000 consumer products to nearly 110,000 locations across the U.S. Additionally, McLane provides alcoholic beverage distribution through its subsidiary, Empire Distributors, Inc. McLane is a wholly- owned unit of Berkshire Hathaway Inc (NYSE: BRK) and employs 22,000 teammates.
SOURCE McLane Company
