Event Schedule

In this engaging and informational session, globally-recognized author Eve Turow-Paul will discuss our shared human needs and how they shape food and lifestyle trends in the plant-based world and beyond. During the hour, Turow-Paul will help you better understand the deeper motivations behind your customers' purchasing behaviors by illuminating the connections between food choice, mental health, sustainability, and the impact of COVID-19. You will be introduced to a framework that will help you decipher not just past and present trends, but also anticipate the trends of tomorrow.

Speaker: Eve Turow-Paul, Author, Executive Director, Food for Climate League

Concepta Ingredients will make a special appearance in the Learning Garden! With the presence of Marina Reis, Account Executive of the Brazilian company, the chat will address the history of Concepta Ingredients, some of it's successful cases, it's values as a business and, of course, the launch of the season, based on plants, which now incorporates the large portfolio of sustainable solutions: the Plant-Based Butter. In addition to the content previously prepared for her speech, the specialist will be available to the public to answer questions – conceptual and technical –, co-create insights and forward conversations that can be continued after the lecture.

And, of course, we look forward to seeing you at booth 552!

Recent years have shown dramatic increases in sales of plant-based foods, but are customers actually eating less meat as they shift to plant-heavier diets? In this session you will learn:

• Learn what shoppers expect from plant-based foods.
• How shoppers are shifting based on household shopper data.
• What those shoppers say about why.
• Develop a best in class merchandising strategy to meet consumer needs and grow your plant-based business.

Join PBW's keynote speaker Eve Turow-Paul as she signs copies of her new book, Hungry: Avocado Toast, Instagram Influencers, and Our Search for Connection and Meaning.

About Hungry: Avocado Toast, Instagram Influencers, and Our Search for Connection and Meaning:

We wait in lines around the block for scoops of cookie dough. We photograph every meal. We visit selfie performance spaces and leave lucrative jobs to become farmers and craft brewers.

Why? What are we really hungry for?

In Hungry, Eve Turow-Paul provides a guided tour through the stranger corners of today's global food and lifestyle culture. How are 21st-century innovations and pressures are redefining people's needs and desires? How does "foodie" culture, along with other lifestyle trends, provide an answer to our rising rates of stress, loneliness, anxiety, and depression?

Weaving together evolutionary psychology and sociology with captivating investigative reporting from around the world, Turow-Paul reveals the modern hungers—physical, spiritual, and emotional—that are driving today's top trends:

   • The connection between the "death" of the cereal industry and access to work email on our smartphones
   • How posting images of our dinners on social media both fulfills and feeds our hunger for human connection in an increasingly isolated world
   • The ways "diet tribes" and boutique fitness gyms substitute for organized religion 
   • How access to round-the-clock news relates to the blowback against GMO foods
   • Wellness retreats, astrology, plant parenthood, and other methods of easing modern anxiety
   • Why "eating local" might be the key to solving not just climate change, but our current global sense of disconnection

From gluten-free and Paleo diets to meal kit subscriptions, and from mukbang broadcast jockeys to craft beer, Hungry deepens our understanding of why we do what we do, and helps us find greater purpose and joy in today's technology-altered world.

Learn how formulators can achieve vegan, clean label, and nutritional goals using TasteNrich and FlavorNrich. TasteNrich labels as a natural flavor, functioning as an unparalleled taste building block in many food formulations. Enhance salt perception, fresh flavor notes and achieve clean, full flavors with our vegan, non-GMO ingredient. Learn how you can achieve your sodium reduction targets without compromising on flavor impact. FlavorNrich is our natural Cysteine, produced strictly through fermentation and meets strict FDA and USDA standards. FlavorNrich is a reaction compound used to produce meaty type flavors through the Maillard reaction, enabling meat alternative products to taste as delicious as their animal-based forms. Take your food products to the next level with TasteNrich and FlavorNrich!

Calling all BIMPOC (Black, Indigenous, Multi-Racial, People of Color) leaders in plant-based foods! Join us for an exclusive discussion on key steps you can take to grow your plant-based brand. Learn relevant strategies from leaders who are creating opportunities for businesses in the space, whether you are creating a delicious CPG product, or meals. You’ll hear about how to be retail ready, how to best navigate financial landscapes to help build capital, and how you can pave your own path.

