Join us on Wednesday from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. for one of three concurrent retail, foodservice and fresh-cut processing tours to:
Retail • Whole Foods Tour
Founded in 1980 as one small store in Austin, Texas, Whole Foods Market® is now the world's leading retailer of natural and organic foods, with more than 265 stores in North America and the United Kingdom. Throughout the years, Whole Foods Market® has remained dedicated to their mission; we're highly selective about what we sell, dedicated to stringent quality standards, and committed to sustainable agriculture. Attendees will tour the store and hear about the business and consumer trends impacting the produce department in this specialty format, high-end retail store.
• Smith's Food & Drug Tour
Smith's Food & Drug is a banner store of the Kroger Company, headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, one of the largest grocery retailers in the nation. This tour focuses on produce merchandising and marketing at the consumer retail level. Hear and see how this retailer stays in touch with its Las Vegas customer base and keeps its produce displays fresh and appealing to shoppers.
• Costco Wholesale
The company's first location opened in 1976 under the Price Club name; originally serving only small businesses, the company found it could achieve far greater buying clout by also serving a selected audience of non-business members. In 1993 Costco and Price Club merged to form Price Costco, which later returned to being named Costco Wholesale. Today, Costco operates 536 warehouses, including 392 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 75 in Canada, 19 in the United Kingdom, six in Korea, five in Taiwan, eight in Japan and 31 in Mexico. During the tour to Costco, attendees will learn about the role fresh produce plays in this wholesale giant, that brings in annual sales exceeding $63 billion, and whose core operating philosophy is simple: keep costs down and pass the savings on to their members.
Foodservice • MGM Grand Hotel, "Back of the House" Foodservice Tour
The MGM Grand Hotel, located on the Las Vegas Strip, opened in 1993 as a classic Hollywood themed hotel. The emerald green glass hotel has over 5,000 rooms and 42 restaurants and bars on the property. Attendees will follow produce from the purchasing department, to the receiving area, on to the processing area and finally into one of 5,500 recipes on the menu at one of the many MGM Grand Hotel restaurants. Learn how this foodservice giant manages one of its most valuable ingredients: fresh produce.
Fresh-cut Processing - SOLD OUT! • Get Fresh Companies Tour
Get Fresh Companies, founded in 1990, is the only all-inclusive fresh produce distribution company in Southern Nevada. In addition to the 70,000 sq. ft. produce distribution facility, it has a fleet of refrigerated trucks and a 20,000 sq. ft. fresh processing facility, Fresh Cuts. This state of the art processing facility offers over 500 fresh-cut fruit and vegetable items in a variety of pack sizes. Attendees will see state-of-the-art fresh-cut processing, cold chain management and warehousing facilities, including food safety and testing measures.
A separate ticket is required and can be purchased when you register. Space is limited; venues have reserved the right to review all registrations, based on the competitive nature of their company.
Please specify your tour preferences when you register online.