The inaugural edition of the International Specialty Food Summit (ISFS) was held on March 12-13, 2019, at Saint Joseph’s University’s Academy of Food Marketing in Philadelphia, PA. Co-organized by Saint Joseph’s University’s Food Marketing Program and the Italy-America Chamber of Commerce, the summit was an exclusive forum for food industry executives to explore emerging and future trends, merchandising techniques, innovation, and customer engagement in specialty food retail through the expertise of an incredibly diverse slate of international food experts.

The ISFS kicked off with an invitation-only half-day immersion program that provided participants with an in-depth exploration of the specialty food retail landscape with an emphasis on authentic Italian products. The following day, approximately 150 top-tier management professionals from the East Coast’s leading big box and grocery retailers took a deep dive into the specialty food retail space as an esteemed panel of industry experts explored emerging and future trends, merchandising techniques, innovation, and customer engagement in the specialty food sector through the lens of this year’s country inspiration–Italy.

The International Specialty Food Summit is part of the “True Italian Taste” project, funded by the Italian Ministry for Economic Development and executed by Assocamerestero in collaboration with the Italian Chambers of Commerce Abroad, in order to raise awareness of and safeguard authentic Italian food products. “True Italian Taste” is part of the “Extraordinary Italian Taste” initiative.

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CLICK HERE TO VIEW A RECORDING OF THE SUMMIT