By the end of this session, attendees will be able to:

• Identify key components of your brand that help you stand out in retail
• Learn about key financial tools to consider as you are growing your business
• List factors to consider if you are going out on your own to launch a business
• Reflect on examples of how your fellow BIMPOC leaders have raised awareness of plant-based foods in their communities

What do foodservice and distribution operators need to lean into expanding plant-based options? Hear from foodservice and distribution experts, and plant-based companies on strategies they have adopted that supported their success in foodservice.

By attending this session, you will be able to:

• Identify key opportunities and pain points from foodservice operators on expanding plant-based foods
• Learn common pitfalls and how you can overcome for plant-based food companies and operators
• Identify at least three strategies to consider in expanding your foodservice portfolio

This session is about offering unapologetically delicious, appealing, innovative plant-based desserts suitable for everyone, whether dietary considerations are an issue or not. Nothing's missing from these desserts, except eggs, dairy, conventional white sugar.

Chef Fran Costigan, Director of Vegan Pastry at the Rouxbe Online Culinary School will be demonstrating the ease of making the only Chocolate Cake you'll ever need-- or want and lots of variations. Fran will discuss accommodations for allergies and sensitivities within the plant-based world.

Now in their third year, The World Plant-Based Awards are a celebration of innovation and excellence across the plant-based food and drink industry.

These awards celebrate plant-based excellence and innovation from around the world, across 15 different categories.

Join us in the Learning Garden Theater in the Expo Hall to find out who this year's lucky winners and finalists are!

Unwind from a busy day and stroll through the aisles to take in the latest in plant-based products and solutions. Enjoy a drink and network with colleagues and exhibitors during this casual event in the Exhibit Hall.

Sponsored By:

After the showfloor ends we will continue to network at PBFA's Member Appreciation happy hour. Come unwind over drinks and light appetizers and continue to make connections in this thriving community.

The foodservice industry is facing unprecedented challenges while adapting to ever changing consumer preferences.

By attending this session, you will be able to:

• Review the key challenges foodservice operators are facing today
• Understand the pros and cons of plant-based items in relation to operational challenges such as staffing, waste, and supply chain
• Learn strategies to address operational challenges related to incorporating plant-based menu items

Join Fred Beasley II, aka Doc G, as he signs copies of his children's book Heru the Happy Dragon.

About Heru the Happy Dragon:

A DECORATED ROYAL DRAGON GUARD OF THE HIGHEST RANK DECIDES TO TRADE HIS SWORD AND SHIELD FOR AN APRON AND SPATULA. HOWEVER, BEFORE HE CAN LIVE HIS DREAM; HE MUST FIRST FACE HIS MOST POWERFUL OPPONENT, HIMSELF!

FMI - The Food Industry Association recognizes the growing interest among consumers in plant-based foods and beverages and set out to explore everything under the "plant-based" umbrella. The inaugural Power of Plant-Based Foods and Beverages, report aims to shed light on the rapid evolution of all things plant-based, literally from soup to nuts. Join us to discuss some of the report findings and insights as we look at the plant-based topic broadly, addressing not just products considered alternatives to traditional animal-derived items, but also naturally plant-based foods such as fruits, vegetables, beans and whole grains.

The objectives of this presentation are to :

- Understand consumer perceptions, attitudes and motivations around plant-based foods and beverages.

- Gain insights from the discussion about all the particular plant-based food and beverage categories explored in the report.

- Inform your business strategy for plant-based foods and beverages in-store, online and direct to consumers

The batters and breadings category have experienced growth in recent years due to the QSR (Quick Service Restaurant) foodservice segment and the popularity of these products in the retail frozen space. As consumers continue to purchase traditional products made with wheat flour by manufacturers, both are also looking for new alternatives in coating ingredients that can be gluten-free and enhance nutrition, as well as meet supply and sustainability needs, while maintaining the current taste, texture and appeal of battered and breaded foods.

This presentation will give an overview of pulse-based ingredients such as pea, lentil, faba bean and chickpea flours and proteins and their use in battered and breaded foods.

Customers in 2022 want more plant-based options to choose from in their grocery stores. At the same time, there is also major demand for less processed foods - a category that many plant-based offerings, to some degree, fall into. In this session: 

• Learn how retailers can navigate a confusing landscape where not all plant-based products are created equal.
• Learn how to find a healthy balance on your shelves and see how leading retailers are providing in-store nutrition support to guide their customers choices.